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In the days when long distance express trains were pulled by steam engines, Britain’s railway operators competed with each other to provide the fastest service. The LMS and LNER companies both ran trains from London to Scotland and there was an intense rivalry, with each trying to offer the shortest journey times. Often, trains would have limited stops or, in some cases, they would run non-stop to save time. However, there was a big problem in that the locomotives needed huge amounts of water to turn into steam. They could carry sufficient coal to burn, but not enough water and yet stopping to refill their tenders would considerably extend their journey times. The problem was conveniently solved by introducing troughs between the rails that could supply water to a locomotive while it was still travelling at speed. These troughs were typically several hundred yards in length and, as the train approached them, the crew would lower a scoop into the water of the trough; the forward motion then forced the water upwards into the tank of the locomotive’s tender. In this way, the engine received several tons of water without stopping. 
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On the evening of the 25th February 2020, Martin Goosey from Env-Aqua Solutions Ltd presented his recent work in the VALUABLE project at the Institute of Circuit Technology’s Winter Evening Seminar. The event was held at the Best Western Hotel, Meriden, Solihull and was attended by a wide range of academics and industrialists from around the UK.  VALUABLE in 2019: Exploring Battery Design and Facilitating Discussions on battery circularity10/2/2020 In 2019, VALUABLE accelerated its momentum. From exploring battery design and architecture in practical teardowns to building up the VALUABLE Toolbox and making new friends at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the Global Battery Alliance, amongst others – it’s been a very busy year.  While it's early days for recycling and for second life reuse, the potential in both supply and demand terms could be really big. Lithium-ion waste from a solar lantern scheme run by oil & gas major Total in Kenya will be recycled into new batteries for solar home systems by start-up Aceleron. Total Access to Energy Solutions (TATES) sells solar lamps and kits in emerging markets and aims to sell 6 million distributed “solar energy decentralised solutions for homes and communities” by 2025, which would enable electricity access for roughly 25 million people. Aceleron, meanwhile is a UK-headquartered company which is at an early stage of commercialising what company CEO Amrit Chandan recently described in a blog for this site as “simple assembly technology” which “facilitates the easy replacement of components, coupled with advanced machine learning technology that can tell which components are faulty.”  Tevva will promote its electric trucks by allowing fleets to rent them for three to six month periods, starting next year. The new initiative, called Electrify, is designed to enable fleet operators to evaluate how electric trucks can save them money while fulfilling the same duties as diesel ones. Up to 50 12-tonne eTrucks will be available within two years.  |
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This project is co-funded by Innovate UK. Project No. 104182.
Project Manager: Alberto Minguela, HSSMI |
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