Institution news
With this in mind, the Institution’s High Performance Powertrains seminar in Birmingham next month aims to bring together prominent OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers to share the latest developments and solutions to meet these challenges, including Ricardo, AVL, MAHLE Powertrains, Cosworth and more.
Ahead of the seminar, we caught up with Rob Millar, Head of Electrical at Williams Advanced Engineering, who will be presenting Williams’ latest efforts in developing a high performance electric powertrain system and how they have overcome challenges in battery and powertrain design.
Q: Could you briefly explain your role and involvement in Powertrain engineering?
Rob Millar(RM): At Williams Advanced Engineering we design entire electrical powertrains – motors, power electronics, transmissions and batteries are all designed in-house. For the most part I primarily deal with 2 areas – batteries and inverters - as for most customers an off-the-shelf motor and transmission make sense. So predominantly I’m responsible for establishing the appropriate battery and control technologies to deliver what our customers need.
Q: In your experience, what is the number one challenge facing engineers specialising in powertrains?
RM: I think that for the most part the challenges arise from understanding how components should be specified for an application. I think this may have always been the case but perhaps the necessary compromises that arise in an electrified powertrain are different to those found in ICE powertrains. For example, a compromise must generally be made between power and energy in batteries, and this is becoming truer over time as cells begin to focus on these different attributes. So, focus has moved from the engine to define the compromise to the fuel source and so a broader system wide approach is now important.
Q: What is the most exciting development in this field at the moment, either within your company or in the industry in general?
RM: Batteries are moving at such a pace at the moment that I think this is a very exciting area of technology. We are very focussed on our plans to deliver the highest performance batteries and systems to our customers.
Q: What do you see for the future of powertrain development and engineering over the next 5 – 10 years?
RM: I think that the current revolution in vehicle design, taking advantage of the new powertrain technologies that are available, will accelerate as designers understand how they can design vehicles in a completely different way to take advantage of that.
Q: What are you most looking forward to by presenting at High Performance Powertrains?
RM: Hearing the other speakers! These events always enable shared learning across areas and sectors, which is very valuable.
Q: Which sessions are you most looking forward to hearing?
RM: I have a certain fondness for the Ford Ecoboost engine, having been involved in a project which I suspect tried this technique out for the first time on their engine. I’m looking forward to hearing about that most of all.
Q: Why should automotive engineers join the High Performance Powertrains seminar?
RM: The powertrain remains at the cutting edge of technology development – everyone should be interested.
Further information
High Performance Powertrains takes place on 22 May 2018 at the Macdonald Burlington Hotel in Birmingham. For full details and to book your place, please visit High Performance Powertrains.