Dr Meiling Zhu
Senior Research Fellow
Location: Building 70, Cranfield campus
E: m.zhu@cranfield.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)1234 750111 x2092
Manufacturing and Materials
Current activities
Dr Meiling Zhu is a Senior Research Fellow and leading the research theme in design, modelling and integration of energy harvesting technology for battery-free wireless sensing and communication applications within the Department of Manufacturing and Materials of the Cranfield University.
Over the years, she has rapidly established the Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Research Group within the department with 9 research grants as PI, respectively from DSTL (Defence Science and Technology Laboratory), EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council), IMRC (Cranfield Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre funded by EPSRC) and IVHM (Cranfield Integrated Vehicle Health Management Centre), and 4 research grants as co-I.
Her research group currently consists of 2 Research Fellows and 4 full-time PhD students and has made a significant breakthrough of battery-free wireless sensing technology through successful implementations of high performance energy harvesting demonstrators in the lab for applications. She is a supervisor of PhD and MSc by Research students and MSc taught course projects at Cranfield University.
Her research interests include:
- Energy harvesting technology, including transducer, power management, and wireless communication and the integration
- Smart materials and structures design, modelling and implementation, including multi-physics mathematical and numerical modelling
- Sensors and actuators, including micro-accelerometer, micro-pump, thin film bulk acoustic wave resonators (FBARs) and filters, and RF-switches
- Ultrasonic motors.
Her secured grants and contracts include:
- DSTL MAST STC Innovation Research Project: ‘energy autonomous sensing systems based on integrated piezo-fibre composites with carbon fibre laminates’, CDE23681, PI (2012)
- EPSRC via Cranfield IMRC Research Grant: ‘H-WiSe-MAS: development of Integrated Energy Harvesting Technology with Wireless Sensing For On-line Monitoring of Aircraft Structure Loading Condition’, EPSRC/IMRC-162, PI (2011)
- EPSRC Standard Research Grant: 'mobile Energy Harvesting Systems', EP/H020764/1, PI at Cranfield (2010-12)
- EPSRC Flagship Grant: 'integrated functional materials for system-in-package applications', EP/D064783/1, Co-I (2006-10)
- EPSRC via Cranfield IMRC Research Grant: 'design and manufacturing of a novel energy harvesting device for self-powered sensors', EPSRC/IMRC-137, PI (2008-11)
- EPSRC via Cranfield IMRC Research Grant: 'optimising micro/nanosystems Biomimetically', EPSRC/ IMRC-135, Co-I (2008-11)
- Cranfield Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) Centre of Excellence Grant: 'energy harvesting for IVHM applications', IVHM007/V1.0, PI (2010-13).
Clients
- EPSRC, TSB and the government department of DSTL
- EU FP6, FP7 and FP8
- Industries in energy harvesting, structural/human health monitoring, and wireless sensing and communication
- Industrial sectors in energy, security and defence, automotive and aeronautic engineering, and information communication technology
Background
Dr Meiling Zhu gained her BEng degree in 1989, MEng in 1992 and PhD in 1994 at Southeast University, Nanjing, China. She joined Cranfield University in 2002 as a Research Officer and then became a Senior Research Fellow in 2007.
Prior to joining Cranfield, she was a Research Fellow at the Biomechanical Research Group, in the University of Leeds (2001-2); awarded a prestigious Research Fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt at the Institut B für Mechanik, in Stuttgart Universität (1999-2001); a Visiting Scholar at the Mechanical Engineering Department, in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (1998-9); and a Post doctor (1995-6) and an Associate Professor (1996-8) at the Institute of Vibration Engineering Research, in the Nanjing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics.
She has been awarded a total of £1.8M research funding as PI for 9 projects and as co-I for 4 projects from the UK and EU funding bodies and industries over the years. She has published about 70 refereed journal and conference papers, and a book chapter on 'Handbook of Vibration'. She is a Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt, member of the Institute of Physics, and Chartered Engineer and Scientist.
