Automotive Mechatronics Centre

The Mechatronic Centre’s mission is:

Performing fundamental research assisting in the advancement of current and future automotive green energy technologies and products to market place.

Automotive Mechatronics is a new field of specialisation; emerging from the combination of Mechanical, Electrical, Computer and Applied Control Engineering.

There is a continuous increase of Mechatronic systems within the automotive domain as there are Legislative Requirements in to force due to the stringent regulations on fuel consumption and emissions, and more stringent safety demands (ABS, ESP, CMBB, etc.). Also, there are end-user requirements due to the continuous improvements to vehicle performance.

In recognition of the importance of mechatronics within the automotive sector, the Mechatronics Centre at Cranfield is located within the Department of Automotive Engineering to position itself at the forefront of this emerging specialisation.

Research
The Mechatronics Centre is currently working on a variety of research projects in collaboration with leading industry organisations.

Our industrial partners are:

JLR
Ford Dunton
Lotus
Morgan Motor Company
Arvin Meritor
JCB
AVL Powertrain UK ltd
MIRA
Millbrook
SAIC Motor
Intelligent Energy Ltd
HilTech Developments Ltd
TUV Nord Mobilitat GmbH

Our core areas of research:

Vehicle Electrification and Advance Controls and Optimisation:
               -Hybrid and Electric Vehicles
               -Active Chassis Systems
        -Automotive Mechatronics Modelling
        -Advanced Control Design and Estimation
        -Vehicle Control Architecture and Integration Concepts

Short courses

We offer a programme of 4 short courses with a specific focus on Mechatronics.

Applied Robust Control: From Theory to Automotive Industrial Applications Workshop

Professor Francis Assadian and Sajjad Fekriasl of the Automotive Mechatronics Centre, Cranfield University, will be holding a half-day workshop at the upcoming 50^th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control and European Control Conference.

Silver Medal in The Young European Arena of Research 2010

Cranfield researchers have won the silver medal for their abstract entitled Electric Active Roll Control (EARC).
Authors: Ganesh Mohan, Jerome Dentzer, Dr. Francis Assadian

This competition gave students an opportunity to showcase their work to experts within the field. All abstracts went through an online judging review, after which the top 50 finalists were invited to attend the TRA2010 Conference in Brussels to display their research in an exhibition space. The 50 finalists were judged a second time at the conference and the Gold, Silver and Bronze medals for each of the pillars were announced and presented during the conference, to 1,500 delegates.

For further information visit http://year2010.fehrl.org/?m=21

Additionally, this project will also be presented at the Vehicle Dynamics Expo 2010 in Stuttgart, Germany between 22 - 24 June. The presentation is listed on the event's website, which can be followed using this link: http://www.vehicledynamics-expo.com/day1.php?n=conf