Glovebox setup: In June 2021 the glovebox that our team required for assembling structural batteries arrived. Thomas and I are the first PhD students in the Structural Batteries group at Bath and therefore it was our responsibility to get all of the equipment set up and all of the safety and operating procedures in place. As part of this we got formal gas cylinder train, informal training from the glovebox engineer, and had several discussions with academics that have experience with gloveboxes and batteries. We are now in a position to train and supervise the next generation of students that will use the structural batteries glovebox.

AB Dynamics is one of the world’s leading specialists in automotive test systems across a wide range of applications, from validation and durability to the development of advanced technologies for active safety and autonomous driving. As part of the MRes year for Cohort 1 we had the opportunity to visit. During our visit, we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to partake in a demonstration in their in-house Advanced Vehicle Driving Simulator (aVDS).for a closer look at safety and autonomous driving and virtually drive a range of vehicles.

Attended MCT Reman and Aspire Engineering as part of the CDT in 2020 and learned a significant amount on sustainable engineering

Diamond Light Source: In early 2019 the Structural Batteries group at Bath obtained funding for synchrotron time at Diamond Light Source to carry out a microscale investigation into structural batteries, with the experiment set to take place in late 2021. In preparation for this experiment, Thomas and I supported an experiment being carried out by Dr Alexander Lunt at Diamond Light Source in January 2021. We were responsible for helping to set up the cells and take measurements at beamline B16.

In December 2019, Thomas and I made a trip to Chalmers Institute of Technology and KTH in Sweden to visit their structural battery research facilities. During this trip we met the main research teams working on structural batteries and got the opportunity to discuss their recent work and view their cell assembly facilities.

During the first semester of the MRes year, we were tasked with evaluating the hybrid powertrain of the Toyota Pruis. During this time, we had the opportunity to gather some invaluable vehicle driving data from the chassis dyno at the University of Bath. This allowed us the test the performance of the vehicle over a range of different temperatures and vehicle modes over a variety of drive cycles, whilst also gaining an insight into the setup and operation required for these kinds of on-vehicle tests.

WMG is a hub of collaboration between academia and industry, driving innovation in applied science, technology and engineering. This provided an excellent insight into the potential that academic-industrial collaboration has within the automotive sector. During our visit, we were fortunate enough to tour the Energy Innovation Centre (EIC) – a national facility for all aspects of battery research, from materials and electrochemistry through to application integration and recycling. During our trip in the MRes year we were able to witness first-hand the cutting-edge research and world leading facilities at the EIC.