GKN Hybrid Power

GKN Gyrodrive
GKN Gyrodrive

Poster for Tim Rumney and Glen Pascoe
Poster for Tim Rumney and Glen Pascoe

The November talk will be given by Tim Rumney (New Product Introduction Manager) and Glen Pascoe (Project Engineer) both of GKN Hybrid Power, a subsidiary of GKN Land Systems. They will be talking about their innovative vehicle hybrid drive system called Gyrodrive that uses flywheel technology as the energy store in place of batteries.

The system has been proven in motor-sport applications and is now set to move to mass production in the public domain on London buses through a major scientific research project.

Tim will present the first part which will be related to the product and the technology and its development and history, through Williams F1 to production with GKN.

Glen will focus on the Green aspects of the application and how this alternative approach to hybrid energy systems offers product lifecycle benefits. More information from the GKN press release:

GKN is one of the first companies to receive funding from a joint government and automotive industry fund for projects to improve fuel efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. GKN Land Systems and its partners will receive a £7.6 million grant as part of a £15.6 million project to apply Formula One technology for use in public transport, initially city buses. The project is expected to deliver a 25% fuel saving for bus operators on inner city routes, potentially leading to lower fares for passengers and the ability for operators to keep some less economic routes open, as well as reducing the amount of CO2 in cities. Its Gyrodrive system is designed to store the energy generated by a bus as it slows down to stop, and use that energy to help accelerate the bus back up to speed, generating significant fuel savings.

Jules Carter, Head of Innovation at GKN Land Systems, explains: “Gyrodrive uses a high speed flywheel made of carbon fibre to store the energy generated as the bus slows down, which then generates electricity used by an electric motor to help the diesel engine drive the bus.”

Consortium members that GKN is working with include bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis Limited, technology experts at Coventry University and S&S Windings, a leading niche technology SME. The Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) will see government and the automotive industry each invest £500 million in the automotive sector over the next ten years to research, develop and commercialise technologies for the vehicles of the future.

Nigel Stein, Chief Executive GKN plc, said: “As one of Britain’s leading automotive manufacturing companies, GKN is very proud to be associated with the APC. We are excited to be working in partnership with Government, through the Automotive Council, to help secure the future of the UK automotive industry, developing technologies that will improve the fuel efficiency of vehicles and reduce CO2 emissions. These technologies will keep UK automotive at the forefront of the global industry for many years to come.”

Earlier this month GKN announced the acquisition of Williams Hybrid Power from Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited to form GKN Hybrid Power, which is focused on delivering complete hybrid solutions across multiple vehicle, power and industrial markets.

The video below shows how the motorsport version works (courtesy of the Williams F1 Racing Team):

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