Tech innovation sees UK firm target £2m sales boost
World-leading manufacturer of cooling, heating and air condition products, Grayson Thermal Systems has unveiled new water pump technology. An innovation three years in the making, the technology promises to deliver high flow pressure at lower pump speed, can be mounted in various orientations and offers a motor with a performance life of up to 40,000 hours. Read more...
New underwater robot to explore Fukushima containment vessel
Toshiba and the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning (IRID) have developed a new submersible robot to investigate the Fukushima nuclear plant. Following the disaster that took place there in 2011, a survey on the primary containment vessel (PCV) of Unit 3 in 2015 found it had flooded with coolant to a depth of 6m. Fuel and debris inside the PCV must be mapped in order to move forward with the plant’s clean-up, but the vessel’s access point is just 14cm in diameter.The underwater ROV (remotely operated vehicle) developed by Toshiba and IRID is 13cm in diameter and 30cm long. Once inside Unit 3’s PCV, front and rear camera and LED lights will deliver a live video feed to the operators. Read more...
Subsea stores provide low cost route to carbon capture claims report
Existing undersea stores such as depleted oil and gas reservoirs should be at the heart of a UK wide push for Carbon Capture and storage (CCS) according to a report published by The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI). CCS technology is regarded by many as being essential if the UK is to meet its legally binding 2050 carbon targets. Indeed, the ETI has warned that failure to deploy CCS will end up costing the UK an extra £1 – 2bn per year. The government’s 2015 cancellation of its £1bn CCS competition was widely regarded as a major setback for the UK’s position in this emerging area. Read more...
Foreign companies put 10% more into UK auto
Figures released by automotive inward investment body Drive Midlands show that the region’s automotive sector secured 58 new foreign direct investment (FDI) deals during 2016/17, a 10% increase on the previous year.These new projects, which involved investors from the US, India and China, helped to generate almost 3,000 new jobs across the Midlands. Read more...
North Sea Embraces C-Kore for Fault-finding Operations
C-Kore Systems recently deployed their subsea testing tools on three different fault-finding operations on the North Sea for three different UK customers. In each case C-Kore found the root cause of low IR faults, allowing the operators to return the field to health. The C-Kore testing tools save customers significant money on fault-finding operations by automating and significantly speeding up the subsea testing process. Read more...
IET young engineers competition to inspire next generation
The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is hosting a competition designed to inspire the next generation of engineers. More than 700 children aged between nine and 16 will represent 36 countries at the First Lego League International Open Championship, taking place at the University of Bath between 21 and 25 June. Students will be tasked with building a Lego robot “that can successfully tackle a series of missions, each representing a different aspect of animal-human interaction”, a statement from the IET said. Read more...