The university and Sussex based Ricardo UK, world leaders in engineering technology consultancy, have joined forces in a project to find ways of cutting carbon emissions in heavy-duty vehicles.
Most car makers today produce electric or low-emission hybrid vehicles but heavy-duty trucks and similar vehicles are proving more difficult to convert.
Ricardo and the university, led by Dr David Mason, will look for solutions, funded in part by the UK Technology Strategy Board. Ricardo and the university submitted a winning feasibility study to the board's recent disruptive technologies in low carbon vehicles' competition.
Ricardo, based in Shoreham, and university scientists will model and evaluate an advanced splitcycle combustion system that will increase engine efficiency. Unlike previous research which focused on refining existing four-stroke engines, the CoolR project will examine a new concept based on a split-cycle, temperature-controlled system, which increases engine efficiency.
