“Wind to Wheel”

This talk investigates how the kinetic energy of the wind is converted to kinetic energy to drive an electric vehicle via a 2.5 MW wind turbine placed in the London Array through multiple convertors and step down and step up transformers to the electrical grid to charge an electric vehicle located in a home in central London.  

We will walk through the 26 steps in the Power-Train journey from the wind to the wheel, showing the efficiency and losses (both electrical and mechanical) at each stage of the journey and how we can look to try and improve this efficiency (if possible). 

About the Speaker

This talk has been kindly given to Dr Rich Baker to present on behalf of Professor Rob Dwyer-Joyce from the Leonardo Tribology Centre at Sheffield University.

Rich graduated from Imperial College London with a Maths degree, Masters in Mechanical Engineering and a PhD in tribology (with a particular interest in fretting wear).  Rich went to work in the automotive sector for Ford Motor Company as a design Engineer before later joining PCS Instruments (a World Leading Tribology manufacturing company) where he worked in a variety of roles from production to sales and marketing.  After working at PCS for 16 years, Rich set up his own company TriboTonic in 2019, distributing Tribology equipment across Europe.