Dr Andrew Lewis has been appointed to the IAAPS Ltd Engineering Team as the Institute gears up for the detailed equipment commissioning ahead of the operational opening of the new £70m IAAPS R&I facility at the Bristol and Bath Science Park this summer.
Andy’s responsibilities in his new role will cover all engineering and research activities conducted on the powertrain test facilities. He will work closely with collaborators and customers to deliver cutting edge research and development programmes.
Andy brings a wealth of experience of automotive propulsion engineering, having been a long-standing member of the University of Bath’s automotive engineering research group. Andy graduated from the University of Bath in 2008 with a Masters in Automotive Engineering, after which he took on a Research Assistant position on a thermal management project within the University’s automotive powertrain research group. Subsequently, Andy has been involved in a number of research projects over the last 12 years, the most notable being the “Ultraboost” programme with Jaguar Land Rover, which delivered a highly downsized gasoline engine delivering 35bar BMEP. During this time, Andy also completed a part-time PhD and authored a number of papers enabling him to attend conferences around the world and establish an extensive network of contacts and collaborators across the automotive industry.
Andy’s first task in his new role as Principal Engineer will be to undertake the detailed commissioning of the new powertrain research cells, working closely with AVL, suppliers of the state-of-the-art testing equipment currently being installed at the new facility. Once the new building is open, Andy’s focus will shift to the development and delivery of short and longer term research and innovation collaborations across a portfolio of powertrain research initiatives, working with companies and organisations of all types and sizes, from global OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers to SMEs. A key priority for Andy, and the team of engineers he intends to recruit, will be to maintain a high performing research facility at the forefront of key technology developments taking place across the automotive industry. One area that Andy is particularly interested in developing further within IAAPS is the move towards more virtual development processes and the integration of these with the physical experimental process. The ability to simulate components and environments, and subsequently measure the physical responses within an experimental facility to these is a big challenge and one that he is keen to embrace.
In addition to Andy joining the team, there have been several other key appointments in to IAAPS Ltd. Professor Rob Oliver was recently appointed as IAAPS Engineering Director and Professor of Practice and Gavin Edwards has taken on the role of IAAPS Operations and IT Director. Both directors are currently undertaking a significant period of recruitment as they expand their specialist teams ahead of the new facility opening. Once operational, the new building will provide 11,300m2 of state-of-the-art research space to deliver transformational research into cleaner, smarter engines, powertrains and driver technologies. The new facility has been designed with collaboration and innovation at its heart to support the automotive industries in the transition to ultra-low and zero emission mobility.
Andy is excited to be joining the IAAPS Engineering Team at this critical stage of expansion:
“The new role is a great new challenge, with my previous focus being mainly on the internal combustion engine I am keen to learn and develop a greater understanding in the full powertrain system. The current industry trend towards more complex systems and integration of electric machines means that the opportunities for variations on these hybrid powertrains is quite large and being part of the research and development process is a great opportunity.“
IAAPS Engineering Director, Professor Rob Oliver added:
“I’m delighted to welcome Andy to the IAAPS Engineering Team. Andy brings with him a wealth of expertise in automotive propulsion systems research and joins at an exciting time as we gear up for our rig commissioning activity, and the opening of our state-of-the-art research and innovation centre in June”
03 February 2021