Department staff
Professor Rob Thring
Chair in Fuel Cell Engineering
Tel +44 (0)1509 227 259
Fax +44 (0)1509 227 275
Email r.h.thring@lboro.ac.uk
Background
- Ricardo Consulting Engineers, Sussex, England. 1974 - 1982.
- Southwest Research Institute - San Antonio Texas. 1982-1997.
- Ricardo Consulting Engineers, Sussex, England. 1997 - 2002.
- Loughborough University, England. 2002 -
Accomplishments
- Established and managed the Ultra-Low Emissions Engine (ULEE) Program. This program was a four year, multi-client (15 clients) co-operative research program aimed at helping to develop the technology needed for the passenger car manufacturers to meet the California ULEV exhaust emission standards.
- ETCS, Engine Technology Consulting Service. Started and built to 30 clients worldwide
- HCCI or Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition combustion for piston engines
- VCOT, Vehicle Calibration on the Testbed. Transfer a significant proportion of the calibration process currently conducted on the vehicle to the testbed
- Modeling of a fuel cell powered passenger car with a methanol reformer
- Engine/Transmission matching. Aimed at improving the match between the engine and the transmission to improve the fuel economy
- Chairman of the SwRI Advisory Committee for Research. This committee controls the SwRI Internal Research Program.
Research Groups
Low Carbon Vehicles
Research Interests and Activities
- Application of Fuel Cells to transportation
- Electric Vehicles
- Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicles
- National Energy Security
- Holistic Energy Usage
External Activities
- Member of Editorial Board for IMechE Proceedings Part D “Journal of Automobile Engineering”.
- Deputy Chair of DTI Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership R&D group
- Chair of sub committee of LowCVP for the National Centre of Excellence in Low Carbon and Fuel Cell Technology (now called Cenex). Cenex is now up and running in Loughborough
- Member of the Low CVP Innovation working group
- Member of Foresight Vehicle External Advisory Panel
- Member UK Fuel Cell Forum
- Consultant to Alan Duncan, shadow minister for Trade and Industry, and at his invitation submitted five pages for his parallel energy review for the UK (2006).
- Member of the IMechE Marketing and Communications Board.
- 6 Patents
- EPSRC college member
- Member DTI Technology Programme Assessment Panel
- DTI/SMMT expert panel member in 2004 that produced the ‘Foresight Vehicle Technology Roadmap’ ISBN: 0-900685-51-4 © Crown Copyright 2004.