GnoSys-Times

Introducing GnoSys UK's Newsletter

Welcome to GnoSys UK's first newsletter, or "Times" as we are calling it.

The purpose behind launching the "Times", is to give you access to the many activities and new developments we are currently undertaking.

Recent Activities

Managing Director, Gary Stevens, has been off on his travels again to Seattle, Boston, Munich and Newcastle, presenting at conferences and to Grenoble taking part in a dielectrics workshop, some of these are featured below.

Another Director, Henryk Herman, has presented at a conference in Vancouver - his article is also featured below.

In our offices and research laboratories in Guildford, our wide-wavelength TranSpec™ development has made good progress and some examples of its application are highlighted here. We have also developed new methods for dynamic friction testing of optical fibre cables.

We have been active in further life cycle assessment projects including the launch of a new version of LEAP, which is now available on our website to trial.

LEAP Launch October 2008

LEAP is a decision support tool that addresses the economic and environmental assessment of large infrastructure projects. It provides side-by-side comparisons of scenarios and answers "what if..." questions in the design, planning and operation of schemes. This makes it ideal for understanding the impact of alternative designs, technologies and solutions for large projects.

LEAP was developed initially as a tool for bigger companies, "LEAP enterprise".  It has now been released as a standalone application aimed at consultancies and small businesses. On 30^th September 2008, Gary Stevens presented to the LCA 08 conference in Seattle, the title was "Life-Cycle Environmental and Economic Assessment of Spatially Distributed Systems: Application to Power Systems". This conference was also chosen as the public debut for LEAP. More information about LEAP, including a trial version of the software, can be found at http://www.gnosysuk.com/leap.

LEETS for London Cable Tunnel Projects

Following an initial trial of the GnoSys methodology and software tool for life cycle economic and environmental assessment of transmission systems (LEETS), National Grid in the UK have decided to further develop and trial the tool for use in assessing new high voltage power cable tunnelling projects to reinforce the transport of electricity to and around London.

The initial trial was successful in assessing substation renewal options where LEETS demonstrated its ability to deal with existing approaches to scheme assessment and how this could be reinforced by extending the approach to include other life cycle impacts that could be of relevance in the future.

Some aspects of this early NG trial and a general introduction to LEETS were given at the recent CIGRE Congress in Paris in August and the LCA8 Conference in Seattle in September.

Links:

• Life Cycle Assessment VIII - Power Systems (web site)
• Presentation to LCA VIII (pdf: 1,963 KB
• Cigre 2008 Paper (pdf: 261 KB)

CSI - Electrical Insulation

We presented a paper at the IEEE International Symposium on Electrical Insulation in Vancouver in June. This covered a range of work applying wide wavelength spectroscopy to assess the condition of electrical insulation such as determining the degree of polymerisation, and hence remaining life, of paper insulation in power transformers. This methodology has also been applied to measuring the quality and properties of resin-filled mica insulation on generator isolator conductors with excellent correlations to the Megger test, power factor capacitance and other physical properties.

One of the earlier slides in the presentation caused an intake of breath as it was probably the first time a nude was shown at an IEEE meeting - in this case Michaelanglo's David was used to illustrate the generic questions of in-situ measurements. Otherwise the audience was attentive and electrical engineers and utility operators were introduced to the wonderful world of remote spectroscopy.

During this time Vancouver was damp and miserable, with low-lying clouds limiting the world-class view that is this city's trademark and nearby mountains.

Links:

• ISEI 2008 Presentation (pdf: 1,914 KB)

The Cost-of-Fire "Iceberg"

The cost of fire in most developed countries is significant in human, societal and economic terms. Most studies of the subject reveal an economic impact of between 1 to 2.5% of gross domestic product with further unquantified impacts on households, businesses and local communities that experience fire. This subject and other cost of risk "Icebergs" was the subject of a Geneva Association meeting held in Munich and hosted by Munich RE.

GnoSys has made a number of contributions to the evaluation of the societal and economic impact of fire particularly in regard to residential impacts and of the national costs of fire with attention given to international comparisons based upon fire statistical evidence.

It was a pleasure then to be able to give an invited contribution to this MORE 22 seminar and to highlight the essential economic factors affecting the total cost of fire. This was illustrated by discussing the UK and the USA's approach to assessing the total national cost of fire and to highlight the gaps that exist in obtaining a more complete picture of the iceberg. This contribution also stressed the need for more extensive collection of fire impact data particularly in Europe.

If you have an interest in this GnoSys presentation you may download it:

• Presentation: Cost of Fire Risk (pdf: 443 KB)

TranSpec™ Goes from Strength to Strength

TranSpec™ has been involved in another campaign looking at the quality of detanked transformer winding insulation for Doble Europe and National Grid.

This methodology allows the rapid, non-destructive analysis and spatial mapping of insulation condition. Results are used not only to asset manage transformers but to feed back on the design peformance of current transformers.

The work involved our TranSpec™ team getting results in a very wet and windy recycling facility in Wales. All the efforts were worthwhile and proved the operation of TranSpec™ in adverse conditions. A further exciting development in our TranSpec™ journey.

Optical fibre and cable, friction testing -get the complete picture

In collaboration with BT, we have set up rigs that can test the friction involved in deploying optical fibres and their cables into conduit. Using these rigs we are able to gather information about the dynamic behaviour of optical fibre cables during the process of being "blown" or pulled into conduit. These results provide a useful guide to the performance of these cables when deployed in the field. We have proved the reproducibility and now have a reliable testing protocol in place.

The test produces a dynamic friction force profile for each experiment, which can be analysed in a spreadsheet package that supports multiparameter graphing. Friction force measurements can be taken from any part of the force-time profile.

The friction measurements can be combined with our other well established surface and bulk analytical methods to give a property performance profile of both the optical fibre cable and the conduit.

Plastics Recycling Opportunities  

GnoSys recently completed a scoping study for the South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) in association with NISP and WRAP to capture the region's industrial production, use and recycling of plastics. SWRDA were able to gain an understanding of the current and possible future demand for plastics use and increased recovery and use of recycled plastics. We compiled a database which is now being used as an information source for SWRDA.

This was a complex market to engage as plastics have a huge range of applications and are used in many business sectors. The database we compiled identified the companies operating in the Region with the highest capacity of plastic use. We mapped this geographically against baseline economic data and identified waste and recycling opportunities.

We also conducted a survey to assess the opportunities in the Region. We made recommendations to SWRDA estimating that the Region has an opportunity to create a £100M p.a. high value plastics recycling industry with the potential to employ upwards of 500 to 1,000 people. This could initially service Food Packaging, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and End of Life Vehicle (ELV) waste streams. It would also provide industrial infrastructure and expertise that could service future plastics waste processing needs from the construction, aerospace and marine sectors.

So, are there opportunities for development, investment and employment in plastics recycling? From our survey of this Region the answer is definitely yes.

The report is available to download:

• SWRDA: Recyclate Market Development
• SW Region Plastics Scoping Study (pdf: 860 KB)

A Word from the Directors

GnoSys was spun out from the University of Surrey in 2006 and we have been pleased to retain a laboratory and offices on the campus and to continue to interact with our colleagues both at Surrey and other universities in the UK and Europe. We also value the continued interactions we have with other research and technology organisations and consultancies worldwide.

Engaging the needs and providing solutions to both private and public sector issues remains at the heart of the work of GnoSys through applying rigorous science, engineering, economic and environmental principles to our activities. We also value our long term relationships with client organisations in all of the sectors we address.

We hope you find this first issue of GnoSys-Times interesting and of some value. Please tell us what you think and feel free to contact us on any of the topics that may interest you.

Forthcoming Topics

GnoSys is involved in two new Technology Strategy Board projects that have recently begun and related to sustainable development of materials and products.

The first is in the Zero Emissions area and is examining the development of zero emission flame retardant systems for next generation bedding in collaboration with FIRA, Silent Night, Edward Clay and the Salvation Army.

The second is in the Materials for Energy area and is on sustainable power cable materials technologies with improved whole life performance which includes the development of materials for high temperature power cable operation in collaboration with National Grid, Dow Chemicals and the University of Southampton.

We will devote more space to these topics in the next issue.