Ahead of speaking at the
Thermal Engineering for Transport seminar, we caught up with
Mitch Hiscock, Performance Engineer at SAIC Motor UK.
Mitch explained his role and involvement in thermal engineering, the critical challenges, five to ten year vision and what he is looking forward to at the event.
Q: Could you briefly explain your role and involvement in thermal engineering?
Mitch Hiscock (MH): At the SAIC Motor UK Technical Centre, my role as a Performance Engineer is to research and develop application ready projects for passenger vehicle internal combustion engines. The development and quantification of the benefit of new technologies in terms of both performance and economy is key to competitive SAIC products in the future.
Q: In your experience, what is the number one challenge facing engineers specialising in thermal management and the associated sectors?
MH: Understanding the role of the internal combustion engine within the electrified powertrain and how the two propulsion systems interact thermally in synergy with each other. The traditional goal of ICE thermal efficiency remains, however the duty cycle is changing along with customer expectations. The additional technology provides a great opportunity in terms of control optimisation. The challenge is to exploit these opportunities to deliver a cleaner transport solution while meeting customer demand.
Q: What is the most exciting development in this field at the moment, either within your company or in the industry in general?
MH: The part electrification of the powertrain system provides great opportunities thermally. ICE subsystems can be more easily electrified allowing for more accurate multi-parameter control, maximising a technology’s impact by optimising the duty cycle to maximise the efficiency. The heavy use of CAE tools in the design process enable us to perform design loops to ensure that once manufactured, our research technologies are optimised which maximises the impact of the research.
Q: What do you see for the future of thermal engineering over the next 5 to 10 years?
MH: Tougher passenger car legislation drives the reduction of CO2, the difficulty is finding a balance between performance and economy. Legislative cycles are more challenging than ever and the day where systems are optimised for the worst case have long past. Due to these changes, thermal systems will continue to maintain their importance due to both the complexity of the phenomena present and the opportunity to completely optimise.
Q: What are you most looking forward to by attending and presenting at the Thermal Engineering for Transport seminar?
MH: The opportunity to present and critically discuss the research in this field across industries. Cross-industry discussion often reveals different approaches or methodologies that could be incorporated into our approach.