The decision about how to sequence simulation, rig testing and prototype work is one of the most consequential early decisions in an engine development programme. Choose the wrong sequence and the programme either spends money generating evidence it did not need at that stage, or commits to hardware before the most important technical questions have…
Electro-hydraulic actuator programmes that move too quickly from concept to hardware typically discover their most significant problems after the hardware exists, at a point where changes are expensive. The performance characteristics of an EHA system, including stability, dynamic response, thermal behaviour and load-case sensitivity, can be assessed analytically with sufficient rigour to justify hardware commitment….
The terms verification and validation are used interchangeably in many engineering programmes, which creates problems that are usually discovered at the wrong moment. A programme that completes verification and believes it has validated its product has answered a different question from the one it needed to answer. Understanding the distinction, and what evidence is required at each stage, is…
Technical due diligence on engineering programmes is often treated as a softer version of financial diligence: a check that the technology is real, that the team sounds credible, and that the demonstrator does something visually convincing. For software businesses, that level of review is sometimes adequate. For machinery, energy and mobility programmes, it is not. The technical…
Most engineering programmes that run into serious difficulty made their most consequential mistakes early, before a prototype existed and before significant money had been committed. The technical feasibility study is the point in a programme where those mistakes are cheapest to catch. The problem is that, in the rush to get to a hardware demonstrator, feasibility studies are often…
PTL carried out concept studies for in-wheel motor architecture and supported broader electrical systems development for electric-drive applications. The work required consideration of packaging, electromagnetics, thermal management and control electronics from the start rather than optimisation in isolation.
PTL has developed a selection of hydraulically controlled variable valve actuation systems, including fast-acting valvetrains, combining dynamic modelling, rig-based validation and specialist component development. The work supports advanced engine programmes where standard valve mechanisms cannot deliver the required flexibility or control authority.
PTL supported the design, software development, procurement and testing of a screw pump system for multiphase fluid applications in high-temperature, high-pressure down-well environments. These are conditions where conventional assumptions and standard testing approaches are often no longer valid.
PTL led the design of the drivetrain and cranktrain of a 75 kW thermal-output industrial heat pump, where the drivetrain operates within a pressurised helium environment. This application required novel engineering solutions well outside conventional reciprocating machinery approaches.
PTL supported the development of an ultra-high-pressure diesel injection system using a multi-domain approach combining hydro-mechanical system modelling, CFD, FEA and rig testing.
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