SPAIN, Nov. 2019 - Centro Stirling (CS) has invited the Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) Actuator research team from the Department of Aerospace Engineering, UPM to collaborate and engage in knowledge transfer of related research and funded the collaboration. CS is a research and design unit for Mondragon Components in Spain. It integrates different leading cooperatives in the household components and subsystems sector with emphasis on the quality of their products and their contribution to energy efficiency and the introduction of renewable energies in the domestic sphere.

The initial discussion began after meeting between the Director of Innovation, Mondragon Components with Dr. Ermira Junita Abdullah at the Stirling Engine Conference 2018 in Taiwan. An NDA was signed in December 2018, after which a series of meetings were held to establish a new system design for applications under Mondragon Components Cooperative.

A webinar on Shape Memory Alloy Actuator was conducted between 14 - 15 May 2019 to introduce the technology to the Centro Stirling technical team from the Mechanical Department and Electronics Department. Researchers from UPM and CS then continued to collaborate on new design and experiment setup via online platform Webex from June - September 2019.

The research team from UPM, represented by Dr. Ermira Junita Abdullah and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dayang Laila, together with a local partner, Mr. Azizi Malek, founder of Robotic Space Technology and alumni of UPM, traveled to Centro Stirling facilities in Aretxbaleta, Spain to conduct further training, fabrication, system integration and testing of the new design from 7 - 11 October 2019.

The objectives of this visit were successfully achieved, and Centro Stirling is looking to explore further application using the research produced in this collaboration. Currently, experimental testing of the new systems is still underway at Centro Stirling. Post-processing of data and analysis will be conducted by both teams with plans to co-publish the research findings.

Date of Input: 21/11/2019 | Updated: 27/11/2019 | nsyahirah