Professor Paul Stewart - Chair of Control Engineering.

BEng, PhD, PGCertHE, SMIEEE, FHEA, FIMechE, Chartered Engineer

Professor Stewart is Pro Vice Chancellor Research at the University of Lincoln, where in 2009 he was Founding Head of the new £37M University of Lincoln School of Engineering, the first new Engineering Faculty in the UK for over 20 years.

Prior to joining Lincoln University, he was Senior Lecturer in the Electrical Machines and Drives Group, in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Sheffield. In January 2009 he became Professor and Head of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering at the University of Salford, where he was also co-director of the CASE Centre for control and Systems Engineering, and Associate Head Research: Engineering and Physical Sciences. He conducts research in the fields of control theory applications, electromechanical motion control, power systems, multi-objective optimisation and intelligent systems. Prior to pursuing an academic career, he worked for 14-years in the automotive industry, specialising in drivetrain development and tuning, and has also held posts in the Rolls-Royce University Technology Centres for Control Systems, and Advanced Electrical Machines.

Prof. Stewart has served on Organising/Programme Committees for many international conferences, and is a referee for numerous international journals. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Academic Initiative for the More-Electric Aircraft (AIMEA), which co-ordinated the activities of Nottingham, Sheffield, Bristol and Manchester universities to the EC-funded MOET (More Open Electrical Technologies) Integrated Projects. In addition, he is a Member of the EPSRC Peer Review College, and a Member of the Electrical Power Systems NAC (National Advisory Committee) – (EPSRC, DTI, MOD, BAe Systems, Raytheon, Airbus, QinetiQ, Goodrich, Rolls-Royce, General Electric). He was also been co-opted as a Member of the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership R&D Committee and Innovation Working Group. Prof. Stewart is a member of the European Network of Excellence in Evolutionary Computing and has helped pioneer the application of modern heuristics to control system design. Examples of his research include EC funded projects on electromechanical valve actuation, automotive drive-by-wire systems and integrated modelling and optimisation toolboxes for Matlab. His research extends from free-piston linear energy converter technology (GR/S97507/01), which is being undertaken in collaboration with Group Lotus Ltd., and intelligent domestic central heating controls (Yorkshire Forward Grant) to the modelling and optimal control of electrical power generation/energy storage systems on ‘more-electric’ aircraft (EC: FP6-2006-Aero-1).

Professor Stewart has led major scoping and feasibility projects on power conversion, regenerative energy, fuel cells and energy storage with UK partners: Group Lotus PLC, GreenUrban Ltd., and ITI Energy Scotland Ltd, and commenced a major scoping/feasibility study on regenerative energy storage, fuel cells and energy management in February ’09 for the Carbon Trust in collaboration with Group Lotus PLC and E4Tech Ltd.

In addition, he was Chairman of the IEEE UK&RI Industrial Electronics Society (2009-10), sits on the editorial board of the International Journal of Automation and Computing and the editorial board of the journal Energies, and is a Member of the Society of Automotive Engineers, and the Deans of Engineering Alliance.

Current Research Projects

Zero Constraint Free Piston Energy Converter
Quasi-Constant Volume Combustion
Energy Recovery from Landing Aircraft
Integrating and Automating Airport Operations
EPSRC Network in Airport Energy Technologies
USAF EOARD MultiSesor Data Fusion for Robust Aircraft Design
BioChemistry/Aerospace Discipline Hopping Research

Recent Research Funding

PROFESSOR PAUL STEWART RECENT FUNDED RESEARCH AS PI

• EU Framework 7 – Multibody Advanced Airship for Transport (MAAT) – Novel Air Transport Vehicles Collaborative Project. Electrical propulsion, Flight Surface Actuation and Control, Aircraft Electrical Power Architectures workpackages. (£366,000, Funded Sept 2011 Start).

• EPSRC Grant: GR/S97507/01 'Zero Constraint Free Piston Energy Converter'
PI: Paul Stewart. Co-Investigator: D. Howe. (University of Sheffield) Collaborating University: Dr Rui Chen, Dept. Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering, University of Loughborough UK. Collaborating Company: Lotus Engineering, Consortium Project Manager: Paul Stewart. P. Stewart: £326,00, Lboro £260,000, Lotus Engineering Contribution: £330,000.

• Yorkshire Forward RDA Grant. 'Self-Powering, Active Valve'
PI: Paul Stewart, Co-Investigators: Dr Chris Bingham, Dr Dave Stone. (University of Sheffield) Collaborating Company: Pegler Ltd. P. Stewart: £331,000 / 2 years, Pegler Ltd Contribution: £700,00

• EU R&D Support Scheme. ‘Electronically Actuated Valve Systems (ELTRAV) for distributed intelligent heating control.
Co-investigators: Paul Stewart and Dr Chris Bingham - University of Sheffield: (£120k/6 months)

• Electric Vehicle – Energy Management Systems:
PIs Paul Stewart and Dr Chris Bingham - University of Sheffield Collaborating Companies: Lotus Engineering Ltd. And ITI Energy Consultancy Project

• EU Framework 6 More Open Electrical Technologies (MOET) work package 3.2.2 Optimised power systems, architecture and energy storage for the more electric aircraft.
Collaborating Company: Airbus Toulouse Fr. PI Paul Stewart £143,000

• EPSRC Grant: EP/H004351/1 Feasibility Study, Energy Recovery from Landing Aircraft.
Collaborating Universities: Dr. M Eftekhari, Loughborough University and Dr. QC Zhong, Liverpool University Collaborating company: Airbus/EADS Innovation Works PI (University of Lincoln) Paul Stewart £199,224

• EPSRC Grant: EP/H003150/1 Airport energy technologies network
20 Academic and 17 Industrial Partners Collaborating University: Dr. Tim Ryley, University of Loughborough PI (University of Lincoln) Paul Stewart £201,103

•EPSRC Grant: EP/H004424/1 Integrating and Automating Low Carbon Airport Operations. Collaborating companies: Manchester and Zurich Airports Collaborating Universities: Dr. M Eftekhari, Loughborough University and Dr. QC Zhong, Liverpool University Lead RO: Professor E.K. Burke, University of Nottingham £681,924 PI (University of Lincoln): Paul Stewart £169,857

• United States Air Force European Office of Aeronautical Research and Development Sensor Fusion, Prognostics, Diagnostics and Failure Mode Control for Complex systems
1 year personal research grant. PI (University of Lincoln): Paul Stewart £17,071

• Carbon Trust: Electric/hybrid vehicle energy storage systems scoping study In collaboration with Dr Chris Bingham - University of Sheffield, Lotus Engineering Ltd., and E4Tech Ltd. Consultancy

Research Interests

Control and systems engineering.
Advanced condition monitoring, Data fusion in multiple sensing, Intelligent control, System optimisation, Search and scheduling, Complex engineering systems design and control, state-of-health prognostics and diagnostics

Mechatronics.
Electric and hybrid vehicles, Drive by wire (Steer-by-Wire, Brake-by-Wire etc), Vehicle dynamics and control, Flight dynamics and control, Internal Combustion Engine control, Built environment intelligent energy control

Electronic and electrical systems.
Electrical architectures, Aircraft power and actuation systems, Electrical machines and drives, Electrical and Electro-mechanical actuators, Renewable energy system management, Energy storage, Electric and Hybrid vehicles, Power electronic energy converters, Distributed generation and Grid connection.

Energy and Optimisation.
Power architectures, Power management, Energy efficiency, Multiobjective optimisation and design, Advanced hardware in the loop experimentation

Current Research Projects

Recent Research Funding

Research Interests

Publications