Ashley is a lecturer in vehicle electrification with expertise in batteries, hydrogen fuel cells and electric vehicles. He received an MEng degree in Automotive Engineering from 含羞草视频 in 2011, followed by a PhD in the thermal management of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in 2015. He then worked as a research associate on a joint project between the United Kingdom and South Korea for advanced fuel cell technology, before becoming a lecturer in vehicle electrification in 2018.

Ashley is open to enquiries from potential PhD students, industry and collaborators.

Qualifications

• MEng (hons) in Automotive Engineering, 含羞草视频, 2011
• PhD, 含羞草视频, 2015

Key awards

Ashley’s research focuses on the design, development, and diagnostics of powertrain systems for electrified vehicles. This includes battery cell/pack level modelling, in-situ characterisation and thermal management of batteries and development of on-board diagnostic techniques. Ashley also specialises in hydrogen fuel cells where he researches system level modelling, degradation diagnostics, cell/pack manufacturing and whole vehicle thermal management. Ashley’s research spans from fundamental academic research through to applied research in collaboration with industrial partners.

Key research areas:

• Batteries – modelling, thermal management, degradation diagnostics and prognostics
• Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel cells (PEMFC) - modelling, manufacture, testing and analysis
• On-board diagnostics of electrochemical systems; including Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) and Incremental Capacity Analysis (ICA)
• Fluid flow and heat transfer in electrochemical devices
• System level analysis and integration
• Evaporative cooling

Grants and contracts:

Co-Investigator (Co-I):

• ViVID – Virtual Vehicle Integration and Development, funded by the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC)
• Design and development of a four-wheeled electric vehicle for research, teaching and outreach in Tamil Nadu, India. Funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) UK-India Industry Academia Partnership Programme (IAPP)
• Capital Award for Core Equipment, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

• Sustainable vehicle powertrains (TTP401)
• Battery technology (TTC202)
• Vehicle Design and Development (TTA107)

Fly, A., Meyer, Q., Whiteley, M., Iacoviello, F., Neville, T., Shearing, P.R., Brett, D.J.L., Kim, C., Chen, R. (2019) X-ray tomography and modelling study on the mechanical behaviour and performance of metal foam flow-fields for polymer electrolyte fuel cells. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 44(14). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2019.01.206

Thiagarajan, V., Karthikeyan, P., Thanarajan, K., Neelakrishnan, S., Manoharan, R., Chen, R., Fly, A., Anand, R., Karuppa Raj, T.R., Sendhil Kumar, N. (2019) Experimental investigation on DMFCs using reduced noble metal loading with NiTiO3 as supportive material to enhance cell performances. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 44(26). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2019.03.244

Fly, A., Kim, K., Gordon, J., Butcher, D., Chen, R. (2019) Liquid water transport in porous metal foam flow-field fuel cells: A two-phase numerical modelling and ex-situ experimental study. Energies, 12(7). https://doi.org/10.3390/en12071186

Jinuntuya, F., Whiteley, M., Chen, R., Fly, A. (2018) The effects of gas diffusion layers structure on water transportation using X-ray computed tomography based Lattice Boltzmann method. Journal of Power Sources, 378. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2017.12.016

Fly, A., Butcher, D., Meyer, Q., Whiteley, M., Spencer, A., Kim, C., Shearing, P.R., Brett, D.J.L., Chen, R. (2018) Characterisation of the diffusion properties of metal foam hybrid flow-fields for fuel cells using optical flow visualisation and X-ray computed tomography. Journal of Power Sources, 395. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2018.05.070

Fly, A., Thring, R.H. (2016) A comparison of evaporative and liquid cooling methods for fuel cell vehicles. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 41(32). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2016.06.089

Whiteley, M., Fly, A., Leigh, J., Dunnett, S., Jackson, L. (2015) Advanced reliability analysis of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells using Petri-Net analysis and fuel cell modelling techniques. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 40(35). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2015.01.154

External Collaborators

Academic: 

• University College London – UK
• Hanbat National University – South Korea
• Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) – South Korea
• Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) – India
• PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, India

Industry: 

• Ford Motor Company
• McLaren Applied
• IPG Automotive
• Intelligent Energy
• Rolls-Royce
• Horiba-Mira