A bright spark AND a diamond – the HV Lab turns 60
Departments UOM life 2 November 2018
Lightning doesn’t strike twice – unless you happen to be stood in the High Voltage (HV) Lab at The University of Manchester, that is.
On Sunday, this institution – officially named the National Grid Power Systems Research Centre – celebrates its Diamond Anniversary. We take a look back at its history and the achievements recorded here.
Cockcroft Laboratory
On 4 November 1958, the doors opened to a very exciting new engineering facility. The Cockcroft Laboratory was named after the scientist who opened it – Sir John Cockcroft. He studied mathematics here at Manchester University and returned to the city to study electrical engineering after serving in the First World War.
In 1951, Sir John was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for the pioneering work he and Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton conducted on the transmutation of atomic nuclei by artificially accelerated atomic particles. So, who better to open a facility where electrical experiments could be conducted on a massive scale?
Bright sparks
Today, the National Grid Power Systems Research Centre not only houses the largest academic high voltage facility in the UK. It’s also the country’s only location for scientists and engineers to undertake work at a scale suitable for 275kV and 400kV power systems.
To enter the HV Lab is a little like stepping on to the set of a Stanley Kubrick movie. The equipment is huge and futuristic, and when the lights dip and the sparks fly at the start of an experiment, you may even feel your hair stand on end.
However, the lab is as much about ‘tell’ as it is ‘show’. The work done here is committed to ensuring a reliable and sustainable energy supply system that meets a growing need, while also minimising environmental impact. Sound impossible? That’s why it’s called a ‘global challenge’!
Much of the work is carried out by researchers and academics at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, but the research they do is supported by industry, the UK government and the EU.
This isn’t study on a small scale, but purposeful research on a global-scale. Having said all that, there’s always time to blow up a drone!
Drone vs lightning
Ever wondered whether a drone could survive a lightning strike? It’s not such a crazy question if you want to get that perfect aerial shot when a storm turns the sky black – and it’s a question YouTube filmmaker Tom Scott wanted to answer when he paid a visit to the HV lab in 2017.
Well, as it turns out a drone is just as fallible to electricity as us mere mortals – and the drones that our engineers shocked with over 1 million volts of electricity generated by a 2 MV impulse generator did not live to fly again. You can read more about the experiment here.
The future
Not far from the current HV Lab, work is underway to construct a brand new home for engineers at The University of Manchester. The Manchester Engineering Campus Development will measure the same size as 11 football pitches once finished, and the new HV Lab will be one of its most eye-catching features.
Through huge windows, passers-by will be able to admire for themselves the brand new EPSRC-funded £1.85 million test equipment installed earlier this year. They may also be lucky enough to see literal sparks fly, and even witness a lightning strike.
Which just leaves us to wish the HV Lab a very happy 60th birthday – it really is a diamond.
Words – Hayley Cox
Images – Hayley Cox
Electrical and Electronic EngineeringHigh Voltage Lab
Congratulations on this 60th anniversary!