The University of Birmingham is proud to support its long-time industrial partner, CALGAVIN, at a ground-breaking ceremony of a new joint centre.
Pipes are used universally to transfer fluids from place to place, but they can also be used to heat or cool fluids, to mix them and to carry out reactions. The new CALGAVIN research centre is about optimising conditions in pipe flow in order to do all these things, by design of sophisticated flow-modifying inserts.
The Centre will use mathematical modelling to design such inserts, which can then be made by processes such as 3D printing and rapidly tested in CALGAVIN’s state-of-the-art test rigs and in the University’s advanced flow imaging facilities.
A current joint research project supported by Innovate UK has successfully demonstrated this approach for highly viscous liquids, typical of polymers and foodstuffs, leading to a new CALGAVIN product range.
The Centre, which will be located near CALGAVIN’s current base in Alcester, Worcestershire, will be the focal point for the integration of both fundamental university-led research as well as commercial, application-specific research.
The new Centre will provide undergraduate students with hands-on training and experience of industrial projects that address real-life practical challenges. The Centre will also undertake joint research projects in which postgraduate students, research staff and academics will work alongside industrial process engineers and product developers to turn research into applications.
Founded over 40 years ago, CALGAVIN is a global technical consultant, developer, and manufacturer of unique thermal enhancement options for the process industries.
Birmingham’s partnership with CALGAVIN began in 1980, when a small research and pilot production facility was set up. Since then, the partnership has developed, centred on Birmingham’s School of Chemical Engineering. Over the years, CALGAVIN has employed many students through industrial placement and joint research projects, some of whom are now members of its highly-skilled staff team.
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