The Golden Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) Awards celebrate the exceptional achievements of projects and individuals that have shaped innovation over the past 50 years.
Bristol’s collaboration with the global firm Helitune finished joint second runner up in the awards this year, ahead of thousands of eligible nominees, for the successive industry and research gains it enabled since its inception in 2006.
Helitune enlisted the expertise of Bristol’s engineers almost 20 years ago to help solve a long-standing problem of how to reduce damaging vibrations in helicopter rotors. The KTP successfully developed the revolutionary 'Minimum Flight Routine (MFR)' technology, incorporating machine learning algorithms developed by researchers in the Faculty of Engineering, which is now deployed in all Helitune products.
The MFR technique was underpinned by a fundamental EPSRC-funded research project which was carried out under Bristol’s Emeritus Professor Nick Lieven's supervision in the 1990s. The resulting algorithm was adopted by Helitune and used to take a product to market some 15 years after the initial research findings emerged.
Professor Michele Barbour, Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor Enterprise & Innovation at the University of Bristol, said: “This Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) has been a fantastic example of how collaboration between academics and industry can deliver real benefits to both parties. Helitune approached the University with an industry problem and the solution that we devised, MFR, ultimately became a world-leading technology in helicopter rotor track and balance testing which has the remarkable capacity to register optical and vibration data from aircraft and calculate the adjustments needed in real time to help make helicopters fly more smoothly.
For the University, the KTP enhanced Bristol’s reputation as a world-class centre for applied aerospace research leading to international prizes and follow-on funding and the outputs also supported a REF impact case study. This is a great way to highlight the benefit to our University and our partner Helitune, and to showcase the power of the KTP more broadly - I'm a huge advocate of this longstanding scheme”.
The breakthrough technology developed by Helitune, using Bristol’s expertise, halved the flight hours required by helicopters to test rotor blade vibration, thus reducing operating costs for test flights. Helitune has since gone on to become a market leader in helicopter maintenance market by offering civil and military operators a cost-effective, more accurate way to minimise damaging helicopter vibration.
As well as securing major contracts worth millions with companies across the world, the development allowed the company to expand its workforce from its base in North Devon to France, Germany and the USA. It also bolstered investment in research and development, reflecting a culture-shift towards research-led innovation.
Peter Morrish, Technology and Customer Support Manager at Helitune said: “The KTP was transformational for Helitune. As an SME based in rural Northern Devon, we were fortunate to recruit exceptional Associates whose expertise brought new knowledge and technologies into our business. This collaboration enabled us to develop a world-leading helicopter balancing solution, including our first digital twin of helicopter rotor systems. Our relationship with the University of Bristol was genuinely collaborative from start to finish, and that partnership was absolutely key to our success. I cannot thank Nick Lieven and his team enough for their support and ingenuity.”
For the University, the KTP led to a further eight research and development projects, providing £2.1m of research funding; a Royal Society paper taking the research from pure structural dynamics to the field of prognostics; two international prizes for best papers at the 2012 American Helicopter Society and Australian International Aerospace Conference; and winner of the Best KTP Award in 2012.
KTPs help UK businesses to improve their competitiveness, productivity and performance by accessing the knowledge, technology and skills that are available within world-class UK universities, colleges and research organisations.
KTPs are part-funded by UKRI through Innovate UK. More information available at: https://iuk-ktp.org.uk/