Summary of project
Spark Awards are awards of £5,000 to tackle problems of relevance to SMEs. The awards strive to build long term relationships with academics and companies and were introduced by the KTN’s predecessor, the PRIME Faraday Partnership. The awards have proved highly successful in delivering their objectives and have since been copied by many other organisations.
An innovative electric thruster with underwater vehicle and marine turbine applications. The project was developed at the University of Southampton using the £5,000 Spark Award, support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and industry. The thruster is currently being produced by UK company TSL Technology and sold around the world. Customers include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which is using the thruster on a new underwater vehicle.
Image of thruster.