Byron Kennedy

The founder of the University’s Sunswift solar car project in 1996, Byron Kennedy (BE ’96) has taken up the cause of energy efficiency as a complement to alternative energy sources.

As an electrical engineer involved with solar car teams for both UNSW and the Northern Territory University (NTU), Byron Kennedy has helped develop energy-efficient motors that are proving useful far beyond their original applications. With research partners Dean Patterson and Steve Camilleri, Byron Kennedy heads up In Motion Technologies for the commercialisation of energy-efficient technology.

"Basically, the motors we have all derive from the same (NTU) solar car wheel-motor concept and we just scale it up or down depending on the application," he says. "Our motor is two discs that are next to each other, two plates that rotate. The initial reason for that design was so that it would fit into a wheel very easily. After we did the analysis, we found there was a whole range of other advantages to this motor."

For instance, their smallest motor fits in a normal ceiling fan. Whereas a normal fan uses around 75 Watts, a fan using In Motion Technology’s uses 20 Watts.

"The Australian Greenhouse Office are encouraging people to put up solar panels, and we’re saying if you use energy efficient appliances, you’re achieving the same thing. If the two technologies are combined, you can get really good results."

First drawn to environmental as opposed to electrical engineering, Byron settled on electrical engineering because, as he says, "chemistry wasn’t my forté". "One of the things you learn as you’re going through your uni course is that most engineers end up in management. And you either accept that or look for an alternate career path," says Byron.

His involvement with, and subsequent thesis on the University’s 1996 solar car and its performance in the Darwin to Adelaide World Solar Challenge (they came ninth), ensured interest in his skills and experience, and after six months with communications company Telegnosis, he joined members from Queensland University’s solar car team in developing a hybrid electric bus.

After a year’s travelling, Byron moved to Darwin to keep a previous agreement to work with Dean Patterson at NTU. "Dean and the team at NTU had designed a motor for a solar car, and the aim was to take that motor and put it into a conventional car. At the time, it was exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to understand the technical aspects of a project before I got into in a position of telling other people what to do."

Three years have been spent converting the car to electric power, and free time was spent modifying the motor for other applications — bikes, scooters and ceiling fans. Indeed, motors that Byron and the team have modified could soon turn up in some interesting places.

"The dream of the US Navy is to have a completely electric ship; to make less noise and to replace the hydraulics, for simplicity. Dean is currently working on aircraft launchers where we’re looking to replace the steam catapults used to shoot planes off the ships with what is essentially a big rolledout solar car motor.

"We’re also trying to work out how to sell our ideas - which is not something taught in engineering. There’s a whole raft of people with an interest in our technology, it’s just about us getting out there and selling it to them."

Byron has always been interested in hands-on research and started the Sunswift solar car project when looking for a Year 4 thesis topic. "I had done industrial training and that gave me hands-on with the normal electrical engineering jobs you would get, but a local power authority or private company doesn't usually have the ability, time or resources to allow a student to build something different."

The Sunswift project threw Byron and the team in the deep end in terms of conceiving a project, finding funds and getting it up and running. "You can be enthusiastic about a lot of projects because you don’t know all of the problems you’re going to face. Some people thought we were mad, but that’s not bad territory to stray into. I’d always encourage that."

The skills and the experience acquired through his university project are now enabling Byron to make the most of his latest venture — establishing a business and licensing the kind of new technology that will support a more energy-efficient future.