Date: Oct 22, 2013 Author: press release Source: Company Data (
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On the 25th September, Stirling Consultant Dr. Stephen Tomlinson travelled to the 2013 SAE Aerotech Congress and Exhibition at the Palais des Congres de Montreal, in Canada to collect the prestigious 2011 Wright Brothers Medal Award for the paper entitled "Mathematical Model of Water Contamination in Aircraft Fuel Tanks". This was on behalf of Stirling co-authors, Dr. Luke Hickson, Dr. Matt Barker, and Dr. Darran Venn. Also in attendance at the ceremony, was Airbus Operations Ltd co-author Dr. Joseph Kah-Wah Lam.
The Wright Brothers award has been in existence since 1927 and considers "the value of the author's contribution to the state-of -the-art in the furtherance of flight technology whether it pertains to aircraft or spacecraft systems or their parts, components, subsystems or accessories." The award winning paper complements work conducted on an Airbus Fuel R&T project - NEPTUNE -- a water accumulation tool, which simulates the transportation of water through a fuel system and is used to develop water management strategies. The presence of water in aircraft fuel leads to problems with icing, gauging, corrosion and microbial contamination. The ultimate aim of the project is to improve the efficiency of aircraft water management systems and to maximise the overall fuel system's performance.
Dr. Tomlinson described the award ceremony as "a truly wonderful experience" and that he was "privileged and honoured to receive the Wright Brothers medal, jointly with my esteemed colleagues and friends from Airbus and Stirling Dynamics".
Stirling Dynamics would like to acknowledge the Research Initiative taken by Airbus Operations Ltd and in particular the drive and focus shown by Dr. Simon Masters and Dr. Joseph Kah-Wah Lam (shown in the photograph receiving the award with Dr. Tomlinson), both highly gifted scientists.
