Dr Ali (Archie) Kubba PhD, MSc, BSc

Department of Mechanical Engineering
Honorary Research Fellow
Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in the UK

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0)121 415 9029
Email: a.e.s.kubba@bham.ac.uk
Twitter: @ArchieMarty

Address: Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering
The Bio-medical and Micro Engineering Research Centre
Mechanical Engineering Building
University of Birmingham, Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT

Dr Ali Kubba is an Honorary Research Fellow and an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in the UK. He is specialised in Micro Electromechanical Systems and vehicle dynamics with research interests in this area. He also currently holds the position of Lead Researcher within Fusion Innovations Ltd. which is based in Birmingham Research Park in Edgbaston.

Dr Kubba has published over 10 research papers in scientific journals as well as presented several conference papers in the fields of Energy Harvesting, Micro Systems, Piezoelectric transducers, and tyre monitoring systems technologies at universities based in the UK, Europe and the US. As a Lead Researcher, he has worked on a number of Fusion Innovations Ltd. research projects which were mainly funded by Innovate UK, SMART, and EPSRC.

He is an enthusiastic creative engineer who has developed several innovative devices used in various applications, including Energy Harvesting, vehicle monitoring, Pressure sensing and other low-emission technologies, as a result of which two patents are currently pending.

Qualifications

Dr Kubba is an Honorary Research Fellow within the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Lead Researcher within Fusion Innovations Ltd.:

PhD in Mechanical Engineering, University of Birmingham, 2013. Thesis titled “Wireless tyre condition monitoring system self-powered by means of energy harvesting”.
Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in the UK, 2012.
MSc in Applied Mechanics, Class 1, Nahrain University, 2005. Thesis titled “Analysis of Two-Dimensional Elastic-Plastic Fracture Problems”.
BSc in Mechanical Engineering, Class 1, Nahrain University, 2002. Dr Kubba was awarded a Certificate of Outstanding Students (1st ranked) among all the Universities graduates in Iraq in the field of Mechanical Engineering in August 2002.

Biography

Dr Kubba qualified with a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Nahrain University in 2002. He went on to study for an MSc in Applied Mechanics from the same university, then pursued his doctoral studies and was awarded a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Birmingham in 2013 where he continued to work as a Postgraduate Teaching Assistant and now holds the position of Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Mechanical Engineering.

In 2012, he became an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in the UK.

At the University of Birmingham, he acted both as a personal tutor and project supervisor, and co-supervised first- and second-year students within the School of Mechanical Engineering. In addition, he has taught modules in Applied Mechanics, Electronics and Computer Systems, Mechatronics, Matlab for engineers, Mathematics, Vehicle Engineering, Analytical Techniques, MS Project and several Applied Mechanics laboratories. Furthermore, he has facilitated internships of students within the School of Mechanical Engineering, which enabled them to carry out a range of tasks as part of Fusion Innovations Ltd. projects. More recently, Dr Kubba has been involved in the University of Birmingham mentoring scheme of students in the School of Mechanical Engineering, following the initiative of the Career Network.

He has also conducted research in the fields of Micro Electromechanical Systems, vehicle dynamics, Energy Harvesting, Micro Systems, Environment Pollution and tyre monitoring systems technologies, among others.

Research

Research themes

Environment Pollution, Renewables, High Efficiency Heating System, Super High Efficiency Sterling Engine, Shape Memory Alloys, Synthetic Jet Actuators, Energy Harvesting, Micro Systems, Piezoelectric transducers, Induced Vibration, and Tyre monitoring Systems Technologies.

Please refer to Fusion Innovations Ltd. website for further details on current research activities

Publications

Kubba, Ammar et al. 2018. ‘Modelling of Contact Patch in Dual Chamber Pneumatic Tyres’, Tire Society and Technology. Forthcoming.
Cao, Siyang et al. 2016, ‘Flexible Bond Wire Capacitive Strain Sensor for Vehicle Tyres’, MDPI Sensors, 16(6), 929. doi:10.3390/s16060929.
Kubba, Ali. et al. 2016, ‘A micro-capacitive pressure sensor design and modelling’, Copernicus Publications, J. Sens. Sens. Syst., 5, 95-112. https://doi.org/10.5194/jsss-5-95-2016.
Kubba, Ali. et al. 2014. ‘Modeling of Strain Energy Harvesting in Pneumatic Tires Using Piezoelectric Transducer’, Tire Society and Technology, 2014, 42(1), 16-34. Nominated for the David Brewster Cobb Prize in 2014 at The University of Birmingham.
Kubba, Ali. et al. 2014. ‘A Comprehensive Study on Technologies of Tyre Monitoring Systems and Possible Energy Solutions’, MDPI-Sensors, 14(6), 10306-10345.
Kubba, Ali. et al. 2013. ‘Efficiency Enhancement of a Cantilever-Based Vibration Energy Harvester’, MDPI-Sensors, 14(1), 188-211.
Kubba, Ali. et al. Patent (201120434640.5, 2271225), 4/11/2011. Granted on 4/July/2012.
Alhaboubi, Naseer. et al. 2008. ‘Bubble Column Hydrodynamic Study with Experimental Investigation and CFD Computations’ published in Nahrain University – College of Engineering Journal, 60-69. Also presented at the 1st Regional Conference of Eng. Sci. NUCEJ Spatial ISSUE, Baghdad – Iraq, 2-5 November 2008.