Alessio joined NPL in June 2021 as a Higher Engineer to work in the Atomic Clocks and Sensors group on the design, analysis (structural/thermal), manufacture, assembly & test of atomic clocks sub-systems for space applications. Currently, he supports NPL’s projects with the European Space Agency (ESA).
Before joining NPL, Alessio worked at Rolls-Royce plc for almost four years, moving between different departments and gaining experience in the field of turbofan engines (civil aerospace). At Rolls-Royce, he initially worked as a Development Engineer, supporting the build/test/disassembly of civil large engines for their validation & verification. In this role, he was a system engineer directly involved in all the stages of an engine development programme. He also worked as an Engine Performance Engineer, focusing on the effect of the extremes of the environment on the engine functions.
Alessio’s previous experience in a research environment was in his PhD project in Materials and Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Nottingham (Rolls Royce UTC in Manufacturing and On-Wing Technology). In this project, he collaborated in the ideation, prototyping and testing of several novel design concepts for a tool involved in the manufacture of turbine blades, while also developing models to simulate the contact between abrasive wheels.
Prior enrolling in this PhD project, Alessio graduated with a BSc and a MSc degree in Space Engineering at the University of Pisa (Italy), participating in several academic projects, such as the simulation of the Phase 0 of a satellite mission (orbits predictions, mass & power budgets for the propulsion systems). He also carried out an internship at a space propulsion company in Italy, simulating the qualification process for a small plasma thruster. This involved static and dynamic structural analyses of a payload subjected the mechanical loads associated to the launch vehicle prior reaching a low earth orbit.
Areas of Interest
- Mechanical design and structural/thermal analysis of space-based atomic clocks.
- Assembly, testing and validation of space-based atomic clocks.
- Characterisation of the mechanical environment associated with launch vehicles.
Publications
Profiled rotary dresser with controlled size and distribution of abrasive grits: Performance assessment, Spampinato, A., Axinte, D., Butler-Smith, P.
CIRP Annals, 2019, 68(1), pp. 349–352
On modelling the interaction between two rotating bodies with statistically distributed features: An application to dressing of grinding wheels, Spampinato, A., Axinte, D.A.,
Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 2017, 473(2208), 20170466
On the performance of a novel dressing tool with controlled geometry and density of abrasive grits, Spampinato, A., Axinte, D., Butler-Smith, P., Novovic, D.,
CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology, 2017, 66(1), pp. 337–340
Patents
- Abrasive machining (In situ machining of segments of a rotary abrasive machining tool), GB2574492A, Spampinato A., Novovic D., Axinte D, 2019
- Abrasive machining (Segmented dressers and abrasive wheels), US10933509B2, Spampinato A., Axinte D., Novovic D., Butler-Smith P., Rolls Royce PLC, 2017
- Abrading tool for a rotary dresser, US10239184B2, Axinte D., Novovic D., Butler-Smith P., Spampinato A., Daine M., Rolls Royce PLC, 2015
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