Electrical | Posted on May 17th, 2013 by Laura Bowen
Magnetic levitation, or maglev, involves suspending materials with magnetic fields. When gravity, acceleration, and other forces weigh down on an object, they can all be counteracted by magnetic pressure. Some uses that may appear to go completely against nature can actually be explained by fundamental science.
Electrical | Posted on May 8th, 2013 by Daniel Smith
In a paper titled “Choosing a Gate Dielectric for Graphene Based Transistors” the applications of a semiconducting form of graphene are examined. As we have seen before, single-layer graphene is not a semiconductor, it is a zero band gap conductor (a semimetal). Efforts are well underway to introduce band gaps to graphene, which would make it semiconducting with a room temperature mobility an order of magnitude higher than silicon. The race is already underway to find applications for such a material once the remaining technical challenges have been overcome. An application of semiconducting graphene is the design of next-generation, fast switching semiconductor metal oxide field effect transistors (MOSFETs).
Electrical | Posted on May 7th, 2013 by Bjorn Sjodin
The new COMSOL Multiphysics Wave Optics Module provides engineers with a great set of features for designing their simulations. One of the new capabilities included in this module is the groundbreaking Beam Envelope Method for electromagnetic full-wave propagation. We hope this feature will become instrumental to the optics community.
Read more on: Taking Care of Fast Oscillations with the Wave Optics Module
Electrical | Posted on April 30th, 2013 by Fanny Littmarck
Engineers working with lasers, optical fibers and waveguides, nonlinear optical processes, metamaterials, and other large photonic devices ultimately deal with wave optics. Photonic devices are considered “large” when they are larger than a wavelength of light. In that case, you deal with optics frequencies as opposed to radio frequencies, and the device is not complex enough to justify approximating with rays.
Electrical | Posted on April 29th, 2013 by Bernt Nilsson
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is doing some really cool things for its members. Chances are that you have attended their top rated conferences, downloaded papers from IEEE Xplore, or participated in one of many local chapter events. For electrical engineers like me, IEEE certainly is a rock to lean on for continued education and to connect with colleagues from around the world. Even if you are not a member you can tap into IEEE resources such as newsletters, websites, and their flagship publication — IEEE Spectrum. With over 400,000 subscribers and sharp editorial it is with great expectations I pick up the magazine from my mailbox (you can get it as a PDF too) each month.
Read more on: IEEE Spectrum Puts the Spotlight on Multiphysics
Electrical | Posted on April 23rd, 2013 by Bjorn Sjodin
Optical fibers are used to transmit information in the form of light through an optical waveguide made of glass fibers. The light is sent in a series of pulses that can be translated as binary code, allowing the transfer of information through the fiber. Because such pulses can travel with less attenuation and are immune to electromagnetic disturbances, fibers are used instead of traditional metallic wires thus allowing data transmission over longer distances and at higher bandwidths.
Electrical | Posted on April 1st, 2013 by Fanny Littmarck
In the world of bearings, there are many different types to choose from. For certain applications, magnetic bearings trump their mechanical counterparts in several regards. In order to understand how the bearing will perform, using a simulation tool to calculate design parameters is a good idea.
Electrical | Posted on March 27th, 2013 by Daniel Smith
In a previous blog entry I discussed some of the exotic properties of graphene. The fact that graphene consists of a single layer of atoms means the aspect ratio of any graphene-based structure may be very high. High aspect geometries present their own array of modeling challenges.
Electrical | Posted on March 4th, 2013 by Fanny Littmarck
Last week you saw how you can simulate the heating of a car’s brake discs. This reminded me of another type of brake — the eddy current brake (also known as magnetic brake). Whereas the other model was a study in heat transfer, eddy current brakes deal with electromagnetics.
Electrical | Posted on February 22nd, 2013 by Phil Kinnane
“The Bumblebee Flies Anyway” was a book by Robert Cormier that I read as a young teenager. In it, Cormier describes how bumblebees are natural anomalies as they seemingly do not have the aerodynamic capability to actually fly. Their wing span and flapping speed should not provide enough lift to allow flying, and this is a fact that I have always associated with bumblebees since. Yet, this has been proven not to be true, as a closer investigation of the rotation of and vortices around a bumblebee’s wings, along with a proper aerodynamic calculation, indicate that bumblebees are perfectly able to fly.
