Electrical Engineering Concepts Research Articles

Improvements to an Electrical Engineering Skill Audit Exam to Improve Student Mastery of Core EE Concepts

The San Jose State University Electrical Engineering (EE) Department implemented a skill audit exam for graduating seniors in 1999 with the purpose of assessing the teaching and the students' mastery of core concepts in EE. However, consistent low scores for the first years in which the test was administered suggested that students had little incentive in reviewing for passing the test. To promote the concept that there is a set of basic skills every graduating senior should master, improvements were implemented that included creating an online exam used for review and requiring students to earn a 70% or higher score on an in-class exam that is a requirement for graduation. After the improvements were made, all students demonstrated at least 70% mastery of the core EE concepts as measured by the improved in-class skill audit exam. The details of these improvements are presented. Anonymous survey results of graduating seniors indicate that students feel that preparing for the skill audit exam was a good use of their time and that the exam should be made more rigorous for future students.

ENGINEERING APPROACH TO MODELLING FREQUENCY DISPERSION WITHIN NORMAL METALS AT ROOM TEMPERATURE FOR THZ APPLICATIONS

When compared to the over-simplifled classical skin-efiect model, the accurate classical relaxation-efiect modelling approach for THz structures at room temperature can be mathematically cumbersome and not insightful. This paper introduces various interrelated electrical engineering concepts as tools for characterizing the intrinsic frequency dispersive nature of normal metals at room temperature. This engineering approach dramatically simplifles the otherwise complex analysis and allows for a much deeper insight to be gained into the classical relaxation-efiect model. For example, it explains how wavelength can increase proportionally with frequency at higher terahertz frequencies. This is the flrst time that such an approach has been developed for the modelling of intrinsic frequency dispersion within a metal. While the focus has been on the characterization of normal metals (magnetic and non-magnetic) at room temperature, it is believed that the same methodology may be applied to metals operating in anomalous frequency-temperature regions, superconductors, semiconductors, carbon nanotubes and metamaterials.

Thevenin's Theorem and a Black Box

The concepts of an equivalent electrical circuit and maximum power transfer are difficult for some students to comprehend. A laboratory exercise is presented that facilitates the teaching of Thevenin's equivalent circuit and maximum power transfer through the use of a black box equipped with two external terminals. The laboratory exercise has improved students' understanding of these important electrical engineering concepts.

Conductive polymer composite materials and their utility in electromagnetic shielding applications

AbstractCommercial electronic devices require shielding solutions that ensure electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) while accounting for effects of specific enclosure structural features such as seams, vents, and port dimensions. In practice, suitable EMC materials combine with the device operating characteristics to determine an overall shielding response. To optimally couple plastic design practices with EMC requirements, both polymer materials science and electrical engineering concepts, must be considered. Use of extrinsically conductive polymer (ECP) formulations for electronic applications has advantages in that they can be directly molded to a desired shape and serve to provide the necessary shielding while also meeting mechanical integrity requirements. Shielding and mechanical performance can be varied via filler loading or altered through wall thickness changes to satisfy demands associated with a particular device. Injection‐moldable ECP polycarbonate‐based formulations can attain average shielding effectiveness (SE) levels of ∼50–60 dB through 2 GHz at 2‐mm thickness as measured using ASTM D 4935 procedures. These values vary with thickness, and SE improvements of ∼10–20 dB are observed when increasing from 1 to 2 mm. Additionally, resultant mechanical properties of shielding composites are strong functions of overall fiber content. These interrelated material and shielding characteristics, which form the basis for filled conductive polymer use within practical enclosure shielding designs, are described. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008

Container-Handling Crane: A First-Year Engineering Student Project

This paper describes a project suitable for first-year undergraduate engineering students, which integrates civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering concepts into an open-ended design and construction project. The project is a model crane, which simulates a shipping container handling system and is suitable for inter-team competition. The design criteria, materials, and competition rules are presented. As well, a series of short lecture topics, demonstrations, and facilitating homework assignments are outlined. This project and the associated supporting materials meet the goals of being relatively inexpensive while exposing the students to a broader perspective of the engineering profession and retaining their interest in engineering.

History of structural acoustics and vibrations in the Acoustical Society of America

Structural acoustics refers to the interaction of sound and structures—the response of structures to sound, the radiation of sound from vibrating structures, and the effect of the acoustic medium on the structural vibrations. Interest in these subjects increased greatly during the 1930s and 40s because of practical applications in the design of microphones and loud speakers used in telephones, radios, and electronic phonographs. The combination of electrical and mechanical systems lead to the use of electrical engineering concepts such as impedance, circuits, and electrical analogies, in the analysis of mechanical systems. In later years, much of the work dealt with various aspects of underwater structures, prompted by U.S. Navy interests. The field, which began with classical analytical mechanics applications, has progressed to new approaches, including statistical energy analysis, near-field acoustical holography, fuzzy structures, active control of vibrations, and smart materials. In recognition of these new developments, the name of the technical committee was changed in 1987 from ‘‘Shock and Vibration’’ to ‘‘Structural Acoustics and Vibration.’’

The Virtual Learning Space: teaching electrical engineering online

This paper reports the design, development and evaluation of The Virtual Learning Space which is an internet-based learning and teaching environment developed for a first year Electrical Engineering subject at the University of Melbourne, Australia. The project is the result of collaboration between The University of Melbourne, and Box Hill and Kangan Batman Institutes of TAFE. The target subject, Electrical Engineering 1, provides students with an introduction to the fundamentals of electrical engineering. This semester subject attracts large enrolment numbers annually. Students have a variety of backgrounds and skill levels and many have no prior knowledge of electrical engineering concepts. The design of this learning space is driven by the need to guide students to reflect critically on the study materials, in both independent and collaborative modes. Online exercises and realistic problem solving activities with immediate feedback facilitate independent critical reflection, while small group tutorials and online communication support collaborative activities. Formative evaluation data indicate that students use the resources in the Virtual Learning Space in a variety of ways. There is an indication that this project has caused students' expectations of teaching and learning to change. Students are now beginning to expect lecture and other learning materials to be available online. Lecturers displayed different levels of enthusiasm in using the materials on the site for their teaching. Some used it extensively and readily, while others needed a little more enculturation in its use.

Analysis and Design of Digital Simulation via Control Theory

It is critical that computer usage be integrated into assignments that involve the application of basic concepts in electrical engineering. Digital simulation of systems of first-order differential equations can be viewed as an appropriate use of the computer in simulation of physical systems. Some recent results demonstrating the usefulness of the control theory approach will be discussed to provide more insights into the problem of digital simulation. Then new techniques, based on estimation and adaptive filtering, will be presented and shown to be superior to other popular methods, especially for real-time simulation of physical systems.

Computer-based retrieval of motor data (aroma)

The application of modern technology is highlighting the importance of automation in the collection of data, for faster and efficient use of available resources. These resources may be financial, human and others. This paper describes the design of a system in which a squirrel-cage induction motor is linked with an IBM compatible Personal Computer (PC). The important objective of this design has been to improve the efficiency of teaching, and the understanding of basic concepts of electrical engineering as applied in the Junior and Intermediate Year Laboratory in the School of Electrical Engineering, at The University of Sydney. This practical design, although still in its developmental stages, also may be successfully used in industry for example, in testing small electric motors, in general, and fractional-power induction motors, in particular.

Teaching eletromagnetism at undergraduate level

Electromagnetism embraces the physical interpretation, analysis, and synthesis of electric and magnetic phenomena. To study it is to explore fundamental concepts of electrical engineering. Now concepts may seem academic and far removed from engineering requirements. The applications found in the technical papers of proceedings and transactions of learned societies belie this, and the broad interest is evident from the correspondence columns of the house journals of these societies. Another measure of the interest shown is afforded by the reception of Prof. Hammond's paper1 on the teaching of fundamentals to students. It is over 20 years since that paper was published: the content has not been changed by the passage of time, but new disciplines have emerged to change the emphasis in the subject matter taught to students. And practical calculations are now more feasible with the advent of, and continuing improvements in, digital computers. Prof. Rawcliffe's comment to the discussion of, that paper, ‘… it is desirable that, from time to time, our profession shall be led to reflect on these fundamentals’, provides a pretext for the present article should one be needed

An Introduction to Information Theory

Abstract : Information theory is concerned with developing a framework for the study of communication systems and their capacity to transmit messages in the presence of natural disturbances. The information function or entropy of a message source gives a quantitative measure of the usefulness of the source for transmitting messages. The capacity of the channel over which the message is being transmitted, gives a measure of the most efficient communication of information possible under given conditions. This subject is developed in a purely mathematical fashion and by making reference to descriptive concepts in electrical engineering.

Scottish Centre: Chairman's address. “The nomenclature of the fundamental concepts of electrical engineering”

Scottish Centre: Chairman's address. “The nomenclature of the fundamental concepts of electrical engineering”