Power and Electrical Engineering

Power and Electrical Engineering

Ultrahigh Energy Microcapacitors: The Future of On-Chip Power

Scientists developed microcapacitors with ultrahigh energy and power density, paving the way for on-chip energy storage in electronic devices. In the ongoing quest to make electronic devices ever smaller and more energy efficient, researchers want to bring energy storage directly onto microchips, reducing the losses incurred when power is transported between various device components. To be effective, on-chip energy storage must be able to store a large amount of energy in a very small space and deliver it quickly when…

Power and Electrical Engineering

Hybrid Energy Storage System: Sustainable Solution for Power Grids

EU project HyFlow: Over three years of research, the consortium of the EU project HyFlow has successfully developed a highly efficient, sustainable, and cost-effective hybrid energy storage system (HESS) that can meet high energy and power demands. The researchers achieved this by combining a high-performance vanadium redox flow battery with a supercapacitor with water-based electrolytes. With one of the demonstrators developed in the HyFlow project, major energy consumers such as enterprises, municipal utility companies, medical facilities, and data centres can…

Power and Electrical Engineering

First Terahertz Line Scanner Innovates Plastic Component Inspection

… with monolithically integrated terahertz detectors for industrial applications. The Ferdinand-Braun-Institut has developed a terahertz (THz) line scanner for plastic components, enabling cost-effective realization of larger scan line lengths in industrial environments. For the first time, the technology demonstrator is based entirely on monolithically integrated THz detectors. There is hardly anyone who hasn’t encountered it yet, as terahertz radiation (THz) is routinely used at airports for security checks. It penetrates clothing, organic tissue, and many other materials including plastics, polymers,…

Power and Electrical Engineering

Ion Thermoelectric Devices: Efficient Near Room Temp Solutions

The electrode sheet of the thermoelectric device consists of ionic hydrogel, which is sandwiched between the electrodes to form, and the Prussian blue on the electrode undergoes a redox reaction to improve the energy density and power density of the ionic thermoelectric generator. Prof. Zeng Wei of the Institute of Chemical Engineering, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, said that at the beginning, the group mainly carried out research based on the thermal diffusion effect and published a series of research results….

Power and Electrical Engineering

Controlled Laser Drilling: Advancing Microvias in PCBs

In the production of printed circuit boards (PCBs), micrometer-diameter vias – known as microvias – are drilled through multilayer PCBs. Lasers can drill through these structures with high throughput and micrometer precision. A measurement technique based on laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is set to check the quality of the holes inline and control the process. Because of the high density of circuits and components, modern printed circuit boards are extremely challenging to manufacture. Lasers are used to drill the interconnects…

Power and Electrical Engineering

Transparent Emissive Microdisplays for AR Systems

… for ultra-light and compact augmented reality systems. As part of the HOT project (High-performance transparent and flexible microelectronics for photonic and optical applications), scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS have developed a semi-transparent microdisplay. This microdisplay is significantly lighter than conventional combiner-based optical see-through near-to-eye systems and offers high resolution. The microdisplay will be presented at the SID Display Week 2024 in San Jose, USA, at the German Pavilion, booth number 1124. In today’s time, more…

Power and Electrical Engineering

Innovative Inverters Boost Electric Drive Performance

…enable an increase in the performance of electric drives. Overheating components significantly limit the performance of drivetrains in electric vehicles. Inverters in particular are subject to a high thermal load, which is why they have to be actively cooled. In the Dauerpower project, Fraunhofer IZM is working with project partners from the automotive industry to develop an electric inverter that can work at a lower operating temperature thanks to optimized cooling management, resulting in a lower power loss. In addition…

Power and Electrical Engineering

New Properties of Ultrathin Silicon Membranes for Microchips

… can now be measured well. Reseachers of Delft University of Technology demonstrated measuring performance properties of ultrathin silicon membranes. Making ever smaller and more powerful chips requires new ultrathin materials: 2D materials that are only 1 atom thick, or even just a couple of atoms. Think about graphene or ultra-thin silicon membrane for instance. Scientists at TU Delft have taken an important step in application of these materials: they can now measure important thermal properties of ultrathin silicon membranes. A…

Power and Electrical Engineering

Floating solar’s potential

… to support sustainable development by addressing climate, water, and energy goals holistically. A new study published this week in Nature Energy raises the potential for floating solar photovoltaics (FPV) to supplant planned hydropower in meeting Africa’s energy goals. The study, published in Nature Energy, is among the first to explore the FPV at the continental scale, finding that FPV installed at existing major reservoirs could produce 20-100% of the electricity expected from Africa’s planned hydropower dams.  Using a state-of-the-art…

Power and Electrical Engineering

Efficient DC Power Converter for Sustainable Microgrids

A new DC-DC power converter is superior to previous designs and paves the way for more efficient, reliable and sustainable energy storage and conversion solutions. The Kobe University development can efficiently interface with a wide range of energy sources while enhancing system stability and simplicity at an unprecedented efficiency. Electric power comes in two kinds, AC (alternating current) and DC (direct current). Famously, the question over which kind should be used for national power grids, the “Current War” of the…

Power and Electrical Engineering

Octopus-Inspired Suction Mechanism Transforms Robotic Gripping

A new robotic suction cup which can grasp rough, curved and heavy stone, has been developed by scientists at the University of Bristol. The team, based at Bristol Robotics Laboratory, studied the structures of octopus biological suckers,  which have superb adaptive suction abilities enabling them to anchor to rock. In their findings, published in the journal PNAS today, the researchers show how they were able create a multi-layer soft structure and an artificial fluidic system to mimic the musculature and…

Power and Electrical Engineering

Stretchable Quantum Dot Display Breaks Performance Records

Intrinsically stretchable quantum dot-based light-emitting diodes achieved record-breaking performance. A team of South Korean scientists led by Professor KIM Dae-Hyeong of the Center for Nanoparticle Research within the Institute for Basic Science has pioneered a novel approach to stretchable displays. The team announced the first development of intrinsically stretchable quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs). Demonstrations of intrinsically stretchable quantum dot light-emitting diodes. The intrinsically stretchable QLEDs have a device structure where all the layers were engineered to have a sufficient…

Power and Electrical Engineering

UCLA’s Light-Based Computing: Reducing Glare for Smart Cameras

…shows capabilities for future smart cameras. UCLA-developed experimental device demonstrates ability to reduce glare in images. Researchers developing the next generation of computing technology aim to bring some light to the field — literally. Optical computing, which relies on particles of light called photons, is expected to provide alternatives to traditional electronic approaches. Such systems — or light-based components of hybrid systems that also retain electronic parts — could be faster, consume less energy and compute visual information more efficiently…

Power and Electrical Engineering

Nanocubes: Light-Manipulated Magnets in Spintronics Innovation

German-French project aims to manipulate tiny magnets with light. Spintronics is considered a seminal research field in physics. It promises faster electronic components, more delicate sensors, and new approaches for quantum computing. Nevertheless, fundamental questions remain to be answered. Starting in April, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden Rossendorf (HZDR) and the Interdisciplinary Center of Nanoscience of Marseille (CINaM) will be looking for answers to these questions in their joint research project Nano-PLASMAG. The focus is on nanometer-sized, regularly shaped cubes of pure…

Power and Electrical Engineering

Magnetoelectric Spin-Orbit Logic: New Voltage-Based Breakthrough

In a recent article published in Nature Communications an international team, led by researchers from the Nanodevices group at CIC nanoGUNE, suceeded in voltage-based magnetization switching and reading of magnetoelectric spin-orbit nanodevices. This study constitutes aproof of principle of these nanodevices, which are the building blocks for magnetoelectric spin-orbit (MESO) logic, opening a new avenue for low-power beyond-CMOS technologies. A pathway for magnetic-field-free, voltage-based switching of magnetism has been proposed using magnetoelectric materials that exhibit more than one of the…

Power and Electrical Engineering

New UV Broadband Spectrometer Enhances Air Pollutant Analysis

The laser-based technology developed at TU Graz enables the continual real-time analysis of air pollutants and their interaction with other gases and sunlight. Sunlight has a major influence on chemical processes. Its high-energy UV radiation in particular is strongly absorbed by all materials and triggers photochemical reactions of the substances present in the air. A well-known example is the formation of ground-level ozone when UV light hits nitrogen oxides. A research team led by Birgitta Schultze-Bernhardt from the Institute of…

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