eee-mag

R.Srinivas
Final Year EEE

HYBRID VEHICLE:
INTODUCTION:
Have you pulled your car up to the gas pump lately and been shocked by the high price of
gasoline? As the pump clicked past $20 or $30, maybe you thought about trading in that SUV for
something that gets better mileage. Or maybe you are worried that your car is contributing to the
greenhouse effect. Or maybe you just want to have the coolest car on the block. Currently, there is a
solution for all this problems; it's the hybrid electric vehicle. The vehicle is lighter and roomier than a
purely electric vehicle, because there is less need to carry as many heavy batteries. The internal
combustion engine in hybrid-electric is much smaller and lighter and more efficient than the engine in a
conventional vehicle. In fact, most automobile manufacturers have announced plans to manufacture
their own hybrid versions. How does a hybrid car work? What goes on under the hood to give you 20 or
30 more miles per gallon than the standard automobile? And does it pollute less just because it gets
better gas mileage.
WHAT IS A "HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLE"?
Any vehicle is hybrid when it combines two or more sources of power. In fact, many
people have probably owned a hybrid vehicle at some point. For example, a mo-ped (a motorized pedal
bike) is a type of hybrid because it combines the power of a gasoline engine with the pedal power of its
rider. Hybrid electric vehicles are all around us. Most of the locomotives we see pulling trains are dieselelectric
hybrids. Cities like Seattle have diesel-electric buses -- these can draw electric power from
overhead wires or run on diesel when they are away from the wires. Giant mining trucks are often
diesel-electric hybrids. Submarines are also hybrid vehicles -- some are nuclear-electric and some are
diesel-electric. Any vehicle that combines two or more sources of power that can directly or indirectly
provide propulsion power is a hybrid. The most commonly used hybrid is gasoline-electric hybrid car
which is just a cross between a gasoline-powered car and an electric car. A 'gasoline-electric hybrid car'
or 'hybrid electric vehicle' is a vehicle which relies not only on batteries but also on an internal
combustion engine which drives a generator to provide the electricity and may also drive a wheel. In
hybrid electric vehicle the engine is the final source of the energy used to power the car. All electric cars
use batteries charged by an external source, leading to the problem of range which is being solved in
hybrid electric vehicle.
HYBRID STRUCTURE:
You can combine the two power sources found in a hybrid car in different ways. One way,
known as a parallel hybrid, has a fuel tank, which supplies gasoline to the engine. But it also has a set of
batteries that supplies power to an electric motor. Both the engine and the electric motor can turn the
transmission at the same time, and the transmission then turns the wheels.We are all familiar with
gasoline-powered cars, and most people have heard about or seen electric cars. A hybrid car is a
combination of the two. A hybrid vehicle contains parts of both gasoline and electric vehicles in an
attempt to get the best of both worlds.

The best way to understand the advantages of a hybrid vehicle is to think about a car traveling down a
highway at the posted speed on level ground. In this case, the engine is doing three things:
*It is overcoming rolling resistance in the drive train.
*It is overcoming air resistance.
*It is powering accessories like the alternator, the power steering pump and the air conditioner.The
engine might need to produce no more than 10 or 20 horsepower (HP) to carry this load. The reason why
cars have 100- or 200-horsepower engines to is handle acceleration from a standing stop, as well as for
passing and hill climbing. We only use the maximum HP rating for 1% of our driving time. The rest of the
time, we are carrying around the weight and the friction of the much larger engine, which wastes a lot of
energy.
In a traditional hybrid vehicle, you have a complete electric car. It includes an electric motor to provide
all of the power to the wheels, as well as batteries to supply the motor with electricity. Then you have a
completely separate gasoline engine powering a generator. The engine is very small -- perhaps 10 to 20
horsepower -- and it is designed to run at just one speed for maximum efficiency. The purpose of this small,
efficient engine is to provide enough power for the car at its cruising speed. During times of acceleration, the
batteries provide the extra power necessary. When the car is decelerating or standing still, the batteries
recharge. This sort of hybrid car is essentially an electric car with a built-in recharge for longer range. The
advantage is that the small, efficient gasoline engine gets great mileage.
HYBRID CAR:
The only problem with a traditional hybrid car is the weight. The car has to carry the
weight of the electric motor, the generator, the gasoline engine and the batteries. You
don't need as many batteries as a pure electric car, so that saves some weight, but a fullsize
electric motor plus a 10-kilowatt generator can weigh several hundred pounds

Increasing microprocessor speed
The microprocessor inside the common computer is a small
programmable device comprised of smaller devices called transistors. These
transistors are circuits that switch electric signals from ‘on’ to ‘off’ and vice versa,
incorporating a technology called the complementary metal-oxide semiconductor
(CMOS). In modern microprocessors, the switching speed of transistors has been
steadily increasing. However, overall microprocessor speeds have been held back by
the quality of connections between transistors, limited by extant technology. To
improve this, optical solutions have been suggested, where signals between
transistors are not transferred through a circuit but by shining a laser between
them. If implemented, this technique would increase microprocessor speeds. To
make this happen, silicon, the main material in the CMOS industry, must work as a
laser. When light of a particular frequency (colour) is shined on it, it must amplify
the light’s power and then transmit it to nearby circuits. By 2006, hybrid silicon
lasers were developed to do just this, but the technology has not become
ubiquitous due to integration challenges and high costs. A recent paper published in
Nature Photonics proposes a way out. Instead of silicon, researchers from the Paul
Scherer Institute (PSI) and ETH, both Swiss, and Politecnico di Milano, Italy, have
demonstrated that the element germanium (Gr) can be made to lase costeffectively
and with fewer resources by stretching it a little. A slight tension is
created in germanium by the way it is evaporated on silicon and the silicon is
straightened. The tension induces a strain in germanium, and the researchers
exploited this to create thin, strained layers of germanium on silicon strips. Next,
they chipped away the sides of the germanium layer along the length, rendering the
layer ‘I’-shaped, whose middle section was a narrow constricted bridge, called a
micro bridge. Because strain is inversely proportional to the cross-sectional area, it
is higher in the micro bridge than at the ends. The electrons in Gr atoms in the
micro bridge must jump from a higher energy to a lower energy. When this jump
happens, energy is released in the form of photons. This results in lasing. There is a
compulsion to keep the micro bridge in a strained state to allow even the energydeficient
electrons to jump. By stretching the micro bridge by 3.1 per cent, the team
found that the material deforms enough to allow even the electrons that fall short
by 3.2 x 10 joules to jump. In this stretched state, the micro bridge emits around 25
times more photons than when in a relaxed state, which is “enough to build lasers,”
says Richard Geiger, a doctoral student at PSI and part of the team.

Nanotechnology aids in cooling electrons without
external sources
A team of researchers has discovered a way to cool electrons to -
228 C without external means and at room temperature, an advancement
that could enable electronic devices to function with very little energy. The
process involves passing electrons through a quantum well to cool them
and keep them from heating.
The team details its research in “Energy-filtered cold electron transport at room
temperature,” which is published in Nature Communications on Wednesday, Sept.
10.“We are the first to effectively cool electrons at room temperature. Researchers have
done electron cooling before, but only when the entire device is immersed into an
extremely cold cooling bath,” said Seong Jin Koh, an associate professor at UT Arlington
in the Materials Science & Engineering Department, who has led the research.
“Obtaining cold electrons at room temperature has enormous technical benefits. For
example, the requirement of using liquid helium or liquid nitrogen for cooling electrons
in various electron systems can be lifted.”
Electrons are thermally excited even at room temperature, which is a natural
phenomenon. If that electron excitation could be suppressed, then the temperature of
those electrons could be effectively lowered without external cooling, Koh said. The
team used a nanoscale structure—which consists of a sequential array of a source
electrode, a quantum well, a tunneling barrier, a quantum dot, another tunneling
barrier, and a drain electrode—to suppress electron excitation and to make electrons
cold.

Cold electrons promise a new type of transistor that can operate at
extremely low-energy consumption. “Implementing our findings to fabricating
energy-efficient transistors is currently under way,” Koh added.
Khosrow Behbehani, dean of the UT Arlington College of Engineering, said
this research is representative of the University’s role in fostering
innovations that benefit the society, such as creating energy-efficient green
technologies for current and future generations.
“Dr. Koh and his research team are developing real-world solutions to a
critical global challenge of utilizing the energy efficiently and developing
energy-efficient electronic technology that will benefit us all every day,”
Behbehani said. “We applaud Dr. Koh for the results of this research and
look forward to future innovations he will lead.”
Usha Varshney, program director in the National Science Foundation’s
Directorate for Engineering, which funded the research, said the research
findings could be vast.
“When implemented in transistors, these research findings could potentially
reduce energy consumption of electronic devices by more than 10 times
compared to the present technology,” Varshney said. “Personal electronic
devices such as smart phones, iPads, etc., can last much longer before
recharging.”
In addition to potential commercial applications, there are many military uses
for the technology. Batteries weigh a lot, and less power consumption
means reducing the battery weight of electronic equipment that soldiers are
carrying, which will enhance their combat capability. Other potential military
applications include electronics for remote sensors, unmanned aerial
vehicles and high-capacity computing in remote operations.
Future research could include identifying key elements that will allow
electrons to be cooled even further. The most important challenge of this
future research is to keep the electron from gaining energy as it travels
across device components. This would require research into how energygaining
pathways could be effectively blocked.

World Record Solar Cell with 44.7% Efficiency
The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Soitec, CEA-Leti and the Helmholtz
Center Berlin jointly announced today having achieved a new world record for the conversion of
sunlight into electricity using a new solar cell structure with four solar subcells. Surpassing
competition after only over three years of research, and entering the roadmap at world class level, a
new record efficiency of 44.7% was measured at a concentration of 297 suns. This indicates that
44.7% of the solar spectrum's energy, from ultraviolet through to the infrared, is converted into
electrical energy. This is a major step towards reducing further the costs of solar electricity and
continues to pave the way to the 50% efficiency roadmap.
Back in May 2013, the German-French team of Fraunhofer ISE, Soitec, CEA-Leti and the
Helmholtz Center Berlin had already announced a solar cell with 43.6% efficiency. Building on this
result, further intensive research work and optimization steps led to the present efficiency of 44.7%.
These solar cells are used in concentrator photovoltaic (CPV), a technology which achieves more than
twice the efficiency of conventional PV power plants in sun-rich locations. The terrestrial use of socalled
III-V multi-junction solar cells, which originally came from space technology, has prevailed to
realize highest efficiencies for the conversion of sunlight to electricity. In this multi-junction solar cell,
several cells made out of different III-V semiconductor materials are stacked on top of each other. The
single subcells absorb different wavelength ranges of the solar spectrum.
“We are incredibly proud of our team which has been working now for three years on this f
our-junction solar cell,” says Frank Dimroth, Department Head and Project Leader in charge of this
development work at Fraunhofer ISE. “This four-junction solar cell contains our collected expertise in
this area over many years. Besides improved materials and optimization of the structure, a new
procedure called wafer bonding plays a central role. With this technology, we are able to connect two
semiconductor crystals, which otherwise cannot be grown on top of each other with high crystal
quality. In this way we can produce the optimal semiconductor combination to create the highest
efficiency solar cells.”
“This world record increasing our efficiency level by more than 1 point in less than 4 months
demonstrates the extreme potential of our four-junction solar cell design which relies on Soitec bonding
techniques and expertise,” says André-Jacques Auberton-Hervé, Soitec’s Chairman and CEO. “It
confirms the acceleration of the roadmap towards higher efficiencies which represents a key
contributor to competitiveness of our own CPV systems. We are very proud of this achievement, a
demonstration of a very successful collaboration.”

“This new record value reinforces the credibility of the direct semiconductor
bonding approaches that is developed in the frame of our collaboration with
Soitec and Fraunhofer ISE. We are very proud of this new result, confirming the
broad path that exists in solar technologies for advanced III-V semiconductor
processing,” said Leti CEO Laurent Malier.
Concentrator modules are produced by Soitec (started in 2005 under the name
Concentrix Solar, a spin-off of Fraunhofer ISE). This particularly efficient
technology is employed in solar power plants located in sun-rich regions with a
high percentage of direct radiation. Presently Soitec has CPV installations in 18
different countries including Italy, France, South Africa and California.
IV-characteristic for the current best four-junction solar cell under AM1.5d
ASTM G173-03 spectrum at a concentration of 297 suns. The measurements
were carried out at the Fraunhofer ISE CalLab. ©Fraunhofer ISE
External Quantum Efficiency of the four-junction solar cell. The measurement
was performed at the Fraunhofer ISE CalLab. ©Fraunhofer ISE

First water-based nuclear battery can be used to
generate electrical energy
From cell phones to cars and flashlights, batteries play an
important role in everyday life. Scientists and technology companies
constantly are seeking ways to improve battery life and efficiency. Now,
for the first time using a water-based solution, researchers at the
University of Missouri have created a long-lasting and more efficient
nuclear battery that could be used for many applications such as a
reliable energy source in automobiles and also in complicated
applications such as space flight.
“Betavoltaics, a battery technology that generates power
from radiation, has been studied as an energy source since the
1950s,” said Jae W. Kwon, an associate professor of electrical and
computer engineering and nuclear engineering in the College of
Engineering at MU. “Controlled nuclear technologies are not inherently
dangerous. We already have many commercial uses of nuclear
technologies in our lives including fire detectors in bedrooms and
emergency exit signs in buildings.”
The battery uses a radioactive isotope called strontium-90
that boosts electrochemical energy in a water-based solution. A
nanostructured titanium dioxide electrode (the common element found
in sunscreens and UV blockers) with a platinum coating collects and
effectively converts energy into electrons.
“Water acts as a buffer and surface Plasmon’s created in the device
turned out to be very useful in increasing its efficiency,” Kwon said.
“The ionic solution is not easily frozen at very low temperatures and
could work in a wide variety of applications including car batteries and,
if packaged properly, perhaps spacecraft.” The research, “Plasmonassisted
radiolytic energy conversion in aqueous solutions,” was
conducted by Kwon’s research group at MU, and was published in
Nature.

Improving the efficiency of Solar panels
"Rows of aluminium studs help solar panels extract more energy from sunlight than
those with flat surfaces." This picture shows a solar panel with rows of aluminium studs
and large electrical connections. The studs have been enlarged here but would normally
be so small that they are invisible to the naked eye. (source:Imperial college
London/Nicholas Hylton)
Light scattering was promoted in the visible part of sunlight's spectrum
At the heart of the blooming solar power industry is the semiconductor material, like
silicon or gallium arsenide, which absorbs sunlight and forms the basis of solar panels. It
converts electromagnetic energy in the form of sunlight to electrical energy. Now,
researchers from London have demonstrated a technique to increase the amount of
electrical current produced by a solar panel simply by augmenting its light-facing surface
with aluminium nanostructures. When photons, particles of light, are absorbed by the
semiconductor, they knock out electrons, which are passed through a circuit and then to
a battery for storage as electricity. However, scientists now want to find ways of
Increasing the absorption of light in thin layers of semiconductors, so that solar panels
can be made using less raw-material and at a lower cost. Recent research from the
Imperial College, London (ICL), has demonstrated one way to increase the electrical
current produced by devices in the lab by 22 per cent. By studding the light-receiving
surface of gallium-arsenide (Ga-As) devices with aluminium nanocylinders, like the ridges
on Lego blocks, the researchers were able to promote the scattering of light in the visible
part of the spectrum, which dominates the energy in sunlight. The scattered light then
travels a longer path inside the semiconductor, meaning that more photons can be
absorbed and converted into current. It is important that the metal nanocylinders do not
absorb

The light themselves, as that would prevent it from
reaching the panel. “The advantage of aluminium structures is that
their absorption occurs in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum. That
means that the absorption losses are limited to the ultraviolet and
scattering from the aluminium particle dominates in both the visible
and near infrared,” said Dr. Nicholas Hylton, a Research Associate at
the Blackett Laboratory, ICL, in an email.
Dr. Hylton was lead author of the research group’s paper,
published in Scientific Reports on October 18. This isn’t the first time
such nanostructures have been deployed to enhance the performance
of solar panels. Earlier, silver and gold nanoparticles have been used
because they improved the performance of the devices in the nearinfrared
part of the electromagnetic spectrum. “We were able to
demonstrate that gold and silver scatter light in the near infrared part
of the spectrum but absorb visible light strongly,” Dr. Hylton
wrote.The significance of Dr.Hylton’s work lies in demonstrating
aluminium’s better performance over silver and gold nanostructures.
For one, aluminium is more abundant and less costly than silver and
gold. For another, the 22 per cent spike that aluminium provides, as
their paper notes, makes thinner-film solar panels technically feasible
without “compromising powerconversion efficiencies, thus reducing
material consumption.”Higher efficiency devices could play a
significant role in realising energy goals even in India, making them
more cost-effective. Already, according to industry trackers, the price
of solar power in India has come from Rs. 18/kWh in 2011 to Rs.
7/kWh in 2013, while the price of thermal power is pushing Rs.
4/kWh with subsidies.

Innovations in FACTS Technology
In series compensation, a capacitor is used to compensate for the lines impedance, thus
the line is "virtually" shortened and the transmission angle decreased for system stability improvement.
However, during transient conditions, the short-circuit currents cause high voltages across the capacitor,
which must be limited to specified values. In the past, this limitation was accomplished by arresters (MOV)
in combination with a spark gap. An AC-fault current flowing through a MOV always leads to a high energy
dissipation of the MOV.The MOV heats up heavily. Due to an upper temperature limit the MOV must cool
down before the next current stress can be absorbed. Cooling down requires a large amount of time, time
constants of several hours are known. During this time, the series compensation must be taken out of
service (bypass-breaker closed) and consequently the power transfer on the related line needs to be
reduced dependent on the degree of compensation. Both the (mechanical) gap function and the MOV can
now be replaced by an innovative solution with special high power light-triggered thyristors. These
thyristors are designed and tested for a 110 kA peak current capability and they have a very fast coolingdown
time. Using this new technology, significant cost savings after system faults can be achieved. The
principle of the TPSC and the cost savings for each fault on one of the 3 lines at the 500 kV TPSC installation
at Vincent Substation, USA. In case of faults nearby the substations all 3 lines are involved in the fault
strategy. Then the savings sum up to 270.000 US$ per event to Substation to Line
Benefits of 90.000 US$ per event on 1 line due to faster available TPSC
e.g. reduction from 1200 MW to 600 MW with FSC/MOV * * 25 US$/MWh x 600 MW x 6 hrs
Increasing generation in high load density networks on one hand and interconnections
among the systems on the other, increases the short-circuit power. If the short-circuit current rating of the
equipment in the system is exceeded, the equipment must be upgraded or replaced, which is a very costand
time-intensive procedure. Short-circuit current limitation offers clear benefits in such cases. Limitation
by passive elements, e.g. reactors, is a well known practice, however it reduces the system stability and
there is impact on the load-flow. By combining the TPSC with an external reactor, whose design is
determined by the allowed short circuit current level, this device can also be used very effectively as a
short-circuit current limiter (SCCL). This new device operates with zero impedance in steady-state
conditions, and in case of a short-circuit it is switched within a few ms to the limiting-reactor impedance. In
comparison with the TPSC site view it can be seen, that the TPSC is just complemented by an additional
reactor for the current limitation. By means of control add-on functions, both TPSC and SCCL can also be
applied for power oscillation damping and for mitigation of sub synchronous resonances (SSR). In
conclusion, with the FACTS based TPSC and SCCL, an innovative break-through in transmission technology
for high-voltage systems has been achieved.

MEMRISTOR TECHNOLOGY FROM HP
Blocks and Files HP has warned El Reg not to get its hopes up too high
after the tech titan's CTO Martin Fink suggested Store Serve arrays could be packed with 100TB
Memristor drives come 2018. In five years, according to Fink, DRAM and NAND scaling will hit a
wall, limiting the maximum capacity of the technologies: process shrinks will come to a shuddering
halt when the memories' reliability drops off a cliff as a side effect of reducing the size of
electronics on the silicon dies. The HP answer to this scaling wall is Memristor, its flavour of
resistive RAM technology that is supposed to have DRAM-like speed and better-than-NAND
storage density. Fink claimed at an HP Discover event in Las Vegas that Memristor devices will be
ready by the time flash NAND hits its limit in five years. He also showed off a Memristor wafer,
adding that it could have a 1.5PB capacity by the end of the decade.
.
The HP Labs boss also said that, by 2018, we could pop 100TB Memristor drives into Store Serve
arrays. Today a 3PAR Store Serve 7450 enclosure can have 240 solid-state drives, supporting a
maximum raw capacity of 96TB raw capacity using 400GB SSDs. Now imagine 240 100TB Memristor
drives in such a box: that's 24,000TB or 24PB. Fink spoke about the tech in June, but this week a HP
spokesperson clarified As with many other ground-breaking technologies being developed at HP Labs,
HP has not yet committed to a specific product roadmap for Memristor-based products. HP does have
internal milestones that are subject to change, depending on shifting market, technology and business
conditions. On day one, Fink said in Las Vegas, Memristor density will be higher and speed faster than
flash, but it won't be as fast as DRAM. Over time its access latency will decrease, we're assured.
Memristor cells could be multi-layer, with two-bit-per-cell and three-bit-per-cell versions
achievable,added Fink. He also claimed Memristor layers could be stacked, with four layers achievable
and six possible. We assumed Memristor drives would be introduced by HP before 2018; now the
company's saying the plan is still up in the air. So, there is still no specific product roadmap but HP’s
CTO talked confidently of HP popping 100TB Memristor drives into StoreServ arrays in five years. He
also said Memristor could be a universal memory, replacing both DRAM and flash and hinted at
specialised Moonshot cartridges, possibly using Memristor memory instead of DRAM, linked by terabitclass
photonic connects to Memristor Store Serv arrays.

New circuit design functions
At temperatures >> 650 0 F
Engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas have
designed integrated circuits that can survive at temperatures greater than 350 C—or roughly
660 F. Their work, funded by the National Science Foundation, will improve the functioning
of processors, drivers, controllers and other analog and digital circuits used in power
electronics, automobiles and aerospace equipment—all of which must perform at high and
often extreme temperatures. “This ruggedness allows these circuits to be placed in locations
where standard silicon-based parts can’t survive,” said Alan Mantooth, Distinguished
Professor. “The circuit blocks we designed contributed to superior performance of signal
processing, controllers and driver circuitry. We are extremely excited about the results so far.
The research is critical because one-third of all power
produced in the United States passes through some kind of power electronic converter or
motor drive before it reaches the end user. Circuits developed by the University of Arkansas
team will enable tight integration of control in the tough environmental conditions these
applications demand. They will also improve electrical efficiency while simultaneously
reducing the overall size and complexity of these systems.The researchers worked with
silicon carbide, a semiconducting material that is more rugged than conventional materials
used in electronics. Silicon carbide is able to withstand extremely high voltage and is a good
thermal conductor, meaning it can operate at high temperatures without requiring extra
equipment to remove heat. The research team, led by Mantooth and Jia Di, professor of
computer engineering, achieved the higher performance by combining silicon carbide with
wide temperature design techniques.
In the world of power electronics and integrated circuits,
their work represents the first implementation of a number of fundamental analog, digital and
mixed-signal blocks, such as a phase-locked loop using a complimentary-style silicon carbide
technology. A phase-locked loop, or PLL, is a control system that generates an output signal
whose phase is related to the phase of an input signal. Such a function is critical in a number
of circuit applications such as signal synchronization, frequency synthesis, and modulation
and demodulation schemes

The research was part of the National Science
Foundation’s Building Innovation Capacity program, which is designed to
partner university and industry research to build intellectual collaborations so
that innovations flow from ideas to solid research results, company prototypes
and products. The University of Arkansas and two Fayetteville technology
firms, Ozark Integrated Circuits and Arkansas Power Electronics International,
form the basis for this innovation ecosystem. Raytheon is also a key partner.
Ozark Integrated Circuits is commercializing the circuit technology. Arkansas
Power Electronics International focuses on using the circuits in power
applications. The research funding was awarded to Arkansas Circuit Design
Center, which is comprised of two laboratories, one directed by Mantooth and
one by Di. The Arkansas Circuit Design Center supports the mission of the
University of Arkansas’ National Center for Reliable Electric Power
Transmission, which is funded as part of the federal government’s focus on
research and development on smart grid and renewable technologies.
The centre is one of only a few university-based
research centres investigating electronic systems to make the nation’s power
grid more reliable and efficient. The U.S. Department of Energy has funded the
centre since 2005 because of the university’s research expertise in advanced
power electronics and long term investigation of silicon carbide.
Mantooth is executive director of the center.Arkansas
Power Electronics International specializes in advanced, high-performance
electronics for a variety of customers and applications, including the defense,
aerospace and hybrid/electric vehicle markets. Ozark Integrated Circuits is a
semiconductor company that develops integrated circuits for remote sensing
and actuation under extreme environmental conditions. Mantooth is holder of
the Twenty-First Century Chair in Mixed-Signal Integrated Circuit Design and
Computer-Aided Design in the College of Engineering.
-Ambarish M S
(Pre Final Year EEE A)

Cambridge team identifies high temperature superconductors
Researchers from the University of Cambridge say they
have made a big step in developing new high temperature superconducting materials
which could be used in lossless electrical grids, next-generation supercomputers and
levitating trains. The researchers have found that ripples of electrons, known as
charge density waves or charge order, create twisted ‘pockets’ of electrons in these
materials, from which superconductivity emerges. The results are published in the
June 15th issue of the journal Nature. Low-temperature, or conventional,
superconductors were first identified in the early 20th century, but they need to be
cooled close to absolute zero (zero degrees on the Kelvin scale, or -273 o C) before
they start to display superconductivity. So-called high-temperature superconductors
however, can display the same properties at temperatures up to 138 Kelvin (-135 0 C),
making them much more suitable for practical applications. However, the process of
discovering new high-temperature superconductors could be best described as
random.
“One of the problems with high-temperature superconductors
is that we don’t know how to find new ones, because we don’t actually know what
the ingredients are that are responsible for creating high-temperature
superconductivity in the first place,” said Dr Suchitra Sebastian of the Cavendish
Laboratory, lead author of the paper. “We know there’s some sort of glue which
causes the electrons to pair up, but we don’t know what that glue is,” said Sebastian.
In a superconductor, as in any electronic device, current is carried via the charge on
an electron. What is different about superconductors is that the electrons travel in
tightly bound pairs. When travelling on their own, electrons tend to bump into each
other, resulting in a loss of energy. But when paired up, the electrons move smoothly
through a superconductor’s structure, which is why superconductors can carry
current with no resistance. Key to conventional superconductors are the interactions
of electrons with the lattice structure of the material. These interactions generate a
type of ‘glue’ which holds the electrons together.

The strength of the glue is directly related to the strength of the
superconductor, and when the superconductor is exposed to an increase in temperature
or magnetic field strength, the glue is weakened, the electron pairs break apart and
superconductivity is Lost “We’re trying to understand what sorts of interactions were
happening in the material before the electrons paired up, because one of those
interactions must be responsible for creating the glue,” said Dr Sebastian.
“Once the electrons are already paired up, it’s hard to know what made
them pair up. But if we can break the pairs apart, then we can see what the electrons are
doing and hopefully understand where the superconductivity came from.”
Superconductivity tends to override other properties. For example, if in its normal state
a superconductor was a magnet, suppressing that magnetism has been found to result in
superconductivity. “So by determining the normal state of a superconductor, it would
make the process of identifying new ones much less random, as we’d know what sorts
of materials to be looking for in the first place,” said Dr Sebastian. Previous attempts to
determine the origins of superconductivity by determining the normal state have used
temperature instead of magnetic field to break the electron pairs apart, which has led to
inconclusive results. “By identifying other materials which have similar properties,
hopefully it will help us find new superconductors at higher and higher temperatures,
even perhaps materials which are superconductors at room temperature, which would
open up a huge range of applications,” said Dr Sebastian

Non
Technical
Articles

How Engineers Do It:
-Engineers do it with precision.
-Electrical engineers are shocked when they do it.
-Electrical engineers do it on an impulse.
-Electrical engineers do it with large capacities.
-Electrical engineers do it with more frequency and less resistance.
-Electrical engineers do it with more power and at higher frequency.
Technical Jokes:
1. What did the light bulb say to the generator? "I really get a charge out
of you!"
2. How do you pick out a dead battery from a pile of good ones? “ It's
got no spark!”
3. A man with a hearing problem walked into a power plant for a tour. He
arrived late and had to join the rest of the group already on the tour. The
man was reviewing what he had just told the group. He told the group that
they wouldn't move on untill they answered this one question: "What is
the unit of power equal to one joule per second called?" The man with the
hearing problem hadn't heard the question very well, so he raised his hand
and asked "What?"
4. Why do transformers hum? “They don't know the words.”
5. What did the light bulb say to the electric generator? "You spark up
my life!"
6. What did the baby light bulb say to the mommy light bulb? "I love
you watts and watts!"
7. Why was the free electron so sad? “It had nothing to be positive
about!”
8. What did Godzilla say when he ate the nuclear power plant?
"Shocking!"
9. Why did the lights go out? “ Because they liked each other!”
10. Two atoms were walking down the street one day, when one of them
exclaimed, "Oh, no I've lost an electron!" "Are you sure?" the other one
asked. "Yes," replied the first one, "I'm positive."

My Inner Voice to Raise Our Voice
It is about my experience which I had on August 16, the day after our
Independence Day. After hearing the P.M’s Independence Day speech somehow I came to
know about “MY GOV”, a social networking and citizen engagement platform, which
was launched by the government of India. Its aim is to reduce the wide gap between the
electorate and the executive (Government) after being elected. It allows the users to
discuss and contribute to various government projects and plans. The platform is divided
into various groups. The group’s objective is to bring positive changes in the relevant
areas with people’s participation. The users are provided with two domains ‘DO’ and
‘Discuss’. The ‘Do’ section includes both online and on-ground tasks, one can assign
themselves. The ‘Discuss’ section may be used for discussing important issues which
affect the nation.
After creating my account in this website, I wished to spread information
about this new platform to my friends. So I shared a link about this on the omnipresent
social network ‘Facebook’ which is the second home for most of the people in our
generation. I also shared that link with various groups and chats to which I belong in
facebook and was hoping to get some positive responses from my friends. But
unfortunately all my efforts went in vain as no one responded to it except 2 people who
liked the share,(maybe) just for namesake. When topics like cricket, movies and other
entertainment stuffs get huge responses on social media, fruitful ones like the “thinking
for nation and society” topic don’t quite get them. Every one of us are spending our time
in discussing about movie box offices, their flaws and recent performances of our cricket
team for a whole day, but no one is ready to spend even half an hour thinking about their
motherland. For an example, in that website one of the topics is ‘clean India’ which deals
about the cleanliness of our country. Most of us commonly say “look at the other foreign
countries and our nation, see how neat and clean they are and how unclean we are”. No
one will spit or throw garbage inside our home but when we are out in the streets or
public places, polluting our ‘homeland’ without any guiltiness becomes the natural habit.
It is because only our homes are taught to be kept clean, not our nation

To some extent it even teaches, “To keep yourself clean
you can pollute anyone and anything, there is nothing wrong in it”.
Students in our country do not want to fail or get low marks in exams
mostly because of the pressure given by external factors like friends who
would be the first in our comparison, parents who may worry about
getting low marks more than us and society which will tare you apart
when you fail. But unfortunately none of these factors ever create any
pressure when it comes to general issue. It is the place where our
Individualism diminishes our patriotism.
For these many days we have been accusing our
government’s inability to develop our nation. But somehow now we have
got a chance to contribute to the changes, which we desire. So please take
active participation in this site and do it as your mandatory duty for the
nation. The success of this article lies in how it spreads across people and
creates a positive impact in their mind. By creating an impact it shouldn’t
get stagnated in the form of ideas. It should be transformed as positive
actions and practices being performed by every one of us. Now we are
living peacefully in our country without facing any life threatening
problems. But the importance of our nation will be exposed only if we
face awful circumstances which are being faced by countries like
Palestine, Syria, Iraq and our neighbor Srilanka, but hopefully do not. So
our patriotism shouldn’t be contented only with changing display picture
and singing national anthem on 15 th of august. We should go far beyond
these simple things and try to serve our birthplace in any way which we
are capable of…
Long live India…
V.Kannan
Pre-Final Year EEE A

DAHIBATH
(THAYIR SADAM OR CURD RICE)
Thayir sadam presides over the lunches and dinners of brahminical homes for
ages. Thayir sadam is identified with Brahmins so much so that brahmincal youths often become the
butt end of wit by being referred to endearingly as ‘Thayir sadam’.In the south, no lunch or dinner is
complete without Thayir sadam at the end. While we travel to the remotest corners of the globe,
when we sight even half a plateful Thayir sadam, we feel as excited, as Archimedes was, when he
shouted “Eureka, Eureka”.
Thayir sadam essentially consists of cooked rice mixed with curd and salted a little to appeal to our
palate. Many dress it up with finely cut pieces of green chillies, ginger (or rather its dried variety
sukku), slightly fried mustard. During travel, to enhance its shelf life more and to prevent it from
turning sour, a little milk is also added. In those days, for train journeys, a dubba full of molagapodi
spread idlies, packed Thayir sadam ensured to be free from becoming sour, a kooja full of hot coffee
supplemented by a flask full and tickets (card tickets and no E ticket) in that order were essential
requisites.
Simplicity thy name is Thayir sadam. When we have butterflies in our stomach or when we have
absolutely no appetite, Thayir sadam would act as a palliative. Don’t go to bed, without having at
least a mouthful of Thayir sadam, our anxious grandmothers would admonish us. If one cannot
afford a three course lunch or dinner, a mouthful of Thayir sadam, two times a day, would sustain
us.
By nature, Thayir sadam is gregarious. It cannot suffer loneliness. Pickles, particularly aavakkai,
mavadu or vadu mangai ( kaduku mangai)and Thayir sadam are made for each other. A spoonful of
manga kari ( raw finely cut mangoes, mixed with salt and chilly powder), when fresh (not more
than 2 days old) adds Thayir sadam an extra taste incomparable to any sensuous pleasure in the
world. Thayir sadam also gets along well with narthangai, nellikkai and limbu. Those whose
Cholesterol level is normal can also go for fried moremilagai, chundakkai and marthankali or
thamaraikizhanku. I know people who take Thayir sadam along with sediments of rasam. Light
heartedly, one could say that if Thayir sadam had been available during lunch at Lords, a Srikant
would have crossed the boundaries more often or a Venkat Raghavan turned his off- spinners a little
more sharp at Oval. It is quality Thayir sadam that has added to the assertiveness if not arrogance,
of some of the cricket officials. During marriage eve dinners, when the contractors provide North
Indian or Western dishes along with chat and Chinese items, Thayir sadam finds a pride of place
among strangers. Would any one need a proof of its popularity? The solid version of Thayir sadam is
reverentially addressed as ‘daddhi annam’ by the Vaishnavaites whereas its diluted form bears the
name baghala bath’. A well dressed thayhir sadam charm us and lead us like the Pied Piper of
Hamelin. Thayir sadam is also distributed as prasadam in Vishnu temples. Once when we were at
Govindapuram(nearKumbakonam) a littlelater than,Lunch hour and as lunch had been exhausted
we were served Thayir sadam with lime pickles instead. What a Divine Grace! Gavasdkar’s glorious
Century at Old Trafford, Jim Laker’s 19 for 90 again at Old Trafford, Maradona’s dribblings with the
ball, all pale into insignificance before that Thayir sadam.

Those unfamiliar with their kitchen or young daughter-in –laws fresh
from colleges, untrained by their mothers in culinary art, find solace and satiety in Thayir
sadam. Even though an essential part of lunches and dinners or serving as a standard
alone item, thayir sadam is asked to stand out from our breakfast tables. To have taken
Thayir sadam for breakfast means one has committed an unforgivable sin and is beyond
redemption. All the efforts in preparing Thayir sadam remain unappreciated. I could pack
only Thayir sadam today in my child’s lunch box, a young mother would say with a tone
full of sin. Her preparation of even Thayir sadam is a curse, a mother in law would
lament about her daughter in law’s inadequacies. Ambi, modalla Thayir sadam panna
padichukko, appuram adupu kitta wa, a senior cook would admonish the young recruit
who struggles with stirring the sambar. North Indians take dahi aplenty without making
Thayir sadam out of it. Even among communities in our own Kerala, other than Brahmins
do not have much fancy for dahi bath. However, in Tamil Nadu, all communities
comfortably settle for Thayir sadam. In western countries, Yoghurt, as curd is called,
takes shape in different flavors and serves as a desert.
In fact, some of the Airlines serve flavored yoghurt in cups. Thayir
sadam has therapeutic value. Endowed with bacteria that fight the ones causing us
diseases, Thayir sadam helps us in digestion, cleanses our colons and ensures smooth
disposal of wastages from our system. A handful of Thayir sadam three times a day is
equivalent to eight grandmas around us, an unmarried youth, surviving on Thayir sadam
alone, in a remote corner in Europe, sings its glory. Though virtues galore, Thayir sadam
suffers from a serious setback. One has to be free from Thayir sadam, when one is
suffering from a high temperature or has a running nose. On such occasions, milagu
rasam ( pepper rasam) is prescribed instead. If during their dating days, one of the duo
indicates his/her preference for Thayir sadam, would run the risk of ruining the
relationship. It is not merely IITs and other engineering colleges that have contributed
towards the development of Silicon Valley. Thayir Sadam that sustained software
engineers in Indian Soil, if not in San Francisco, has also contributed in equal measure in
the mission. Like Intel Inside, if an indication that “Thayir Sadam Inside”, is available, that
would announce to the world that best of operations is at hand.
Dr.D.KalyanaKumar
Dept.of EEE

NFC
(Near FieldCommunication)
As many knows about Bluetooth is a wireless technology to transmit
data between devices over short range similar to that NFC is also a short range frequency wireless
communication technology that enables to exchange data’s (Photos, videos etc…) between devices
(such as smart phones, smart TV etc…)about a distance of 10 cm. It was founded in 2004 by sony ,
nokia and Philips.
Same as Bluetooth we can exchange our data’s between devices but the
significant advantage of NFC is the shorter set up time. Instead of performing manual configurations
to identify Bluetooth devices the connection between two NFC devices is established under (1/10
second).Due to its short range it provides high security. And it also works if one device is not powered
(eg: if a phone turned off). It can replace the use of credit cards to pay bills. And in some modern cars
it can be used as mobile key to open doors.
BY
R.SUNIL
(Pre Final year EEE”B”)

PARADOX
The state of today’s in the world around us shows there is
a huge amount of work to be done to set it right. But everyone complains there is less work
opportunity. This statement is an example for anyone who wants to understand the meaning
of Paradox. There are more examples to follow.
The continuing trend of widening academia-industry gap,
poses a threat to the development of society at large. In the existing scenario, it is a well
known and commonly accepted fact, that there exists a huge gap between the industry and
academia in our country. There could be some exceptions in case of IIT’s, NIT’s and few
other reputed institutions, but the massive bunch of other self financing colleges hugely
suffers on this gap. Consequently industries were not able to perform the recruitment
fulfilling their intended requisites. Despite the fact India has one of the largest higher
education systems in the world comprising of 700 plus universities, 35,000 plus colleges and
numerous stand-alone technical/professional institutions with annual enrolment in excess of
25 million students. Multiple surveys conducted by different organizations conclude that
significant percentages of the students are not employable. But in all these surveys, that
which is referred as industries includes IT and IT enabled service sectors and other few big
core industries and MNC’s.
Millions of students graduating from the engineering colleges are chasing towards
thousands of jobs offered by IT and other MNC’s, Does it makes sense...
More importantly the Micro small and medium scale
enterprises (MSME) sector is not a part of this survey at all. MSMEs play a pivotal role in the
overall industrial development of the country and they have been the significant contributor
to the national income, with their huge involvement in country's industrial production,
exports, etc. It is an interesting fact that the second largest sector in our country that provides
employment to people next to agriculture is MSME. Thus, this sector has been regarded a
priority status by both the Central and the State Governments. In spite of this MSME faces
multiple issues for its day-day survival and growth. The human talents coming out of the
educational institutions are of far reach for the MSME. On the other hand only a few
percentage of the students graduating from engineering institutions lands up with a job. The
above is a yet another example of a paradox situation. It is interesting to observe that the self
financing engineering institutions and the MSME have an important stake in the development
of each other.
It makes sense to think out of box in establishing ones career in a meaningful manner.
S.Lenin Prakash
Asst.Prof. Dept of EEE

Testing the Basics
1. Consider a two winding transformer, say 110/220 V. The
primary is connected to the supply voltage and the secondary is
connected to the load. Consider suddenly if the core disappears,
what will happen?
a.What happens to the secondary induced emf , terminal voltage ?
b. Will it change? Justify your answer..
c. What else will happen when the core is not there..
Students shall think on it and email their detailed explanation to
lenin-eee@saranathan.ac.in.
The correct explanation will be published in this column in the
next issue
with an appreciation to the student.
S.Lenin Prakash
Asst.Prof.Dept of EEE