Electrical Engineering

Recently, sensor networks, cyber physics systems, and internet of things have become popular because sensing, communication, and analytics technologies matured. In the future, digital sensing, communication, and processing capabilities will be ubiquitously embedded into everyday objects, turning them into an Internet of Things (IoT, also known as, machine-to-machine, M2M). Sensors everywhere can continuously collect a large quantity of data; processors everywhere can analyze and infer useful knowledge from the data; communication ratios can transmit and exchange useful knowledge with other everyday objects to serve humans better. This paradigm shift which can significantly improve our life brings up numerous challenges and opportunities to engineering. This course plans to encourage students from multiple disciplines to collaborate with each other and create innovative IoT applications/services to improve our daily life. Electrical engineering students from NTU and NTU Science and Technology collaborate with design students from NTU to design prototypes of Internet of Things products that improve our daily lives. Teams present a live demonstration of their project at the end of the quarter.

The objective of this course is, starting from the requirements for vehicle propulsion, to present the different options in terms of vehicle energy converters, that have the potential for near-zero pollutant emissions and defossilization. The course deals with powertrains for vehicles. The expectations are that in a sustainable society, transportation powertrains will be a mix between battery electric, fuel cell, combustion engines, and hybrids. The combustion engines would then be powered by renewable fuels produced using sustainable sources. The main features of the different energy converters are given, with their pros and cons, followed by a detailed discussion for each option. Challenges to the combustion engine fueled by fossil fuels are discussed. The different configurations for hybrid powertrains and criteria for choosing the optimum configurations are presented. Plug-in hybrids and range-extended hybrids are discussed. The main features for hydrogen fuel cells and battery electric drive are stated, including advantages and challenges, as well as expected future trends for the different transportation modes.

There is a large and growing need in the automotive industry for engineers with specialization in electrical drives, power electronics and not least system aspects of electric vehicle control. This course has the ambition to give fundamental knowledge and skills in these areas. Drive and auxiliary drive. Power, torque, and speed. Combustion processes - Otto, Diesel, HCCI among others. Gear - manual, automatic, CVT among others. Efficiency and emissions. Fossil fuel, biofuel - access, cost and performance. EV, HEV - series, parallel, mild, power split, FCV. Conventional servo steering, AC, brake, compressed air and so on. Electrically driven alternatives, function, efficiency. Demands for electric machines and power electronics in vehicles. Criteria for dimensioning. Lifetime, weight, price and so on. Field reduction, starting characteristics, torque ripple and so on. Various types of control, need for sensors. Fuel cells - principle, function and construction. Advantages and drawbacks with various designs. Development trends. Electric storage media - eg batteries and super capacitors. Drive cycles, efficiency, and emission for some selected drive lines. Acceleration, start and other demands for the vehicle. Regenerative braking. The need for effect and energy storage in hybrid and FC vehicles. Assumed prior knowledge: Basic course in physics including mechanics.

The course introduces physical quantities and fundamental laws of electrical circuits. The basics of direct and alternating current networks are explained allowing the evaluation of complex electric networks.

This is an introduction course to the techniques and equipment used in the generation, transmission, distribution, and utilization of electrical power. It gives a basic understanding of how a power system operates and the problems facing electricity utilities. The design and main operating features of different types of motors and generators are also covered.