If something can’t go on, it won’t; supplying the automobile’s voracious electrical demands from a 12-V battery is an example of this reality. Under the zonal architecture, many legacy loads will still be supported by a 12-V battery or its functional equivalent derived from a 48-V battery. In the mild-hybrid system, a 48-V battery is […]
Zonal automotive power distribution can dramatically improve efficiency, weight, and cost: part 2
If something can’t go on, it won’t; supplying the automobile’s voracious electrical demands from a 12-V battery is an example of this reality. Topology changes affect the battery source Due to the 12-V issues, many newer ICE vehicles and nearly all EV/HEVs also have a 48-V battery. This battery serves loads that are more efficiently […]
Zonal automotive power distribution can dramatically improve efficiency, weight, and cost: part 1
If something can’t go on, it won’t; supplying the automobile’s voracious electrical demands from a 12-V battery is an example of this reality. Today’s cars — whether based on the traditional internal combustion engine (ICE), some form of hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), or even a pure electric vehicle (EV) — are loaded with electronics, sensors, […]
AM radio in cars presents an engineering dilemma
Design engineers are caught between a push to drop AM radios from cars and the radio industry’s pushback. It hasn’t received much attention among all the other news (mostly bad, some good), but there’s some momentum in the U.S. Congress to mandate the inclusion of AM radio receivers in cars. Among all the other issues […]
FAQ on axial flux motors: Part 3
Radial flux AC motors offer some performance and packaging benefits but also bring some thermal and manufacturability issues. Part 1 of this series examined the axial-flux motor (AFM) in detail and compared it to the very widely used radial-flux motor (RFM). Part 2 of this FAQ continued the exploration of AFMs and RFMs. This final part […]
FAQ on axial flux motors: Part 2
Radial flux AC motors offer some performance and packaging benefits but also bring some thermal and manufacturability issues. This part of the FAQ continues the exploration of AFMs and RFMs. The first part examined the axial-flux motor (AFM) in more detail and compared it to the very widely used radial-flux motor (RFM). The final part […]
FAQ on axial flux motors: Part 1
Radial flux AC motors offer some performance and packaging benefits but also bring some thermal and manufacturability issues. For many electrical and even mechanical engineers, motor selection is somewhat of a mysterious process. You can understand their basic principles and operation. Still, the real-world design considerations of their flux paths, poles, materials, and tradeoffs seems […]
Passive RFID finds unanticipated mass-market applications: part 2
Passive RFID tags have been widely adopted, and some applications show creative adaptation to unmet needs. While many uses for passive RFID tags were predicted and expected, innovators implemented some that were not obvious. This part will look at two of those applications. Clothing-store “mass” checkout One obvious application predicted for passive RFID labels was […]
Passive RFID finds unanticipated mass-market applications: part 1
Passive RFID tags have been widely adopted, and some applications show creative adaptation to unmet needs. It’s interesting to see how advances in technology often are adapted to applications that were not highlighted in their original “use case” scenarios and how clever people adapt or leverage new technologies in unscripted ways. A good example of […]
Vehicle-to-grid is technically feasible, but what’s the reality?
A concept may be elegant and even possible to implement, but the actual benefits are dubious — especially with the stress it gives to users. You’re probably somewhat familiar with the idea of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) automobile energy transfer. It’s been a “hot” topic for the last few years, largely due to the increase in the […]