MEng Electronic Engineering / Course details

• Physical concept of electric current. Current density. Conductors, semiconductors, and superconductors. Voltage sources. Electric field inside a current-carrying conductor. Ohm’s law and resistance. Resistivity and conductivity. Ohm’s law in microscopic terms. Power loss and loss density. Fuses. Current flow in massive conductors. Kirchhoff’s nodal law. Lightning.
• Electric charge. Coulomb’s Law. Principal of superposition. Electric field. Field lines as lines of force. Motion of a charged particle in an electric field. Gauss’ Law in free space. Symmetrical distributions (points, spheres, lines, planes). Work done in moving a charge. Electric potential. Equipotentials and field lines. Superposition of potentials.
• Conductors in static electric fields. Dielectrics and polarisation. Breakdown of dielectric materials. Flux density. Generalisation of Gauss’ Law. Boundary conditions.
• General concept of capacitance. Calculation of capacitance for simple geometries (planes, concentric cylinders, concentric spheres). Capacitors as energy stores.
• Relativistic origins of magnetic field (as background only) Lorenz force. Magnetic force on a moving charge. Magnetic flux density. Motion of a charge in a magnetic field. Force on a current-carrying conductor. Force on a current-carrying circular loop.
• Magnetic materials. Ferromagnetism. Hysteresis loops. Hard and soft magnetic materials. Permanent magnet materials.
• Electric current as the source of the magnetic field. Biot-Savart Law. Field produced by a straight-line filament. Ampere’s Law in air. Force between two current-carrying conductors.
• Simple magnetic circuits, such as C-cores. Load-line constructions to allow for saturation. Load-line calculations with permanent magnet devices.
• Magnetic flux and flux linkages. Faraday’s law. Lenz’s Law. Flux linking rule and flux cutting rule. Rotating coil in stationary magnetic field. Fundamentals of transformer action. Eddy currents in massive conductors - the need for lamination.
• Self- and mutual inductance. Energy stored in a magnetic field in terms of inductance. Calculation of inductance from stored energy. Force and torque in terms of changing inductance.

The course unit aims to: Introduce the fundamental properties of electromagnetic fields in an engineering context.

ILO 1 - Describe the origins of electromagnetic fields in terms of their sources.

ILO 2 - Explain the reasons for the different electric and magnetic properties of materials, and how they are exploited.

ILO 3 - Express the passive components (R, L, C) in terms of lumped representation of distributed field quantities.

ILO 4 - Perform field calculations for simple geometries (points, lines, cylinders, planes, spheres).

ILO 5 - Calculate R, L, and C for simple geometries.

ILO 6 - Perform measurement of magnetic flux versus current characteristic of an iron-cored inductor.

ILO 7 - Show by plotting equipotentials for two simple geometries using a two-dimensional conducting analogue and a two-dimensional finite element software package.

ILO 8 - Write up technical reports on laboratory experiments.

Lectures, supported tutorial questions using problem based examples, laboratories with finite element analysis for e-learning.

Laboratory - formal written report

How and when feedback is provided: Marked report with individual comments

Weighting: 5%

Laboratory -  in lab assessment with slide deck

How and when feedback is provided: Marked report with verbal feedback

Weighting: 5%

Tutorial questions

How and when is feedback provided: In tutorial feedback

Weighting: 10%

Laboratory: How and when feedback is provided: Marked report with individual comments

Laboratory: How and when feedback is provided: Marked report with verbal feedback

Tutorial questions: How and when is feedback provided: In tutorial feedback

Electromagnetism for electronic engineers by Carter, R. G.  Chapman & Hall, 1992. ISBN: 0412427400

Electricity and magnetism by Duffin, W. J. WJ Duffin, 2001. ISBN: 0951043811

Electricity and magnetism by Purcell, Edward M. Cambridge University Press, 2013. ISBN: 9781107014022

Physics for scientists and engineers by Serway, Raymond A. Cengage, 2019. ISBN: 1337553271