Electronics & Software

Energy

Your destination for advances in renewable energy, energy storage technologies, and trends in portable solar power, energy harvesting, wind power, and alternative energy. Design engineers will find the latest applications and multimedia resources including videos, white papers, webinars, and technical briefs.

Stories

Q&A: Materials

Q&A: Self-Healing Polymers Create Water-Resistant Coatings

Jingcheng Ma, along with a team of researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, found a way to make ultra-thin water-resistant surface coatings robust enough to survive...

Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control

Four-Legged 'Swarm' Robots Traverse Tough Terrain — Together

Forget puzzles — In the early days of quarantine, Notre Dame professor and robotics engineer Yasemin Ozkan-Aydin used the time at home to put together robots.

Blog: Imaging

When to Go With Battery X-Ray Inspection

Tech Briefs readers ask two industry experts about the effectiveness of CT scans when you want a deeper look at a battery.

Question of the Week: Energy

Will We Use Solar to Power Our Devices Indoors?

Solar or photovoltaic (PV) cells fixed to roofs convert sunlight into electricity. An October Tech Brief highlighted a spin on this traditional idea of solar.

Blog: Electronics & Computers

Create the Future 2021: A Universal E-Kit Provides Power Boost to Non-Motorized Vehicles

Christopher Borroni-Bird and his team want to make an "e-kit" that provides a boost to wheelbarrows, bikes, and other non-motorized vehicles.

Blog: Energy

When to Expect a Hydrogen Fuel Cell Truck

Long-haul trucking may be the best candidate for hydrogen power. An industry expert tells us when we can expect more hydrogen fuel cells on the highway.

Question of the Week: Energy

Will We Ever Charge Our Cars (As We Drive)?

Cornell Engineering Professor Khurram Afridi wants you to be able to power-up your vehicle simply by changing lanes and driving over a charging strip.

Application Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Improving Overhead Equipment Devices for a New Era of Railway Transportation

See how COMSOL is supporting upcoming modifications to railway infrastructure in India.

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Liquid Metal Turns Motion into Electricity, Even Underwater

The soft and stretchable device converts movement into electricity and can work in wet environments.

Briefs: RF & Microwave Electronics

Making Patient Care Easier: Self-Powered Diaper Sensors that Monitor Urine Sugar Levels

Monitoring urine sugar levels is important during early stages of diabetes, and diaper sensors represent an attractive solution.

Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Energy Harvesting Can Enable 1 Trillion Battery-Free Sensors in the IoT

A tiny investment in system capital expenditures can lead to huge rewards in reduced capital and operating expenses.

Briefs: Energy

Tiny, Wireless, Injectable Chips Use Ultrasound to Monitor Body Processes

Implantable chips visible only in a microscope point the way to developing chips that can be injected into the body with a hypodermic needle to monitor medical conditions.

Briefs: Wearables

System Harvests Energy from Radio Waves to Power Wearable Devices

The electricity can be used to power wireless devices or to charge energy storage devices such as batteries and supercapacitors.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Using Solar Technology to Power Smart Devices Indoors

An already ubiquitous material in outdoor photovoltaic modules could be repurposed for indoor devices with low-capacity batteries.

Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing

Microbe Turns Waste into Industrial Chemical

The method could be applied to carbon waste streams.

Facility Focus: Materials

Facility Focus: Carnegie Mellon University College of Engineering

Today, Carnegie Mellon’s College of Engineering performs research in robotics, cyberphysical systems, artificial intelligence, biomedicine, energy, and other topics.