Fabrikant Mads Clausen Foundation supports local research
MWith as many as seven grants from Fabrikant Mads Clausen's Foundation to the Department of Mechanics and Electronics (IME), the local SDU campus gets the opportunity to buy new equipment for the benefit of research and education at the university.
Manufacturer Mads Clausen's Foundation awarded seven grants to IME before Christmas. Center for Industrial Electronics's capacitor group has been quite fortunate to receive two of them for the "Construction of an experimental electrocalorimeter for measuring heat loss in power electronics" and "3D-printing of embedded electronic devices through a novel manufacturing process".
William Greenbank, Assistant Professor at the University's Center for Industrial Electronics, aims to make our electronic devices smarter and longer lasting. Thanks to a 100,000 kroner grant, he is building an "electrocalorimeter".
"It's not as complicated as it sounds—think of it as a super-scientific tool that helps us understand how much heat our gadgets generate."
Measuring waste heat from power electronics is essential for energy efficiency and determining the lifetime of components. A power electronic device that evolves a lot of heat will likely have a decreased lifetime.
This heat might result from issues with the design of a device or due to manufacturing defects. Two tools are commonly used to evaluate the heat produced by a device: Multiphysics simulations and thermal cameras. Simulations are good but often assume ideal devices without manufacturing defects or wear with long-term use, which can result in excess heat evolution. On the other hand, a thermal camera can pick up a portion of radiated heat from a device but cannot measure the total heat that a device emits into the environment.
Why does this matter to us? When our gadgets get too hot, they don't last as long.
"The electrocalorimeter will help us measure the total heat a device produces during operation. This information will help us make our gadgets work better and last longer," William Greenbank explains.
"Reducing waste heat in electronics allows our devices to last longer and consume less energy, reducing both carbon emissions due to excess energy consumption and the e-waste we generate when our devices fail.
This is needed to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12, relating to responsible consumption and production".
The project is set to kick off in March and aims to bring us more efficient and reliable electronics. Plus, local students get to be part of the action, learning hands-on about the cool science behind our devices.
3D Printing Magic: Local Researcher Making Waves in Electronics
Thanks to another 100,000 kroner grant from the Fabrikant Mads Clausen Foundation, Dr. Gackowski is working on a project that could change how we make electronic devices using 3D printers.
"The current methods for 3D-printing of electronics are limited by the compatibility of the available materials, mostly conductive inks based on silver nanoparticles. To 3D-print power electronics, we need to combine multiple materials with different conductivity values, which is not feasible with the existing materials and equipment. Therefore, we aim to build our prototype that can embed up to six different materials by extrusion and spraying. This way, we can control the properties of every micrometre of our devices and go far beyond what is now feasible," Gackowski explains.
His project, from January 1, 2024, to December 31, 2024, promises a future where our gadgets are made better and faster in our community.
The Fabrikant Mads Clausen Foundation's support is bringing cutting-edge technology to our local research, creating opportunities for our community to lead the way in making electronics that are not just cool but also reliable.