Electromechanics combines processes and procedures drawn from electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. Electromechanics focuses on the interaction of electrical and mechanical systems as a whole and how the two systems interact with each other. This process is especially prominent in systems such as those of DC or AC rotating electrical machines which can be designed and operated to generate power from a mechanical process (generator) or used to power a mechanical effect (motor). Electrical engineering in this context also encompasses electronics engineering.
Electromechanical devices are ones which have both electrical and mechanical processes. Strictly speaking, a manually operated switch is an electromechanical component due to the mechanical movement causing an electrical output. Though this is true, the term is usually understood to refer to devices which involve an electrical signal to create mechanical movement, or vice versa mechanical movement to create an electric signal. Often involving electromagnetic principles such as in relays, which allow a voltage or current to control another, usually isolated circuit voltage or current by mechanically switching sets of contacts, and solenoids, by which a voltage can actuate a moving linkage as in solenoid valves.
Before the development of modern electronics, electromechanical devices were widely used in complicated subsystems of parts, including electric typewriters, teleprinters, clocks, initial television systems, and the very early electromechanical digital computers. Solid-state electronics have replaced electromechanics in many applications.
History
The first electric motor was invented in 1822 by Michael Faraday. The motor was developed only a year after Hans Christian Ørsted discovered that the flow of electric current creates a proportional magnetic field. This early motor was simply a wire partially submerged into a glass of mercury with a magnet at the bottom. When the wire was connected to a battery a magnetic field was created and this interaction with the magnetic field given off by the magnet caused the wire to spin.
Ten years later the first electric generator was invented, again by Michael Faraday. This generator consisted of a magnet passing through a coil of wire and inducing current that was measured by a galvanometer. Faraday's research and experiments into electricity are the basis of most of modern electromechanical principles known today.
Interest in electromechanics surged with the research into long distance communication. The Industrial Revolution's rapid increase in production gave rise to a demand for intracontinental communication, allowing electromechanics to make its way into public service. Relays originated with telegraphy as electromechanical devices were used to regenerate telegraph signals. The Strowger switch, the Panel switch, and similar devices were widely used in early automated telephone exchanges. Crossbar switches were first widely installed in the middle 20th century in Sweden, the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, and these quickly spread to the rest of the world.
Electromechanical systems saw a massive leap in progress from 1910-1945 as the world was put into global war twice. World War I saw a burst of new electromechanics as spotlights and radios were used by all countries. By World War II, countries had developed and centralized their military around the versatility and power of electromechanics. One example of these still used today is the alternator, which was created to power military equipment in the 1950s and later repurposed for automobiles in the 1960s. Post-war America greatly benefited from the military's development of electromechanics as household work was quickly replaced by electromechanical systems such as microwaves, refrigerators, and washing machines. The electromechanical television systems of the late 19th century were less successful.
Electric typewriters developed, up to the 1980s, as "power-assisted typewriters". They contained a single electrical component, the motor. Where the keystroke had previously moved a typebar directly, now it engaged mechanical linkages that directed mechanical power from the motor into the typebar. This was also true of the later IBM Selectric. At Bell Labs, in the 1946, the Bell Model V computer was developed. It was an electromechanical relay-based device; cycles took seconds. In 1968 electromechanical systems were still under serious consideration for an aircraft flight control computer, until a device based on large scale integration electronics was adopted in the Central Air Data Computer.
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have roots in the silicon revolution, which can be traced back to two important silicon semiconductor inventions from 1959: the monolithic integrated circuit (IC) chip by Robert Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor, and the metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) invented at Bell Labs between 1955 and 1960, after Frosch and Derick discovered and used surface passivation by silicon dioxide to create the first planar transistors, the first in which drain and source were adjacent at the same surface.MOSFET scaling, the miniaturisation of MOSFETs on IC chips, led to the miniaturisation of electronics (as predicted by Moore's law and Dennard scaling). This laid the foundations for the miniaturisation of mechanical systems, with the development of micromachining technology based on silicon semiconductor devices, as engineers began realizing that silicon chips and MOSFETs could interact and communicate with the surroundings and process things such as chemicals, motions and light. One of the first silicon pressure sensors was isotropically micromachined by Honeywell in 1962.
An early example of a MEMS device is the resonant-gate transistor, an adaptation of the MOSFET, developed by Harvey C. Nathanson in 1965. During the 1970s to early 1980s, a number of MOSFET microsensors were developed for measuring physical, chemical, biological and environmental parameters. In the early 21st century, there has been research on nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS).
Modern practice
Today, electromechanical processes are mainly used by power companies. All fuel based generators convert mechanical movement to electrical power. Some renewable energies such as wind and hydroelectric are powered by mechanical systems that also convert movement to electricity.
In the last thirty years of the 20th century, equipment which would generally have used electromechanical devices became less expensive. This equipment became cheaper because it used more reliably integrated microcontroller circuits containing ultimately a few million transistors, and a program to carry out the same task through logic. With electromechanical components there were only moving parts, such as mechanical electric actuators. This more reliable logic has replaced most electromechanical devices, because any point in a system which must rely on mechanical movement for proper operation will inevitably have mechanical wear and eventually fail. Properly designed electronic circuits without moving parts will continue to operate correctly almost indefinitely and are used in most simple feedback control systems. Circuits without moving parts appear in a large number of items from traffic lights to washing machines.
Another electromechanical device is piezoelectric devices, but they do not use electromagnetic principles. Piezoelectric devices can create sound or vibration from an electrical signal or create an electrical signal from sound or mechanical vibration.
To become an electromechanical engineer, typical college courses involve mathematics, engineering, computer science, designing of machines, and other automotive classes that help gain skill in troubleshooting and analyzing issues with machines. To be an electromechanical engineer a bachelor's degree is required, usually in electrical, mechanical, or electromechanical engineering. As of April 2018, only two universities, Michigan Technological University and Wentworth Institute of Technology, offer the major of electromechanical engineering [citation needed]. To enter the electromechanical field as an entry-level technician, an associative degree is all that is required.
As of 2016, approximately 13,800 people work as electro-mechanical technicians in the US. The job outlook for 2016 to 2026 for technicians is 4% growth which is about an employment change of 500 positions. This outlook is slower than average.
See also
- Electromechanical modeling
- Adding machine
- Automation
- Automatic transmission system
- Electric machine
- Electric power conversion
- Electricity meter
- Enigma machine
- Kerrison Predictor
- Mechatronics
- Power engineering
- Relay
- Robotics
- SAW filter
- Stepping switch
- Solenoid valve
- Thermostat
- Torpedo Data Computer
- Unit record equipment
References
- Citations
- Course in Electro-mechanics, for Students in Electrical Engineering, 1st Term of 3d Year, Columbia University, Adapted from Prof. F.E. Nipher's "Electricity and Magnetism". By Fitzhugh Townsend. 1901.
- Szolc, T.; Konowrocki, Robert; Michajłow, M.; Pregowska, A. (2014). "An investigation of the dynamic electromechanical coupling effects in machine drive systems driven by asynchronous motors". Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing. 49 (1–2). Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, Vol.49, pp.118-134: 118–134. Bibcode:2014MSSP...49..118S. doi:10.1016/j.ymssp.2014.04.004.
- The Elements of Electricity, "Part V. Electro-Mechanics[permanent dead link]." By Wirt Robinson. John Wiley & sons, Incorporated, 1922.
- Konowrocki, Robert; Szolc, T.; Pochanke, A.; Pregowska, A. (2016). "An influence of the stepping motor control and friction models on precise positioning of the complex mechanical system". Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing. 70–71. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, Vol.70-71, pp.397-413: 397–413. Bibcode:2016MSSP...70..397K. doi:10.1016/j.ymssp.2015.09.030. ISSN 0888-3270.
- "Michael Faraday's electric magnetic rotation apparatus (motor)". Retrieved 2018-04-14.
- "Michael Faraday's generator". Retrieved 2018-04-14.
- "WWI: Technology and the weapons of war | NCpedia". www.ncpedia.org. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
- US2802760A, Lincoln, Derick & Frosch, Carl J., "Oxidation of semiconductive surfaces for controlled diffusion", issued 1957-08-13
- Frosch, C. J.; Derick, L (1957). "Surface Protection and Selective Masking during Diffusion in Silicon". Journal of the Electrochemical Society. 104 (9): 547. doi:10.1149/1.2428650.
- Lojek, Bo (2007). History of Semiconductor Engineering. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. p. 321. ISBN 978-3-540-34258-8.
- Ligenza, J.R.; Spitzer, W.G. (1960). "The mechanisms for silicon oxidation in steam and oxygen". Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids. 14: 131–136. doi:10.1016/0022-3697(60)90219-5.
- Lojek, Bo (2007). History of Semiconductor Engineering. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 120. ISBN 9783540342588.
- Rai-Choudhury, P. (2000). MEMS and MOEMS Technology and Applications. SPIE Press. pp. ix, 3. ISBN 9780819437167.
- Nathanson HC, Wickstrom RA (1965). "A Resonant-Gate Silicon Surface Transistor with High-Q Band-Pass Properties". Appl. Phys. Lett. 7 (4): 84–86. Bibcode:1965ApPhL...7...84N. doi:10.1063/1.1754323.
- Bergveld, Piet (October 1985). "The impact of MOSFET-based sensors" (PDF). Sensors and Actuators. 8 (2): 109–127. Bibcode:1985SeAc....8..109B. doi:10.1016/0250-6874(85)87009-8. ISSN 0250-6874. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-04-26. Retrieved 2019-10-19.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Electro-mechanical Technicians, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/electro-mechanical-technicians.htm (visited April 13, 2018).
- Sources
- Davim, J. Paulo, editor (2011) Mechatronics, John Wiley & Sons ISBN 978-1-84821-308-1 .
- Furlani, Edward P. (August 15, 2001). Permanent Magnet and Electromechanical Devices: Materials, Analysis and Applications. Academic Press Series in Electromagnetism. San Diego: Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-12-269951-1. OCLC 47726317.
- Krause, Paul C.; Wasynczuk, Oleg (1989). Electromechanical Motion Devices. McGraw-Hill Series in Electrical and Computer Engineering. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-035494-4. OCLC 18224514.
- Szolc T., Konowrocki R., Michajlow M., Pregowska A., An Investigation of the Dynamic Electromechanical Coupling Effects in Machine Drive Systems Driven by Asynchronous Motors, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, ISSN 0888-3270, Vol.49, pp. 118–134, 2014
- "WWI: Technology and the weapons of war | NCpedia". www.ncpedia.org. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
Further reading
- A first course in electromechanics. By Hugh Hildreth Skilling. Wiley, 1960.
- Electromechanics: a first course in electromechanical energy conversion, Volume 1. By Hugh Hildreth Skilling. R. E. Krieger Pub. Co., Jan 1, 1979.
- Electromechanics and electrical machinery. By J. F. Lindsay, M. H. Rashid. Prentice-Hall, 1986.
- Electromechanical motion devices. By Hi-Dong Chai. Prentice Hall PTR, 1998.
- Mechatronics: Electromechanics and Contromechanics. By Denny K. Miu. Springer London, Limited, 2011.
Electromechanics combines processes and procedures drawn from electrical engineering and mechanical engineering Electromechanics focuses on the interaction of electrical and mechanical systems as a whole and how the two systems interact with each other This process is especially prominent in systems such as those of DC or AC rotating electrical machines which can be designed and operated to generate power from a mechanical process generator or used to power a mechanical effect motor Electrical engineering in this context also encompasses electronics engineering A relay is a common electro mechanical device Electromechanical devices are ones which have both electrical and mechanical processes Strictly speaking a manually operated switch is an electromechanical component due to the mechanical movement causing an electrical output Though this is true the term is usually understood to refer to devices which involve an electrical signal to create mechanical movement or vice versa mechanical movement to create an electric signal Often involving electromagnetic principles such as in relays which allow a voltage or current to control another usually isolated circuit voltage or current by mechanically switching sets of contacts and solenoids by which a voltage can actuate a moving linkage as in solenoid valves Before the development of modern electronics electromechanical devices were widely used in complicated subsystems of parts including electric typewriters teleprinters clocks initial television systems and the very early electromechanical digital computers Solid state electronics have replaced electromechanics in many applications HistoryThe first electric motor was invented in 1822 by Michael Faraday The motor was developed only a year after Hans Christian Orsted discovered that the flow of electric current creates a proportional magnetic field This early motor was simply a wire partially submerged into a glass of mercury with a magnet at the bottom When the wire was connected to a battery a magnetic field was created and this interaction with the magnetic field given off by the magnet caused the wire to spin Ten years later the first electric generator was invented again by Michael Faraday This generator consisted of a magnet passing through a coil of wire and inducing current that was measured by a galvanometer Faraday s research and experiments into electricity are the basis of most of modern electromechanical principles known today Interest in electromechanics surged with the research into long distance communication The Industrial Revolution s rapid increase in production gave rise to a demand for intracontinental communication allowing electromechanics to make its way into public service Relays originated with telegraphy as electromechanical devices were used to regenerate telegraph signals The Strowger switch the Panel switch and similar devices were widely used in early automated telephone exchanges Crossbar switches were first widely installed in the middle 20th century in Sweden the United States Canada and Great Britain and these quickly spread to the rest of the world Electromechanical systems saw a massive leap in progress from 1910 1945 as the world was put into global war twice World War I saw a burst of new electromechanics as spotlights and radios were used by all countries By World War II countries had developed and centralized their military around the versatility and power of electromechanics One example of these still used today is the alternator which was created to power military equipment in the 1950s and later repurposed for automobiles in the 1960s Post war America greatly benefited from the military s development of electromechanics as household work was quickly replaced by electromechanical systems such as microwaves refrigerators and washing machines The electromechanical television systems of the late 19th century were less successful Electric typewriters developed up to the 1980s as power assisted typewriters They contained a single electrical component the motor Where the keystroke had previously moved a typebar directly now it engaged mechanical linkages that directed mechanical power from the motor into the typebar This was also true of the later IBM Selectric At Bell Labs in the 1946 the Bell Model V computer was developed It was an electromechanical relay based device cycles took seconds In 1968 electromechanical systems were still under serious consideration for an aircraft flight control computer until a device based on large scale integration electronics was adopted in the Central Air Data Computer Microelectromechanical systems MEMS Microelectromechanical systems MEMS have roots in the silicon revolution which can be traced back to two important silicon semiconductor inventions from 1959 the monolithic integrated circuit IC chip by Robert Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor and the metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor MOSFET invented at Bell Labs between 1955 and 1960 after Frosch and Derick discovered and used surface passivation by silicon dioxide to create the first planar transistors the first in which drain and source were adjacent at the same surface MOSFET scaling the miniaturisation of MOSFETs on IC chips led to the miniaturisation of electronics as predicted by Moore s law and Dennard scaling This laid the foundations for the miniaturisation of mechanical systems with the development of micromachining technology based on silicon semiconductor devices as engineers began realizing that silicon chips and MOSFETs could interact and communicate with the surroundings and process things such as chemicals motions and light One of the first silicon pressure sensors was isotropically micromachined by Honeywell in 1962 An early example of a MEMS device is the resonant gate transistor an adaptation of the MOSFET developed by Harvey C Nathanson in 1965 During the 1970s to early 1980s a number of MOSFET microsensors were developed for measuring physical chemical biological and environmental parameters In the early 21st century there has been research on nanoelectromechanical systems NEMS Modern practiceToday electromechanical processes are mainly used by power companies All fuel based generators convert mechanical movement to electrical power Some renewable energies such as wind and hydroelectric are powered by mechanical systems that also convert movement to electricity In the last thirty years of the 20th century equipment which would generally have used electromechanical devices became less expensive This equipment became cheaper because it used more reliably integrated microcontroller circuits containing ultimately a few million transistors and a program to carry out the same task through logic With electromechanical components there were only moving parts such as mechanical electric actuators This more reliable logic has replaced most electromechanical devices because any point in a system which must rely on mechanical movement for proper operation will inevitably have mechanical wear and eventually fail Properly designed electronic circuits without moving parts will continue to operate correctly almost indefinitely and are used in most simple feedback control systems Circuits without moving parts appear in a large number of items from traffic lights to washing machines Another electromechanical device is piezoelectric devices but they do not use electromagnetic principles Piezoelectric devices can create sound or vibration from an electrical signal or create an electrical signal from sound or mechanical vibration To become an electromechanical engineer typical college courses involve mathematics engineering computer science designing of machines and other automotive classes that help gain skill in troubleshooting and analyzing issues with machines To be an electromechanical engineer a bachelor s degree is required usually in electrical mechanical or electromechanical engineering As of April 2018 only two universities Michigan Technological University and Wentworth Institute of Technology offer the major of electromechanical engineering citation needed To enter the electromechanical field as an entry level technician an associative degree is all that is required As of 2016 approximately 13 800 people work as electro mechanical technicians in the US The job outlook for 2016 to 2026 for technicians is 4 growth which is about an employment change of 500 positions This outlook is slower than average See alsoElectromechanical modeling Adding machine Automation Automatic transmission system Electric machine Electric power conversion Electricity meter Enigma machine Kerrison Predictor Mechatronics Power engineering Relay Robotics SAW filter Stepping switch Solenoid valve Thermostat Torpedo Data Computer Unit record equipmentReferencesCitationsCourse in Electro mechanics for Students in Electrical Engineering 1st Term of 3d Year Columbia University Adapted from Prof F E Nipher s Electricity and Magnetism By Fitzhugh Townsend 1901 Szolc T Konowrocki Robert Michajlow M Pregowska A 2014 An investigation of the dynamic electromechanical coupling effects in machine drive systems driven by asynchronous motors Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 49 1 2 Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing Vol 49 pp 118 134 118 134 Bibcode 2014MSSP 49 118S doi 10 1016 j ymssp 2014 04 004 The Elements of Electricity Part V Electro Mechanics permanent dead link By Wirt Robinson John Wiley amp sons Incorporated 1922 Konowrocki Robert Szolc T Pochanke A Pregowska A 2016 An influence of the stepping motor control and friction models on precise positioning of the complex mechanical system Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 70 71 Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing Vol 70 71 pp 397 413 397 413 Bibcode 2016MSSP 70 397K doi 10 1016 j ymssp 2015 09 030 ISSN 0888 3270 Michael Faraday s electric magnetic rotation apparatus motor Retrieved 2018 04 14 Michael Faraday s generator Retrieved 2018 04 14 WWI Technology and the weapons of war NCpedia www ncpedia org Retrieved 2018 04 22 US2802760A Lincoln Derick amp Frosch Carl J Oxidation of semiconductive surfaces for controlled diffusion issued 1957 08 13 Frosch C J Derick L 1957 Surface Protection and Selective Masking during Diffusion in Silicon Journal of the Electrochemical Society 104 9 547 doi 10 1149 1 2428650 Lojek Bo 2007 History of Semiconductor Engineering Berlin Heidelberg Springer Verlag Berlin Heidelberg p 321 ISBN 978 3 540 34258 8 Ligenza J R Spitzer W G 1960 The mechanisms for silicon oxidation in steam and oxygen Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids 14 131 136 doi 10 1016 0022 3697 60 90219 5 Lojek Bo 2007 History of Semiconductor Engineering Springer Science amp Business Media p 120 ISBN 9783540342588 Rai Choudhury P 2000 MEMS and MOEMS Technology and Applications SPIE Press pp ix 3 ISBN 9780819437167 Nathanson HC Wickstrom RA 1965 A Resonant Gate Silicon Surface Transistor with High Q Band Pass Properties Appl Phys Lett 7 4 84 86 Bibcode 1965ApPhL 7 84N doi 10 1063 1 1754323 Bergveld Piet October 1985 The impact of MOSFET based sensors PDF Sensors and Actuators 8 2 109 127 Bibcode 1985SeAc 8 109B doi 10 1016 0250 6874 85 87009 8 ISSN 0250 6874 Archived from the original PDF on 2021 04 26 Retrieved 2019 10 19 Bureau of Labor Statistics U S Department of Labor Occupational Outlook Handbook Electro mechanical Technicians on the Internet at http www bls gov ooh architecture and engineering electro mechanical technicians htm visited April 13 2018 SourcesDavim J Paulo editor 2011 Mechatronics John Wiley amp Sons ISBN 978 1 84821 308 1 Furlani Edward P August 15 2001 Permanent Magnet and Electromechanical Devices Materials Analysis and Applications Academic Press Series in Electromagnetism San Diego Academic Press ISBN 978 0 12 269951 1 OCLC 47726317 Krause Paul C Wasynczuk Oleg 1989 Electromechanical Motion Devices McGraw Hill Series in Electrical and Computer Engineering New York McGraw Hill ISBN 978 0 07 035494 4 OCLC 18224514 Szolc T Konowrocki R Michajlow M Pregowska A An Investigation of the Dynamic Electromechanical Coupling Effects in Machine Drive Systems Driven by Asynchronous Motors Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing ISSN 0888 3270 Vol 49 pp 118 134 2014 WWI Technology and the weapons of war NCpedia www ncpedia org Retrieved 2018 04 22 Further readingA first course in electromechanics By Hugh Hildreth Skilling Wiley 1960 Electromechanics a first course in electromechanical energy conversion Volume 1 By Hugh Hildreth Skilling R E Krieger Pub Co Jan 1 1979 Electromechanics and electrical machinery By J F Lindsay M H Rashid Prentice Hall 1986 Electromechanical motion devices By Hi Dong Chai Prentice Hall PTR 1998 Mechatronics Electromechanics and Contromechanics By Denny K Miu Springer London Limited 2011
