Science Daily February 1, 2022 Using electromagnetics researchers in Finland have developed a free-positioning wireless power transfer technology that can direct power to individual devices without needing plugs, tracking devices , or complex computing. Devices can be charged while they are moving. Multiple transmitters (Txs) are placed in a pad-like area, and the transmitter coils are optimally excited to enable robust and efficient power transfer to movable receivers within the charging area. The configuration enables almost continuous magnetic flux path from a set of Tx coil(s) to another set of Tx coil(s) through the receiver coil ferrite core ensuring efficient […]
Tag Archives: S&T Finland
Physicists make square droplets and liquid lattices
Nanowerk September 15, 2021 To study if the non-equilibrium structures can be controlled or be useful researchers in Finland subjected combinations of oils with different dielectric constants and conductivities to an electric field. When an electric field turned on over the mixture, electrical charge accumulated at the interface between the oils shearing the interface out of thermodynamic equilibrium. The liquids were confined into a thin, nearly two-dimensional sheet taking various droplets and patterns. The droplets could be made into squares and hexagons with straight sides. The two liquids could be also made to form into interconnected lattices, grid patterns that […]
Wirelessly charging multiple devices simultaneously
Science Daily July 27, 2021 A transmitter traditionally must first detect a device presence and position to be able to send energy in its direction. Researchers in Finland have designed a proof-of-concept device which creates power transfer channels in all directions, automatically tuning channels when receiving devices are in motion. Because of self-tuning, the device does not need complex electronics to connect with receivers embedded in devices and it can be moved freely within a wide charging range. By winding the coils in a specific way, they created two kinds of electromagnetic fields: one going outwards and the other around. […]
Researchers developed a sequence analysis pipeline for virus discovery
Science Daily December 3, 2020 Researchers in Finland have developed a novel bioinformatics pipeline called Lazypipe for identifying viruses in host-associated or environmental samples. Previously they published two examples of novel and potentially zoonotic viral agents that were identified with Lazypipe from wild animals that can serve as vectors. A new ebolavirus was identified from feces and organ samples of Mops condylurus bats in Kenya, and a new tick-borne pathogen Alongshan virus from ticks in Northeast Europe. These examples demonstrate the efficacy of Lazypipe data analysis for NGS libraries with very different DNA/RNA backgrounds, ranging from mammalian tissues to pooled […]
A new interpretation of quantum mechanics suggests that reality does not depend on the person measuring it
Phys.org October 6, 2020 According to the traditional interpretation of the Heisenberg principle, location and momentum cannot be determined simultaneously to an arbitrary degree of precision, as the person conducting the measurement always affects the values. In their study researchers in Finland used stochastic optimal control theory to conclude that the correlation between a location and momentum, i.e., their relationship, is fixed. In other words, reality is an object that does not depend on the person measuring it. In their theory’s frame of reference, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle is a manifestation of thermodynamic equilibrium, in which correlations of random variables do […]
New electronic cooling technology to enable miniaturization of quantum computers
Phys.org April 14, 2020 The optimal operation of electrothermal elements relies on mastering two competing boundary conditions: the maximization of the electrothermal response and the blockade of lattice (phonon) thermal conduction. Researchers in Finland proposed and demonstrated that efficient electrothermal operation and phonon blocking can be achieved in solid-state thermionic junctions, paving the way for new phonon-engineered high-efficiency refrigerators and sensors. For demonstration they used semiconductor-superconductor (Sm-S) junctions where the electrothermal response arises from the superconducting energy gap and the phonon blocking results from the acoustic transmission bottleneck at the junction. They demonstrated a cooling platform where a silicon chip […]
Machine learning helps predict if storms will cause power outages
Science Daily August 2, 2019 Researchers in Finland collected data about the amount of power disruptions to their network from companies who have power grids through storm-prone central Finland. They sorted the storms into 4 classes, class 0 did not knock out electricity, class 1 storm cut-off up to 10% of transformers, class 2 up to 50%, and class 3 storm cut power to over 50% of the transformers. By grouping 16 different features of each storm, they were able to train the computer to recognize when storms will be damaging. The algorithm was very good at predicting which storms […]
Qubits as valves: Controlling quantum heat engines
Science Daily July 9, 2018 Researchers in Finland assembled a miniature heat valve in a quantum system composed of a superconducting qubit to study heat transport. Using a qubit controlled by a magnetic field as a “valve,” they could either block or release the flow of photons carrying the heat through the qubit between two “heat baths” formed of metallic resistors. They aim to understand, combining experimental and theoretical efforts, how quantum refrigerators and heat engines work. This effort would ultimately bridge the gap between the fields of quantum information and thermodynamics of mesoscopic systems… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Making the internet of things possible with a new breed of ‘memristors’
Science Daily January 10, 2018 Researchers in Finland have fabricated a new kind of ferroelectric tunnel junctions using organic hydro-carbon materials. The junctions work in low voltages of less than five volts and with a variety of electrode materials including silicon. They can retain data for more than 10 years without power and be manufactured in normal conditions. They can be made from the water or oxygen in the air and would reduce the amount of toxic heavy metal waste in electronics. They are working to integrate millions of tunnel junction memristors into a network on a one square centimetre […]