EXAMINATION PAPER: ACADEMIC SECSSION 2010/2011

Campus School Department Programme Level COURSE TITLE COURSE CODE Date and Duration (including Reading time) Paper Set by Dr P Callaghan Medway Engineering Engineering Systems MSc Engineer Suite 7 Design of Electronic Systems ELEE1129 Jan 2011, 2 hours

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES & INFORMATION FOR INVILGILATORS

The attention of the students is directed to the instructions printed on the answer book

Answer any THREE of the following four Questions All Questions carry equal marks

Duration: 2 Hours

Graph Paper will be provided

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Date & Duration of Exam: January 2011, 2 hours Course Title: Design of Electronic Systems Course Code: ELEE1129

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Q1.(a) What are the three key parameters that describe the discharge of an ideal battery? [6 marks] (b) A 50W portable appliance is required to operate continually for 18 hours from a 12V battery supply. Assuming ideal battery characteristics which, if any, of the following may provide a solution? How would they be connected? (i) 6 batteries each 1.5V, 10Ah (ii) 6kg of a 12V battery with an energy density of 170 Wh/kg (iii) 2 12V batteries each having a 40Ah capacity but rated at C/10 [8 marks] (c) Four Zinc Chloride (ZnC) cells are required to power for 35 hours an application that requires a minimum of 4.4V to operate and draws 5 mA current. Each cell is rated at 300 mAh but their potential falls from 1.5V initially to 0.9V when fully discharged. (i) Show by calculation whether this battery type can meet this requirement. (ii) It is proposed to use Nickel Cadmium (NiCd) cells as a rechargeable option. If the capacity of each cell is 200 mAh is this possible? (iii) Comment on your findings in general under what circumstances, if any, would the NiCd provide an alternative to the ZnC battery? [6 marks]

(d) Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries were developed to overcome limitations of NiCd batteries. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of NiMH against NiCd [5 marks]

Date & Duration of Exam: January 2011, 2 hours Course Title: Design of Electronic Systems Course Code: ELEE1129

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Q2. (a) Sketch the volts current characteristic for a typical Fuel Cell [6 marks] (b) A 150W, 6V device is to be powered by a Fuel Cell. Two types of Fuel Cell are available. The first type uses a low profile but runs at a high current density, whilst a bulker design is available but has a much higher density. Estimate the number of Fuel Cells needed and the overall mass required for each type. [ 6 marks] (c) What type of Fuel Cell would meet the requirement above? [3 marks] (d) The 150W, 6V device is to have a SuperCapacitor back-up supply to ensure it continues operation for at least 5 minutes. The only SuperCapacitor has the following parameters Capacitance: Internal Resistance Maximum operating voltage: 2000F 0.001 2.2V

If the device will operate down to 4.5 V determine a suitable SuperCapacitor Stack that will meet this requirement. State any assumptions. [10 marks]

Date & Duration of Exam: January 2011, 2 hours Course Title: Design of Electronic Systems Course Code: ELEE1129

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Q3. (a) What is Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) and what are the two principal aspects to EMC? [6 marks] (b) Sketch a TEM cell with suitable annotations and describe its application for EMC. [9 marks] (c) A traditional design approach for an automotive stereo system driving 120W (60W per channel) into 6 speakers is to use the chassis as a ground terminal. Here there is a single supply lead to the head unit and 4 single wire leads from the head unit to the speakers. The head unit is grounded by a separate wire routed to the nearest chassis point 400mm away. This is illustrated in Fig. Q3

Head Unit

Fig Q3: Wiring Schematic for car audio system

(i) Discuss any problems this might give with regards to EMC and propose an improved wiring scheme. (ii) It is proposed to use active speakers that the power amplifier for each channel is incorporated to the speaker module. This reduces the current drawn by the head unit (reducing heat dissipation in the console). Does this improve or worsen the EMC issues? (iii) For an active speaker system discuss if there are any alternative connection approaches to improve EMC? [10 marks]

Date & Duration of Exam: January 2011, 2 hours Course Title: Design of Electronic Systems Course Code: ELEE1129

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Q4. (a) The three common IC technologies are TTL, ECL and CMOS. Which technology is preferred for each of the following applications and why: (i) Low power (ii) High Speed (iii) Low Cost (iv) Ease of handling [8 marks]

(b) In designing a low power system it is argued that power consumption is optimised at the system design stage rather than at the architecture or circuit design stages. Discuss why this is the best approach. In your answer give 5 design factors that are influenced by the system design that can lead to significant reduction in power consumption. [10 marks]

(c) It is proposed to replace a microprocessor having 300,000 transistors that operates at 2MHz on 3.3V with a smaller device having only 150,000 transistors. If the new microprocessor requires a 5V supply and must run at 10MHz to perform the same function calculate if there will be a saving in power. [7 marks]

Date & Duration of Exam: January 2011, 2 hours Course Title: Design of Electronic Systems Course Code: ELEE1129

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