News

納米控制、電容儲能

香港理工大學電機工程學系鄭家偉教授在理大舉行傳媒簡介會，向記者展示其率領團隊之最新發明品：超級集成電容技術。 該產品可為電動車供電。 有別於目前的電動車電池，鄭教授團隊的研發重點為用上納米技術製造的電容儲能，可以做到超薄、多形狀、壽命長、充電快。鄭教授現場展示了 2 塊不同形狀的超級電容板，分別是曲面和平面的，每塊內藏 160 枚納米電容；鄭教授強調每塊超級電容板可循環充電 100 萬次、每次由 0% 至 100% 充滿電只需 3 至 5 分鐘、 但需使用三相供電； 該產品還可以做得更纖薄，而不同形狀的優勢是在於可放置在車頂或車門等不同地方，令電動車的設計更有彈性。 鄭教授透露每塊超級電容板成本價約 $2 萬港元 ，若進入量產階段，或可把成本價下調至數千元；又指電容比鋰電池成本便宜；鋰電池效能低，一個月可能已經漏電，超級電容則可做到 2 個月保持 99% 電能。鄭教授表示，理論上 3 塊超級電容板可為電動車供電 10 至 20 分鐘、行車距離 30 公里；「整個發明從設計、採購、生產、測試僅用上一年，並不容易」。鄭教授已為這項理大最新儲電技術申請全球專利。 

PolyU Education Info Day

Date: 10th October 2015 Time: 9:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Venue: QT platform   香港理工大學將於2015年10月10日舉行理大教育資訊日2015。屆時，電機工程學系會於早上9時30分至下午6時在QT翼平台設立展覽攤位，提供入學資訊予參觀者，同場亦會有個別選科輔導、實驗室參觀活動及課程講座，歡迎屆時蒞臨參觀。

PolyU to host examination for electricians

Date: 3rd and 5th Novemeber   The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) announced that the examination for registration as a Grade C electrical worker will be held on November 3 and 5 on PolyU campus. Application for sitting for the examination is now open until 30 September 2015.    There is no minimum entry requirement for the examination, although preference will be given to current registered electrical workers, in particular Grade B electrical workers. Any worker who wishes to be qualified for registration as a Grade C electrical worker is required to pass this examination.    Details of the Grade C electricians' examination 2015  

PolyU Engineering Campus Tour Programme (caters for pre-university students) – Soft launch in August 2015

Time: Every Friday, 4:00pm–5:00pm; Every Saturday, 11:00am–12:00noon   The Faculty of Engineering welcomes local and international visitors. Our Campus Tour Programme caters for high school, secondary school and pre-university students who wish to learn more about the excellent education opportunities available here at PolyU. Reservations are required for the tour sessions. Family and friends are welcome to join the tour. Please note that around 1 hour of walking will be involved and arrangements can be made for those with limited mobility. Please make your reservation with at least 1 week of advance notice. Click here to the website for details   Download the event's leaflet

The IET/MATE Hong Kong Underwater Robot Challenge 2015

Topic: 10th Hong Kong/Asia Regional of the MATE International ROV Competition The EE Engineering Club took part in the IET/MATE 2015 Underwater Robotics Competition. The competition was held on 18 & 19 April 2015. Our team is named “Upstream Salmon” which comprises more than 10 EE students and 1 ME student. We are also glad to share that the team has won the chance to participate in the MATE international ROV competition which will be held from 25 to 27 June at the Marine Institute of Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

Newly published paper in Nature Communications

Topic: Ultra-sensitive optical fiber gas sensors   Professor Wei Jin and his research team developed a novel all-fibre optical technique that improves the sensitivity and dynamic range of optical fibre gas sensors by approximately three orders of magnitude. The team members are Research Associate Dr. Yingchun Cao, PhD student Mr. Fang Yang, and Scientific Office Dr. Hoi Lut Ho. They have had an article “Ultra-sensitive all-fibre photothermal spectroscopy with large dynamic range” published online in the prestigious journal Nature Communications on 13 April 2015 Detection of trace chemicals sensitively and selectively is important for environmental, medical and security applications. Optical fiber gas sensors have numerous advantages such as compact size, free from electromagnetic interference, ease of multiplexing, capability for remote sensing. However, conventional optical fiber gas sensors based on transmission spectroscopy have limitations in performance. The lower detection limits are typically 10-100 parts per million (ppm) and the dynamic ranges are two to three orders of magnitude. Instead of measuring transmission loss, Jin’s team exploited absorption-induced phase change in a gas-filled hollow-core photonic bandgap fibre and demonstrated ultra-sensitive all-fibre acetylene gas sensors with ppb (parts per billion) level detection limit and an unprecedented dynamic range of nearly six orders of magnitude. The sensor system uses near infrared diode lasers and fibre-based technology, and would enable a new class of optical sensors with low cost, compact size, ultra sensitivity and selectivity, applicability to harsh environment, and capability for distributed sensing. It can be used to detect a range of gases (e.g., CO2, CO, CH4, N2O, H2S, NH3, HI, C4H6) that have absorption lines in the transmission bands of hollow-core optical fibres. The extension of the technique to liquid analysis is straightforward. When combined with fibre-based microfluidic arrangement, it would provide an ultra-sensitive means for environmental, medical, chemical and bio-chemical detection with micro/nano litre sample consumption. The article can be found online here   Download the published paper

Award in 2014 IEEE Hong Kong Student Paper Contest

The paper entitled “A Hybrid Approach for k-way Partitions in Smart Grid based on Laplacian Spectrum and Self-Organizing Map” by the PhD student Mr Jia Youwei supervised by Dr. Zhao XU, has been awarded as Third Prize in 2014 IEEE Hong Kong Student Paper Contest. This paper reports a newly proposed partitioning approach featuring high clustering accuracy and computational efficiency, which successfully lays out a promising groundwork for smart grid planning and control with “self-healing” capability enabled. This competition was organized by IEEE Hong Kong Section. It was well participated by a significant number of undergraduate and graduate students from The University of Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, City University of Hong Kong, The Open University of Hong Kong etc. Only top-3 ranked papers were shortlisted for this award.  An award certificate was presented to Mr Jia Youwei at the IEEE Hong Kong Section EXCO Meeting on 27nd March 2015.   This award reflects the significant achievement of the research group supervised by Dr Zhao XU in the development of novel and effective approaches to support smart grid planning and operation.

Competition - Design Your Ideal Laboratory - the NEW EF402

Competition details

Happy Retirement for Dr. HW Ngan

Date: 1st December 2014

Award from IEEE Power and Energy Society

The algorithm entitled “Differential Evolution Algorithm with a Modified Archiving-based Adaptive Tradeoff Model for Optimal Power Flow” by the team consisting of Dr Xu Zhao of EE Department, Winthrop Professor Kit Po Wong (the University of Western Australia), and Dr Xu’s research students, Mr. Niu Ming and Mr. Jia Youwei, has been selected as one of the five best algorithms for solving the complicated optimal power flow problem in power system operation in an international competition.    The competition was organized by IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES). It was well participated by over 50 teams from around the world. Only the top-5 ranked algorithms/teams were shortlisted and invited to present their algorithms and results in the IEEE PES General Meeting held in Washington DC, USA in July this year. An award certificate was presented to the team at the General Meeting.    This award reflects the significant international achievement of the team in the development of novel concepts and efficient algorithms for solving difficult power system optimization problems. We wish to send the team our heartiest congratulations and we wish them continual success in their future research.