What is electrical engineering? It’s worth starting with the fact that this discipline arose in the 19th century after the commercialization of electricity, telephone, distribution and use of electricity.
Definition and classification
Electrical engineering is now divided into a wide range of subfields, including electronics, digital computers, computer engineering, energy, telecommunications, control systems, robotics, radio frequency engineering, signal processing, instruments and microelectronics. The development of electrical engineering in our time stimulates the emergence of new types of instruments and devices.
History
Early experiments with electricity included primitive batteries and static charges. However, the actual design, construction and manufacture of useful devices and systems began with the implementation of the Law of induction by Michael Faraday, which essentially claims that the voltage in the circuit is proportional to the rate of change of the magnetic field through the circuit. This law applies to the basic principles of an electric generator, electric motor and transformer. The advent of the modern era was marked by the introduction of electricity into homes, business and industry. All this became possible thanks to electrical engineering.
The list of the most famous pioneers in the field of electrical engineering includes Thomas Edison (light bulb), George Westinghouse (alternating current), Nicolas Tesla (induction motor), Guglielmo Marconi (radio) and Filon T. Farnsworth (television). These innovators have transformed ideas and concepts related to electricity into practical devices and systems that have opened the modern age.
From the very beginning of its development, the field of electrical engineering has grown and branched into a number of specialized categories, including power generation and transmission systems, engines, batteries and control systems. Electrical engineering also includes electronics, which itself branches out into even more subcategories, such as radio frequency (RF) systems, telecommunications, remote sensing, signal processing, digital circuits, devices, audio, video, and optoelectronics.
Modern electrical engineering arose with the invention of the thermionic vacuum tube with a diode lamp in 1904 by John Ambrose Fleming. The vacuum tube basically acts as a current amplifier, outputting a multiple of its input current. This was the basis of all electronics, including radio, television and radar, until the mid-20th century. This was largely supplanted by the transistor, which was developed in 1947 at AT & T's Bell Laboratories by William Shockley, John Bardin and Walter Bratten, for which they received the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics. Even then, the broad masses of the population had an idea of what electrical engineering is.
What does an electrical engineer do?
Electronic engineers create electrical and electronic equipment, such as broadcast and communication systems, from portable music players to global positioning systems (GPS).
If it is a practical, real device that produces, conducts, or uses electricity, in all likelihood it was designed by an electrical engineer. In addition, engineers can record or record specifications for destructive or non-destructive testing of the performance, reliability, and durability of devices and components.
Today's electrical engineers design electrical devices and systems using basic components such as conductors, coils, magnets, batteries, switches, resistors, capacitors, inductors, diodes and transistors. Almost all electrical and electronic devices, from generators in power plants to microprocessors in your phone, use these several basic components.
Skills
The critical skills needed to work with electrical engineering include a deep understanding of electrical and electronic theory, mathematics, and materials. This knowledge allows engineers to develop circuits to perform specific functions that meet the requirements of safety, reliability and energy efficiency, and to predict how they will behave before the hardware design is implemented.
However, sometimes circuits are based on “mock-ups” or prototypes of printed circuit boards made on computers with numerical control (CNC) for testing before they are put into operation. Nevertheless, experts in this field know everything about electrical engineering, and such technical tasks are not out of the ordinary for them.
Electrical engineers are increasingly relying on computer-aided design (CAD) systems to create circuits. They also use computers to simulate how electrical devices and systems will work. Such forecasting can be used for a national power system or microprocessor, so knowledge of electronics is important for electrical engineers. In addition to speeding up the process of compiling circuit diagrams of printed circuit boards and drawings for electrical and electronic devices, CAD systems allow you to quickly and easily modify designs and quickly create prototypes using CNC machines.
Science Centers
Professional organizations for electrical engineers include the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IEP). IEEE claims to produce 30% of the world’s literature in the field of electrical engineering, has more than 360,000 members worldwide, and holds more than 3,000 conferences annually. People working in these institutions know best what electrical engineering and automation are.
Conclusion
From the Global Positioning System to power generation, electronic engineers have contributed to the development of a wide range of technologies. They design, develop, test and control the deployment of electrical systems and electronic devices.
For example, they can work on the design of telecommunication systems, power plants, lighting, home appliance design, or electrical control of industrial equipment. This is the answer to the question of what is electrical engineering.