82 IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine

B O O K R E V I E W S

byJohn J. Shea

Optical, Acoustic, Magnetic, and Mechanical Sensor Technologies

K. Iniewski, EditorCRC PressTaylor & Francis Group6000 Broken Sound Parkway–NW, Suite 300Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742Phone: (800) 272-7737Fax: (800) 374-3401http://www.taylorandfrancis.comISBN 978-1-4398-6975-8357 pp., $149.95 (Hardcover), 2012

Sensor technology is a rapidly growing research area used to meet the demands for enabling new electronics, photonics, chemistry, biology, and mechanical devices. Much of the demand is driven by the need for portable and lightweight sensors for measuring all types of quantities including motion, sound, optical, magnetic, or electrical signals.

This is an applications book on various sensor types. It is basically a list of various sensor technologies with description on operating principles and applications. The book is broken down into two parts. Part one deals with optical and acoustic sensors, with the first sensor type covering glass and polymer optical fibers. The theory and operation of intensity and phase-based- and wavelength-based-fibers sensors are nicely reviewed. The polymer fiber sensors cover applications

using microstructured polymer optical fibers (POFs) for measuring temperature based on fluorescence. Other areas cover using luminescent thermometry for sensing rapid thermal profiles in fires and explosions. Embedded microparticles in a material are used to determine properties of a fire or an explosion using luminescent particles. Other topics cover solar-cell analysis, photo-acoustic spectroscopy, and an underwater acoustic modem.

The second part deals with magnetic and mechanical sensing. Coverage that may interest our readers includes scanning of magnetic fields, microsystems for sensing airflow, temperature and humidity by combining MEMS and CMOS technologies, MEMS-based hot-plate devices for gas sensing applications, vibration energy harvesting methods using piezoelectric based MEMS, and self-powered wireless sensing in ground transport applications.

Because mathematical details and in-depth theory are not thoroughly reviewed, the presented material is descriptive in nature and includes many illustrations, making this book very accessible to a general technical audience interested in sensing technology. However, because it covers very specific sensor topics, only those readers interested in the specific topics covered will benefit from this book.

Solar Hydrogen GenerationJ. Guo and X. ChenMcGraw-Hill1221 Ave. of the Americas45th FloorNew York, NY 10020Phone: (877) 833-5524Fax: (614) 759-3823http://www.mhprofessional.comISBN 978-0-07-170126-6202 pp., $150.00 (Hardcover), 2012

Clean energy production has become a technology challenge of the 21st century. There are many solar energy conversion methods available today, yet none of them

adequately meet current or future energy needs. One method is currently used for the direct conversion of water into hydrogen from which the hydrogen can be used as an energy source. However, these existing photo-catalytic materials, used in this process, do not use the entire solar spectrum, but new materials, while promising better spectral utilization, still fall short in overall efficiency and cost. There is an urgent need to understand and tailor new materials to provide renewable energy. While there are a number of different solar energy conversion methods, this book focuses on novel materials for hydrogen generation from water splitting. It looks at efficient catalyst activity and selection, electron-hole pair formation at the water catalyst interface, band-gaps, band levels, band structure, and chemical fuel from direct photo-oxidation of water.

This book is for researchers and graduate students in material science and physical chemistry looking for an extended review in renewable energy research with state-of-the-art methods used for hydrogen generation from photosynthesis. The reader will learn about the basic process of electrochemistry and photo-catalysis for hydrogen production. With the difference being in electrochemistry, water can be decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen gas when an electric current is passed through the water, whereas photo-catalysis splits water directly into hydrogen and oxygen utilizing only sunlight.

The remainder of the book covers various aspects of photo-catalytic water splitting reactions. Some of these topics describe the important properties of new candidate transition metal oxides and dopants for photo-catalysis. There are brief descriptions of interfacial chemistry, nanostructures, and morphology effects in photo-catalysis applications. Material analysis methods are also described for in situ study of the electronic structure of candidate materials including soft x-ray absorption (XAS), soft x-ray emission spectroscopy (XES), and resonant

March/April — Vol. 29, No. 2 83

inelastic soft x-ray scattering (RIXS) applied to TiO2 crystals.

As previously mentioned, this book is intended as a review of current materials used in the direct photosynthesis production of hydrogen from water. While the authors present various materials, they offer no real direction toward finding new materials or methods for renewable energy production but rather present a good review of the current state of the art in hydrogen production direct water molecule splitting.

Roark’s Formulas for Stress and Strain, 8th Edition

W. C. Young, R. G. Budynas, and A. M. SadeghMcGraw-Hill1221 Ave. of the Americas45th FloorNew York, NY 10020Phone: (877) 833-5524Fax: (614) 759-3823http://www.mhprofessional.comISBN 978-0-07-174247-41,073 pp., $125.00 (Hardcover), 2012

The relationship between stress and strain is unique for each material and is found by recording the amount of deformation (strain) at distinct intervals of tensile or compressive loading (stress). These curves reveal many of the properties of a material, including data to establish the modulus of elasticity of a material.

Stress-strain curves of various materials vary widely, and different tensile tests conducted on the same material yield different results, depending upon the temperature of the specimen and the speed of the loading. It is possible, however, to distinguish some common characteristics among the stress-strain curves of various groups of materials and, on this basis, to divide materials into two broad categories, namely, the ductile materials and the brittle materials.

Knowing the stress-strain relationship of materials is critical in so many applications today, especially when designing devices for long life or highly loaded (stressed) designs. Materials are used in virtually every physical device, and the stress-strain properties can be an important design parameter for so many applications.

This book is intended to be a reference book that provides comprehensive coverage of stress analysis that will provide the designer with the design formulas and data needed to evaluate a particular design. It is a compact summary of the formulas and principles pertaining to strength of materials and is intended for both the practicing engineer and students. In general, the book covers a wide range of stress-strain relationships under many different conditions. Some of these conditions are combined stress, straight beams, curved beams, torsion, flat plates, compressive loads, shear stress, dynamic and temperature stresses, and stress concentration.

In addition to these traditional formulas, many of the tables have been updated and expanded, and some new material was added to this edition, which includes fatigue and fracture in materials, stresses in fasteners and joints, and composite materials. The composite materials mainly consist of laminated materials. Fasteners and joints deal mainly with welded and riveted joints. There also is a final chapter on solid biomechanics, which delves into the biomechanics of various joints in the human body.

This is a very comprehensive reference book that has been in print for over 70 years and now is revised and updated from the previous edition printed 10 years ago. It is still the most comprehensive source for analytical solutions and design formulas to many stress-strain relationships that have been particularly successful when implementing problem solutions on various computer software packages such as MatLab, MathCAD, or Excel.

Anyone working with stress-strain issues for design or material analysis will find this book to be an excellent go-to reference for determining the correct formula or data to solve problems.

EMI Filter Design, 3rd EditionR. L. Ozenbaugh and T. M. PullenCRC PressTaylor & Francis Group6000 Broken Sound Parkway–NW, Suite 300Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742Phone: (800) 272-7737Fax: (800) 374-3401

http://www.taylorandfrancis.comISBN 978-1-4398-4475-5272 pp., $159.95 (Hardcover), 2012

With the increased use of sensitive electronic devices, EMI noise immunity must be considered when designing devices. Both susceptibility to noise and the production of noise must be considered. Today, frequency switching speeds in many power supplies are reaching 500 kHz and beyond, creating the potential for numerous EMI problems for the power supply designer as well as those devices that operate nearby.

This 3rd edition book is an excellent resource for solving EMI problems. It provides a systematic procedure for identifying noise sources and provides the design tools needed to solve problems. It will be an invaluable reference book for working electrical engineers as well as students who want to learn about EMI filtering and EMI noise problems.

The book consists of 20 chapters, with each chapter providing solutions to various EMI noise problems. One of the main topics discusses the causes of EMI noise and shows the differences between common-mode and differential noise. The importance of load and source impedance magnitude is examined, along with their effect on EMI. Much of the book details various practical EMI filter designs and tradeoffs with various different filter designs. The authors also cover an example of a design goal for a filter design objective and an example of a circuit application and analysis techniques.

The book is filled with design equations that can be immediately put to use by the reader. This book can be a guidebook for diagnosing troublesome EMI issues in existing designs, and it can also be used to prevent EMI issues from occurring in the first place because of the information in this book. The reader will understand the importance of proper grounding and shielding and circuit layout, helping to minimize or prevent EMI issues from occurring. It can apply to circuit board designers as well as to larger 3-phase power systems, with much of the methodology being similar. The filters described all use passive components with filters including pi, T,

84 IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine

L, RC shunt. Many of the designs cover inputs to circuit power supplies or larger 3-phase power systems.

This is a book that should be used by every electrical engineer involved with EMI issues. It is filled with design equations, but more importantly it will provide you with an understanding of EMI issues, thus, making you a better design engineer.

Arc Flash Hazard Analysis and Mitigation

J. C. DasIEEE Press445 Hoes LanePiscataway, NJ 08854Distributed byJohn Wiley & Sons111 River StreetHoboken, NJ 07030Phone: (877) 762-2974Fax: (800) 597-3299http://www.wiley.comISBN 978-1-118-16381-8638 pp., $135.00 (Hardcover), 2012

Since the early 1980s, arc-flash awareness has been increasing. Improvements to equipment design, safety procedures, personnel protective gear, and hazard classifications have been ongoing to increase personnel safety from the hazards of electrical arc flash and arc blast in both medium voltage (MV) and low voltage (LV) systems. Many electrical installations, new or existing, now require arc flash hazard analysis studies to be performed to get insurance or other certifications. This type of analysis results in a classification of the arc flash hazard for both medium and low voltage equipment, including electrical load panels, motor control centers, switchgear, safety switches, and so on. Two of the referenced methods for performing the analysis are the IEEE 1584 and the NFPA 70 standards. These are the two most commonly used standards in use today. While these standards have made it relatively easy to put a number on a piece of electrical equipment in a power system, the actual arc flash and arc blast is not easily calculated. Many parameters can influence the incident energy and forces on a person in an arcing fault.

This book addresses both of these standards. Neither standard is perfect. The NFPA tends to overestimate hazards, and the IEEE standard can, in some cases, underestimate the hazard. There are many inconsistencies and nonrealistic conditions in both standards, which the author points out. For example, in the IEEE standard there is a graph showing that at lower arcing faults, the arcing current will be higher than the bolted fault current. Also, test methods used to base the IEEE standard are also called into question, referring to the alignment of the calorimeters with the arc axis. The IEEE standard is generally considered an average-case rather than a worst-case scenario. Both standards have numerous terms that depend on how equipment is connected. This includes grounded and ungrounded or resistance grounded, wye-delta, and determining bolted fault levels for different types of power circuits, especially when generators and motors are involved. This book walks you through the calculations to determine the correct arc flash hazard classification and boundary limits along with the effect of fuses, breakers, cables, motors, generators, and other components in the system. For those working on DC systems, there is also a section on DC arc flash calculations.

In the area of new equipment for arc protection, two areas covered are arc resistant switchgear and new active arc mitigators. The different classifications of arc resistant gear are described along with layout guidelines for these passive people-protection methods. Taking a different approach of equipment protection, some of the new active systems on the market are also detailed. These cover relay-type systems and active arc commutating switching systems. These are some of the latest methods used to quickly extinguish the arcing fault to limit the incident energy and even, in some cases, reduce the arc blast not only protecting personnel but also keeping the equipment from being damaged. However, many of the active crowbar systems for both LV and MV were not included that would have given a better overview of the number of different systems available.

There are questions at the end of each chapter for further study, and these

could make this book appropriate for a class in power engineering. There are also many references at the end of each chapter for further study and tables of calculated incident energies for a variety of conditions in an appendix for either checking your own calculations or for quickly looking up an arc flash hazard classification and personnel protective equipment (PPE) gear requirement. There is also a nice review on the available statistics of arc flash hazards to help highlight the more hazardous situations and types of equipment involved in arc flash accidents and show trends over many years.

If you need to perform arc flash hazard calculations, then this book will not only give you the equations and background necessary to obtain the correct classification, but it will also provide an understanding of how these equations were derived and their limitations.

Practical Handbook of Photovoltaics, 2nd Edition

A. McEvoy, T. Markvart, and L. Castaner, EditorsAcademic Press225 Wyman StreetWaltham, MA 02451Phone: (800) 545-2522Fax: (800) 568-5136http://www.elsevierdirect.comISBN 978-0-12-385934-11,268 pp., $279.95 (Hardcover), 2012

Due to the increasing demand for renewable energy sources, the manufacturing of photovoltaic cells and arrays has advanced considerably in recent years.

By the end of 2011, a total of 67.4 GW had been installed, sufficient to generate 85 TWh/year. Photovoltaics (PV) are now, after hydro and wind power, the third most important renewable energy source in terms of globally installed capacity. More than 100 countries use solar PV. Installations may be ground mounted (and sometimes integrated with farming and grazing) or built into the roof or walls of a building (either building-integrated photovoltaics or simply rooftop).

Driven by advances in technology and increases in manufacturing scale and

March/April — Vol. 29, No. 2 85

sophistication, the cost of photovoltaics has declined steadily since the first PV cells were manufactured, with the cost of electricity from PV becoming more competitive with conventional electricity sources in an expanding list of geographic regions. Net metering and financial incentives, such as preferential feed-in tariffs for solar-generated electricity, have supported solar PV installations in many countries.

This book gives a detailed overview of all aspects of solar PV. It contains the current status of this technology along with new research being done to improve cell efficiency and lower costs. It has a nice balance of practical aspects of PV systems along with in-depth theory, research topics, environmental studies, commercial aspects, and policy.

The book contains four parts. Part I deals with PV cells. It covers a broad range of cell types, cell characteristics, cell manufacturing, and theory on cell efficiency. Topics on the traditional silicon cells cover crystalline silicon, methods used to improve efficiency and lower costs, thin silicon cell technology, and thin-film cells. Cells made from alternative materials, generally for improved efficiency, include CdTe thin-film and methods for making this material, Cu(In, Ga)Se2, GaAs, multijunction cells, dye sensitized photo-electrochemical cells, and organic cells. The principles of cell operation are described for each material along with their operating characteristics, giving the reader the ability to compare materials for various applications and other performance criteria.

Part II covers photovoltaic systems. It includes important aspects in the design of PV systems—energy balance in stand-alone systems, system electronics (DC/DC converters, inverters, and practical considerations), batteries, grid-connections, installation guidelines, and concentrator systems. These chapters provide the system designer with critical information for designing, building, and installing PV arrays. This part also covers various case studies to illustrate how certain array systems were designed and installed. Some examples are a PV array

that used a sound barrier for a highway, residential installations, solar parks, and agricultural integration of solar arrays.

Part III deals with testing, monitoring, and calibration of PV cells. This mainly covers quality control of cell material and the standards, diagnostic measurements, and qualification testing used to compare materials. Methods used for PV system monitoring, to insure the health of the system, are also described.

Part IV pertains to environmental and health concerns regarding PV cell manufacture including the potential hazards associated with manufacture of the various types of PV cells. Some materials used to make cells are much more hazardous than others and need to be handled appropriately to protect the environment and the people manufacturing these materials. Energy payback time and CO2 emissions are also reviewed. The appendix contains a variety of information on PV market studies, the industry in general, websites and journals, international standards, and other reference books.

This is the type of book that can be useful to most readers who are interested in PV systems and PV cell technology. It contains sufficient technical depth to cover the fundamentals and contains many graphs and illustrations on material characteristics to satisfy the researcher, but it is also very readable by the nonexpert and as such is useful for those looking for more practical information regarding PV array systems. If you are interested in photovoltaics, then this is an excellent book to own.

Well SaidD. PriceAMACOM Books1601 BroadwayNew York, NY 10019-7420Phone: (800) 250-5308http://www.amacombooks.orgISBN 978-0-8144-1787-4255 pp., $21.95 (Hardcover), 2012

Presentation skills are an essential part of science and engineering. Even technically oriented employees

frequently have to give many different types of presentations regarding their work—funding proposals, performance reviews, or just trying to sway someone’s opinion. Often the person with the better presentations skills wins the prize, gets the better jobs, or gets the raise even over someone with better ideas. With the ability to communicate clearly and effectively, you have a better chance at getting what you want by connecting better with your audience. Many people can learn to become better, more confident communicators connecting with every audience, be it 200 people at a conference or a one-on-one performance review.

Well Said! is a business communication book that teaches communication skills essential for success in today’s business-oriented environment. It is not only for those who give formal speeches, but it can really help many technically oriented people who may not be the best at making presentations, but still need to present their work to upper management, especially when trying to convince or persuade management.

This is an outstanding self-help book for those of you who want to develop better presentation skills. It covers topics for laying the groundwork for getting results, developing persuasive content, mastering a confident and dynamic delivery style, and capitalizing on every opportunity to persuade decision makers. The book is loaded with great advice on each of these topics that will make you a better communicator and get you recognized for your hard work. There are even sections for planning and conducting powerful conversations, writing e-mails, facilitating effective meetings in person and during teleconferences, and leading team presentations.

This is a must-have book for virtually anyone in the workforce. It contains so much practical advice that once you start reading this book, it is hard to put down. By following the advice given, you will definitely become a more effective communicator, which can only help your career.