Adaptation of the Electric Machines Learning Process to the European Higher, Education Area

In this paper the basic lines of a complete teaching methodology that has been developed to adaptthe electric machines learning process to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) arepresented. New teaching materials that are specific to Electric Machines have been created(textbooks, self-learning e-books, guidelines for achieving teamwork research, etc.). Working ingroups has been promoted, as well as problem solving and self-learning exercises, all of which areevaluated in a way that encourages students' participation. Finally, the students' learning process inthe lab has been improved by the development both of a new methodology to follow in the lab andnew workbenches with industrial machines that are easier to use and also enable the labexperiments to be automated. Finally, the first results obtained as a result of applying the proposedmethodology are presented

A New Laboratory for Hands-on Teaching of Electrical Engineering

© 2018 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. This paper describes an innovative laboratory for students in Electrical Engineering courses, which is recently established at the Energy Department of Politecnico di Torino, Italy. The main peculiarities of the lab are the high ICT content of each test rig, the multidisciplinary experiences, and the hands-on teaching methodology, allowing the student to have access in overall safety to many complex electrical/electromechanical systems. Currently, eight courses of Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in electrical engineering carry out in-class exercises and hands-on experiments in the new lab, serving over 200 students in total per year. The innovative lab also allows for external collaborations with companies and institutions for specific (and in some cases permanent) training offers, like a one-day per month LabVIEW course for faculty and staff members of Politecnico di Torino

DC Motor Speed Control Development System (DCMSCDS)

This project is about building a low cost education aid for teaching electrical drive laboratory experiments as well as useful output load for power electronics subjects. DC Motor Speed Control Development System is used for DC motor driver and control system. This block of system only consists of the de machine and speed indicator. The controller or drive is not included, to allow the user to design and construct the drive based on the specifications defined. This is the idea of this research, to enhancing creativity of the students in laboratory activities instead of constructing a circuit by referring the lab manual or just connecting the circuit by using jumper if involving the training module. This kind of laboratory training, student would only know how use jumper without knowing the function of every components in the circuit. They will not appreciate the important reading data sheet before running the lab work. Therefore, this project will give an encouraging scenario in teaching and learning techniques and in solving problems to be more innovative and creative in learning electric drive. The student will be able to appreciate more in designing and constructing. Moreover, this education aid also can be used by PSM student is speed control research area of DC motor because of its flexibility of input and output. Not forget to mention low cost teaching aid for electric drive experiments

Development of modular and accessible teaching labs, incorporating modelling and practical experimentation

Practical laboratory experimentation has always been a crucial part of engineering education and its effectiveness in facilitating learning is universally acknowledged. Huge advances in computer science, coupled with significant increases in the cost of ever more complex and sophisticated laboratory set-ups, have led to engineering schools’ adopting computer models and simulation software. Although simulation-based laboratory work does enhance the learning experience, it plays a more effective role alongside practical experimentation rather than as a replacement. This case study presents the results and experience gained from an enquiry-based learning of power-converter development laboratory work to support a power electronic converter module at the University of Greenwich. The approach taken allows students to learn the basics of the module through a combination of modelling, simulation and practical experimentation. The modular and portable nature of the laboratory set-ups afforded the students more time and opportunity to explore the subject matter and integrate the laboratory experience with the concepts covered in the lectures. The feedback from students, which was gathered from the students through the university’s EVASYS system, strongly indicated that the approach led to a sustained improvement in students’ learning experience and satisfaction with the module

Modern Laboratory-Based Education for Power Electronics and Electric Machines

The study of modern energy conversion draws upon a broad range of knowledge and often requires a fair amount of experience. This suggests that laboratory instruction should be an integral component of a power electronics and electric machines curriculum. However, before a single watt can be processed in a realistic way, the student must understand not only the operation of conversion systems but also more advanced concepts such as control theory, speed and position sensing, switching signal generation, gate drive isolation, circuit layout, and other critical issues. Our approach is to use a blue-box module where these details are pre-built for convenience, but not hidden from the students inside a black box. Recent improvements to our blue-box modules are described in this paper and include a dual-MOSFET control box with independently isolated FET devices, a triple silicon controlled rectifier control box, a discretely built, high quality pulse-width modulation inverter, a small discrete brushless dc drive system, and a high-performance computer-controlled brushless dc dynamometer motor drive system. Complete details, sufficient to allow the reader to duplicate these designs, are publicly available

Bringing Optical Communications to the General Public: an Innovative Bachelor Thesis

The United Nations “International year of light 2015” strives to highlight the importance of optical technologies in our everyday lives. Fibre optic communication is one such technology: the growth of internet and its associated services are enabled by the vast transmission bandwidth provided by optical networks. However, the general public is not well aware of the optical and electronic fundamentals of the underlying transmission systems. Here we present the development of a bachelor thesis in Telecommunication Engineering in which a small-scale fibre-optic link is built and the electronics required to transmit music over this link are implemented. The resulting system demonstrates, in a very intuitive way, how information is transmitted over an optical fibre.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Ten Quick Tips for Using a Raspberry Pi

Much of biology (and, indeed, all of science) is becoming increasingly computational. We tend to think of this in regards to algorithmic approaches and software tools, as well as increased computing power. There has also been a shift towards slicker, packaged solutions--which mirrors everyday life, from smart phones to smart homes. As a result, it's all too easy to be detached from the fundamental elements that power these changes, and to see solutions as "black boxes". The major goal of this piece is to use the example of the Raspberry Pi--a small, general-purpose computer--as the central component in a highly developed ecosystem that brings together elements like external hardware, sensors and controllers, state-of-the-art programming practices, and basic electronics and physics, all in an approachable and useful way. External devices and inputs are easily connected to the Pi, and it can, in turn, control attached devices very simply. So whether you want to use it to manage laboratory equipment, sample the environment, teach bioinformatics, control your home security or make a model lunar lander, it's all built from the same basic principles. To quote Richard Feynman, "What I cannot create, I do not understand".Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure