Future engineers: leading the charge in the service sector

The demand for engineers to support the service sector is growing, and academic programs are needed to prepare students for these careers. This need was recognized at Michigan Tech and led to a dynamic effort by faculty members from different disciplines to develop a curriculum for Service Systems Engineering that integrates business, engineering, and the sciences and serves as a model for other universities. This is an exciting degree program that takes curriculum development beyond its current boundaries and branches into a new direction. In this paper, efforts related to the development of the curriculum will be described, as will the challenges faced by the project team to facilitate interdisciplinary education. The successes to date will be highlighted along with the lessons learned, and collaboration experiences with other university faculty members on curriculum development

A model curriculum for service systems engineering using a Delphi technique

Over the past 100 years, the US economy has evolved from one based primarily in the goods-producing sector (agriculture, manufacturing, and mining) to the service sector. Today the service sector accounts for more than 80% of US Gross Domestic Product and more than 85% of the workforce. In fact, today many engineering graduates go on to work in service sector industries instead of more traditional manufacturing industries. In part, the service sector may be such a large segment of our economy because its processes are highly inefficient. Engineering problem-solving and talent, if properly applied to processes in the service sector, could serve to significantly increase efficiency and reduce costs, similar to advances made in the goods-producing sector over the past century. In 2003 Michigan Tech received a planning grant from the National Science Foundation to define curricular characteristics for Service Sector Engineering through a Delphi Study. Armed with these characteristics, a workshop was convened at Michigan Tech in August 2006 to define a Service Systems Engineering curriculum. Workshop participants consisted of faculty from several universities as well as industry leaders interested in engineering for the service sector. An additional grant from NSF’s Course Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) program was recently awarded for the implementation of this curriculum

The Impact of ABET Accreditation on Power Engineering Educational Programs

Many electric power engineering educational programs at universities worldwide are \u27accredited\u27. This paper discusses the implications of accreditation by ABET, a widely accepted engineering accreditation organization. The basic requirements and criteria for accreditation are described. ABET criteria include a continuous improvement feature, and this is described with its special implications on electric power engineering education. The impacts of ABET accreditation on power engineering education in general are discussed

Wind Plant Interaction in a 345-kV Series-compensated Power System—Electromagnetic Transient Program Modeling and Event Analysis

© 2016, Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Application of series capacitors on high voltage transmission lines has recently been gaining attention due to sub-synchronous interaction concerns with wind turbines based on doubly fed induction generators. However, most reported analysis is based on single-machine representation of the wind plant. While this approach is convenient for eigenvalue analysis and frequency scanning studies, the effect of ignoring the collection system and multiple wind turbines will result in current oscillations that may not capture all interacting frequencies. This article presents the investigation of a wind plant interaction event observed in a practical 345-kV series-compensated power system along with the development of a full-scale Electromagnetic Transient Program model. Multiple interaction frequencies in three distinct frequency ranges with low damping was identified in both Electromagnetic Transient Program simulations and event records. This demonstrates the need for full-scale Electromagnetic Transient Program models when designing sub-synchronous protection schemes and testing of sub-synchronous interaction damping controllers. Discrete Fourier transform and Prony analysis have been used for analysis of frequency and damping content in the resulting current oscillations. The Alternative Transients Program version of the Electromagnetic Transient Program was used to perform the time-domain simulations

A variable voltage and frequency scheme to optimize the efficiency of a wind-driven induction generator

The most recent approaches to harness energy from the wind utilizing induction generators has been made possible by advances in induction motor control using power electronic drives. The freedom in adjusting terminal voltage or current, and frequency al lows operation of the induction machine to fit any desired characteristic. The purpose of this paper is to propose a scheme using this technology to convert wind energy to electricity at maximum wind turbine power and induction generator efficiency. The Electromagnetic Transients Program (EMTP) is used to simulate the control of the induction generator. Simulation results show that this system operates as predicted in a stable fashion at the desired operating point. © 1996 Taylor & Francis

Power Engineering Design Projects: Capstone Team Projects Versus Topical Design Courses

Over the years, Michigan Tech has had two different philosophies for teaching design in the power area. Initially, we integrated design into topical courses, teaching the material the students would need to complete the design. Presently, our students complete year-long, industry-sponsored projects. We will give details on the implementation of the two approaches and compare and contrast the outcomes. Both techniques for teaching design have their advantages and disadvantages

Back-to-back capacitor energization transients mitigation: Comparison of pre-insertion inductors versus surge reactors on a 46 kv subtransmission system

Two devices that are used to reduce back-to-back capacitor bank energization transients, pre-insertion inductors and surge reactors, are investigated in this paper. The Alternative Transients Program (ATP) was used to develop a computer model of a 46-kV system. A parametric study, varying the switched capacitor size and the system strength, was completed to determine the effectiveness of the two methods. Pre-insertion inductors reduced the peak inrush current better than the surge reactors. However, both of these devices generated peak overvoltages greater than the case containing neither of them. The optimum inductor size is highly system dependent. A thorough study of the system should be completed before the choice is made to use pre-insertion inductors or surge reactors. © 1997 Taylor & Francis

Detection of coherent groups of generators and the need for system separation using synchrophasor data

Detection of groups of coherent generators is very important for balanced and optimal power system separation. Synchrophasor technology has made it possible to get the real time phasors i-e voltage and current along with the frequency. This real time information can be used to find groups of coherent generators. Hierarchical clustering algorithm is used on the rate of change of the generator bus voltage phase angles and rate of change of mean of the generator bus voltage phase angles are tested for the purpose of detection of groups of coherent generators. Initial results show that these approaches can be used for the purpose of real time detection of the groups of coherent generators. © 2013 IEEE

A first course in service systems engineering

Introduction to Service Systems Engineering” is the first course in the newly developed Service Systems Engineering (SSE) curriculum at Michigan Tech. The first course in any engineering curriculum will set the stage for continuing interest in a given curriculum. In this course, the primary focus is on providing students with a strong foundation and the fundamentals of service system engineering analysis and design. This includes a structured problem solving approach and service industry management techniques with an emphasis on quantitative problem solving. The paper will highlight course development, the pedagogy associated with the course objectives, case studies, and the application of the theory, as well as program assessment