A New Laboratory for Hands-on Teaching of Electrical Engineering

Abstract

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 handson 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 oneday per month LabVIEW course for faculty and staff members of Politecnico di Torino.