Power Lab: A tool to learn electrical machines and power electronics

Abstract

We describe a tool used in the teaching of power electronics that allows users to see how DC motors and AC/DC converters work without complicated circuits or arrangements. It also provides a user‐friendly interface owing to its development under the Windows environment. The tool described is called Power Lab. The goal of the tool is to introduce students to the DC motor control area, showing some functions for the motor such as full voltage starting, reduced starting voltage, stopping, reverse rotation, and speed regulation in a closed loop. Through the achievement of the motor's function, students can also observe the performance of an AC/DC power converter with phase‐angle control and on/off control. Power Lab has the capability to work either as a stand‐alone tool or connected to a power stage. Several examples describe the applications of Power Lab. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 7: 213–220, 1999

Enhancing the student experience in pre‐ and mid‐COVID‐19 pandemic period by upgrading the power electronics laboratory practice curriculum

“…Lecturers report using either basic, traditional program libraries [35,42,48,58], or they develop their own component library packages [7,42,59]. Some researchers report designing Java-based [8,15,41], C++-based [17], or Visual Basic-based [40] circuit simulation applets.…”

Virtual lab: Space vector PWM for two-and three-level inverters

“…There has been a rapid increase in the number of computerassisted learning tools that coincides with today's technology advances [1]. Computer-aided teaching tools have begun to play an increasingly important role in educating students, in traditional engineering fields such as electrical, electronic, mechanical, and civil and chemical engineering [2]- [4].…”

“…There are many negative risk factors in the practical training (laboratory-workplace) of power electronics courses taught in the electrical engineering department. These factors include potential risks to the students in the laboratory, including electrical accidents, and the deterioration of circuit elements and instruments because of misuse, high prices of materials and the supplying them to be so difficult [1], [6]. These disadvantages in the laboratory education of power electronics circuits can be overcome by using computer simulation programs [6].…”

Teaching of power quality phenomenon based on modeling and simulation of boost type PFC converters

“…Computer‐based education method is frequently used for training most of the engineering disciplines such as electronics, mechanics, and computer 23, 24. Computer‐based education can be used in some courses in which laboratory education is important such as power electronics.…”

“…The “Power Lab,” which describes the working principle of dc motors and ac/dc converters, is introduced in Ref. 23. The training/educational module given in Ref.…”