Restructuring An Energy Conversion Course Using An Integrative Approach And Computer Assisted Teaching Tools

The course of Energy Conversion is a required course in EE curriculum at Texas A&M University – Kingsville (TAMUK). Traditionally, this course dealt with topics of transformers and electric machines, and was normally presented under the assumption of steady-state conditions. Students usually thought that the course was old-fashioned and boring, which greatly limited student’s ability to understand wide control applications of electric machines. However, modern electric machines are widely interacted with power electronics, DSP and digital control technology. These technology changes are not reflected in traditional teaching structures of the course. This paper gives the restructuring of the course at TAMUK through an integrative teaching approach and computer assisted teaching methodologies so as to provide students a complete view of an electric drive system that consists of electric machines, power electronics, controllers, power supply systems, and mechanical loads. Index Terms – Electric machines, electric drives, power electronics, feedback controls, education, Microsoft PowerPoint, MathCad, PSpice simulation, MatLab.