Design And Development Of Virtual Instrument (Vi) Modules For Electrical Power Systems Course

The study of electrical power systems requires a good background on advanced mathematics and since most of the engineering technology programs don't require advanced mathematics, it is difficult to teach electrical power systems in these programs. A problem for electric power system students is the solution of problems in textbooks through the use of routine problem solving techniques such as equations and formulae. But the students’ over reliance upon formulae and routine use of technique in problem solving too often lead to poor performance in real world scenarios. Also, the students’ lack of comprehension of mathematical concepts results in time wastage during laboratory experiments, misinterpretations of lab data and underachievement in standardized science and engineering tests that stress the fundamentals. This problem can be effectively addressed by improving the student’s conceptual understanding and comprehension of the topics through interactive learning and teaching with virtual instruments (VI) software package like LabVIEW. This paper will discuss design and development of interactive instructional modules (VIs) for studying (a) Basic Three Phase and Single Phase Circuits, (b) Modeling of Transmission Lines, (c) Simple Economic Dispatch Problem and (d) steps to solve Load Flow problems through Newton Raphson Method.