Title :
Versatile hardware and software tools for educating students in power electronics
Author :
Williams, Joshua M. ; Cale, James L. ; Benavides, Nicholas D. ; Wooldridge, Jeff D. ; Koenig, Andreas C. ; Tichenor, Jerry L. ; Pekarek, Steven D.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Univ. of MissouriRolla, Rolla, MO, USA
Abstract :
A new power electronics laboratory has been constructed at the University of Missouri-Rolla. Key components of the laboratory are a set of custom-designed hardware and software tools. The novel hardware tools include five mobile power electronics testbeds that each contain the semiconductor devices, gate-drive boards, voltage and current sensors, and computer interface connections required to study a wide range of circuit topologies and control techniques. Novel software tools include a set of virtual instruments used for control, data capture, and data analysis. A description of these tools, along with their use in power electronics courses, laboratory exercises, and student research projects, is presented.
Keywords :
computer aided instruction; educational courses; educational institutions; electronic engineering education; power electronics; software tools; virtual instrumentation; University of Missouri-Rolla; circuit topologies; computer interface connection; current sensors; data analysis; data capture; gate-drive board; hardware tools; power electronics courses; power electronics laboratory; semiconductor devices; software tools; student research projects; virtual instruments; voltage sensors; Circuit testing; Computer interfaces; Electronic equipment testing; Hardware; Laboratories; Mobile computing; Power electronics; Semiconductor device testing; Semiconductor devices; Software tools; 65; Digital control; laboratories; motor drives; operational amplifiers; power electronics;
Journal_Title :
Education, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TE.2004.825552
