New facilities for teaching and research with decentralized electric drive systems

University education has to be continuously modernized in using latest research results. On the other hand teaching of increasing numbers of groups of students needs a modularised conception with a step by step increasing level of drive and motion control tasks. These ideas have been realised in the year 1992 with four equal laboratory stands using a two-machine stand with a DC-motor coupled with an asynchronous motor with slip-rings. Both motors were fed by digitally controlled converters. The positive experience of the teaching principle with always the same technique and growing tasks for the students was the reason for a re-design of the laboratory with the state of the art converter technology of the year 2004. The paper describes new facilities designed with the support of industry allowing various investigations of drive components, drive control, communications with field bus systems and the operation of the drives under real industrial network conditions in the sense of a scale model with a rated power of 7.5 kW. The re-design was based on the traditional education in electrical power engineering as well as in the new five years course of mechatronics at the Dresden University of Technology