Computer aided education on flexible transmission systems

This paper demonstrates how Mathcad software can be used as a major advancement for teaching flexible AC transmission systems (FACTS). Mathcad, thanks to its efficient presentation and computation capabilities, holds strong potential as a teaching tool for engineering education. The advantages of the proposed approach are: (i) the students write the equations in the familiar textbook format, (ii) the students´ interest is significantly increased because the problems are interactively solved in a computer-equipped classroom, and (iii) the students concentrate on the meaning of what they learn, they analyze results and draw conclusions, thus enhancing their learning ability. The methods described in this paper have been proven very efficient in the education of students studying FACTS at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece. The work presented in this paper advances the use of computer application in the education of FACTS.