Course Restructuring and Laboratory Development in Power Electronics and Electric Drives

德州农工大学金斯维尔分校(TAMUK)的电子工程课程提供电力电子选修课和电机必修课。由于越来越多的人认为这些课程是过时的，其中所涵盖的材料已经过时，电机课程的学分学时已经减少，从近年来的情况来看，注册这些课程的学生人数明显减少。然而，电力行业对训练有素的电力工程师的需求持续增长！因此，该项目的目标是通过引进使用数字控制和数字信号处理(数字信号处理)的一流实验室来振兴这些课程。这一重组的目标包括1)通过将电力电子和电力驱动与数字和基于数字信号处理器的控制相结合的方式提供必要的信息；2)使重建的课程具有吸引力和激动人心；3)确保最高质量的教育；以及4)为工业和高级课程的学生做好准备。这些课程修订的结果是，产生了更多训练有素的电力工程师，以满足现代电力工业的需求。课程结构调整和实验室开发是基于明尼苏达大学(UMN)开发的材料和方法。这些材料和方法在曼彻斯特大学取得了成功，因为参加电力电子和电力驱动课程的本科生人数大幅增加，他们在这些课程中的表现也很好。该项目主要面向南得克萨斯州地区的少数族裔本科生，但在该地区化学加工行业和电力公司工作的专业工程师也可以从参加这些课程中受益。

The electrical engineering program at Texas A&M University- Kingsville (TAMUK) offers power electronics as an elective course and electric machinery as a required course. Due to increased perception that these courses are old-fashion and the materials covered in them are out-of-date, the credit hours of electric machinery courses have been reduced, and there is evident from recent years that shows a reduction in the number of students enrolling in these courses. However, the power industry demand for trained power engineers continues to grow! Hence, the objective of this project is to revitalize these courses with the introduction of start-of-art laboratories using digital control and digital signal processing (DSP). The goals of this restructuring include 1) to provide the requisite information about power electronics and electric drives in such a way by combining them with digital and DSP based control; 2) to make the reconstructed courses appealing and exciting; 3) to ensure the highest quality of education; and 4) to prepare students for industry as well as for advanced courses. As a consequence of these course revisions, a larger supply of trained power engineers is produced to meet modern power industry needs. The course restructuring and laboratory development are based on the materials and approaches developed at the University of Minnesota (UMN). The materials and approaches have been demonstrated to be successful at UMN through the significantly increased number of undergraduate students enrolled in the Power Electronic and Electric Drives courses and in their performance in these courses. This project is mainly targeting minority undergraduate students in South Texas area but working professional engineers in the chemical process industries and in the electric companies in this area can also benefit from taking these courses.