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Grainger
Electric Motor Drives Laboratory
One
of the fastest growing areas in engineering and technology
is motor drives and their power electronic converters.
Electric motor drives enable smarter utilization of electric
and electronic systems. Such motor drives, in turn, help
create a demand for increased use of electric and electronic
systems. Motor drives and their power electronic converters
are facilitating electric power transfer systems, which
are replacing conventional mechanical, hydraulic, and
pneumatic power transfer systems.
They are used in a broad variety of applications from
low-power home appliances such as washing machines, refrigerators,
air conditioning, hand power tools, and cordless drives,
robots, fitness machines, and medical instrumentation,
to medium-power automotive applications such as electric
power steering,
active suspension, brake by wire, starter/alternator,
and anti-lock braking systems, to high-power industrial
motor drives and automation systems, electric and hybrid
electric cars,
propulsion systems for trains and locomotives, mass transit,
movers, machine tools, elevators, pumps, and compressors.
For all these applications, motor drives and their power
electronic converters have real and significant potential
for improving efficiency, reliability, performance, and
safety.
At the Illinois Institute
of Technology, in order to provide state of the art
courses and laboratories in electrical and computer engineering,
we have established Electric Motor Drives Laboratory with
the support of a generous gift from the Grainger Foundation
which is gratefully acknowledged. Facilities of this laboratory
are advanced specialized
experimental teaching setups for undergraduate electric
machines and power electronic drives programs. Therefore,
this laboratory is one of the best-equipped and most advanced
labs for undergraduate teaching purposes in the nation.
In fact, few universities have equipment of this sophistication
for their teaching laboratories.
This lab consists of eleven experiments and one simulation
mini-project. The laboratory experiments give simple practical
introduction to operation and control of electric motor
drives. They are done in groups of three students. Each
student submits one lab report. Lab manual is designed
in a way that allows students to finish their lab reports
during each lab session by simply filling out tables and
sketching waveforms while they are doing the experiment.
They also answer some questions in the lab manual.
This lab assumes that the student is familiar with general
circuit analysis techniques. Therefore, it is appropriate
for junior- or senior-level undergraduate electrical engineering
and computer engineering students. It is also recommended
as an elective course for all ECE students.
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Laboratories
Grainger Electric Motor Drives Laboratory.
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