(SIUC). He joined the program in1998 as a Visiting Assistant Professor. He worked as a power systems engineer for electric utilities for eight years prior to seeking a career in higher education. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Illinois. His industrial assignments included power system modeling, power systems protection, and substation design. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. from SIUC in 1991 and 2002, respectively. He teaches courses in electric power and machinery, industrial automation, and is the Program Coordinator. He has won departmental teaching honors three times in the last five years. His research interests include power systems economics, power markets, and electric energy management.
There are fundamental challenges in teaching a lab-intensive course in electric motors online. There are few simulators to choose from, and these are quite expensive. Therefore, the question was asked, "how do we teach electric motors in a way that is inexpensive for both the student and the institution?" To answer this question, an undergraduate student research project was designed and developed with funding from the university's Center of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities. The objective of the project was to develop a user-friendly simulator that can be used to conduct electric motors (machines) experiments. This project resulted in the development of a customized educational simulator appropriate for use in the electric motors course. The instructor can use this simulator as a tool to teach his/her students various electric motors concepts in a visual way. Additionally, students can use this simulator at any time or place to reinforce important theoretical concepts by conducting the experiments and noting the results. The developers utilized a graphically-based set of virtual machines and instruments that produce results that closely approximates actual devices. This paper discusses the design, implementation and operation of the simulator. Results of a survey of a pilot group of students is presented. Additionally, a sample experiment that demonstrates the simulator's functionality is described. Finally, information pertaining to how to freely access the simulator is provided.
Carbondale (SIUC). He joined the program in1998 as a Visiting Assistant Professor. He worked as a power systems engineer for electric utilities for eight years prior to seeking a career in higher education. He is a licensed professional engineer in Illinois. His industrial assignments included power system modeling, power systems protection, and substation design. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. from SIUC in 1991 and 2002 respectively. He teaches courses in electric power and machinery, industrial automation, and electric circuits. His research interests include power systems economics, power markets, and electric energy management.
A novel use of Mathcad designed for undergraduate electric machines courses bridges existing knowledge and skill gaps in the study of engineering economics and energy efficiency. Combining economics, efficiency and machine theory with detailed computer-based examples prepares students for employment where these principles must be applied to make design decisions. Mathcad supports custom designed documents called electronic handbooks that explain complex topics and provide reusable computational templates. This work uses Mathcad electronic handbook tutorial format to present economic and machine theory for finding the lifecycle costs of induction motors driving general industrial loads. The developed material provides the basis for a design project that includes technical and economic aspects.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.