An Undergraduate Course on Renewable Energy Conversion Systems for Engineering Technology Students

Abstract

Before joining to the Drexel University Dr. Belu hold faculty and research positions at universities and research institutes in Romania, Canada and United States. He also worked for several years in industry as a project manager and senior consultant. He has taught and developed undergraduate and graduate courses in electronics, power systems, communication, control and power electronics, electric machines, instrumentation, radar and remote sensing, numerical methods and data analysis, space and atmosphere physics, and physics. His research interests included power system stability, control and protection, renewable energy system analysis, assessment and design, power electronics and electric machines for wind energy conversion, radar and remote sensing, wave and turbulence simulation, measurement and modeling, numerical modeling, electromagnetic compatibility and engineering education. During his career Dr. Belu published several papers in referred journals and in conference proceedings in his areas of the research interests. He has also been PI or co-PI for various research projects United States and abroad in power systems analysis and protection, load and energy demand forecasting and analysis, renewable energy analysis, assessment and design, turbulence and wave propagation, radar and remote sensing, instrumentation, atmosphere physics, electromagnetic compatibility, and engineering education.

A Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Course in Energy Engineering

“…However, this field of electrical engineering includes a number of new specialties such as digital systems, power plants, renewable energy, power electronics, energy storage, energy conservation, computer engineering, communication, networks, etc. With such a wide spread field, energy conversion turned into a topic for only students specializing in power [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. An energy engineering course with a wider view of the key aspects of electric energy, covering quite a few of the above areas seems to be useful and timely.…”

“…The overall objective of this course is to provide students with both the science and technology of different energy sources, alternative and renewable sources, power system operation, as well as the policies that heavily influence this industry. The course main goals involve student in-depth understanding of the energy sources, their characteristics and operation, types of the used fuels, energy system components, structure, configurations, types and characteristics of the common generation units, grid integration issues of the renewable energy and distributed generation units, major types of alternative energy sources, their characteristics and performances, assessment and analysis, the infrastructure of existing energy systems, economic and environmental issues of the current energy generation, transformation and uses [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. Notice that during the first week, students must read the syllabus, acknowledge the fact that they read it and understood what is expected of them.…”

“…The smart grid initiative requires engineers to have deep understanding of operations, requirements, limitations and capabilities of the future power systems or distributed generation. There are great industry needs for cross-trained professionals to meet the modern energy infrastructure challenges [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Engineers of modern energy industries are required to have advanced scientific capabilities, deep understanding of the interdisciplinary connections, as well as to possess soft engineering skills such as project management, economics, self-learning abilities, communication and interpersonal competence.…”

Development and Implementation of a Power and Energy Engineering Minor with Limited Resources: First Results and Lessons Learned

“…The industry feedback also puts emphasis on the value of co-operative education and internship programs as means of building practical industry experience. However, designing courses to include cross-disciplinary topics, such as smart grids (SGs), distributed generation or renewable energy systems (RES) or to keep students from diverse backgrounds engaged can be quite a challenge for instructors 14,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] . In our view, these curricular and pedagogical challenges can be addressed by bringing research topics, projects and integrated laboratory experiences into power and energy courses.…”

“…In our view, these curricular and pedagogical challenges can be addressed by bringing research topics, projects and integrated laboratory experiences into power and energy courses. One of the advantages of these approaches is that the impacts on the existing curriculum, space, equipment and financial requirements are minimal [23][24][25]28 . This paper describes efforts being undertaken at our university to revise, revitalize and update the power engineering related-courses and laboratories and to establish a power engineering minor into the electrical engineering program.…”