Online performance monitoring and testing of electrical equipment using Virtual Instrumentation

Using a Virtual Platform for Teaching Electrical Machines and Power Systems Courses

“…Laboratory work classes are an integral part of any engineering, science or technology educational program and their purpose is bringing the students closer to real situations of the area of studies. The typical traditional laboratory consists in sharing and grouping the students, discussing the theoretical problems together, working directly on a set of equipment and apparatus following a set of written guidelines, evaluating the results and elaborating personal conclusions [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] . The major shortcomings of the traditional laboratories: (a) the sets of equipment can be significantly high and the institution can't modernize them in a timely manner; (b) the students access to laboratories is restricted only to the laboratory periods; (c) since the students can see only the inputs and outputs of the system, those laboratories cannot fully backup the understanding / intuitiveness of the physical phenomena illustrating the functionality of electrical machines, energy conversion devices or power system components; and (d) operating under unfamiliar conditions, accidents may happen.…”

Development and Implementation of i-Laboratory for Instrumentation, Sensors, Measurements, and Controls Courses

“…Industries that develop and use DMS are migrating away from proprietary hardware and software platforms in favor of open systems and standardized approaches. The exponential growth of computer and internet technology enables the development of complex hybrid systems such as remote laboratories where experiments can be remotely accessed, monitored and controlled [10][11][12] . This new interpretation of the measurement process offers to anyone the opportunity to interact with the laboratory at any time, reducing at the same time the experiment cost per user and extending the capabilities of the entire experimental framework.…”

“…LabVIEW is very easy to learn and it can rapidly be applied in regular teaching and in practical applications [9][10][11][12] . LabVIEW is a programming language, equivalent to C++, Visual Basic, or any other language [10][11][12][13] . However, it is the only widely accepted graphical programming language.…”