Teaching power conversion in a virtual laboratory

This paper describes a virtual power laboratory deigned to offer a virtual laboratory experience to students in the area of power conversion. Power conversion is a standard course in the electrical engineering curricula of many colleges of engineering. It deals with motors, transformers, controlled rectifiers and solid state AC controllers. A theoretical and practical background in this subject is essential to electrical as well as mechanical engineers. Conceived as a computer based, inter-active means for offering a laboratory course in power conversion, the virtual power laboratory, a computer simulation, can be utilized by students who have available a modest PC configuration. Within the virtual power laboratory are DC motors, AC motors, single-phase and three-phase transformers, controlled rectifier, AC converter and a stepper motor. The virtual power laboratory text describes laboratory exercises utilizing these devices and a set of instruments in a completely realistic way, each one designed using a traditional laboratory experiment as a guide.