International Journal of Electrical Engineering & Education

The paper traces the evolution of the Journal from its beginning as the Bulletin of Electrical Engineering Education, first published in 1948, through the launch of the International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education (IJEEE) in 1963 to the present time.

The paper considers the changes which have occurred in Electrical Engineering Education over the last twenty-five years, with reference to specific articles published during the lifetime of IJEEE. 25 years ago courses in electrical engineering included substantial coverage of mechanical engineering topics and detailed treatment of electrical machines. Today the emphasis has shifted very considerably towards digital electronics, computer architecture, programming and computer aided design (CAD). Greater attention is paid to project work and the role of the engineer in society.

The changes in semiconductor integrated circuits over the past twenty-five years are extrapolated to the next twenty-five years. The parameters that are considered are: complexity, size, speed and cost. The way Electrical Engineering Education could develop as a result of the predicted extension of computing power is discussed.

A simple circuit is described which can be used for both ASK and PSK operations on a sinusoidal carrier signal. The same circuit can also be used for delta modulation. The circuit developed is found very useful for laboratory demonstrations. Experimental results are quite satisfactory.

A simple teaching aid for the quantitative demonstration of Fourier analysis and synthesis is described. Any periodic waveform of the specified frequency is analysed to give its different Fourier components and these components, when added, give the synthesized waveform. The circuit arrangement is simple and inexpensive and may be assembled in any undergraduate laboratory.

The paper describes a series of experiments to illustrate microwave heating techniques. The experiments are based around easily available and relatively cheap equipment and attempt to demonstrate important considerations in industrial applications of microwave heating with particular reference to drying.

Brushless drives are important, but are often thought to be difficult to treat quantitatively at the undergraduate level. The Blondel circle diagram is shown to be ideal for illuminating the steady-state behaviour and limitations of small brushless system, at a level suitable for undergraduate courses.

A variable-resistance model is derived for the d.c. motor. It is applicable to steady state and transient analysis. The d.c. motor is compared with the induction motor.

For a self-excited single-phase cage induction generator, the possibility of few discrete capacitor steps to keep the terminal voltage within specified tolerance at different loads, is evolved for implementing a simple regulating scheme. The capacitance/reactive VARs requirements for the generator are also obtained to maintain constant terminal voltage at various loads.