International Journal of Electrical Engineering & Education

This article presents a new electromagnetics CAD exercise for first-year undergraduates at UMIST, U.K. It introduces the use of finite-element software as a design tool for electromagnetic devices.

Some students would like to see the exact integral solutions to substantiate continuity of V and E = 0 inside uniformly charged shells and infinite cylinders. Unfortunately no texts detail these solutions. This article outlines, for future reference, the exact (though complicated) formulations and integral evaluations, thus helping clarify and validate the simpler solutions.

This article describes the design and construction of an 8 kW, programmable, resistive load bank suitable for a variety of applications in electrical power laboratories.

Video recordings of high-voltage breakdown tracks between electrodes in air have been analysed using an image processing technique. The paper discusses the tortuosity of the breakdown tracks, and a logarithmic distribution of track segment lengths has been found.

This paper presents a model for the frequency dependent losses in the transformer core for transient studies. The non-integer power series approach is extended to include the frequency dependent behaviour of the losses. The results obtained are compared with manufacturer's data and are found to give a very good fit.

Using the symbolic programming language MACSYMA, the self-excited induction generator may be analysed in a straightforward manner with a high degree of accuracy. Very little manual effort need be spent on algebraic manipulation, numerical analysis and computer programming. Typical program sessions are cited to illustrate the elegance of this approach.

The magnetic major hysteresis loop and the initial magnetization curve are obtained for mild steel from measurements of the attractive force between magnetized semi-rings. A check determination of the hysteresis loop using a standard method yields good agreement.

It is shown that Miller's theorems for parallel–parallel and series-series feedback amplifiers are equivalent to the decomposition of the feedback resistor into two resistors.

The relevance of control theory to electrical engineering can be demonstrated vividly to undergraduate students by its application to the design of linear continuous electronic circuits that control the height of a hovering helicopter, animated on a PC screen. The object of the student project is to design altitude control electronics by using control theory. The flexibility of the PC allows for full data logging and graphic display features as well as giving each student a unique set of parameters.

This paper discusses the teaching of digital signal processing to students not having a traditional background. It suggests a set of strategies and perspectives that achieve necessary standards in a sympathetic way. It describes a scheme which demystifies the subject and uses interactive self-learning computer-based tutorials.