Intelligent energy conversion laboratory for undergraduate power engineering education

This paper describes the development of the Intelligent Data-Acquisition and Control (IDAC) system - a virtual instrumentation-based system for conducting experiments in the electrical machinery laboratory at Penn State - Harrisburg. The system as developed departs from the traditional approach in a power laboratory environment where measurements are manually logged from several meters, and followed by hours of calculations and plotting of results. Introduction of the IDAC system has offered the typical power engineering undergraduate a unique opportunity to learn the principles of real-time data acquisition, and to apply it in the study of electric machines.