Software-reconfigurable e-learning platform for power electronics courses

An effective course in power electronics should ideally contain hands-on design and experimental work as well as theory explanation and simulations. In this paper, a software-reconfigurable e-learning platform for power electronics courses is proposed. The aim of the proposed system is to realize a platform capable of constructing a wide range of circuit topologies and control techniques, thus enabling students to gain a better understanding of power electronics converters through practical experiments. The proposed platform consists of a reconfigurable power electronics testbed, a Web-based distance laboratory, and a user interactive e-learning platform. The reconfigurable power electronics testbed can be configured by the students via a Web-based interface to construct a wide variety of converters and inverters. The Internet accessible distance laboratory system permits the instructors and students to remotely conduct experiments over the Internet. The integrated interactive multimedia material can support the educational environment of power electronics courses and can be executed on any modern personal computer (PC) without additional hardware. The advantages of the proposed platform include flexibility, friendly user interface, allow for distance waveform measurements, and removal of laboratory time and space constraints. The positive response from students indicates that the proposed platform is extremely useful for power electronics courses.