Experimental Stand for Investigation of DC Alternator

 

Delko Zlatanski¹, Nikolay Vakrilov²*, Nadezhda Kafadarova³

¹Asst. Prof., Plovdiv University Paisii Hilendarski, Bulgaria, email: d_a_zlatanski@uni-plovdiv.bg

²Asst. Prof., Plovdiv University Paisii Hilendarski, Bulgaria, email: n_vakrilov@uni-plovdiv.bg

³Assoc.Prof, Plovdiv University Paisii Hilendarski, Bulgaria,

email:nadezhda.kafadarova@uni-plovdiv.bg

*Corresponding Author

 

Abstract

Innovation in engineering education is essential to improve the quality and competencies of the future engineering workforce. To improve the quality of education, engineering faculties must keep pace with dynamic changes in engineering science and practice. Only in this way, the graduating students will be competitive on the labour market and will be able to quickly develop as specialists in new and promising areas. This article demonstrates the possibilities of improving the quality of teaching in the discipline of "Electrical Engineering" by applying appropriate scientific and research approaches in the educational practice of students of engineering majors. For this purpose, a stand for the study of a direct current alternator has been developed, which allows a detailed study of the structure and the physical processes taking place in the electrical power supply system of each car. The developed test stand has capabilities for remote control over the Internet, which makes it suitable for remote training of students even in the conditions of a pandemic. For the good assimilation of the educational material, a methodology has been created for conducting experiments to study the characteristics of a direct current alternator in different operating modes. In this way, students will be able to learn what are the components of the electrical system for powering a car, when the alternator is used and when the battery is used to power the electrical consumers, what the energy generated by the alternator depends on and under what conditions it starts charging the battery. The proposed learning approach has been evaluated by a survey conducted among engineering students. The survey shows a higher interest and motivation on the part of the students in the Electrical Engineering course because they have already understood the possible applications of what they learned through direct contact with the complex professional environment.

Keywords: Engineering education, DC alternator, Experimental Stand.