UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING

ECE 4113 ENERGY CONVERSION LABORATORY

ECE 4113, Lab 20514
Fall Semester 2011
Course Time and Class Room: To be arranged, S393
Instructor: Dr. Ovidiu Crisan, Office: W302-D3; Phone: 713-7434432;
E-mail: ocrisan@uh.edu; FAX: (713) 743-4444
Office Hours: MoTuWe: (2.00 - 4.30) PM, or by appointment, using
information above
Catalog Description:
Energy Conversion Laboratory Cr. 1. (0-3). Prerequisites: ECE 2100
and credit for or concurrent enrollment in ECE 4363. Selected
experiments in electromechanical energy conversion devices.
Expected Course Outcomes:
Students who successfully complete this course are expected to meet
the following course outcomes.
1. Students will add to their knowledge-base in the fundamentals of
mathematics, basic science, and engineering, knowledge about the electric
and magnetic fields, in the area of mathematical operations in the complex
domain, of the energy balance and conversion concepts, and the property of
electric and magnetic materials. (Program Outcome # a).
2. Students will add knowledge about the practical applications and conduct
experiments related to electric and magnetic circuits, single and three-phase
circuits, energy conversion principles, and basics of the transformer and
rotating machine characteristics, operation and control. (Program Outcome
# b).
3. By using the modern equipment for measuring active, reactive, and

apparent powers of single and three-phase circuits, the torque, and with tests
and measurements of transformer and rotating machine characteristics,
including the data analysis and interpretation, has a substantial contribution
to the students ability to conduct experiments and analyze and interpret data.
(Program Outcome # b).
4. By solving quizzes, laboratory reports and questioners, and final exam
questions, it is developed in each student the basic skills of identifying,
formulate, and solve engineering problems. (Program Outcome # e).
5. By imposing requirements, rules and regulations that must be satisfied for
a clear and clean organized presentation, right notation for variables and
units, clear decisions explanation and justification, texts and graphs quality,
and so on for solving quizzes and reports, develops in each student good
writing skills so that they are able to communicate technical material
effectively and clearly. (Program Outcome # g).
6. The field trip, with exposure to the actual-size equipment and related
topics, strengthens the students feeling and knowledge about the
contemporary issues (Program Outcome # j) and about modern engineering
tools necessary for engineering practice. (Program Outcome # k).
Academic Honesty Policy:
Students are expected to follow the Academic Honesty Policy of the
University of Houston. It is your responsibility to know and follow
this policy. You must sign the Academic Honesty Statement shown
on the last page of this handout, detach it, and submit it by
Wednesday, August 31, 2011. If you fail to do this, you will be
dropped from the course.
Religious Holy Days:
Students whose religious beliefs prohibit class attendance on designated
dates or attendance at scheduled exams may request an excused
absence. To do this, you are strongly encouraged to request the
excused absence, in writing, by Wednesday, September 7, 2011. Please
submit this written request to your instructor immediately, to allow the
instructor to make appropriate arrangements. For more information,
see the Student Handbook.
Students With Disabilities:
Students with recognized disabilities will be provided reasonable

accommodations, appropriate to the course, upon documentation of the

disability with a Student Accommodation Form from the Center for
Students With Disabilities. To receive these accommodations, you must
request the specific accommodations, by submitting them to the
instructor in writing, by Wednesday, September 7, 2011, which is the
last day to drop without record for Fall 2011. Students who fail to
submit a written request will not be considered for accommodations.
For more information, see the Student Handbook.
Dropping The Course:
You may drop the course without receiving a grade until 11.59 pm,
Wednesday, September 7, 2011, which is the University's last day to
drop without receiving a grade. After this date and until 11.59 pm,
Wednesday, November 2, 2011, which is the University's last day to
drop, you may drop with a W if you have not exceeded your total W
limit. Do not assume that you will be dropped by the instructor if
you stop attending class. You are responsible for completing the
withdrawal procedure.
Course Topics:
(The classes Time-Schedule is shown on the last page)
1. Safety and power supply; Phasors series circuits (3 hours)
2. Three-phase circuits; Watts, vars and volt-amperes; Power
measurement (3 hours)
3. Single- and three-phase transformers and autotransformers: tests and
regulation, windings connection (6 hours)
4. Wound and squirrel cage induction motors: tests, characteristics, speed
control, capacitive start and run (6 hours)
5. Synchronous generators and motors: tests, loading, power factor, no-load
and short-circuit tests, load test, power control (6 hours)
6. Direct current motors and generators: no-load curve, speed-control,
voltage-control (3 hours)
7. Field trip (3 hours)
Required Text:
T. Wildi, Investigation in Electric Power Technology, Lab V. Systems,
1983

Grading:
The course final grade is based on average grades on Quizzes,
Laboratory Reports, Experiments Participation, and the Laboratory
Final Exam, which are counted with the following approximate
weights: Quizzes: 35 %; Laboratory Reports: 20 %; Experiments
Participation: 5 %; Laboratory Final Exam: 40 %.
The approximate grade point scale show bellow is used in determining
the final grade. This scale may be modified somewhat, but it is
included here, such you will have a general idea of how well you are
doing in this class. The final grade scale will be decided at the end
of the semester.
The following approximate grade point scale will be used in
determining your grade: 92.00 100: As; 80.00 91.99: Bs;
68.00 79.99: Cs; 56.00 67.99: Ds; bellow 56: F.
Attendance:
Attendance in all classes is mandatory. For one or more missed
classes, the laboratory final grade cannot be a passing one. If for
some very justified reasons you cannot attend a class, please let the
instructor know in advance about that. Then a schedule for recovering
of the missed class it is established.
Email:
You should have one or more working e-mail addresses, which you
should check periodically for messages. In order to get onto the
distribution list please obtain an account if you do not already have
one.
Withdrawal Policy:
The withdrawal dates listed in the Academic Calendar section of the
Class Schedule will be followed strictly. Please consult this document
for appropriate dates. Grades of Incomplete (I) will be given only
when a small portion of the course has not been completed for a good
reason. If the material has been completed, an I grade cannot be

given. Detailed information about these issues is available in the

Student Handbook .

Course Requirements and Assessments:

1. Before the laboratory class, by using the laboratory text book and the
lecture notes, students will study and prepare the subjects that are to
be solved.
2. To test the student s knowledge about the laboratory subjects, a quiz
of about 15 minutes must be solved before the experiments start. The
quiz subjects are related to the experiments that follow, and its
purpose is to assure that students have studied the laboratory book
before they came to class. The graded quizzes are returned to
students on the next lab class.
3. Before the experiment starts, the TA presents to each students team
the equipment to be used and its functionality. The experiment starts
only after the TA checks and approves the circuit that was built.
When an experiment starts the TA must assist the student team.
4. The experiments start with the objective to have each student involved
in the practical work, measurement, and the results analysis.
5. The TA and students are responsible for a safety handling of
equipment. After the experiments are finalized, the TA checks the
equipment functionality and the equipment is rearranged to its original
location..
6. Based on the measurements recorded and the accumulated knowledge,
each student must prepare, and on the next class turn in the
Laboratory Report. The graded reports are returned by the TA to
students in the next lab class.
7. It is expected that each student has an active presence and
participation to the experiments, and the TA supervises and evaluates
this participation.
8. The topics of the final exam cover all laboratory subjects of
that semester. Each student stochastically selects a subject, does the
experiment and answers to questions related to it.
9. Along the semester each student is informed about the grades
accumulated up to that moment, and after the final exam about the
final grade obtained.

Academic Honesty Policy and Plagiarism:

The issue of academic honesty is a very important one to the ECE
department. In particular, copying of HW, Project or Exam from
another person, in whole or in part, will not be tolerated.
Working with other colleagues is not forbidden, but it does not mean
that you will have identical work presentation. If for defining the HW
or Project solution you have been working with other students, each of
you has to name those who participated on this process.
You will be given a signature page stating that you have read and
understand the rules regarding academic honesty as published by the
university. This page must be filled out and signed and submitted
before you turn in your first HW.
For all HWs and Project the following statements apply:
If identical figures, derivations, plots, or calculations are found,
without proper referencing as to their origin, it will be considered a
violation of the academic honesty policy. If figures, text, tables, or
other material are taken from any textbook without proper references,
it will be considered a violation of the academic honesty policy. If
figures, text, tables, or other material are taken from lecture notes
without proper references, it will be considered a violation of the
academic honesty policy. If you and any other student have the same
figures, tables or plots, it will be considered a violation of the
academic honesty policy for both of you. The data can be the same;
but the figures, tables or plots made with this data must be developed
individually.
Topics and Time-Schedule:
Lab.
Week that
Class
Topics
starts at:
#
1. Safety and the power supply (LE4) + Vectors and phasors
Sept. 12
series circuits (LE20)
2. Three-phase circuits (LE45) + Three-phase watts, vars, and

Sept. 19
volt-amperes (LE46) + Three-phase power measurement (LE47)
3. The single-phase transformer (LE39) + Transformer regulation
Sept. 26
(LE41)
4. The autotransformer (LE 42) + Three-phase transformer
Oct. 03
connections (LE48)
5. The wound-rotor induction motor, Part I (LE49) + Part II
Oct. 17
(LE50) + Part III (LE51)
6. The squirrel-cage induction motor (LE52) + The capacitor-start
Oct. 24
motor (LE34) + The capacitor-run motor (LE35)
7. The synchronous motor, Part I (LE53) + Part II (LE54) +
Nov. 07
Part III (LE55)
8. The three-phase alternator (LE56) + The alternator under load
Nov. 14
(LE57) + The alternator power (LE59)
9. The direct current motor, Part I (LE11) + The dc shunt motor
Nov. 28
(LE24) + The dc series motor (LE25)
10. Field trip
Nov. 15 Nov 30
10 Laboratory final exam (the date will be finalized at the semester end)
Probable:
Nov. 28

Academic Honesty Statement

I have read the University of Houston Academic
Honesty Policy contained in the UH Student
Handbook, available on the web, and agree to abide
by its provisions. I understand that the Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering takes academic
honesty very seriously. I understand that in the case
of violations, penalties may include suspension from
the University of Houston.
Name: (Please print)
_________________________________

Signature:
__________________________________________
Date:
______________________________________________

Please detach this page, and submit it to the instructor

no later than Wednesday, August 31, 2011. If you fail
to do this, you will be dropped from the course.