Lab Course on Electrical Drive Trains Based on Students’ Participation

This paper presents the conception and implementation of the lab course “Simulation and Commissioning of Electrical Actuators” for Master’s students at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in Germany. The lab course deals with electrical drive trains, and the comparison of two different electrical machine types (here induction and permanent magnet synchronous machine) based on driving cycles. The paper includes the description of the technical conception, the teaching concept, and an explanation of the students’ participation within each part. The results of respective surveys, the teaching contents and methods, and the corresponding structure of the lab course are shown and discussed throughout the paper. In conclusion, the paper aims at showing that students’ participation in lab courses is not restricted to the execution phase, but can be included in the conception and implementation phase, while following intended learning outcomes. The active and constructive participation of the students shows a positive influence of the presented approach on the students’ motivation and learning progress. Hence, even though this approach is rather time consuming, it thereby ensures the achievement of intended learning outcomes.