Abstract
Engineering laboratories are key elements in engineering learning and are essential for a concrete understanding of engineering topics and experiments. These key laboratories are no longer just hardware-dependent, they are a creative combination of programmable hardware and also user-defined driving software. In this work, an educational power system protective relaying laboratory platform was designed and implemented using a programmable logic controller (PLC) and human–machine interface (HMI) in order to introduce engineering students to the operating mechanisms experimentally. It engaged the students in selecting settings and upgrading the inverse definite minimum time (IDMT) protection relays for overcurrent, overvoltage, undervoltage, and differential current. With the platform and the help of the HMI, the students mastered (or came close to mastering) the field of protective relays, especially those explicitly implemented in the platform. The students were also able to see the real-time response that is equivalent to the relay operation time of the protective relays under the various possible settings, and the kinesthetic learning that was involved gave them a deeper understanding of what is involved in relays upgrading.
Highlights
IntroductionPower system protection laboratory experiments are essential for electrical engineering teaching
Power system protection laboratory experiments are essential for electrical engineering teaching.They support the theoretical understanding of the students, and they increase the efficacy of the teaching process
This platform was designed to explore with our engineering students the importance of the programmable logic controller (PLC) and human–machine interface (HMI) programming topics they consider in their final year, and to encourage them to start from where the others finished
Summary
Power system protection laboratory experiments are essential for electrical engineering teaching. Lee et al [6] suggested the usage of the power system simulation laboratory to enhance the teaching and research activities in protective relay education. A laboratory equipment system developed for designing digital systems based on programmable logic devices was described by several published works, such as in [7,8,9]. Simon et al showed a remote laboratory platform for electrical drive control using a programmable logic controller (PLC) [12]. Hernandez et al proposed a remote laboratory platform for electrical drive control using a programmable logic controller (PLC) [20].
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