ECE469

ECE469 (Power Electronics Laboratory) is a 2-credit-hour senior level course that satisfies the hardware laboratory requirement for EE majors and counts as a technical elective for CE majors. It is offered only in the fall.

Content Covered

AC-DC conversion
DC-DC conversion
DC-AC conversion
Real components
Dead time control, digital control of power converters
Maximum power point tracking for solar panels
Final project

ECE469 is the complementary lab to ECE464, providing practical laboratory experience to supplement the theory covered in ECE464. In the first lab, students work with AC-DC converters, including full-wave rectifiers and silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) rectifier circuits, and observe their applications to battery charging. In the second lab, students work with DC-DC converters, including buck and buck-boost converters, observe their applications to DC motor drives, and examine regenerative chopper circuits. In the third lab, students work with DC-AC converters, including voltage-sourced inverters and pulse-width modulation (PWM) inverters, and observe their applications to induction motor drives and audio amplifiers.

In the fourth lab, students will observe the non-idealities of real components, including parasitic elements of capacitors, inductors, and resistors, as well as power dissipation and gate delay in MOSFETS. In this lab, students will also solder a power board, a half-bridge converter. In the fifth and final lab, students will solder and test an interface board to generate switching signals, use an Arduino for digital control of the power boards, and implement maximum power point tracking to extract power from the solar panels on the roof of the ECEB.

In the last few weeks of the course, the final project is assigned, where students are provided a list of specifications and are tasked with designing a converter meeting such specifications.

Prerequisites

ECE343
ECE464 (corequisite)

Students interested in taking ECE469 should do so concurrently with ECE464, though ECE469 may be taken later. ECE343 is listed as an official prerequisite for this course, as it provides useful electronic circuits laboratory experience, including experience with oscilloscopes, function generators, and soldering. However, it is possible to survive in this course without ECE343.

When to Take it

If you are planning to take ECE464 and want to gain practical experience in the design, testing, and debugging of power converters, you should also take ECE469.

Course Structure

ECE469 has an average workload. Lecture meets once a week to discuss material for the upcoming lab and prelab.

Prelabs are assigned before each lab, though they are generally very short.

The lab section meets once a week, for three hours. For the lab, students work with partners. Labs generally focus around testing and recording data from various power converters. In around the last month of the course, students will solder a power board and interface board, which will be used for the labs on real components, dead-time control, digital control of power electronics, and maximum power point tracking, as well as for the final project.

Each lab spans two weeks and is split up into two parts, so lab reports are due every other week. Lab reports can be somewhat time consuming, though partners are allowed to work on them together. A list of topics and study questions are provided for students to discuss in their lab reports.

In the last few weeks of the course, a final project is assigned. For the final project, students are provided a list of specifications and are tasked with designing a converter meeting such specifications. The assigned final project is different for each group.

Instructors

Profs. Banerjee and Stillwell generally alternate in teaching this course. The lab sections are run by the TAs.

Course Tips

Take advantage of all office hour times provided during the final week, so that you are able to create a quality final project. Set aside a lot of time for debugging. Arrive early, so that you are able to get a bench.

Avoid taking an evening lab section if possible, so that the sun is still up during the solar panels lab.