Design and Realization of an Innovative Workbench for Electric Power Systems Laboratories

• Published in: IEEE transactions on power systems Vol. 30; no. 6; pp. 2894 - 2901
• Main Authors: Barchowsky, Ansel, Grainger, Brandon M., Lewis, Patrick T., Cardoza, Alvaro D., Reed, Gregory F., Carnovale, Daniel J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.11.2015; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Demand; Design engineering; Education; Educational institutions; Electric power generation; Electric power systems; experiment design; lab workbench; Laboratories; laboratory equipment; Load banks; Power engineering education; power systems; Prototypes; Student experiments; Workbenches; Working conditions
• ISSN: 0885-8950; 1558-0679
• DOI: 10.1109/TPWRS.2014.2371825

With the increasingly high demand for well-trained power systems engineers, the University of Pittsburgh has partnered with Eaton in the creation of the new Electric Power Systems Laboratory at the Swanson School of Engineering. This laboratory demands the capability to perform a wide variety of experimental procedures while providing students and researchers with a seamless working environment. To accomplish that goal, a novel lab workbench was developed. This lab workbench integrates the load banks necessary for laboratory procedures with advanced metering, controls and safety features, and contains them within a work station ideally suited for the laboratory space. This paper details the development of those lab workbenches, from concept, to design, to prototype construction, to testing. Additionally, this work describes planned classroom experiments utilizing the developed bench. Ultimately the realized workbench demonstrates its capability to be reconfigured to suit the demands of both education as well as new research projects for undergraduate and graduate studies.