Application work using software tools and didactic equipment of electrical machines in electrical engineering studies

This article describes the use of software tools and didactic equipment of electrical machines applied to the teaching in electrical engineering, specifically in the realization of an application work consisting of the characterization of the three-phase induction motor. Several studies have explored the effectiveness of teaching activities, which encompass different learning tools in the same work, from the use of didactic materials to the use of professional computer tools. The objective is the simultaneous use of didactic equipment and the calculation methodologies through specific software of industrial applications in engineering studies. In addition, to observe whether performing application work that implementing different techniques at the same time fosters the critical spirit among students. The activities students must do in the application work proposed in the subject of rotating electrical machines is to determine all the constructive variables of an induction motor, draw it, simulate its electromagnetic behavior by finite element method with a freeware available 2D program, test the motor in the laboratory following the guidelines of the current standards and, finally, compare the results obtained from the tests and the simulation, by making a critique of the results and the calculation methodology used. The application work presented in the article has been implemented during several courses in the subject of electrical machines for electrical engineering students, with satisfactory results.