IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON EDUCATION, VOL. 44, NO. 2, MAY 2001 165 Using MathCad in Understanding the Induction Motor Characteristics Khalid A. Nigim, Member, IEEE, and Ronald R. DeLyser, Senior Member, IEEE Abstract—Computer-aided multimedia education is in- creasingly popular within the classroom and laboratory. The applications of market-ready mathematical and database pro- gramming software for teaching engineering course outline is well appreciated. This article shows how MathCad can be used to introduce electrical machine characteristics simulated at different possible control modes. The undergraduate students require minimum knowledge of a programming language. The examples presented in the article show how MathCad software can be used to simplify some of the characteristics of the three-phase and one-phase induction machine. The result of introducing math software as a teaching tool at the third- and fourth-year level have been accepted and are now used as part of the practical sessions for the electrical machine and other credited courses at Birzeit University, West Bank and Gaza in the Palestine. Index Terms—Computer application in education, electric ma- chines, MathCad application. I. INTRODUCTION C URRENT mathematics software packages are equipped with highly interactive displays, signal processing, proto- typing, three–dimensional (3-D) plots, – graphs, word pro- cessing and data layering to enable rapid interpretation and pre- sentation of results and trends. The direct use of this type of software is a major advancement in simplifying simulation pro- cedures for many practicing engineers as well as for undergrad- uate engineering students [1]–[3]. The integration of the motor and electronics to adjust the inherent motor characteristics make it difficult for the tutor to simplify and present the subject to un- dergraduates without the assistance of some kind of simulation tools. A successful simulation tool requires time, energy, and skills in computing languages and general knowledge of the op- erational characteristics of the electrical machine and its perfor- mance. To keep sustainable interest in the education process and with many students enrolling in colleges with some computer literacy, it is essential to reinforce the engineering education curriculum with computer-aided teaching tools that are interac- tive as well as educational. For these reasons a mathematical package was introduced to initiate the changes in teaching methodology at the author’s engineering college. Manuscript received October 20, 1999; revised October 31, 2000. K. A. Nigim is with Birzeit University, Electrical Engineering Department, Birzeit, Palestine (e-mail: kldngm@excite.com). R. R. DeLyser is with the Department of Natural Science, Mathematics and Engineering, University of Denver, Denver, CO 80210 USA(e-mail: rdelyzer@du.com). Publisher Item Identifier S 0018-9359(01)01769-1. Fig. 1. The electronic handbook main menu designed with MS-Access tool. II. MATH SOFTWARE AS AN EDUCATIONAL TOOL FOR ELECTRIC MACHINE CASES The early versions of software to simulate motor performance are presented in references [4]–[6]. The work introduces the ba- sics of teaching electric machines using programmable routines and was dedicated to a few aspects of the phenomena of electric machines using the DOS environment and interactive graphics software. In early 1994, the electrical engineering department at Birzeit University used MathCad in the teaching classrooms and PC laboratory on a trial basis in order to enhance interactive teaching and learning. Equation solution of the electrical motor and drives performance is straightforward once the basic fea- tures of MathCad software are learned [7]. Of course, MathCad software is widely used for many sci- entific and engineering principles and is not the only package available [8], [9]. It is easy to use and has many built-in functions that facilitate its use in many textbook applications. The next sections will demonstrate the versatility of adopting MathCad in evaluating the characteristics of three-phase and one-phase induction motors under variable input conditions. Study cases 1 and 2 present the steady state characteristics of the three- phase induction motor under varying input conditions, while case 3 presents the one-phase motor characteristics. The exam- ples were presented to and accessed by the student through the creation of an interactive electronic handbook page created by MS Access software as seen in Figs. 1 and 2. The multiple- choice menu given to the student is used to navigate through solved examples as the syllabus developed. A. The Presentation of the Electric Motor Characteristics by MathCad In electrical motors, the electrical energy input and the me- chanical energy output can be presented in mathematical form, after presenting the physical operation of the motor with the equivalent electric circuit shown in Fig. 3. The electric circuit 0018–9359/01$10.00 © 2001 IEEE