EEE8155 : Designing sustainable electric propulsion and generation systems
- Offered for Year: 2025/26
- Module Leader(s): Professor Nick Baker
- Lecturer: Dr Libing Cao
- Owning School: Engineering
- Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.
| Semester 2 Credit Value: | 20 |
| ECTS Credits: | 10.0 |
| European Credit Transfer System | |
Aims
To give an appreciation of the importance of electric drives in the de-carbonisation of transport, generation and other sectors. The course gives a good grounding and experience in the physical design of electrical machines and a broad understanding of electrical drives selection criteria in a range of applications.
To gain the skills to produce outline designs of electrical machine drive systems to a given specification. Design decisions will be placed in an ethical, environmental and manufacturing context.
To be skilled in machine drive design for modern and emerging applications, including electric transport and renewable energy drives.
Outline Of Syllabus
This module covers the operation, modelling and design of AC and DC machines, with due consideration of the power electronics and control requirements. The focus is on permanent magnet machines developed for electric propulsion and renewable energy technology.
Electrical machines are placed in the context of net zero by discussing the impact of raw materials, use in new and emerging applications with due consideration to design for manufacture. Design methodology focuses around magnetic circuit analysis, thermal analysis and winding design. Students will be exposed to industrial developments with at least one external speaker. Students will gain experience in analytical design, working with data and constraints, communication and report writing as well as using commercially available design software.
Teaching Methods
Teaching Activities
| Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 24 | 1:00 | 24:00 | 24 hours of lectures are taught over the first 2 weeks of the 4 week block – 6 x 2 hour lectures per week. |
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 1 | 50:00 | 50:00 | Coursework preparation (x 2) |
| Guided Independent Study | Directed research and reading | 1 | 16:00 | 16:00 | Reading specified articles. |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Practical | 1 | 3:00 | 3:00 | One 3 hour lab on electrical machine and drive characterisation. |
| Structured Guided Learning | Structured research and reading activities | 36 | 0:30 | 18:00 | Background recordings to support lecture material, including industrial lectures. |
| Guided Independent Study | Reflective learning activity | 1 | 10:00 | 10:00 | Student-led discussions. |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Drop-in/surgery | 8 | 2:00 | 16:00 | Timetabled optional drop in session for students to attend if they have any queries. |
| Guided Independent Study | Independent study | 1 | 15:00 | 15:00 | Using/learning MotorCAD software for coursework preparation. |
| Guided Independent Study | Independent study | 1 | 48:00 | 48:00 | Review lecture notes, general reading around and beyond the syllabus. |
| Total | 200:00 |
Teaching Rationale And Relationship
Lectures provide the core material as well as guidance for further reading. Additional pre -recorded material available for background and to reinforce pre requisites. Worked examples offer the opportunity for practice in analysis and synthesis and where necessary more direct tuition can be offered to smaller student groups. Some aspects of the course are further re-enforced through laboratory demonstrations.
The two design exercises test the students' core knowledge and understanding of machine design principles including making suitable assumptions, simplifications and mathematical analysis. The analytical coursework focuses on design from first principles. The software coursework involves the use of commercially available machine design software, which is introduced in the pre-requisite module and supplemented drop in sessions with a PG demonstrator. The coursework allows the students to demonstrate their ability to use the software, show some engineering creativity and further develop their communication skills. Laboratories are formative in nature, giving practical experience and understanding.
Assessment Methods
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
Other Assessment
| Description | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Design/Creative proj | 2 | M | 50 | Analytical motor design exercise and associated report using calculation. |
| Design/Creative proj | 2 | M | 50 | Drive design exercise and associated report using drive design software. |
Assessment Rationale And Relationship
Design is a creative concept and so it is most appropriate to allow the students’ time to do this via projects which are then assessed by reports. Two projects are given: one focused upon the machine design using analytical methods presented in the course (M1, M5, M3, M2,M17)and the second upon electric drive design using software (M4,M13,M6,M7,M8,M17). The projects will allow the students to use state of the art design software to create designs against a specification of a named application. Their ability to understand, analyse, appraise and synthesis systems will be tested, covering almost all aspects of the knowledge and skills outcomes of the module.
Reading Lists
Timetable
- Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
- EEE8155's Timetable