Electric Power Systems

EGR 325, Spring 2018

Professor: Judith Cardell
Office: 352 Ford Hall
Office hours: Mon 1:00-2:00; Wed 11:00 - 12:00

Class Time: 1:00 - 2:50 Tues/Thurs FH 143 (Circuits Lab)
Prerequisites: EGR 220, Circuit Theory, or permission of instructor
Readings: Posted in table below and on Moodle

EGR 325 Class and Assignment Schedule, Spring 2018

Course Overview and Topics

The objective of this course is to introduce students to electric power systems, and to the broader issues of energy policy and complex systems analysis. Through the material presented in this course, students will learn:

1. The fundamental principles of producing and transmitting electric power,
2. To analyze complex engineering systems, and to gain familiarity with incorporating technical, policy and societal elements in the analysis framework,
3. How to simulate electric power systems, in order to understand their behavior and also to make design decisions about the types of generating technologies to use and when to expand the power system to meet demand.
4. Introduction to optimization: The inherent tradeoffs between the often conflicting objectives of power system design and operation, including cost, reliability, and environmental impacts,
5. The far reaching effects of electric power and energy conversion on human society,
6. To evaluate her personal learning process and understanding of the concepts and skills from class.

ABET Outcomes for EGR 325
For students' Books of Evidence, the following ABET outcomes can be achieved by every student taking EGR 325. Note that this is a shared responsibility between the course professor and each student. If you do not understand how or when these outcomes are being addressed through the course material, be sure to come to office hours (while there are still many weeks remaining in the semester). If populating your BoEs is left until the end of the semester, it could be too late to achieve all you had planned.

• Student Outcome (a) APPLICATION: an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering
  • (a)1: The student solves engineering problems that require advanced math skills.
  • (a)2: The student applies fundamental scientific and engineering principles in solving engineering problems.
• Student Outcome (d) TEAMWORK: an ability to function on multidisciplinary teams
  • (d)1: The student recognizes and utilizes the diverse skills and knowledge of team members.
  • (d)2: The student helps to synthesize individual contributions into a coherent whole.
• Student Outcome (e) PROBLEM FRAMING: an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems
  • (e)1: The student identifies an engineering problem and articulates relevant big ideas.
  • (e)2: The student transforms a complex problem statement into a simplified model.
  • (e)3: The student solves an engineering problem and articulates the impact of simplifying assumptions.
• Student Outcome (g) COMMUNICATION: an ability to communicate effectively
  • (g)1: The student’s writing utilizes appropriate grammar and format, effectively articulates ideas, and demonstrates appropriate style for the audience.
  • (g)3: The student presents engineering concepts utilizing a graphical representation.
• Student Outcome (h) CONTEXT: the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context.
  • (h)1: The student identifies the global and societal contexts within their engineering work.
  • (h)2: The student identifies the environmental context within their engineering work.
  • (h)3: The student evaluates the economics of an engineering solution.
• Student Outcome (i) LIFE-LONG LEARNING: a recognition of the need for, and ability to engage in life-long learning
  • (i)1: The student is able to articulate gaps in their knowledge.
  • (i)2: The student is able to make progress in filling knowledge gaps that s/he has identified.
• Student Outcome (j) CONTEMPORARY ISSUES: a knowledge of contemporary issues
  • (j)1: The student connects her/his own engineering work to contemporary issues in society.
• Student Outcome (k) MODERN TOOLS: an ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice
  • (k)3: The student demonstrates an ability to use modern tools for mathematical modeling or data analysis.

Course Concept Map
The concept map will be used throughout the semester to bring together the course topics, and modeling and analysis techniques.

Assignments
The syllabus lists the reading for each class period. Students are expected to do the reading before coming to class, in order to be fully prepared to solidify the material in the class period. Note that this does not mean every word of every reading needs to be carefully read. Each student needs to read about and ponder enough of the issues to be able to contribute to class discussion and the class learning.

Assginments also include participation in Knowledge Building (via Knowledge Forum, online) which allows for out-of-class discussion and learning to occur in a continuous and self-guided manner. Use and assessment of KF will evolve over the course of the semester.

There will be almost-weekly homework assignments, collective knowledge building work, one midterm exam and a final take home exam.

Written homework format
All mathematical homework solutions must be written on standard engineering paper in the standard Picker Engineering homework format. Short essay questions should be typed and printed out. Homework from computer simulation tools should be typed, with graphs from the computer models pasted into a Word (or similar) document, and clearly explained. Students are encouraged to work together to understand the concepts, but each student must hand in her own solutions. All assignments are to be neatly written or typed, and stapled, with your name and date. Note that students are expected to follow the Honor Code for all work in this course. Copying on homework or quizzes/exams, and other violations will be brought to the honor board.

The purpose of the homework is for you to have the opportunity to practice - practice - practice the skills and concepts from class, and to think about the policy and societal questions beyond class discussions. Since homework is the time to practice, you are not expected to have perfects solutions at all times. You are expected to do your best work for each problem however. In recognition of these goals, each homework problem, as well as participation in Knowledge Forum, will be evaluated with the following 10 point scale as a guide:

• 0 No effort
• 2 Problem statement written out but not attempted
• 6 Incomplete attempt
• 9 Complete attempt, incorrect solution
• 10 Complete attempt, correct solution

Essays and discussion questions will be graded as ✓, ✓- or ✓+

Class attendance
Students are required to attend class and participate in class discussions and problem solving exercises. This means that you must be in class and come prepared to participate in the discussions to receive full credit for this portion of the course.

Grading
Grades in this course are designed to represent your achievement of the objectives and student ABET outcomes. The course components that will make up your grade are listed below.

Late Policy
All homework assignments are to be submitted at the time specified; late assignments will be penalized at the rate of one point per minute unless you have requested and received and extension at least 24 hours before the deadline. However, each student will have a total of 1 hour (60 minutes) grace time to be used as desired by that student over the course of the semester, such that you can have a semester total of 60 tardy minutes for homework and labs without penalty (note that these minutes cannot be used for in-class reading questions, quizzes or exams).

Knowledge Forum participation must be on an on-going basis, so that all class participants have plenty of time to see, read and respond to your notes, thoughts and responses. Notes need to be posted well in advance of class time to allow everyone to read and process all the notes. This means, with class starting at 10am, initial postings should be made by dinnner time (6pm) the evening before class so that everyone will have the opportunity to read and respond to each others' notes, and gather thoughts for class.

Honor Code
The homework assignments that you submit must be your own work. You are encouraged to discuss the problems and essay questions with your classmates and work on them together, but each student must work out her own answers. It is not okay to copy answers from another student's homework - doing so is a violation of the Honor Code. Note that it is a violation of the honor code to 1) use or copy another student's work, and 2) provide another student with your work. Projects will be done in small groups. Exams must be exclusively each student's own work, following the instructions provided with each exam. Do not hesitate to ask any questions that you may have concerning the honor code!