A Virtual Laboratory of D.C. Motors for Learning Control Theory

Abstract

The application of Information and Communication Technologies to education has promoted the development of new educational methodologies that lead to new learning spaces. A particular case, especially in the engineering field, is that of Virtual and Remote Laboratories through the Internet. These are powerful tools that let the student operate on simulated and/or real technological equipment with the only requirements of a PC, a web browser and an Internet connection. In this work, we present a virtual laboratory of an educational set for d.c. motor control, Feedback MS-150, which is widely used as practical equipment in laboratories of introductory control theory courses. A simulation of all the functionalities of the modular equipment was developed in Easy Java Simulation (EJS). The simulation was included in the Remote Laboratory of Automatic Control at the University of León (LRA-ULE), which is managed by a Drupal content management system. Engineering students have regularly used the virtual laboratory and have evaluated it through surveys.