A New Approach for an Interdisciplinary Senior Elective for Electrical Engineering and Electrical Engineering Technology Majors in Electric Vehicle Applications
In this paper, we describe a new approach to introducing electrical engineering students to a new area in electrical engineering and electrical engineering technology education. In this project which was funded by the Department of Education, we have utilized ‘only-as-needed’ and ‘just-in-time’ philosophies in the course design. The course is taught by the two sponsoring departments. The paper details the topics, the laboratory experiments, the laboratory facilities, and computer activities that are included in the course. It also describes how a comprehensive design project is used to promote integration of knowledge in diverse topics such as batteries and energies, DSP and fuzzy controllers, power electronics, solid-state high-power devices, and data acquisition. The paper also describes the role that industry plays in the development, its assessment of the course, and means of dissemination.