ELEC3105: Electrical Energy

5% weekly quizzes, 10% assignment, 15% midsem, 20% labs, 50% final.

ELEC2134 (the part on power analysis), ELEC3115

This course is all about electrical power, with an emphasis on non-ideal motors, generators and transformers. There is a lot of circuit analysis (know your AC circuit analysis well!) but it's interesting to see how power engineers actually design and use these circuit analysis techniques to determine currents/voltages, etc. in a power system.

The first part of the course is about solar, wind and hydroelectric power, and the calculations of power and efficiency of these systems. Then it shifts into 3-phase power and transformers. Unlike in ELEC2134, the transformers are non-ideal, and an equivalent circuit has to be used instead. Then it shifts into motors and generators, with a focus on DC machines, induction machines and synchronous machines. There are different equivalent circuits for each type of machine and special procedures that must be memorized to find different quantities like the circuit parameters, power, losses, torque, etc. This is where the difficulty of the course mainly lies. There is quite a lot to remember, with a fair few large formulas too.
The labs are really good and quite enjoyable and interesting. The consolidate a lot of concepts. The quizzes and midsem are fine. The assignment is quite challenging with 2 difficult questions to solve. The final exam was fair, although there were a couple of derivation questions. Overall, it was an interesting course but sometimes it got just a bit tedious.

4 hours lectures (2x2 hour blocks), 3 hours lab (5 labs in the term), 1-2 hour tutorial

4/5

Yes

Rukmi Dutta

There is a course summary and past paper on the ELSOC website. The lecturer provides a few past papers.

4/5

I used 2 textbooks for reference to clarify any difficult concepts. "Electrical Machinery Fundamentals" and "Principles of Electric Machines and Power Electronics"

2019/2

20% lab checkpoints, 2% online quizzes, 10% midsem, 8% assignment, 60% final exam

ELEC2134, ELEC3115 (particularly this second one is important)

Another semester, another course with Rukmi - Read any of my reviews above this one to get my opinions. She has still not ever done a full worked example in any of her lectures. Her explanations are, okay - But prepare for lots of work to make them actually relate to any realistic problem. Tutorials also handled by Rukmi, and she doesn't do worked examples there either.
The content is interesting, I'll give it that. It's really fascinating to explore how our motors and generators actually operate, even exploring things like solar cells and thermal engines. It's cool - It's just taught in a really boring way. The labs are

3 hours lecture, 1 hour tutorial, 3 hours lab

4/5

Yes

Dr Rukmi Dutta

-

2/5

None prescribed, a variety could come in handy as the topics do cover a fair few different disciplines of Elec

2017/2

88 HD

20% lab checkpoints, 2% online quizzes, 10% midsem, 8% assignment, 60% final exam

ELEC2134, ELEC3115 (particularly this second one is important)

Another semester, another course with Rukmi - Read any of my reviews above this one to get my opinions. She has still not ever done a full worked example in any of her lectures. Her explanations are, okay - But prepare for lots of work to make them actually relate to any realistic problem. Tutorials also handled by Rukmi, and she doesn't do worked examples there either.
The content is interesting, I'll give it that. It's really fascinating to explore how our motors and generators actually operate, even exploring things like solar cells and thermal engines. It's cool - It's just taught in a really boring way. The labs are

3 hours lecture, 1 hour tutorial, 3 hours lab

4/5

Yes

Dr Rukmi Dutta

-

2/5

None prescribed, a variety could come in handy as the topics do cover a fair few different disciplines of Elec

2017/2

88 HD