University of Wisconsin-Madison Facilities
The UW power electronics laboratories occupy over 7,000 sq.ft. devoted to state-of-the-art high power conversion, motor drives, power quality, and motion control equipment. The lab is equipped for 50-60 graduate students to work on machines, motor drives, power electronics circuits, and machine and power electronics packaging research.
For machines and motor drives, there are with eleven machine bases and a range of dynamometers up to 50 hp, including numerous units designed for high speed testing. For high voltage power converters, there are two high voltage cages suitable for medium voltage operation. A variety of commercial and specially constructed power converters and DSP-based controllers are available for general drives and power converter research activities. Printed circuit board assembly/disassembly equipment includes a pick-and-place machine, a solder reflow oven, inspection microscope, and a variety of current technology soldering and de-soldering equipment.
A large range of test and measurement instruments needed for power electronics and machines research are available in the lab, including thirty LeCroy and Agilent digital oscilloscopes, sixty differential voltage probes, and a correspondingly high number of current probes.
Also installed is a 36 cu.ft. Envirotronics environmental chamber, which allows testing from –73C to +177 °C. Complementing this is a Flir real-time infrared temperature measurement camera system. The power distribution system, workstations, switchgear, test equipment, and wiring infrastructure of the laboratory is configured with a lab-wide busway allowing clutterless electrical interconnection between workstations. The bench facilities includes more than thirty maple surface movable workstations; flexible instrument shelving for each workstation; and flexible wiring channels surrounding each workstation. Power available in the lab includes: 480 V three-phase AC; 208 V four-wire three-phase AC; 230 V three-phase AC, and 230 V DC.
A medium voltage test rack in the University of Wisconsin lab