New circuit simulation applets for online education in power electronics

This paper presents new online simulation applets based on Java technology. The applets are integrated into a series of student exercises which accompany the introductory and advanced lecture courses in power electronics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich. Furthermore, the new applets are available via the educational project iPES which is a free collection of Java applets for educational purposes. iPES has been translated into 12 languages and has currently more than 10,000 visits per month. The novel online simulation applets are easy to use and allow an unlimited simulation of converter topologies. The concept of embedding a circuit simulator in the form of a Java applet into a public accessible homepage allows the creation of power electronic and electrical engineering courses that are easy for students to access, highly flexible and require small administrative efforts for the lecturer. The paper will discuss the technical details of the online simulation project and will show how the integration of the online simulator significantly improves the educational value.