Student use of harmonic analysis meters in an undergraduate power laboratory

Many undergraduate electrical engineering and electrical engineering technology courses require at least one course in electric machines/power. Laboratories for such courses often use older equipment, including analog voltage, current, and watt meters, that the students must wire up for each experiment. While some power laboratories have been updated to allow downloading of experimental data to computers for further analysis and incorporation into lab reports, the cost of such renovations can be very high and funds are often not available. In 1995, however, several companies introduced relatively low-cost power harmonic meters, some with the capability to import waveforms and measurements into a MS DOS or Windows environment. This paper describes our experiences using Fluke F41 power harmonics meters in our power lab. Results of a student survey are also included.