Course description

Title of the Teaching Unit

Electricity

Code of the Teaching Unit

13UST12

Academic year

2024 - 2025

Cycle

Number of credits

Number of hours

Quarter

Weighting

Site

Anjou

Teaching language

French

Teacher in charge

FRANCIS Laurent

Objectives and contribution to the program

The course covers the main principles of electricity as a branch of physics (electrostatics, electrokinetic and electromagnetism) and the analysis of the behaviour of electrical circuits in continuous, transient and alternating modes. Particular attention is paid to concrete application cases, relevant to the economic and/or technological development of society. A critical analysis in relation to the objectives of sustainable development is emphasized in order to stimulate the student's reflection.

The course aims to show the applicative aspects of theoretical concepts in simple cases and in particular to understand and quantify the generation, transmission, conversion and storage of electrical energy, including renewable and non-renewable sources. The course should enable the business engineer to use their understanding of electricity and electrical circuits in real-life situations.

The learning goals and learning objectives of the course are described below.

1. To have acquired the general disciplinary knowledge and tools necessary for the commercial engineering profession
At the end of the course, the student is :
- The student will be able to reconstruct knowledge and recontextualise it in a given situation.

General concepts of electricity and its applications are described during lectures and through case studies. A continuous evaluation of these is done through the presentation and the report of the case studies and through an individual written exam where the students are asked to restitute contents synthesizing the knowledge of the course and to apply calculation methods for given situations. A critical analysis of the stated solutions with regard to the objectives of sustainable development is part of the content and evaluation.

1. To have acquired the general disciplinary knowledge and tools necessary for the commercial engineering profession
At the end of the course the student is :
- able to use the appropriate tools to carry out a defined project.

The course includes case studies which are worked on in group or individual sessions, depending on the case. These cases allow the student to understand the different aspects of the use of electricity for the economic and/or technological development of society. Continuous assessment is done through evaluation of case study reports, active participation in class presentations of the cases, as well as an individual open-book written examination requiring students to understand the fundamental concepts and apply the appropriate tools for a complete analysis of likely situations.

SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE OBJECTIVES

- Describe the operation of basic electrical components (resistance, capacitance and inductance) and relate this operation to the underlying physical principles (electric field, magnetic field, properties of matter).
- Understand the modelling of these components and of sources of electricity.
- Understand and detail the concepts of storage and dissipation of electrical energy.
- Explain the operation in different regimes (continuous, transient, oscillating and alternating) of simple electrical circuits using basic electrical components and sources.
- Understand the concepts relevant to the analysis of circuits operating in the different regimes.
- Explain the concepts of power transfer between generators and receivers in the DC and AC regimes, and on transmission lines in the AC regime.
- Recognise practical applications of electricity in everyday life and in industry.
- Explain the main sustainable development issues related to the use of electrical energy, such as environmental, social and economic impacts.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES IN TERMS OF KNOW-HOW

- To handle the notions of current, voltage, power and energy.
- Calculate the DC electrical characteristics of simple electrical circuits containing resistors and voltage sources.
- Demonstrate, explain and apply the different techniques for solving circuits.
- Recognise and explain the differential equations associated with transient and oscillating conditions.
- Apply the concept of impedance and similar expressions to determine the values of current and voltage in circuits subjected to the sinusoidal alternating regime.
- Calculate the electrical energy stored in simple circuits/structures.
- Calculate the power exchanged between electrical generators and receivers in different situations.
- Describe the technologies related to the generation, transmission, conversion and storage of electrical energy, including renewable and non-renewable sources.
- Analyse the environmental impacts related to the use of electricity.

Prerequisites and corequisites

The Mathematics course and in particular the notions of vectors, vector analysis, differential equations and complex analysis are prerequisites for the course. In addition, students are expected to master the general notions and concepts of the Physics course such as energy, power and work.

Content

The course programme is spread over 12 weeks in three main modules. A typical module includes a general introduction of relevant concepts, group and session work, presentation of results in class, and restructuring around the topics covered.

Module 1 - Introduction to Electrical Engineering: this module will provide an overview of the field of physical electrical engineering, including the fundamental principles of electricity and magnetism. Topics covered will include electric fields, potentials, currents and circuit analysis.

Module 2 - Electromagnetism: this module covers the principles of electromagnetism, including electromagnetic fields, electromagnetic waves and Maxwell's equations. Students will learn about the behaviour of electromagnetic waves in different media, and the use of electromagnetic waves in various applications.

Module 3 - Power and Control Systems: this module will cover the principles of power and control systems, including the behaviour of power systems under different conditions, and the use of control systems in various applications, based on renewable and non-renewable energy sources.

Teaching methods

The course promotes active learning, group work and the ability to develop both technical and critical skills.

Group work allows students to tackle complex case studies and find realistic solutions to them while addressing the essential concepts of the course's content.

Assessment method

Continuous assessment is based on a group mark for the presentation in front of the whole class and a written report of a group work for one of the three modules. The pedagogical quality of the presentation and the answers to questions in the presentation session are assessed, as well as the quality and quantity of the written report.

A written, individual, in presence examination takes place during the examination session in an open book format (all personal notes allowed). This examination contains a multiple choice or short answer questions, as well as one or more open questions, allowing for a synthesis of the material.

During this evaluation, the following will be assessed
- the choice and the juxtaposition of the method of resolution (when this is not imposed) ;
- the clarity of the structure of the development of the solution
- and the ability to explain key concepts both transversally (breadth of understanding) and vertically (depth of knowledge).

The group mark is retained from session to session, but in the event of failure of the continuous part of the assessment, students of the group will be asked to provide further work for the next examination session.

A lack of individual efforts may result in a differentiated individual mark for the group activity.

If the individual examination part is failed, it will absorb the student's overall mark until the next examination session.

Marks for group work are valid only for the academic year in which the work is presented.

References

Livres de référence
- H.D. Young & R.A. Freedman, University Physics with Modern Physics (14th ed.), Pearson, 2014
- Michael F. Ashby, Materials and the Environment Second Edition, Elsevier, 2016. ISBN: 978-0-08-100176-9, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100176-9.01001-X

Autres livres
- Floyd, Fondements d’électronique: Circuits c.c. Circuits c.a. Composants et applications, Reynald Goulet, 2006
- BENSON Harris, Physique. Tome 2 Electricité et Magnétisme, De Boeck, 2005
- Serway & Beichner, Physics for scientists and engineers, Brooks/Cole, 1999
- Charles K. ALEXANDER, Matthew N.O. SADIKU, Marius DANCILA, Dragos DANCILA, Analyse des circuits électriques, De Boeck, 2012