**E-Learning for Engineering, Medical Education and Biological Education**

82 E-Learning – Engineering, On-Job Training and Interactive Teaching

Zurita, L., & Ryberg, T. (2005). Towards a collaborative approach of introducing elearning in

Education. Stellenbosch, South Africa: University of Stellenbosch.

higher education institutions. How do university teachers conceive and react to transitions to e-learning, WCCE 2005 - 8th IFIP World Conference on Computers in

**6** 

*Slovakia* 

**E-Learning in Mechatronic Systems** 

Viliam Fedák, František Ďurovský and Peter Keusch

*Technical University of Košice* 

**Supported by Virtual Experimentation** 

Due to its origin, Mechatronics, consisting of symbiosis of Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering, presents a complex science. Synergistic effects in mechatronic systems and mutual interactions among subsystems of various nature cause considerable difficulties at their teaching and learning. There are plenty of mechatronic systems of various kind, size and complexity which the specialist has to deal at their design with – starting from miniature ones up to large industrial mechatronic systems presented e.g. by

In every system, regardless its nature, we are interesting in its performance and behavior – whether it is linear or non-linear, oscillating or non-oscillating, which are its time constants, time response, frequency response, placement of system poles and zeros in the plane, how to control the system, which control method to apply, and finally, how to realize control algorithm and its debugging. When designing control algorithms for a complex mechatronic system, students should know and verify behavior of individual subsystems, i.e. they should possess satisfactory knowledge from mechanical, electrical and control engineering. Like in other fields, also in mechatronic engineering education, the concepts taught through lectures should be completed by practical laboratory experimentation (Cheng & Chiu, 2010). Here the students observe phenomena that are rather difficult to explain by written material. The students are interested in experiments with real models. During experimentation they get practical experience, skills and also a self-confidence that are necessary to solve real problems. But experimentation on real industrial systems usually is out of question. A lot of effort was made in searching new methods – how to create enough space for students' better acknowledgement with the systems and how to train them for practical problems solutions. One way how to fully substitute a physical system consists in system dynamics emulation, as shown in (Potkonjak et al., 2010), but this method requires an ample equipment. Another way consists in sharing expensive equipment by more institutions and creating distance experiments. Well elaborated description of distance experimentation in power electronics is shown in (Bauer, 2008, 1) or a more general approach to a set of distance experiments in several fields of electrical engineering is presented in (Bauer, 2008, 2). Although such distance laboratory satisfies needs for training of students, its development is enough time-consuming and labor-intensive. It requires special equipment connected to internet, good organization of booking system, maintenance

**1. Introduction** 

continuous production lines.
