**1. Introduction**

An electrical machine is a complex device being multidomain by nature, involving electro‐ magnetic, mechanical, and thermal phenomena. Thus, the subject of electrical machines is highly multidisciplinary and holds a significant position in engineering education. The knowledge obtained in the electrical machines subject presents a starting point in the whole

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series of subjects like electrical drives, controlled drives, motion control, control of robots, control of mechatronic systems (industrial lines), etc.

This is why the subject Electrical Machines requires a solid understanding of energy conversion and a good knowledge of physics and physical thinking, supported by mathematical back‐ ground. Here a student learns the principles of motion and the operation of various types of electrical machines in order to evaluate the influence of various changeable parameters on the performance of the machine. The contribution describes one of possibilities how to improve training methods from the subject of electrical machines.

The main objective of practical training from the subject Electrical Machines is to verify theoretical knowledge from the lectures. It is required that the students should have a good knowledge about the machine construction and its behavior before they enter the laboratory to measure to investigate the machine. There they learn how to understand deeper the substance of the measured machines, to avoid any damage of equipment, and to maintain safety of the work. Classical lectures and printed materials cannot offer students enough possibility to prepare themselves satisfactory for the labs. They give theoretical explanation, but the deep understanding of the machine behavior can be grasped through hands-on experimentation. Also, the time and the space available within courses on electrical machines are not elastic for the verification of various modes and for checking the influence of changeable parameters of a machine on its performance and characteristics.

Various animation models used for the explanation of the phenomena usually do not offer the required variety of a virtual experimentation to get information about the real data of the machine. By contrast, various simulation models offer a possibility to verify the machine performance, but a problem arises here-the learner should master a simulation program. Moreover, a possibility of obtaining false results is very high, not speaking about any userfriendly changing parameters of the machine and other optional parameters to change machine dynamics.

Like pointed out by Dongmei et al in [1], the verification of static and dynamic properties of electrical machines by the application of virtual models, where the mathematical and simula‐ tion models are hidden and working in the background, is becoming a key element of modern electrical engineering school. The readiness of the application of virtual dynamical models of electrical machines and drive systems for their analyzing is not disputable (not speaking about cost and time saving). Nice application of using simulation techniques applied to the learning of Electrical Machines is shown in Djeghloud et al in [2]. An example of simulation of a synchronous generator based on it a remote access to the electrical machines remote lab has been published by Martis et al in [3].

MATLAB GUI (graphical user interface) in connection with the Simulink program (and also with some special toolboxes like SimPowerSystems, SymbolicMath toolbox and Control toolbox) presents an extremely suitable tool for the development of purpose-oriented virtual model of any dynamical system. Easy and comfortable change of parameters by control elements, such as push and radio buttons, text boxes, and visualization of results, enables the operation of virtual models either without any deep knowledge of their substance or without any complex programming and debugging of the models.

The proposed chapter presents an extension of the knowledge presented in a series publica‐ tions by Fedak et al. [5-7] and a continuation of the development of the teaching aids by the application of the virtual models to more specialized topics not described there – a single-phase machine and a stepper machine, including their supply and modes of the operation. This chapter is more-or-less technically oriented and presents a practical guide for the development of a whole series of virtual models of electrical machines to be utilized in the teaching process.

This chapter is organized as follows: for each motor, it starts with its brief description and some peculiarities of motor starting, followed by mathematical and simulation models, and contin‐ ued by a series of graphs from the simulation to document the behavior and correctness of the model. The simulation model creates a core of the virtual model. The screen of the virtual model was carefully designed from a pedagogical point of view, having in mind easy operation and well arrangement of input (sliders, buttons, and text boxes) and output elements (graphs). Finally, the experience of using the virtual models in teaching several subjects is described, and an evaluation of questionnaires is presented.
