Dr. Athanasios G. Lazaropoulos of National Technical University of Athens & School of Pedagogical and Technological Education has proposed the techno-economic pedagogical (TEP) method for designing Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) networks in transmission and distribution power grids. TEP method demonstrated to undergraduate electrical and computer engineering (ECE) students the interaction between two apparently irrelevant fields of Microwave Engineering and Engineering Economics. (Trends in Renewable Energy, vol. 1, pp. 16-42, doi: 10.17737/tre.2015.1.1.002)
“Based on the case study of the deployment of overhead BPL networks across the overhead transmission, TEP method demonstrated its simplicity in understanding from ECE students without, however, losing its conceptual contact with the microwave engineering phenomena that characterize the propagation and transmission characteristics in overhead BPL networks,” said Lazaropoulos.
The main contribution of TEP method is that permits to ECE students to clearly and intuitively understand the impact of several factors such as the length of overhead HV/BPL networks, the imposed power constraints in order to comply with EMI regulations concerning BPL emissions and the noise conditions. Finally, the simplicity of TEP method allows its easy implementation in computers, the further experimentation by ECE students and the familiarization of ECE students with the fundamentals of engineering economics such as the trade-off relations among involved BPL system parameters. Contact: http://futureenergysp.com/index.php/tre/article/view/2/13.