Introduction to Electric Machines and Drives

Introduction

Review: AC Systems and Three-Phase Circuits

• AC voltages and currents
• Effective or RMS values
• Complex numbers and phasor concepts
• Why three-phase?
• Harmonics
• Per-unit system

Review: Electromagnetics and Energy Conversion

• Magnetic fields, flux, and force
• Faraday’s Law of Induction
• Ferromagnetic materials
• Inductors and transformers
• The DC machine

Basics of AC Machines

• Elementary AC machines: air-gap MMF, flux, voltage waveforms
• Distributed stator windings
• Elementary rotor-stator coupling
• Three-phase operation

Induction Motors: Steady State

• Induction machine types: wound rotor, “squirrel cage” rotor
• Circuit models
• Concept of slip
• Torque-speed curves

Synchronous Machines: Steady State

• Synchronous machine types: wound rotor, permanent magnet
• Circuit models and vector diagrams
• Capability curves

Converter Power Electronics: Basic Theory, Devices

• Review of circuit fundamentals
• Basic converters
• Conversion stages
• Device characteristics and capabilities

AC Inverter Basics: VSI, CSI, Modulation

• Basic inverter system
• Voltage source inverter (VSI)
• Current source inverter (CSI)
• Modulation techniques
• Pulse width modulation (PWM)
• Practical considerations

Adjustable Speed Drives: Basics

• Basic adjustable speed drive systems
• Review: DC machine speed control
• Varying voltage
• Varying frequency
• Motor and drive selection

Adjustable Speed Drives: Volts/Hz Control

• Concepts of constant flux and torque
• Operation at constant torque or power
• Low speed operation
• Basic Volts-per-Hertz system
• Drive limitations

Adjustable Torque Drives: Basics

• Ideal adjustable torque systems
• Review: DC machine torque control
• Key elements of torque control
• Synchronous machine torque
• Induction machine torque-slip control

Induction Motor Field Orientation

• Review machine forces: Lorentz and reluctance
• Rotating vectors: stator and rotor currents
• Lorentz force control = vector control
• AC current regulation
• IM slip and torque production

Application-Specific Selection of Machine-and-Drive Systems

• Load types and characteristics
• Specific drives to suit application
• Practical issues of machine and drive selection
• PM versus IM
• Installation considerations

Application of Wide Bandgap Devices to Power Electronics

• Review of Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Gallium Nitride (GaN) devices
• DC-DC converter example using SiC
• 2-level VSI using SiC and GaN inverters

High-Speed Electric Machines

• Review of high speed electric machines
• Sizing equation and definition of tip speed
• Pros and cons of each machine for high speed
• High-speed machine design considerations

Registration Date/Time:
3/2/2026 8:00am Central Time

Event Dates/Times:

• 3/2/2026  8:30am - 3:30pm Central Time
• 3/3/2026  8:30am - 3:30pm Central Time
• 3/4/2026  8:30am - 3:30pm Central Time
• 3/5/2026  8:30am - 3:30pm Central Time

• Instructors

  Thomas Jahns

  Grainger Professor of Power Electronics And Electric Machines

  Dr. Thomas M. Jahns received his bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees from MIT, all in electrical engineering.

  Dr. Jahns joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1998 in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.  He served for 14 years as a Co-Director of the Wisconsin Electric Machines and Power Electronics Consortium (WEMPEC), a world-renowned university/industry consortium in the electrical power engineering field.  Since 2021, he is the Grainger Emeritus Professor of Power Electronics and Electrical Machines.

  Prior to coming to UW-Madison, Dr. Jahns worked at GE Corporate Research and Development (now GE Global Research) in Niskayuna, NY, for 15 years, where he pursued new power electronics and motor drive technology in a variety of research and management positions. His current research interests at UW-Madison include integrated motor drives and electrified propulsion for both land vehicles and aircraft.

  Dr. Jahns is a Fellow of IEEE.  He received the 2005 IEEE Nikola Tesla Technical Field Award “for pioneering contributions to the design and application of AC permanent magnet machines”.  Dr. Jahns is a Past President of the IEEE Power Electronics Society.  He was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering in 2015 and received the IEEE Medal in Power Engineering in 2022.

  Michael Ryan

  President

  Michael Ryan received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Connecticut, Storrs,1988, M.E. degree in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 1992, and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1997. At UW-Madison, Ryan worked in the WEMPEC labs on projects including dc–dc converters, variable-speed generation systems, and UPS inverter control.

  Ryan is President of Ryan Consulting, involved in the application of Power Electronics and Controls, particularly for Alternative Energy systems. He has held prior positions at Capstone Turbine, General Electric Corporate Research and Development and Defense Systems divisions, Automated Dynamics, Otis Elevator, and Hamilton Standard.
  

  Patrick Flannery

  Associate Teaching Professor

  Patrick Flannery received the B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from The Pennsylvania State University in 1998, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 2003 and 2008, respectively.  Patrick is presently an Associate Teaching Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at University of Wisconsin Madison. Previously he served as Director of Research Engineering with American Superconductor (AMSC) where he was technical lead of several product developments projects for military electronics, grid connected power electronics, wind generator control systems. 

  Caleb Secrest

  Global Sr. Manager, Controls Solutions & Calibration

  Caleb W. Secrest received a Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 2015. From 2011 to 2015, he was a Graduate Researcher at WEMPEC under Prof. R.D. Lorenz performing research on improving motor drive precision in order to utilize it as an embedded application specific sensor. From 2015 to 2019, he was a Sr. Motor Control Engineer at General Motors with focus on automotive traction application electric machines and power electronics (EMPE) control.  Currently, he is a Sr. Manager at BorgWarner Inc. where he leads a global team on the development and integration of EMPE systems and software for automotive traction applications.

  James Swanke

  Senior Motor Design Engineer

  James Swanke is an electrical machine designer with an extensive academic and professional background in electrical engineering. Graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.S. in 2014, a M.S. in 2019, and a PhD in 2023, James has developed a deep expertise in high-performance electrical machines. Prior to pursuing advanced degrees, he gained valuable experience working for Siemens specializing in the electromagnetic design of induction machines. During graduate studies, his research focused on the advancement of high-power density and fault-tolerant electrical machines for aerospace propulsion applications. Currently, James applies this extensive knowledge at H3X Technologies, where he continues to work on the development of cutting-edge permanent magnet machines.

• Program Director

  Erick Oberstar

This course is part of the Electrified Systems Certificate series. Course may be taken individually as well.

Fee covers morning and afternoon breaks, scheduled lunches, and course materials

10% discount per person for participants registered in the Electrified Systems certificate series. Promo code needed during registration.

Team Discount. Receive 10% off the registration fee per person when 3 or more individuals from the same organization enroll. Team affiliation will be confirmed as part of the registration process.

WEMPEC members receive $200 off the registration fee per person. Member affiliation will be verified.

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We reserve the right to cancel a course due to insufficient enrollment or unforeseen events. If we cancel a course, participants will be notified via email or phone and will be given the option for a full refund or to transfer their registration and any fees paid to another course. We are not responsible for non-refundable plane tickets, hotel reservations, and other travel related expenses. For enrollee Course Cancellation, refer to notes on course page.

If you cannot attend, please notify us no later than one week before your course begins, and we will refund your fee. Cancellations received after this date and no-shows are subject to a $150 administrative fee. You may enroll a substitute at any time before the course starts.