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The paper presents the results of a study, conducted in January 2021, that aimed to evaluate progress in training and developing skills and abilities in technical education and to identify the constraints that persist in this important sector of education. Eighteen students enrolled in master’s studies in the study program Power Quality and Electromagnetic Compatibility in Electrical Systems (CECESE) and Energy Systems (SEI), from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Craiova have participated in the study. They answered a questionnaire with open and closed questions. The main objective of this study was to find out the opinion of the graduates of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering from Craiova from the study program Electrical and Computer Engineering and Power Systems Engineering, about the importance and efficiency of some of the studied disciplines and whether these disciplines had a strong impact on acquiring and improving technical skills, necessary in the activity of electrical engineer. The main findings of the study refer to the methodologies and practices for assessing the level of training and skills development, the receptivity of the educational system to the changes that occur in modern education. The main recommendations of the study concern the curriculum development.

The paper analyzes results related to the didactic activity carried out for more than 30 years, but for the two centuries of interpenetration, where technological changes have put more challenges to education than ever before. It presents both institutional and individual ways of communication, relationship and relationship with students in order to obtain a quality education. A case study, based on the answers of students from different education cycles to a questionnaire written by the authors, completes the analysis. The study presents selective aspects of a wider analysis of electrical engineering, conducted in 2018, by the Association for Education in Electrical Engineering.

The paper aims at presenting some studies regarding the determination of the variation of some functional parameters in disk braking, in the conditions of the torque and speed changes, corresponding to the braking of the vehicles on dry road. The experimental determination of the braking process parameters is made by measuring them on an experimental stand and analyzing the interdependencies between them. The speed, braking torque and temperatures inside the brake pads are measured, recorded and analyzed with specific sensors.

The paper aims the presentation of studies on the use of different variants of cooling systems for the production of electrical energy by Seebeck effect with TEG cells. There are presented a number of 4 variants of electricity production systems with TEG elements, in simple circuit or placed in series where the cooling systems are either with fan operated or with liquid type glycol. There are determined experimentally the variations and the evolution in time of the process parameters, the temperatures and the electrical voltage produced in the conditions of the use of real-time command s and control systems.

Recycling and reusing materials for the development of new products has been an important subject for several years now, receiving the attention of the scientific community. Finding new processing methods and ways to improve the properties of the final materials is one trending subject. The paper analyses the morphological and structural characteristics of recovered silicone rubber from the envelope of used composite electrical insulators obtained using two different technological approaches. The samples obtained by injection and extrusion processes and then subjected to a vulcanization step, have been analyzed by means of Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in order to emphasize the character of the internal structure of the resulting materials. Our investigations show that the character of the samples obtained using the injection process is discontinuous, large cavities forming between the recovered rubber and the binder. However, the samples obtained by extrusion method have proved a uniform micro structural aspect, the internalizing of the recovered rubber granolas into the matrix being much higher. The conclusion shows that extrusion method is a better processing alternative for recovered silicone rubber from the envelope of used composite electrical insulators comparing to injection method, considering the micro structural characteristic of the resulting materials.

Promotion of renewable energy sources (RES) utilization within the small hydropower plants (SHP) development must be done according to the RES-E Directive 28/2009/EC and taking into account the Water Framework Directive 60/2000/EC requirements for the environmental objectives achievement (ecological flow). The paper presents the hydropower potential assessment of the Sercaia River performed with the VAPIDRO-ASTE and SMART Mini-Idro software in order to identify the best location for small hydropower plants. The main results consist in finding the recommended installed capacity, the expected mean annual electricity production corresponding to the operation time of a small hydropower plant and the identification of an optimized hydropower scheme with 3 simulated small hydropower plant facilities.

Optimum operation of cooling water systems means minimum use of water while maintaining proper temperatures to limit algae growth and cool all equipment properly. Combined application of inverters and cooling water pumps brings us not only good energy-saving benefits but some new problems, such as inverters configuration and overload etc. The objective of this paper is to find a suitable solution by designing the intelligent controller for frequency controlling of cooling Water system, such as fuzzy logic and to investigate the controllability of this model under various changes of static head system. Based on the mathmatical model of puming systems with or without static head, the paper discusses some issues in detail, such as pressure and flow rate regulation. In fuzzy logic control, Mamdani model is used to control the system. The suggested system uses the concept of fuzzy logic system where the fuzzy rule base consists of a collection of fuzzy IF-THEN rules. The fuzzy inference engine uses these fuzzy IF-THEN rules to determine a mapping from fuzzy sets in the input universe of discourse to fuzzy sets in the output universe of discourse based on fuzzy logic principles. The fuzzy model can be successfully used for the variable speed control of hydraulic systems, when the Affinity Lows not observe exactly.

The energy is used in a building in different form: thermal energy for heating and hot water consumption, electricity for lighting and to supply electromechanical installations. Regardless of destination, buildings require a certain amount of energy. This article presents a calculation of heat consumption related to civil buildings (houses) through the financial impact that it has on economic and financial efficiency to provide the level of comfort in buildings.

This paper presents a study on parallel coupling operation of multiple pumps. It is known that it is always better to couple pumps with identical characteristics, although practical situations are never ideal, therefore we have taken into consideration the situation where we have available just pumps with different characteristics. A mathematical model has been realized and a Matlab simulation scheme was attached to it. The results were compared with experimental values from the industrial sector. The comparison showed that the model can be successfully used for the parallel coupling analysis of other pumps with identical or different characteristics.

Pre-insulated pipes have reduced heat losses, compared to those that are insulated on the field by using different materials, such as mineral wool. The advantages are offered mainly by the polyurethane foam, which has low thermal conductivity rates. This material is not the only source of energy savings. Companies keep trying to develop more and more energy efficient solutions, by innovative production methods. This paper presents technical and economical comparative information on pre-insulated pipes realized in the traditional way (discontinuous production method) and a new method based on continuous foaming, which is used in production of “Conti” pipes. Analysis of heat losses is made for a real dimensioned district heating network in two cases: case study 1 that focuses on pipes produced through the discontinuous method and case study 2 that focuses on pipes produced through the continuous method. According to LOGSTOR experiments, the ageing process increases the thermal conductivity rates of traditional pre-insulated pipes, while “Conti” pipes maintain the initial rates during the entire lifetime. Results underline that in the studied situation, heat losses are reduced by 20.9% when “Conti” pipes are used instead of traditional pre-insulated pipes. Concluding, investments in “Conti” pipes have less than 10 years payback period, which fully recommends the new production method.

Fuzzy logic is a convenient method for expressing vague categories of information and provides the tools for performing logic operations with these information by using of fuzzy sets. In this work, the fuzzy system was developed for analyzing fatigue aspects of the laminated composites used in manufacturing of insulating components of the new generation electrical equipments. Using experimental data as model validation, a fuzzy model was developed for a glass tissue laminated composite. Compare with other methodologies, more information is found in this kind of results, having also a relatively wide applicability.

The actual state and operation of the Romanian power system ask for a certain expertise in detecting the causes of electromagnetic perturbations and their evaluation in power grids. Consequently, all the aspects regarding the power quality issues became a common characteristic of the power systems' curricula within Romanian power engineering faculties. The students attending these classes are involved in computer-based laboratory works. This paper describes the authors' contribution regarding the development of an integrated software package for power quality analysis at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Craiova. This software structure is built on a link between professional specialized software packages and software subroutines conceived by the authors. The parameters related to voltage/current harmonics can be analyzed using MATLAB subroutines and EDSA package - Electrical Power System Design Software. The results can be visualized as different types of reports. They can be further exported to EDSA program or/and MATLAB subroutine in order to size the harmonic filters and evaluate their effect on power quality in the analyzed power grids. EDSA programs package, as well as the subroutines developed in MATLAB environment are traditional tools used by the students attending the Power Quality classes within the Faculty of Electrical Engineering.

The autonomous guided robots are one of the greatest challenges for the robotics industry, having a considerable impact for current research and future applications. Despite the level of existing technology, at least for now, all the efforts were driven towards other robotic fields and due to this fact, the progress for this zone is not very spectacular. Unlike fixed robots (used in the industrial sphere), the limited amount of resources available for the mobile robot requires a different approach. This paper presents a complete platform that will assure the real-time control and monitoring process for a mobile robot (explorer). The user-robot interaction should be possible for any given location, via the internet. In addition to the teleoperated mode, the solution will also provide a certain level of autonomy for the robot, based on the embedded navigation algorithms.

Every product has to respond to certain needs with the relative special requests. Both needs and requirements are expressed specifically by customers or users. People with special needs represent a continuously growing part of the population of modern world. Products that satisfy the special needs and requirements of these new market niche so that they can be used by a wide range of people as possible, represent a great challenge for product designers. In the present paper authors propose a structured approach for the conception and development of such products, using instruments and techniques of quality management and engineering. A case study is made on a home appliance, precisely on an automated washing machine.

In this paper, the authors present a complex calculation algorithm for dimensioning the earthing installation of a substation. There are also presented the own conception calculation program developed in the Visual Basic programming environment, and a comparative analysis of the results got within a case study, after running the program for two variants of fitting out a substation.

Reverse engineering is a widespread concept used in industrial applications worldwide. It involves obtaining the geometric CAD model from 3D point clouds acquired by scanning existing parts or products. Applying the concept in medical applications requires specialized competences both in the field of health and medicine as well as in CAE (Computer Aided Engineering). Most uses of reverse engineering in medicine have been focused on developing applications around in vitro and in vivo case studies. This paper presents an algorithm for implementing the reverse engineering concept for applications in the medical field. The steps required for developing reverse engineering applications in the medical field are presented alongside case studies conducted by the authors. The studies are focused on showcasing various applications as well as other possible developments in the field of health and medicine regarding in vitro applications.

Constrained by their companies' budget limits, the Romanian industry recruiters are oriented to graduates with high-tech systems management knowledge, and who are also trained to make both technical and business decisions. These new employers' requirements assume an extended list of graduates' competences: project management potential, ability for teamwork, and of great importance interpersonal skills. This paper describes the features and efficiency of certain instruments and methods that the University of Craiova applies to adjust its engineering curricula to the regional industry requirements. The engineering faculties within University of Craiova included in their curricula the Professional Communication Techniques Course. The faculties' staffs investigated this topic's utility in developing the students' communication skills, its applicability area and the correlation with industry recruiter's requirement. The investigation results motivated the decision of the University board for keeping the Professional Communication Techniques as a compulsory topic in engineering curricula.

This paper is proposing an original model for developing design of the electronic courses, which includes all cyclepsilas phases of the course: designing, accomplishing, delivering and evaluating.