From Research to Didactics: the Course of Dynamics and Control of Fluid Machines for Automation Engineering Students

The paper deals with the course “Dynamics and Control of Fluid Machines”, which has been held at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Ferrara (Italy) since the academic year 2002/2003 for the Second-Level Degree Course in Computer Sciences and Automation Engineering. The aim of the course is the study of fluid machines, by combining base knowledge with physical-mathematical analysis of the unsteady behavior and of off-design operating conditions. The first characteristic aspect of the course is the study of the dynamic behavior of fluid machines. The second relevant aspect is the analysis of system control. In this paper, course characteristics are presented and discussed. In particular, as a part of the final examination, students are asked to develop an individual project, whose results are also reported in this paper. The project consists of the simulation of the dynamic behavior of an industrial system for compressed air production by means of a multistage centrifugal compressor. Students are required to properly design the controller and to discuss the adopted control logic. Student feedback is evaluated by means of a survey conducted to evaluate the quality of the didactic activity. The analysis of student feedback reveals that student evaluation towards the course proves higher than the “average” evaluation for the didactic activity held at the University of Ferrara, at the Faculty of Engineering or within the same Degree Course.