Bond graph-based teaching method to enhance the synergy of mechatronics in Lab VIEW

Mechatronics is a hard interdisciplinary subject, which requires a tight synergy of mechanical and electrical knowledge. This paper presents a novel modular approach to teaching mechatronics subjects using the bond graph in LabVIEW. LabVIEW can provide an industrial environment that connects graphical and analytical aspects. The background of the mechatronics students is divided into two directions: mechanical and electrical. During the research, these two directions share a common part, which is the bond graph. The bond graph is a novel hybrid method to connect the mechanical and electrical parts. The bond graph is an efficient technology to teach mechatronics subjects, and it is easy to understand for the students. A modularity teaching method has been developed for undergraduate and master's students at the engineering faculty, University of Debrecen. For the undergraduates, the focus is on the fundamental models, with the goal dedicated to applied technology and linear system. For the master's stage, students will learn more complex controller systems because of the modular learning strategy that adds some modules to the basic models. A DC motor is modeled for the demonstration in the paper under the Lab View programming environment.