The creation of the department is the result of the origin and development of Higher Electrotechnical Education at the Kharkov Institute of Technology, opened in 1885, the first higher technical educational institution in Ukraine at that time.
The first courses on the theory of electricity and the theory of dynamoelectric machines were taught by prof. A.P. Pogorelko and prof. N.P. Klobukov, the founder of electrochemistry.
Since 1898, under the leadership of Professor P.P. Kopnyaev began diploma design and graduation of the first 5 electrical engineers, who laid the foundations of the electrical engineering school not only at NTU “KhPI”, but also in Ukraine.
Pavel Petrovich Kopnyaev had two higher educations: in the field of mechanics, received at the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, and electrical engineering, at the University of Darmstadt (Germany). His merits in the development of electrical engineering science in Ukraine are exceptionally great.
In 1904, he published the fundamental work “Direct Current Electrical Machines” (478 pages, 382 figures), which over the next 3 decades was the main textbook for the training of electrical and mechanical engineers in the country. Already at that time P.P. Kopnyaev reads, having published them in lithographic form, lecture courses in electrical engineering on the theory of electricity and magnetism, electrical machines, electrical installations, electrical measurements, high voltage technology, calculation of electrical networks, etc. He attracted outstanding professors A.A. Potebnya and V. to KhTI. M. Khrushchev, the founder of the current Institute of Electrodynamics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, initiated the creation of the Institute of Metrology. P.P. Kopnyaev is the author of the derivation of general equations for electric motors, analytical methods for calculating the magnetic field in a gap, methods for calculating electric traction, proposals for the creation of an absolute system of units, and pioneering works on electrical modeling.
Anticipating the era of electrification, he prepared a project for the creation of an electrical engineering faculty at KhTI and applied for its opening to higher authorities in 1903, 1907, 1912, 1914 and, finally, as rector, in 1921 he achieved the opening and became its dean . Until 1921, the training of electrical engineers was carried out at the Faculty of Mechanics, the dean of which, until he was elected rector in 1919, was P.P. Kopnyaev.
P.P. Kopnyaev was the founder in 1930, the year the Kharkov Electrotechnical Institute (KHETI), as well as a number of other electrical engineering departments, was separated from our department. At the time of its creation it had the name “Department of Electrical Equipment”, until 1992 – “Department of Electrification of Industrial Enterprises”.
In 1967, on the anniversary of the 100th anniversary of the birth of P.P. Kopnyaeva, a prominent Ukrainian electrical engineer prof. Gubenko T.P. wrote: “Vin (P.P. Kopnyaev) can effectively be considered the creator of the electrical engineering school in Ukraine.”
Largely thanks to the beginning and steady increase in the production of electrical engineers in Kharkov, our city has become the center of the country’s electrical industry.
The first head of the department was Boris Osipovich Kremen, who worked as the head of the department of the State Electrical Engineering Trust. Practical work attracted him more, so he agreed to head the department only temporarily.
The next head of the department, who had a multifaceted influence on its development, became Tikhon Pavlovich Gubenko. In 1927, he graduated from the Kiev Polytechnic Institute and was left there to work. While still a student, in 1924, during an internship at KhEMZ, he met with P.P. Kopnyaev, then came to him in Kharkov to consult on issues related to the extension to the main building of the KPI and equipping electrical laboratories and left him with a very good impression as a specialist and person.
In 1930 T.P. Gubenko was unjustly arrested on charges of “bourgeois nationalism”, and after his release he was deprived of the opportunity to work in his previous place. In 1931, he moved to Kharkov (at that time the capital of Ukraine), went to work at Elektrotrest and at the same time worked as a teacher in our department. From 1932 to 1938 Gubenko is the head of the department. In this position, he played a major role in organizing the educational, methodological and scientific activities of the department. During these years, educational laboratories were intensively equipped with electrical equipment, new laboratory work and training courses were launched. In 1932, the construction of the electrical building was completed, and the department moved to new premises, where it is still located.
Characteristic of the work of the department was the close connection between educational activities and practical ones. T.P. Gubenko and working teachers of the department: N.V. Kopytov, R.L. Aronov, Yu.M. Feinberg, M.R. Nikolaychuk, V.I. Ilyinsky, provided consulting assistance, supervised the design and commissioning of electrical equipment, automation systems for rolling and blast furnace shops of the Zaporozhye, Krivoy Rog, Novomoskovsk metallurgical plants, as well as the largest metallurgical plant in Europe “Azovstal”, Voroshilovgrad locomotive building, Kharkov turbine and many other important industrial facilities of the first times five-year plan.
Scientific credo of T.P. Gubenko: “Always in any scientific and technical problem one must strive to provide a new and simple solution that could find application in practical engineering activities.”
Hereinafter T.P. Gubenko worked as head of the department at the Tashkent (1938-1947) and then at the Lvov (1947-1971) polytechnic institutes. He trained 7 doctors and 28 candidates of technical sciences.
In the period from 1938 to 1950, the head of the department was the student P.P. Kopnyaeva prof. Aronov Rafail Lvovich, who graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Kharkov University in 1919, and from the Electrical Engineering Faculty of our Institute in 1924.
In addition to the academic background of R.L. Aronov had extensive practical experience. At KhEMZ, he headed the design and construction of the central plant laboratory, the adjustment of all types of electrical equipment produced by the plant, including the first domestic blooming and automatic blast furnace loading system, while simultaneously combining this with teaching activities.
During this period, there is a further intensification of the scientific and methodological activities of the department.
In 1934 R.L. Aronov published the book “Electrical Equipment of Industrial Drives”, and in 1935 – “Automatic Control of Electric Drives” – the only textbook on this discipline. In 1938 he defended his doctoral dissertation and supervised graduate students. Candidate’s theses are defended by V.A. Klemin-Sharonov, Yu.M. Fainberg, A.L. Gorelik. V.P. Stakhov. With G. Agronik, who later became the leading teachers of the department.
During the Great Patriotic War, KHETI did not function, many teachers and students fought at the front, and some were evacuated by KhEMZ trains to different cities of the Urals, Volga region, Siberia and Central Asia and worked at enterprises in Stalingrad, Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, Kemerovo, Prokopyevsk, Cheboksary, Ufa. KHETI teachers and graduates had a great influence on the formation of large electrical engineering centers in these cities.
The role of KhETI graduates was also great in the creation in Moscow (1942) by decision of the Government of the trust, which later became the VNIIelektroprivod institute, the country’s leading institution for electric drives. According to its director M.I. Yunkova: “The intellectual core of the trust’s design and engineering bureau were KhEMZ specialists who have extensive experience in the creation and production of electric drives”, among whom there were many graduates of the department.
KhETI resumed its activities in September 1943 after the liberation of Kharkov. The premises of the department were destroyed, the equipment was missing. Staff and faculty are participating in the restoration of the electrical building, classrooms and laboratories. War veterans return to the department: V.A. Klemin-Sharonov, O.A. Mayevsky, V.G. Gulyakin, S. G. Agronik, V.P. Stakhov, A.L. Gorelik, Yu.A. Rozanov, A.L. Notov, V.N. Gubernatorova.
In 1950, Associate Professor Viktor Aleksandrovich Klemin-Sharonov became the head of the department. A.B. enters graduate school. Zelenov is now a Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor of Donbass Technical University, A.D. Pozdeev – later Doctor of Technical Sciences, director of VNIIR and head. Department of Chuvash University, A.I. Tupitsin – later deputy. Director for Scientific Work of the Kharkov Institute of Automation. In 1955, WWII participant V.T. Dolbnya entered graduate school, who defended his Ph.D. thesis in 1959. Come to the department I.P. Arkhiereev and O.P. Kotlyarov.
The material base of the department is being restored and improved, laboratories are equipped with equipment that was relevant for that period: electric machine and magnetic amplifiers, relay contactor panels, electric motors of various types. Many students of that time were characterized by a thirst for knowledge and a desire for science, which was facilitated by the country’s successes in space, aviation, nuclear physics, mechanical engineering, and automation. Led by O.A. Mayevsky and V.T. In Dolbney, a team was born that dealt with the problems of industrial electronics and the use of electronic devices to control electric drives, which led to the creation in 1963 of the Department of Industrial Electronics.
In the 60-70s, semiconductor devices and control devices based on them began to be widely used in electric drives. During this period, scientific work was carried out on the creation of modern electric drives for cranes (V.A. Klemin-Sharonov, V.G. Alekseev, V.N. Tishchenko), automation of coal preparation machines (Associate Professor K.P. Vlasov, V.N. Fateev .), study of the dynamics of electric drives with elastic connections (Associate Professor Zemlyakov V.D., Zadorozhny N.A.). In 1966, a computer center was created on the basis of the Nairi-S computer, which made it possible to significantly intensify research activities.
V.A. Klemin-Sharonov considered it extremely important for an engineer and teacher to have good practical training. The completion of laboratory work, as a rule, was preceded by the assembly of a circuit, the defense of a diploma project – an internship at a factory or research institute, work as a teacher – an internship in a design, commissioning organization or in production. This contributed to the successful work of graduates after graduation and increased the authority of the department.
From 1976 to the present, the head of the department has been Vladimir Borisovich Klepikov, who graduated from the department in 1961, and at the time of his election he was an associate professor of the Department of Industrial Electronics.
Thanks to the help of department graduates: M.I. Zhuchkov, Deputy Minister of Electrical Industry of the USSR and V.A. Degavtsov, chief power engineer of the “Serp i Molot” plant in 1979-80. extensive modernization of laboratories is being carried out. The first laboratory work with program control of an electric motor is being created using the Electronics-DZ-228 computer. The strengthening of the staff was facilitated by the transfer of associate professors L.V. from UZPI. Akimova and N.V. Bogdanova, from the Department of Industrial Electronics – Yu.N. Kutovogo. Graduates V.N. were retained to work at the department. Shamardina. N.V. Anishchenko, A.V. Osichev, came from production with extensive experience in installation and adjustment of automated industrial electric drives, V.P. Voinov and S.I. Alekhine, who later became associate professors of the department.
Defense of doctoral dissertations by K.P. Vlasov (1980 – at the Dnepropetrovsk Mining Institute), L.V. Akimov and V.B. Klepikov (1989 – at the Moscow Energy Institute), return to the department, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Prof. Dolbny V.T. strengthen the scientific authority of the department and give new impetus to the development of scientific work. New scientific directions are being created at the department: “Dynamics of electromechanical systems with negative viscous friction”, “Topological methods of analysis and synthesis of electromechanical and electrical systems”, “Synthesis of electromechanical systems with state observers”. Attracting Ph.D. to work at the department. S.A. Sergeev and K.V. Mahotilo made it possible to create a new direction in the use of neural network methods and genetic algorithms to control electromechanical systems.
In 1992, a specialized council for the defense of candidate’s theses was created at the department, and in 1997 – doctoral dissertations.
Computerization of control, analysis, synthesis and design of electromechanical systems, new types of semiconductor devices and devices, new intelligent control principles based on fuzzy systems and neural networks, starting from the 90s, make changes to the content and equipment of the educational process. A computer computing center is being created, the study of programming languages is being strengthened, and end-to-end (from the 1st year to the defense of the diploma) computer training for students is being introduced. R.T. comes to the department. Gerasimenko with extensive work experience acquired at the computer department and at the institute for advanced training of certified specialists.
Courses on microprocessor systems are being introduced (Associate Professor A.V. Osichev) and a microprocessor laboratory is being created, for which SIEMENS and MOTOROLA donated laboratory equipment.
The course “Mathematical foundations of the theory of automatic control” (Prof. Dolbnya V.T.) includes materials on the application of topological methods in electromechanics and electrical engineering, the course “Automatic control of electric drives” (Prof. Akimov L.V.) – materials on synthesis methods electric drives with observers, in the course “Electric Drive Theory” (Prof. Klepikov V.B.) – materials on the use of fuzzy logic methods, neural networks and genetic algorithms for controlling electromechanical systems.
The department carries out a lot of work in the field of educational, methodological, scientific and technical activities and international cooperation.
Since 1993, the department has been holding a conference “Problems of automated electric drives. Theory and practice”, in which scientists and specialists from 25 countries of the world took part, 52 conference participants became doctors and more than 150 candidates of technical sciences.
Evidence of the authority of the department is the election of the head of the department, Professor V.B. Klepikov. President of the Ukrainian Association of Electrical Engineers, his appointment as Chairman of the subcommittee of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine in the field of “Electromechanics”, as well as the awarding of the title “Honored Worker of Science and Technology of Ukraine”.