Control Systems Teaching Equipment

Learning about control system design and implementation using real equipment is the most challenging and also the most useful way in which to learn about control systems. Simulations never behave 100% like a real system and practical processes have features that can not be learnt in the textbooks. These notes take you through some of the most effective and best control system laboratory teaching equipment available, and tells you how to get more information and where you can get hold of them.

Servo Control Systems

One of the most widely used control systems is the electrical servomechanism in which the speed or position of a rotating load must be controlled. The Servo Trainer is the standard laboratory version of this problem. It is used to implement basic techniques like: velocity control, position control, and velocity feedback. It is ideal for teaching frequency domain design methods such as lead-lag compensation, state space methods and more advanced techniques such as nonlinear control and robust control. See the download section for some technical background.

Coupled Tanks System

A second standard control problem is the liquid flow control and level control. All practical process control systems have many flow and level control loops. The coupled tanks apparatus is a classic practical system for learning about these important topics, as well as the techniques of three term control, PID control, proportional control and integral control. The coupled tanks is available on a multivariable system for interacting system design. See the download section for some technical background.

Ball and Beam System

Understanding about unstable systems and stabilising controllers is vital to control practice. The standard system for this is the ball and beam system. This elegantly simple system is a beautiful demonstration of control system design using phase advance compensation, observer theory and state feedback. See the download section for some technical background.

Engine Speed Control

The control of engine speed with the flyball governer was an important landmark in control theory. The engine speed control system is a practical way to learn about engine regulation and the problems of valve position control using dither signals, nonlinear control, cascade control and multi-loop control. See the download section for some technical background.

Ball and Hoop System

The ball and hoop system uses the dynamics of a ball rolling inside a rotating hoop to demonstrate control of oscillatory systems. It can be used to understand the important topics of root locus design, pole assignment and the way in which poles and zeros influence systems dynamics. The system is a widely known example of a non-minimum phase systems in which both feedforward and feedback can be used for pole placement and zero placement. See the download section for some technical background.

Coupled Drives System

The Coupled Drives system is demonstration of control systems found in industrial material handling where the speed and tension in a sheet, wire or metal strip must be regulated. It is based on tape tension and speed control in tape drives and is a typical example of a multivariable system with two interacting systems as found in many practical situations. The system introduces control topics such as non-interacting controller design, phase lag control and multi-loop controllers. See the download section for some technical background.

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