In practice, students have a greater appreciation for a physical piece of hardware that operates in real-time in comparison with a simulated model that approximates the real-time output in the form of data and/or graphs. Arguably, students benefit more from observing, interacting with, and controlling a physical system as opposed to having a software package produce a simulated graphical output. In essence, laboratories are easier to understand through suitable visualization (Fabregasm et al., 2011). The instant observation of a change in a system’s response due to the user’s interaction really helps the student develop useful and practical insight into the underlying theory (Jara et al., 2011).
This paper presents a relatively inexpensive, laboratory-based hardware system for the purposes of illustrating the concept of control in an undergraduate engineering laboratory. The proposed system links a simple fan and a ball-in-a-tube hardware to the Matlab and Simulink software (engineering standard software packages for control) on a standard PC using the Arduino Nano micro-controller board as the interface. This results in an affordable experimental setup that is easily implemented and ideally suited to standard engineering hardware laboratories. Current solutions are relatively expensive and are unsuitable for the typical space available at individual student stations in a standard hardware laboratory.
This paper outlines, in detail, the combined software and hardware solution that allows the height of the ball within the tube to be controlled through Matlab and Simulink. An example laboratory that uses this system to demonstrate key control concepts, along with a video/demo of the working system will be presented on the day.
References:
Fabregasm, E., Farias, G., Dormido-Canto, S., Dormido, S., & Esquembre, F. (2011). Developing a remote laboratory for engineering education. Computers & Education, 57, 1686-1697.
Jara, C. A., Candelas, F. A., Puente, S. T. & Torres, F. (2011). Hands-on exdperience of undergraduate students in Automatics and Robotics using a virtual and remote laboratory. Computers & Education, 57, 2451-2461.
