Location NLG102A
Academic Staff in charge Dr. Wan Feng
Technician Cheang Sek Un, Joe
Telephone (853) 8397-4284
Objective
The Control and Automation Laboratory has been built up for the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Program and Electromechanical Engineering Program. It can provide the experiments for the course related with Control System. The experiments are designed to give an in-depth study on basic principles of control system, digital system control, computer control and fuzzy logic control.
Facilities
1. Control System Simulator
This equipment is designed for teaching Automatic Control Theory. All typical elements and analog experiments of control system can be stimulated on this device. The dynamic performance of linear systems and characteristics of some typical nonlinear systems can be analyzed. By doing experiments, students can be led to use control theory in actual problems and their basic research ability can be reinforced.
2. Thermal Process Control
There are two instruments in the experiment: CE120 Controller and CE103 Thermal Process Control Apparatus. The CE103 relates specifically to heat and heat transfer control problems as they would typically occur in process control industries. It combines with the CE120 Controller to provide a practical introduction to the design, operation and application of thermal control system.
3. Servo Control System
There are two instruments in the experiment:CE120 Controller and CE110 Servo trainer. The CE110 Servo Trainer relates specifically to velocity control and angular position control problems. Furthermore, a special feature of the CE110 is the inclusion of a set of typical non-linear elements that are associated with servo-control. These non-linear properties are under the complete control of the user and may be set up to demonstrate a wide range of practical non-linear phenomena. It combines with the CE120 Controller to provide a practical introduction to the design, operation and application of servo control system.
4. Industrial Control Trainer
The system has been designed to realistically represent a component sorting, assembly and inspection process that can be controlled from virtually any PLC that is commonly available. A unique, built-in interface also allows the unit to be easily interfaced to a Microcomputer. It means that the system can be controlled by PLC and Microcomputer. In principle, the unit is designed to sort an aluminum ‘peg?from a plastic ring then assemble these two components and check for correct assembly.
5. Programmable Logic Control Trainer
The CE111 PLC Process is a bench mounting modular instrument comprised of a reservoir pump and two tanks. The apparatus is equipped with solenoid operated valves to allow the filling and emptying of the tanks and also to allow the pump to discharge back to the reservoir. A manual pump speed control is provided to allow the user to vary the water flow rate through the pump. The above control can be achieved by programming the CE123 Programmable Logic Controller.
6. Design and Experiment Research of Control System
Through the experiment, the students learn how to design analogue PID controller for the tracking system. They should lay stress on recording raw data clearly, analyzing the dynamic performance of the system and design the controller to improve the system’s performance.
7. Traffic Light Control Unit
A traffic light controller simulates the "real" traffic light systems in cross road. It is a useful example of a microprocessor application in that it demonstrates how a microprocessor can be used:
Output a sequence of bit patterns for the control of peripheral devices;
Control the timing of each sequence;
Control the system with a program written in either BASIC or machine code;
Count the number of times a traffic rate switch is pressed.
8. Washing Machine Simulator
It has been designed to realistically represent a washing machine, which are now almost exclusively controlled by micro-controller. The main features of the Simulator are:
7 segment display driver;
Motor drive and direction control;
Buzzer;
Switch input set/reset latch circuitry;
Infra red speed sensor.
9. Pendulum Control System
The Pendulum Control System may be used in two different modes, either as an inverted pendulum or as an overhead crane. Each mode presents a different and challenging control predicament that requires different approach and solution.
In the first inverted pendulum mode, users have the task of controlling an inherently unstable system. In order to balance the pendulum in the inverted position the pivot must be continuously moved to correct the falling pendulum. In simple language, such as trying to vertically balance a broom in your hand. This interesting control problem is fundamentally the same as those involved in rocket or missile propulsion. The rocket has to balance on its engine as it accelerates.
In the second mode, the carriage module is turned upside down so that the pendulum acts as a crane. The pendulum swings naturally into an equilibrium position with the center of mass below the pivot. The problem is now to control the linear position of the load, which possesses very oscillatory dynamics. The Pendulum Control system may be used as a stand alone analogue control system or interfaced to an external controller such as a microcomputer.
10. Double Inverted Pendulum
The double inverted pendulum is a classic example of an inherently nonlinear, unstable, high order and multi-variable system. It is more difficult to balance the double inverted pendulum than an inverted pendulum. The students research the effective control method controller for balancing problem. The different control methods can be applied to balance the inverted pendulum, such as PID, state space method, neural networks, fuzzy logic control and intelligent control , etc.
11. Robotics System
The LJ EMU is a sturdy, jointed arm type robot designed for education and training purposes. The EMU can be controlled by any external microcomputer with an 8 bit user input/output facility and be designed to give the student experience in the control of 4 D.C. servo motors allowing 3 degrees of freedom with a supplementary open/close gripper function. This gives the student an immediate appreciation of how an industrial robot moves and how it can be programmed to perform a specific task.
Experiments
Analog Experiment of Automatic Control Theory
Servo System Design
Experiments of PLC
Design Digital PID Controller for Thermal System and Servo System
