Duino-Based Learning (DBL) in control engineering courses

© 2019 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting /republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other worksThis document presents a project to develop freely redistributable materials to conduct educational lab projects with MATLAB, Simulink, Arduino and low-cost plants. This work materials introduce the fundamentals of Control Engineering through exercises and videos. Along with all this, the most important steps and issues appeared in the project are explained, so anyone interested on doing a project can have a starting point instead of starting a project from scratch, which most of times this results hard to implementPeer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Development of a MATLAB/Simulink - Arduino environment for experimental practices in control engineering teaching

This project presents the steps followed when implementing a platform based on MATLAB/Simulink and Arduino for the restoration of digital control practices. During this project, an Arduino shield has being designed. Along with this, a web page has also been created where all the material done during all this project is available and can be freely used. So anyone interested on doing a project can have a starting point instead of starting a project from scratch, which most of times this results hard to implement. Taking all this into account, the document is structured in the following manner. The first chapter talks about the hardware used and designed. The second one explains the software used and the configurations done on the laboratory’s PCs. After that, the web page Duino-Based Learning is explained, where you can find the five projects carried out in the "Control Automàtic" subject with their corresponding results. In this section too, as an additional research, the implemented indirect adaptive control will be explained, where the parameter estimation has been done by the Recursive Least Square algorithm. The last four sections before presenting the conclusions of the work, correspond to a satisfaction questionnaire done to the teachers that have used the setup, the costs and saves of the project, the environmental impact and the planning of the project respectively

Positioning Control Of A 1-DOF Pneumatic Muscle Actuator (PMA) System With Modified PID Plus Feedforward Controller

The pneumatic muscle actuator (PMA) is a novel actuator which carries numerous advantages such as high strength and power/weight ratio, low cost, compact, clean and easy to maintain features. However, pneumatic muscle actuator has notable nonlinear characteristics, which makes it difficult to control. The purpose of this research is focused on experimental system development and parameter characterization of phenomenological modelling for commercially available Festo Fluidic Muscle Actuator. The model and parameters obtained from the characterization are validated in simulation and experimental platform. The major part of the research is focused on the framework of the modified PID plus feedforward control system, and its effectiveness in a 1 degree-of-freedom PMA system is experimentally demonstrated in comparison with a classical PID controller. The overall control system comprises of a feedforward controller and a modified PID controller in the feedback loop which designed based on the exact PMA system characteristics. The design procedure of the modified PID plus feedforward controller is practical and features easy design procedures. The usefulness and advantages of the proposed controller are shown via positioning and tracking motion experimental studies. Besides, this study also highlights the robustness of the modified PID plus feedforward controller by examining its performance in point-to-point and tracking motions in the presence of extra mass. In the robustness performance, the modified PID plus feedforward controller is compared with a classical PID control systems. The comparative experiments results illustrate that modified PID plus feedforward controller shows the significant motion performances as compared to the PID controller by maintaining steady state error between ±50μm. The framework used to develop the proposed controller is generally enough for further investigation in PMA motion control system, further improvement in terms of positioning accuracy and tracking motion could extend th

Introduction of programmable logic controller in industrial engineering curriculum

Recent trends in process control and industrial automation scenarios have resulted in the emergence of many pioneering techniques that have revolutionized the manufacturing industry. In order to maintain quality and precision, advances have been associated with the increasing use of microprocessors in process control applications. Most of the industrial process control systems utilize Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC). Also due to the increase in internet usage and recent innovations in PLC software, remote monitoring and PLC control of process through the internet is also a recent trend. This thesis presents course/lab material for integration in the Industrial Engineering curriculum. The course/lab content was designed to improve the student\u27s knowledge and to broaden the industrial engineering curriculum at West Virginia University (WVU). This thesis proposes the use of inexpensive T100MD+ PLCs. A traffic light control system was developed to introduce the fundamental concepts of Boolean algebra and real-time control. A series of control exercises can be carried on the traffic light system. A temperature sensitive system was also developed. Students can test various PID control strategies on this hardware/software platform. Students will also have the ability to control the process via the internet

Development of an open and free robotics course

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education is essential to the development of Sub- Saharan Africa. Robotics in the High School education system is one of the best ways to get students interested in pursuing future education in a STEM field. This project involved developing an open and free robotics course that incorporates videos, sample problems, surveys, labs, and quizzes to help developing countries teach robotics. During the IQP our current modules were tested with both Sub-Saharan African teachers and United States High School students. In addition to the course, a low cost robotics kit was designed and built

Beta: Bioprinting engineering technology for academia

Higher STEM education is a field of growing potential, but too many middle school and high school students are not testing proficiently in STEM subjects. The BETA team worked to improve biology classroom engagement through the development of technologies for high school biology experiments. The BETA project team expanded functionality of an existing product line to allow for better student and teacher user experience and the execution of more interesting experiments. The BETA project’s first goal was to create a modular incubating Box for the high school classroom. This Box, called the BETA Box was designed with a variety of sensors to allow for custom temperature and lighting environments for each experiment. It was completed with a clear interface to control the settings and an automatic image capture system. The team also conducted a feasibility study on auto calibration and dual-extrusion for SE3D’s existing 3D bioprinter. The findings of this study led to the incorporation of a force sensor for auto calibration and the evidence to support the feasibility of dual extrusion, although further work is needed. These additions to the current SE3D educational product line will increase effectiveness in the classroom and allow the target audience, high school students, to better engage in STEM education activities