Design of a Simple Experimental Setup for P-I-D Control Testing

Abstract

This work aims to demonstrate the use of a simple experimental setup for accurate position control, which will be used to supplement the senior level “Control Systems” class taught in McCoy School of Engineering at Midwestern State University. The experimental setup is an unstable, doubleintegrator system, which consists of a ping-pong ball rolling on a pivoted beam. The control task is to stabilize the ball at the center of the beam by systematically changing the angle of rotation of the beam through the servomotor. The experimental setup is built out of 3D-printed parts, and simple electronics are used for controls. A control-oriented dynamic model is first obtained based on the standard Lagrangian approach and the model is linearized to simplify the control design. Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller is then designed based on the system transfer function, and the performance of the PID controller is tested in closed-loop numerical simulations in MATLAB-SIMULINK environment. Finally, the proposed PID algorithm is implemented in the actual setup using the ARDUINO microcontroller platform. Performance of the PID controller is discussed based on the initial results and possible improvement areas are addressed.