Work in Progress: Design and implementation of a didactic module with manual interface, PLC interface and PC serial interface for teaching process control techniques

This paper presents the design and implementation of a didactic module for teaching process control techniques for electronics engineering students. The module is designed to teach the students how to control the flow and level of a process using different techniques such as On/Off control, PID control, cascade control, and others. The module provides three different interfaces with the process, manual control, a PLC interface with digital/analog input/output signals and a serial USB interface that connects the module with Matlab/Simulink and LabVIEW. The module was implemented with industrial valves both On/Off and proportional as actuators. Industrial level switches, a flow meter, and an ultrasonic level meter uses as sensors in order to provide students with first-hand experience with industrial equipment. This multi-purpose and multi-interface design makes the module a very flexible tool for teaching process control techniques. The entire process of design, implementation and test results are presented.