PILOT PROCESSES

The teaching laboratory consists of a set of pilot processes with standardized interfacing panels connected to computers. These computers are equipped with data acquisition boards allowing to take measurements and to control the pilot processes in the Matlab environment.
The pilot processes are the following:

The Water Level Control : This plant is composed of one tank and two valves. One generates the water flow while the other one evacuates the water. The objective is to control the water level by acting on the input flow rate.

The DC motor position control : This plant is composed of two DC motors and one brake acting on the same shaft. The objective is to track any position trajectory.

The Temperature Control : This plant can be compared to a house heating simulator. It is composed of a copper tube representing the house wall connected to a heating ring replacing the house heating system. The objective is to control the air temperature inside the cylinder to any admissible temperature and reject the disturbance induced by a fan.

The Inverted Pendulum : It is composed of a screw driven cart on which the pendulum is connected. The cart position is controlled by a DC motor. The objective is to take the pendulum from its stable position to the upright position by moving the cart.

The Ball and Beam : A ball is placed on a beam which can be tilted by a DC motor. The objective is to control the ball position.

The Rolling Mill : It is a cold reversible rolling mill which is controlled by 3 DC motors: two for the winders and one for the roller. The objective is to control the traction of the aluminum strip.

The Heat Exchanger : The heat exchanger is composed of two circuits. The first one is an air circuit with a heating section. The second one is a water circuit. Both circuits are interconnected by a heat exchanger. The objective is to control the water temperature by acting on the heating power. The sensors that are available are:
– 4 water temperature sensors (water before the heat exchanger, after 1/3, after 2/3 and at the end of the heat exchanger)
– 4 air temperature sensors (one before and one after the heating section, one before and one after the heat exchanger)
– One water flowmeter

The Ball in the Tube : A ping-pong ball is placed inside a vertical tube. A fan generates an air flux which lifts the ball. The objective is to control the position of the ball by acting on the fan’s DC motor. The sensors that are available are: one velocity sensor (tachometer measuring the velocity of the fan) and one position sensor (infrared sensor measuring the ball’s position).