<p>Many undergraduate system dynamics &amp; controls courses have limited laboratory experiences. In courses that include labs, many of the experiences include dynamics of motors, electrical systems, and unstable mechanical systems. The dynamics of these systems are often so fast that the system response cannot be viewed and/or interpreted real-time. As many of the topics within control theory are abstract and difficult to visualize, students typically develop limited intuition in regards to relevant control theory and design of stabilizing feedback controllers. This paper presents a novel thermal system that has been designed to address these challenges and provide meaningful lab experiences to students in undergraduate feedback control courses. The presented system offers multiple advantages that are designed to provide impactful lab experiences. The system is composed of low-cost, off-the-shelf components that are commonly used in 3D printers and computers. An aluminum disk is embedded with ceramic heaters and thermistors, and an attached CPU heat sink is used to remove thermal energy. The temperature of the disk is the output of the system, with the ceramic heaters and fan speed the control inputs. An Arduino is used to measure the temperature from the thermistors and to control the heaters and fans. By using MATLAB’s support package for Arduino, all student coding and labs are done in the MATLAB environment. &nbsp;</p><p>The system can be used for multiple lab experiences that span the entire range of topics in a typical undergraduate controls course, including system modeling, time &amp; frequency domain system analysis, design of controllers, and evaluation of controller performance. Additionally, the system can be used to illustrate more advanced control topics and can be integrated into classroom lectures. The system has been designed with the undergraduate student experience in mind, including the use of MATLAB for all student work, safety features that ensure minimal risk to students, and system dynamics that have been sized so that students can watch and interpret the system response real-time. The paper describes the system design and setup, along with sizing calculations used to create appropriate system dynamics and safety features. The thermal modeling used to design controllers is then detailed. The laboratory sessions are then described, including topics in thermal system modeling, system parameter identification, Bode diagram creation &amp; analysis, and controller design. The paper concludes by assessing the use of the system in an actual undergraduate controls course and addressing topics that can be explored for future lab sessions. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

A Novel, Low-Cost Thermal System for Integrating Laboratory Experiences in Undergraduate Controls Courses

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IMECE/IMECE2021/volume/85543

ASME 2021 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE2021)

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