Developing a New Affordable DC Motor Laboratory Kit for an Existing Undergraduate Controls Course

Developing a New Affordable

DC Motor Laboratory Kit for an Existing Undergraduate

Controls CourseRebecca M. Reck, PhD Candidate & R.S. Sreenivas, Associate Professor

Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems EngineeringUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

2015 American Control Conference

Copyright 2015, R.M. Reck & R.S. Sreenivas. All rights reserved. 2

Outline• Background & Motivation• Introduction to Control Systems Course• Kit Development• Conclusions and Future Work


Motivation• Expand the access to hands-on controls laboratory

experiments

•Update existing equipment

•Use updated processes for simulation and design


Current Lab Costs• The cost of equipment per station varies in cost from • $80 (Gunasekaran and Potluri, 2012) to • $32,493.74 (Egbert, 2009)


Alternatives to campus labsVirtual Labs Remote Labs KitsPros:• Low cost• Usually simulation• Only need a computer• Many opportunities

Pros:• Use real equipment • More hours available• Do not have to be on

campus

Pros: • Low Cost• Hands on• Portable• Real systems

Cons:• Lack of “real world”

problems• Not hands on• Visualization is abstract

Cons:• Network infrastructure• Network security• Limited interaction

Cons:• Development • Procurement• Support

Casini et al., 2003; Uran and Jezernick, 2008; Nickerson et al., 2007

Aktan et al., 1996; Ionescu et al., 2013; Hyder et al., 2009; Casini et al., 2003

Borgstrom et al., 2012; Stark et al., 2013; Cruz-Martin et al., 2012; Kim, 2011; Sarik and Kymissis, 2010


Introduction to Control Systems•Apply the following course concepts:• System identification• System frequency response• Stability• PID control

•Using a DC motor and the associated sensors


Laboratory Experiments

• Lab 1: Introduction to Sensors and DC Motor

• Lab 2: Introduction to Simulink and the Raspberry Pi

• Lab 3: 1st Principles Systems Identification

• Lab 4: Step and Frequency Response System Identification

• Lab 5: Control of a DC Motor


BeforeItem Cost

HP 33120A Function Generator $ 2,487.00

HP 34401A Multimeter $ 1,159.00

HP 6632A DC Power Supply $ 1,320.00

Custom built patch panel, power supplies, and amplifier

$ 475.00

Comdyna GP-6 Analog Computer $ 1,500.00

DC Motor, enclosure, and sensors $ 450.00

Dell Precision T3400 PC $ 1,094.00

Agilent Technologies DSO6012A Oscilloscope $ 6,159.00Miscellaneous Wires $ 195.31

Total $ 14,839.31


AfterItem Cost

Raspberry Pi Model B $ 39.95

12V DC motor $ 12.95

3D Printed stand for motor and potentiometer $ 5.00

Bread board $ 5.95H bridge (L293D) $ 2.50

ADC (MCP3008) $ 2.30

Power Supplies $ 24.85

Rotary position sensor $ 2.60Photo Interrupter $ 3.45

Pi T-cobbler breakout and cable $ 6.95

SD Card $ 17.09

Wires, resistors and LEDs $ 2.34

Total $ 125.93


Circuit Board Layout


Proportional + Speed

Controller


Proportional + Speed Controller Performance


Challenges• Consistency of 3D printing• Speed of network• Raspberry Pi support package in

MATLAB is a user specific installation• Ground noise• Number of holes in optical

encoder


Conclusions• A kit that costs approximately $130 is being used in GE320 this semester

• It uses MATLAB and Simulink for development

• The kit weighs around 13 oz. and fits in a shoe box, making it easy to ship

• The kits design is flexible enough to be applied in other departments or courses


Future Work• Compare the effectiveness of the kit vs. the existing equipment in

GE320

• Explore opportunities to use the kit in an online course or future integration between the lecture and the laboratory experiments in the existing course.

• Comparing low-cost hardware for use in control systems laboratorieshttp://bit.ly/controlsR1


Rebecca M. ReckPh.D. [email protected]://rebeccaee.com

R. S. SreenivasAssociate [email protected]://tinyurl.com/ka55vw9

Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems EngineeringUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

mailto:[email protected]

http://rebeccaee.com/

mailto:[email protected]

http://tinyurl.com/ck2hntg

Developing a New Affordable DC Motor Laboratory Kit for an Existing Undergraduate Controls Course

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