Modeling and simulation of a ball and beam control system

• Grant number: 11/15100-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2012
• End date: January 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Electrical Engineering - Industrial Electronics, Electronic Systems and Controls
• Principal Investigator: Diego Colón
• Grantee: Yuri Smiljanic Andrade
• Host Institution: Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus Experimental de Sorocaba. Sorocaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research project intends to develop mathematical models for a Ball and Beam didactical plant (considering rolling with slipping), as well as to compare this model with other ones found in the specialized literature. This comparison will be done by simulation and experimental implementation. Initially, the mathematical model presented in the manufacturer's manual will be simulated and experimentally validated (some preliminary results are presented below), and after that, a mathematical model with slipping will be deduced. Lagrangian mechanics will be used to deduce the model. Open loop tests will be done in a real plant (didactic kit available in the control laboratory at UNESP Sorocaba) and comparisons will be conducted in order to determine the best model for the system. Closed loop control laws will be tested in simulation (with the developed mathematical models) and in the experimental system in order to validate them (and the models). No control law will be designed in this project (but will be used in those found in literature). The graphics generated in these experiments will then be compared.(AU)