Parker Hannifin Controls Laboratory
Location:13-102
The Mechanical Controls Laboratory was developed with generous and ongoing support from the Parker Hannifin Corporation. The lab serves the senior level Mechanical Controls course ME422 as well as senior projects and research projects.
Equipment
- Hydraulic and pneumatic position control systems,
- Electromechanical servo control hardware systems,
- Fluid level control systems,
- State of the art LDS Focus multi-channel dynamic signal analyzers,
- Agilent 54622A digital oscilloscopes,
- PCs with National Instruments Data Acquisition Cards, LabVIEW and Matlab/Simulink, and
- DSpace ACE Kit real-time rapid prototype system for advanced control and algorithm development.
Description of Equipment/Labs
- Windows PCs with LabVIEW and Matlab/Simulink are used to model dynamic systems and design controllers. Extensive use of Matlab and Simulink enable high level analysis of complex systems.
- The lab has eight electro-mechanical DC servo control systems with purely analog controllers. These allow students to implement position or velocity control of a rotor system using analog circuit analysis and dynamic analysis.
- The lab as four fluid level control systems which are controlled from a Windows PC using the LabVIEW data acquisition and control program. Water level is measured from pressure transducers and feedback is used to control the water flow rate through an industrial flow control valve.
- The lab has four position control systems which can use either hydraulic or pneumatic actuation to move a mass on a linear bearing. Position feedback is measured via a linear potentiometer. The system uses the Matlab/Simulink Real Time Windows Toolbox with a National Instruments data acquisition card to implement high speed real-time control.
For more information contact: Course Coordinator: Charles Birdsong or Controls Faculty: John Ridgely, Bill Murray, Frank Owen, Julia Wu
View the Controls Lab (Bldg 13-102) Web Camera