Title :
The balance beam: an instructional experiment in state feedback and observer design
Author :
Shields, Joel ; Alvarez, Luis ; Horowitz, Roberto
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Mech. Eng., California Univ., Berkeley, CA, USA
Abstract :
The balance beam as a device to assist in the instruction of automatic control courses is described. The system consists of two water tanks placed on the ends of a balance beam. The control objective is to move the beam to a given reference angle. The control action is provided by a pair of water pumps that can change the distribution of water between the tanks. A set of experiments are designed to help students conceptualize the tasks of modeling, system identification, the use of model linearization techniques, and the design of state feedback controllers and state observers
Keywords :
control engineering education; control system synthesis; observers; spatial variables control; state feedback; student experiments; balance beam; educational experiment; instructional experiment; model linearization techniques; modeling; state feedback controller design; state observer design; system identification; water pumps; water tanks; Automatic control; Educational institutions; Laboratories; Laser excitation; Linear feedback control systems; Mechanical engineering; Open loop systems; Potentiometers; State feedback; System identification;
Conference_Titel :
Decision and Control, 1997., Proceedings of the 36th IEEE Conference on
Conference_Location :
San Diego, CA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-4187-2
DOI :
10.1109/CDC.1997.657889
