Ball and Beam

1 DOF Control Platform for Teaching and Research

ACROME Ball and Beam System is ideal to introduce students to the fundamental and intermediate principles of controls. Let's teach automatic control with Ball and Beam!

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OVERVIEW

Apply control theory in real-life with ACROME Ball and Beam! The ball and beam system consists of a long beam together with a ball rolling back and forth on top of the beam. The long beam tilted by a servo. Our Ball and Beam System provides practicing the automatic control theory on a closed loop experiment. Controlling the position of a ball on a beam is one of the classical problems of control theory. Ball and Beam System can be used for a wide range of control system design implementations from basic linear controllers to advanced nonlinear methods. Students are able to understand system design approaches with Ball and Beam's learn-by-doing method. With the help of the courseware, they can distinguish effects of linearizations, assumptions and modeling errors due to the differences between simulations and real world experiments.

FEATURES

Assembled and ready to control plant with the integrated power unit
Getting Started Program with rich Graphical User Interface for out-of-the-box user experience
Implementation of advanced digital control techniques
Fully compatible with MATLAB®/Simulink® and LabVIEW™
Fully documented system models and parameters provided for MATLAB®/Simulink®, LabVIEW™
Actuating the table by RC servo motor, which is familiar to students
Ball position sensing by a linear potentiometer
Enables students to create their own real-time algorithms
Open architecture with extensive courseware, suitable for undergraduate courses for engineering disciplines related to control systems

CURRICULUM

COMPONENTS OF BALL AND BEAM SYSTEM
- RC Servo Motor
- Potentiometer Sensor
- Controller
- Acrome Power Distribution BoxMechanics of the System
FUNDAMENTALS OF PWM
- PWM Signaling Theory
- Generating PWM Signals Driving RC Servos with PWM Signals
FEEDBACK IN CONTROL SYSTEMS
- Reading Ball Position from Potentiometer Sensor
- Derivative Filtering
SYSTEM MODELING
- System Identification Methods
- Modeling of Actuator
- Obtaining Transfer Function of Plant
PERFORMANCE MEASURES
- Time Domain Characteristics
- Steady State Response and Steady State Error
CONTROL SYSTEM DESIGN
- Time Response Characteristics
- PID Controller and Fuzzy Logic Controller
- Step Response and Steady-State Error
CONTROL SYSTEM VERIFICATION
- Frequency Response Analysis
- Experimental Bode Diagrams
- Cut-Off Frequency Determination

SPECIFICATIONS

Calibrated Base Dimensions	: 450 mm x 160 mm
Beam Length	: 530 mm
Lever Arm Length	: 143 mm
Support Arm Length	: 165 mm
Potentiometer Sensor Length	: 500 mm
Motor Arm Length	: 24 mm
Motor Torque	: 4.8V: 0.5 N·m
Motor Speed	: 4.8V: 0.20 sec/60°