Course Background

Control Systems (GE320) is the first course in control systems for students in the General Engineering (GE) program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). It covers topics such as Laplace transforms, system identification and stability, continuous-time control algorithms such as proportional-integral-derivative (PID) and lead-lag. The course is required for all GE students and serves as a prerequisite for GE420, a digital controls course that is also required for all GE students. These two courses serve as prerequisites for three of the 19 pre-approved Secondary Field Options that GE students can select to meet the degree requirements. GE320 is typically taken in the junior year. Students must register for lecture and one section of laboratory. The course has approximately three hours of lecture per week. In the fall semester of 2014, the lecture will be twice per week for 80 minutes and limited to 70 students. There are six weeks assigned to complete cookbook laboratory experiments. These experiments cover topics such as introduction to equipment, sensor calibration, system identification and control development. There are a maximum of 10 students per laboratory section.

Equipment Background

Figure 1: Current controls laboratory

The current cost of laboratory equipment used in the GE320 lab at UIUC is included in Table 1 below and a photo of a bench in the current UIUC Controls Laboratory is in Figure 1.

Figure 2: Early prototype of the GE320 kit

The kit that will be used for this project in GE320 laboratory was created for approximately $140, barely exceeding the goal of $100. The breakdown of the equipment and cost are in Table 2. Figure 2 shows a protoype of the current kit. The information in Table 3 summarizes the GE320 experiments with the old equipment and how they are replicated with the new equipment. In this study the kits will be provided for the students to use in the existing laboratory space.

Within the current equipment in the GE320 kit, motor identification in experiment 2 could not be replicated. For this experiment both voltage and current will need to be varied. Additionally, the frequency response part of experiment 3 could not be replicated. It can be added with another power supply and digital to analog conversion integrated circuit for about $17. Since the students will be using the kit in the same room as the traditional equipment, the required power supply and function generator will be available for use in these experiments. The last lab will be the same for both types of equipment.