Teaching Mechanical Students To Build And Analyze Motor Controllers

Abstract

Abstract NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract Session 2268 Teaching Mechanical Students to Build and Analyze Motor Controllers Hugh Jack, Associate Professor Padnos School of Engineering Grand Valley State University Grand Rapids, MI email: [email protected] 1. Introduction All junior Mechanical and Manufacturing engineering students take EGR 345, Dynamic Systems Modelling and Control, at Grand Valley State University. This course looks at modeling systems with mechanical, electrical and other components. This is supported by laboratory work that includes motor modeling and feedback control. There is also a major design project in the course to reinforce theoretical and experimental design. The topics covered in the course are listed below. 1. Translation 2. Differential equation review 3. First/second order systems 4. Numerical methods 5. Rotation 6. The differential operator and input-output equations 7. Circuits (resistors/capacitors/inductors and op-amps) 8. Feedback control 9. Phasors 10. Transfer functions and Fourier analysis 11. Bode plots 12. Root locus plots 13. Analog IO, sensors and actuators 14. Motion control (single and multiple axes) Prerequisites for the course include basic circuits, statics, differential equations and digital sys- tems (C programming on 6811 microprocessors). The course is followed by another controls course, EGR 450 - Manufacturing Control Systems, which focuses on discrete state control sys- tems using PLCs. EGR 450 is required for the Manufacturing students, while it is a popular elec- tive for the Mechanical students. EGR 450 is followed by EGR 474 - Integrated Manufacturing Systems, which focuses on high level control using databases and networks to integrate devices such as robots and CNC machines. EGR 474 is a popular elective for Manufacturing students, and an elective for the Electrical students. Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2003, American Society for Engineering Education