Liquid level control with different control methods based on Matlab/Simulink and Arduino for the control systems lesson

Abstract

Liquid level control is needed in many areas, from simple to complex, from daily life to industry. With the developed system in this study, it was aimed to ensure the students of the control system course to learn the concepts of a closed-loop control system and to observe the effect of changes in the system in real-time. The system consists of two tanks, a pump, a pressure sensor, a power supply, a regulated voltage source, a computer, and an Arduino Due board. By using the Matlab/Simulink and added Arduino blocks, software of the control system was created without code need. It is possible to control the liquid level system via the control board through the computer, as well as to control it without a computer by the embedded software. Liquid level control is carried out with different types of control methods from basic level to advanced level (On-off, PID, ANN-PID, and Fuzzy-PID controller). It is also possible to record the desired parameters in real-time, such as reference level, actual level, error signal, and control signal, in the liquid level control system. In this study, an interface for a PID controller was prepared using Matlab/Gui. It was concluded that with Matlab/Simulink blocks added to the system, different control methods could be applied easily.