Automatic Control Laboratory Research Articles

Docencia en Automática: Aplicación de las TIC a la realización de actividades prácticas a través de Internet a la realización de actividades prácticas a través de Internet

This paper describes the authors experience in applying information technology and communication teaching in automatic control. The development described here is part of the inter-university project AutomatL @ bs. In this projetc seven universities have joined forces to share resources for experimentation through Internet in a flexible education. In particular, it explores the technical aspects necessary for the transformation of a traditional automatic control laboratory on a virtual and remote through Internet and related aspects of integrating these applications into a tool that supports flexible educational planning for educational purposes.

Multifunctional Remote Laboratory for Education in Automatic Control: The CrAutoLab Experience

This paper describes the experience gathered in the last years due to the creation and development of an automatic control laboratory suitable for remote use via the Web. First, the principles that guide the laboratory design and evolution are stated and motivated. Then, an overview of the laboratory is given, describing its architecture and the most important technological solutions adopted. The available experiments are described, and some pedagogical considerations are reported. Finally, some general ideas are presented that reflect the authors' experience and opinion on the use of remote laboratories in control education.

Automatic control training on a DC motor control module

In this study, a real-time control of a DC motor module used for training in the Automatic Control Laboratory is investigated. An advanced DSP type of a controller board (dSPACE DS1103 PPC Controller board) is used to analysis and control of the module. With this board MATLAB/Simulink design tool is used to design controllers directly in the block diagram.The time and frequency responses of the system are examined and various control algorithms are applied to the system to investigate the roles of control parameters. In this way, it is proposed to train students both the practically and the theoretically in automatic control and system dynamics.

E-Learning by Remote Laboratories: A New Tool for Control Education

This paper deals with the Automatic Control Telelab (ACT), a remote laboratory of automatic control developed at University of Siena. In particular, it focuses on a new chapter of the ACT referred to as “student competition”. It is a mechanism through which students can compete to design the controller with best performance for a given remote experiment. Controllers which achieve the given performance requirements are stored according to a ranking criteria. This tool allows students to make control synthesis practice on real remote processes through the Internet, and to compare their favourite controller with competitors designed by other users.

The automatic control telelab: a user-friendly interface for distance learning

In this paper, a remote laboratory of automatic control is presented. The main target of this laboratory is to allow students to easily interact with a set of physical processes through the Internet. The student will be able to run experiments, change control parameters, and analyze the results remotely. The automatic control telelab (ACT) allows the user to design his/her own controller by means of the MATLAB/Simulink environment, and to test it on the actual plant through a user-friendly interface. An additional feature of ACT is its architecture, allowing for an easy integration of new processes for control experiments. The ACT is reachable at http://www.dii.unisi.it//spl sim/control/act.

Letters to the editor

AIChE JournalVolume 47, Issue 12 p. 2845-2849 Letters to the Editor Letters to the editor Andrzej Burghardt, Andrzej Burghardt Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Chemical Engineering, Baltycka 5, 44-100 Gliwice, PolandSearch for more papers by this authorRohit Garg, Rohit Garg Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204Search for more papers by this authorDan Luss, Dan Luss Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204Search for more papers by this authorJohannes Khinast, Johannes Khinast Department of Chemical Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854Search for more papers by this authorL. G. Gibilaro, L. G. Gibilaro Dept. of Chemical Engineering, University of L'Aquila, Monteluco di Roio, 67040 L'Aquila, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorP. U. Foscolo, P. U. Foscolo Dept. of Chemical Engineering, University of L'Aquila, Monteluco di Roio, 67040 L'Aquila, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorPiero Salatino, Piero Salatino Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica, Università degli, Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, P.le Tecchio 80 80125 Napoli, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorAntonio Marzocchella, Antonio Marzocchella Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica, Università degli, Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, P.le Tecchio 80 80125 Napoli, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorJürgen Gmehling, Jürgen Gmehling Sven Steinigeweg, and Tim Pöpken, Technische Chemie, Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, GermanySearch for more papers by this authorN. Bekiaris, N. Bekiaris Applied Materials, Inc., 3050 Bowers Avenue, Santa Clara, CA 95054Search for more papers by this authorTh. Güttinger, Th. Güttinger Automatic Control Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zentrum, CH-8092, Zürich, SwitzerlandSearch for more papers by this authorJ. Ulrich, J. Ulrich Automatic Control Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zentrum, CH-8092, Zürich, SwitzerlandSearch for more papers by this authorM. Morari, M. Morari Automatic Control Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zentrum, CH-8092, Zürich, SwitzerlandSearch for more papers by this author Andrzej Burghardt, Andrzej Burghardt Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Chemical Engineering, Baltycka 5, 44-100 Gliwice, PolandSearch for more papers by this authorRohit Garg, Rohit Garg Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204Search for more papers by this authorDan Luss, Dan Luss Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204Search for more papers by this authorJohannes Khinast, Johannes Khinast Department of Chemical Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854Search for more papers by this authorL. G. Gibilaro, L. G. Gibilaro Dept. of Chemical Engineering, University of L'Aquila, Monteluco di Roio, 67040 L'Aquila, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorP. U. Foscolo, P. U. Foscolo Dept. of Chemical Engineering, University of L'Aquila, Monteluco di Roio, 67040 L'Aquila, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorPiero Salatino, Piero Salatino Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica, Università degli, Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, P.le Tecchio 80 80125 Napoli, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorAntonio Marzocchella, Antonio Marzocchella Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica, Università degli, Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, P.le Tecchio 80 80125 Napoli, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorJürgen Gmehling, Jürgen Gmehling Sven Steinigeweg, and Tim Pöpken, Technische Chemie, Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, GermanySearch for more papers by this authorN. Bekiaris, N. Bekiaris Applied Materials, Inc., 3050 Bowers Avenue, Santa Clara, CA 95054Search for more papers by this authorTh. Güttinger, Th. Güttinger Automatic Control Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zentrum, CH-8092, Zürich, SwitzerlandSearch for more papers by this authorJ. Ulrich, J. Ulrich Automatic Control Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zentrum, CH-8092, Zürich, SwitzerlandSearch for more papers by this authorM. Morari, M. Morari Automatic Control Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zentrum, CH-8092, Zürich, SwitzerlandSearch for more papers by this author First published: 16 April 2004 https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.690471221Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume47, Issue12December 2001Pages 2845-2849 RelatedInformation

Surface-stimulation technology for grasping and walking neuroprosthesis.

Deals with improving the quality of life in stroke/spinal cord injury subjects with rapid prototyping and portable FES systems. Portable grasping and walking neuroprostheses, developed by the Automatic Control Laboratory at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ) and the Paraplegic Center at the University Hospital Balgrist (ParaCare) are discussed. Both neuroprostheses employ surface stimulation technology and are currently used by a number of subjects in daily living activities.

Comments on “Multiple Steady States in Homogeneous Azeotropic Distillation”

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVCorrespondenceComments on “Multiple Steady States in Homogeneous Azeotropic Distillation”Thomas E. Güttinger and Manfred MorariView Author Information Automatic Control Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH-Z, CH-8092 Zurich, SwitzerlandCite this: Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 1996, 35, 8, 2816Publication Date (Web):August 8, 1996Publication History Published online8 August 1996Published inissue 1 January 1996https://doi.org/10.1021/ie960802wCopyright © 1996 American Chemical SocietyRIGHTS & PERMISSIONSArticle Views325Altmetric-Citations7LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InReddit PDF (117 KB) Get e-AlertsSUBJECTS:Azeotropes,Mixtures,Thermodynamic modeling,Thermodynamics,Wilson model Get e-Alerts

Application of Several Parameter-Adaptive Controllers to a Paper Machine Headbox

Several authors have pointed to the importance of optimal paper headbox control as a crucial part of the global paper making process. External disturbances influence the output, also many startups of the process may be required. Since the paper quality can be improved by better control, the evaluation of advanced control algorithms is well justified.The introduction of process computers and microprocessors in the control environment has opened new perspectives for the control of paper making too. To design a good controller, a number of numerical coefficients must be known accurately. The determination of these parameters can be cumbersome. However, this can be considerably alleviated by adding an on-line parameter estimator to the controller. Then the regulator can adapt itself to slowly changing process characteristics. These parameter-adaptive controllers were extensively tested on the Laboratory of Automatic Control in Ghent. Several combinations of controllers and parameter estimators are possible. It will be demonstrated in the paper that several of these controllers improve the control quality of the paper headbox. They are not very sensitive to the noise structure and cause no offset of the output variable. Since the implementation of such adaptive controllers requires very few a priori knowledge, it may be expected that in the future many industrial applications of these will be seen.

Application of several parameter-adaptive controllers to a paper machine headbox

Several authors have pointed to the importance of optimal paper headbox control as a crucial part of the global paper making process. External disturbances influence the output, also many startups of the process may be required. Since the paper quality can be improved by better control, the evaluation of advanced control algorithms is well justified.The introduction of process computers and microprocessors in the control environment has opened new perspectives for the control of paper making too.To design a good controller, a number of numerical coefficients must be known accurately. The determination of these parameters can be cumbersome. However, this can be considerably alleviated by adding an on-line parameter estimator to the controller. Then the regulator can adapt itself to slowly changing process characteristics. These parameter-adaptive controllers were extensively tested on the Laboratory of Automatic Control in Ghent. Several combinations of controllers and parameter estimators are possible. It will be demonstrated in the paper that several of these controllers improve the control quality of the paper headbox. They are not very sensitive to the noise structure and cause no offset of the output variable. Since the implementation of such adaptive controllers requires very few a priori knowledge, it may be expected that in the future many industrial applications of these will be seen.

On the dual-adaptive control and its practical applications

This paper presents an algorithm for overcoming the difficulties which arise when implementing the dual adaptive control algorithm of Alster and Belanger (1974). The efficiency of the proposed algorithm is shown in comparison with that of the certainty equivalent algorithm especially with poor initial parameters estimates. Results of applying the algorithm on distillation process of the Automatic Control Laboratory of Grenoble (LAG) are presented.

Use of computers in metallurgy: furnace design, automation and operation

This paper is a survey of a seven years project of automation of a slab reheating furnace. The research was started with a grant from the national scientific and technical research board (DGRST) to the engineering company “Heurtey Metallurgie” and the research laboratory of automatic control D.E.R.A. to study: a) - the development of a mathematical model (basic equation : distributed parameters non linear system) b) - the identification of parameters by using tests from a pilot and real furnaces c) - optimum synthesis of control policy d) - simulation of the whole system e) - feasibility of control by process computer. The application was performed on the two furnaces of the Fabrique de Fer de Charleroi. The first phase concerns the on-line computation of temperature of every slabs (about one hundred of various size). This allows a better management of the taking out in order to respect the requirements of the rolling mill. The system is operational since June 1974. In the second phase, the computer adjusts the profile of furnace temperature to control the heating process.

Adaptive dual control for a multivariable distillation process

In this paper we give a simple suboptimal dual adaptive control algorithm, which can be used in real time applications. This algorithm is based on the minimization of a one-step-ahead tracking quadratic criterion constrianed by some tests on the covariance and information matrices of the estimated parameters. This algorithm is tested on the distillation process of the Automatic Control Laboratory of Grenoble, using the real time computer language PRØCØL.

Cross-macroassembler for micro MCS-80 in a HP-2116-B minicomputer

A cross-macroassembler has been implemented in a HP-2116-B minicomputer, oriented to the INTEL'S MCS-80 microcomputer. The macro-assembly language allows nested macro-definitions and uses. The “local” macros remain in the macrotable only during the time of using the outer macro(s) and are erased therafter. In a similar way as the variables … of a block structured language as ALGOL-60 are managed. In this way the use of the minicomputer storage is optimized in the macro-assembly process. FORTRAN has been used as the implementation language allowing an easier transportability to other minicomputers. The word length requirement is 16-bits (normal word length in actual minicomputers). Following the macroassembly process a two-pass assembler translates the symbolic code to the machine code of the MCS-80. Besides the macrofacilities above mentioned, the whole language has been implemented, and some small improvements have been added. The use of a minicomputer as a resident computer for this cross-macroassembler allows a more flexible use of the micro-computer, avoiding also the need of a costly Time Sharing Service or a big computer. Our hardware configuration (mini-micro), we think, is a much more normal situation in the Automatic Control Laboratories an Industrial Laboratories than big machine configuration, rending our cross-macroassembler a useful software tool.

New Experiments for a Control System Laboratory

Traditionally automatic control laboratories are mainly devoted to study of the classical servoposition control system and rely heavily on electromechanical components. The purpose of this paper is to present two unusual experiments (a light control system and a temperature control system) which have been designed to illustrate the application of control theory to a wider class of problems.

Automatization of Distillation Processes From the Laboratory to the Industrial Plant

This paper describes the modalities and the main results of a long cycle of studies—over about 10 years—on computer control applied to distillation processes. These studies were carried out by the Automatic Control Laboratory at Grenoble, with the collaboration of various industrial companies (Naphtachimie, Mors-Te´le´mecanique Electrique, Rhoˆne-Progil, and Shell) and supported by a grant from the French Government. The main objective was to decrease the gap existing between available theory and the methods effectively applied in industry, thus leading the Laboratory to direct our studies towards industrial implementation. To fulfill this goal, it proved useful to employ an intermediate step: the development of the methods and algorithms by preliminary application on pilot scale plants built for this purpose in the Laboratory. Important feedback is provided after each practical application, since experimental results often suggest further studies on the methods used or new theoretical developments.

Automatic Control Laboratory Installed at Washington University

INTIL comparatively recent years the literature has contained little information on the basic theory and its application to the design, construction, installation, and operation of automatic control equipment. Engineers and technicians were trained by the instrument companies while plant and design engineers in general had inadequate knowledge of the apparatus they were called upon to specify, install, and operate. In some cases this resulted in the installation of equipment which was ill-suited to the job at hand. A few schools now offer Instrumentation Courses which deal with those factors that affect, the ease of control of an operation. Furthermore, almost all adequately equipped engineering laboratories have control apparatus permanently attached to specific apparatus and by such can show the student some general operating characteristics under a prescribed (usually an optimum) set of operating conditions. The authors feel that such typical installations are insufficient for...