Challenge:
Design a control system to manipulate payloads.

Description:
Three DC Motors are connected to a frame which provides positioning to a payload suspended on a cable. The experiment is similar in structure and operation to a typical crane used in the construction of buildings, and loading and unloading of cargo ships. Not only are the three axes instrumented to provide position feedback, but the x-y sway angles of the cable may be detected as well. The resulting system may be used to study the inherent drawbacks and limitations found in the widely used (in current real-world installations) bang-bang controllers in comparison with the performance increase found by implementing a variety of advanced control schemes. The minimization of payload sway under a variety of conditions and continuously varying real-world environmental and situational factors is studied.

Difficulty:
Undergraduate – second course / project / Graduate / Research

• Structural Dynamics & Civil Engineering Product Range
• Product Information