Arduino based platform for process control learning

Résumé

This work deals with implementation of an experimental flowrate control unit using free and low-cost hardware and software. The open-source software Processing was used to develop the source codes and user graphical interface and the open-source electronic prototyping platform Arduino was used to acquire data from an experimental unit. Work presents descriptions of the experimental setup, the real-time PID controllers used and theoretical/conceptual issues of Arduino. PID controllers based on internal model control, minimization of the integral of time-weighted absolute error, Ziegler-Nichols, and others were tuned for setpoint and load changes and real-time runs were carried out in order to make real-time use of  control theory learned in academy. Results showed the developed platform proved to be suitable for use in experimental setups allowing users compare their ideas and expectations with the experimental evidence in a real and low-cost fashion. In addition, the instrumentation is simple to configure with acceptable level noise and particularly useful for control/automation learning with educational purposes.