Resource

 

TCLab: An Inexpensive Experimental Platform for Students to Learn Feedback

TCLab:  An Inexpensive Experimental Platform for Students to Learn Feedback
Dr. John Hedengren, Brigham Young University, IEEE CSS Education Committee Chair
5 min
Beginner
Video
Demonstration

The temperature control lab (TCLab) reinforces process feedback control  with real data. The TCLab hardware consists of an Arduino® shield that fits onto a standard Arduino Leonardo microcontroller. This video highlights a few examples of how the TCLab can be interfaced with and run from Python, Java, and MATLAB®  / Simulink. The interactive modules reinforce conceptual  understanding of feedback control. The TCLab module demonstrates  many process control basics such as On/Off Control (similar to a home thermostat) and Proportional, Integral, and Derivative (PID) Control (similar to a car cruise control). The lab is inexpensive and small enough to give one to each student in the class for active learning exercises.

 

 

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