DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF BALL AND PLATE CONTROL SYSTEM USING PID CONTROLLER

Abstract

The ball and plate system can usually be found in most university control labs, since it is relatively easy to build, model and control theoretically. This project will resolve in talking the ball-and-beam concept and develop a ball-and-plate balancing system. The system includes a ball, a plate, a touch screen, servo motors and a controller. The ball and plate system is a ball balancing system which used a closed loop control system. The closed loop control which is used a digital Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller. The system controllers keep a free rolling ball in desired position on a flat plate. The mathematical model for this system is inherently nonlinear. In this project, a theoretical analysis of the ball and plate system is conducted by employing physical laws. A performance is analyzed using experimental conditions. The main part of the system is Arduino, microcontrollers which receive the current ball position from the sensor (touch screen) and compare it with the desire position. PID algorithm was built to process the difference signal between current position and desired position and send it to servo motors to make the action. The systems feasibility and optimal operation were fully considered in the design phase. MATLAB software program has been used to plot instant system response by interfacing Arduino with computer to determine system characteristics with different values of controller parameters in order to choose parameters values which obtained best performance for the system.