In this experiment, a steel ball is levitated using the force generated by an electromagnet. The "maglev" system consists of an electromagnet , a ball rest , a ball position sensor , and a steel ball . It is completely encased in a rectangular enclosure divided into three distinct vertical chambers. The upper chamber houses an electromagnet such that one pole of the electromagnet is exposed to the middle chamber and faces a black post erect in the middle chamber. The post is designed such that with a 2.54 cm steel ball at rest on its surface, the top of the ball surface is 14 mm from the face of the electromagnet. The middle chamber is illuminated using two light bulbs . The ball elevation from the top face of the post is measured using a sensor embedded in the post. The bottom chamber houses sensor and signal conditioning circuitry.

The objective of this experiment is to design a controller that levitates the steel ball from the post and makes it track a specified position trajectory. For additional details on the algorithmic implementation of this controller see the Real-Time Control Laboratory Manual - Experiment 4.

You can change the viewpoint for the animation window as follows. First, place the mouse cursor in the animation window. Next, click the left mouse button and drag the mouse to get the viewpoint you prefer. You can also resize the object being animated by pressing the "Alt" button on your keyboard, placing the mouse cursor in the animation window, clicking the left mouse button, and dragging the mouse.

Click the "Enter Here" link to enter the Maglev Control Design Web Panel: Enter Here

Instructions on operating the control design web panel

The maglev control design web panel allows users to compute the maglev PID controller gains by supplying (via an html form) a desired step command and a desired performance specification. After clicking on the Compute Control Gains button, a supplementary page will load onto the web panel providing:

a set of PID controller gains. a high-fidelity simulation plot of the maglev dynamics under control action. an illustrative step-by-step matlab script that details the computation of the controller gains.

The simulation plot may not be the most recently generated figure (due to the web browser's internal memory cache). Please refresh the web browser or clear the web browser's internal cache to view an updated simulation plot.

To view a sample movie of the Magnetic Levitation experiment, click on the following link:

Maglev.mpg

File Size: 4.3M

Download Time: 26 seconds for a T1 connection