Educational Control Products - Control Systems

ECP's unique MagLev apparatus dramatically demonstrates closed loop levitation of permanent and ferromagnetic elements. The apparatus includes laser feedback and high flux magnetics to affect large displacements and provide visually stimulating tracking and regulation demonstrations. The system is quickly set up in the open loop stable and unstable (repulsive and attractive fields) configurations shown. By adding a second magnet, two SIMO plants may be created, and by driving both actuators with both magnets, MIMO control is studied. The inherent magnetic field nonlinearities may be inverted via provided real-time algorithms for linear control study or the full system dynamics may be examined. Disturbances may be introduced via the second drive coil for demonstrating system regulation in SISO and SIMO operation

The field interaction between the two magnets causes strong cross coupling and thus produces a true multi-variable system. The inherent magnetic field nonlinearities may be inverted via provided real-time algorithms for linear control implementation or the full system dynamics may be studied.

This plant provides substantially more configuration flexibility and, by virtue of its dramatically greater levitation travel range, greater visual impact in demonstrations than any other educational maglev system.

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A set of experiments are included with this system that provide for the identification of system dynamics and implement various linear and nonlinear control schemes for the SISO and MIMO plant configurations.