Control Electronics
Control circuitry, with the plant structure
The control circuitry consists of a set of power supplies
and amplifiers connected to a control computer. The control computer
is a dedicated digital signal processor (DSP), programmed through the laptop.
The power supplies and amplifiers receive the signal from the position
sensor and send power to the actuator. An input/output box wired
to the analog to digital and digital to analog converters on the computer
allows the power electronics and the computer to talk to one another. In
the photograph above, the ball rests on a micrometer/force measurement apparatus
used in calibrating the system.
The power electronics box
Combining the plant and control electronics, the schematic for the whole
system is: