spreadsheet control – process identification, .docVIP

International Cooperation in Control Engineering Education using Online experiments Jim Henry, Ph.D., P.E. College of Engineering and Computer Science University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Chattanooga, Tennessee 37403 e-mail: jim-henry@ Prof. Dr.-Ing. Herbert M. SchaedelUniversity of Applied Sciences Koeln, Faculty of Information, Media and Electrical Engineering Betzdorfer Str. 2, 50769 Koeln, e-mail: HMSchaedel@t-online.de  Abstract: This paper describes the international cooperation experience in teaching control engineering with laboratories being conducted remotely by students via the Internet. This paper describes how the students ran the experiments and their personal experiences with the laboratory. This paper outlines a tool for process identification and controller tuning based on spreadsheets like MS-Excel. Process identification and modelling can be carried out for the open and closed-loop control circuit. Controller tuning is done according to the criterion of cascaded damping ratios. The design is based on a direct relation between the parameters of the process and the controller. Tuning for optimal set-point control as well disturbance rejection is provided. Keywords: International cooperation, engineering laboratories, remote experiments, process identification, PID-control, control system design, multivariable control systems, software tools.  1. INTRODUCTION Web browsers and spreadsheet programs are installed on nearly every PC or laptop. At the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga web site, experiments on real equipment can be conducted remotely for engineering controls systems. Students at the University of Applied Sciences Koeln have conducted laboratory experiments (remotely) in the USA. At the completion of the experiments, the students retrieve the data, which they analyse for system identification. A tool has been developed for process identification, controller tuning and control circuit simulation. The tool is base