xkyve
Newbie level 4
Hey,
This project I'm working on is about making a ping-pong ball float in a transparent plastic tube at a specified distance relative to the proximity sensor (infrared). The ball should float with minimum oscillations. A small ventilator at the base of the tube is used to push the ball up.
The fan has a brushless motor controlled through a driver that accepts a PWM signal from a microcontroller. The driver is basically a low-pass filter and a bipolar transistor that works in the active region. The fan datasheet specifically said that it can't be controlled directly with a PWM signal.
The infrared sensor outputs an analog signal that is read by the ADC of the microcontroller. Serial communication with the PC allows a user to specify the floating distance and view the distance read from sensor for debugging purposes.
I have reached the point where I have to implement an algorithm to make the ball float steadily at a given distance. I have very limited experience with digital control and I want to ask your help to guide me through this process. Any ideas, suggestions are welcome. Remember it's ok for the ball to oscillate a little and it's also ok if the stabilizing time is not very low.
The tube is about 35 cm long, 4.6 cm in diameter. The ball has 4 cm in diameter. The sensor is placed at the top of the tube, right on the top hole of the tube, letting the air to pass by. The sensor can measure distances from 4 cm to 30 cm. I have placed a thin wire in the tube to limit the ball from ever reaching distances below 4 cm relative to the sensor.
I have to mention that I don't have a linear characteristic in the output voltage of the fan driver in comparison with the PWM duty cycle. So 50% duty cycle doesn't mean half the supply voltage of the fan driver. The characteristic looks more like a capacitor charge curve. I don't know if this has a major impact in the design of the control algorithm.
The ball either stays down or goes up to the limit for a fixed duty cycle PWM signal. For example at 50% the ball is down, if I increase to 51% it slowly goes up and stays at the upper limit. There is no middle ground, only if I play with the duty cycle and continually change it.
Is the PI or PID method the best way to go? Will there be a problem if I have a buffer to compute the average of the readings (digital filter). How will this buffer impact my control algorithm? Do I need to consider the speed, not just the position of the ball; how fast should I change the PWM duty cycle?
I'm looking forward on reading your suggestions on the control algorithm
Thank you
This project I'm working on is about making a ping-pong ball float in a transparent plastic tube at a specified distance relative to the proximity sensor (infrared). The ball should float with minimum oscillations. A small ventilator at the base of the tube is used to push the ball up.
The fan has a brushless motor controlled through a driver that accepts a PWM signal from a microcontroller. The driver is basically a low-pass filter and a bipolar transistor that works in the active region. The fan datasheet specifically said that it can't be controlled directly with a PWM signal.
The infrared sensor outputs an analog signal that is read by the ADC of the microcontroller. Serial communication with the PC allows a user to specify the floating distance and view the distance read from sensor for debugging purposes.
I have reached the point where I have to implement an algorithm to make the ball float steadily at a given distance. I have very limited experience with digital control and I want to ask your help to guide me through this process. Any ideas, suggestions are welcome. Remember it's ok for the ball to oscillate a little and it's also ok if the stabilizing time is not very low.
The tube is about 35 cm long, 4.6 cm in diameter. The ball has 4 cm in diameter. The sensor is placed at the top of the tube, right on the top hole of the tube, letting the air to pass by. The sensor can measure distances from 4 cm to 30 cm. I have placed a thin wire in the tube to limit the ball from ever reaching distances below 4 cm relative to the sensor.
I have to mention that I don't have a linear characteristic in the output voltage of the fan driver in comparison with the PWM duty cycle. So 50% duty cycle doesn't mean half the supply voltage of the fan driver. The characteristic looks more like a capacitor charge curve. I don't know if this has a major impact in the design of the control algorithm.
The ball either stays down or goes up to the limit for a fixed duty cycle PWM signal. For example at 50% the ball is down, if I increase to 51% it slowly goes up and stays at the upper limit. There is no middle ground, only if I play with the duty cycle and continually change it.
Is the PI or PID method the best way to go? Will there be a problem if I have a buffer to compute the average of the readings (digital filter). How will this buffer impact my control algorithm? Do I need to consider the speed, not just the position of the ball; how fast should I change the PWM duty cycle?
I'm looking forward on reading your suggestions on the control algorithm
Thank you