Analysis and control of an inverse pendulum on cart either pneumatically or electrically actuated

This thesis project, developed in the Dimeas department of the Politecnico of Turin, has as primary objective the design and control of an inverse pendulum on cart. Such a control is realized through a configuration of cascade PIDs, implemented in a PLCs7-1500. The system uses an electric actuation, by means of a brushless servomotor, that receives the control signals by the drive S210. After a short review of the scientific literature, where it is described the state of the art of this argument, it is reported the project of the test bench, realized through the software Solidworks. Moreover, all the adopted components are described. This section concludes with the realization phases of the test bench. Next, the technological objects, used for the movimentation of the axis of the cart, are handled in the details. Moreover, it is analyzed, step by step, their setting operations in the TIA Portal environment, in reference to the used PLC. The next three sections describe the modellization of the mechanical system cart-pendulum, the electric motor and the pneumatic motor. There is the presentation of the PID controllers, in their configuration in cascade and parallel, applied to both the linearized models and the non-linear ones, and the Model Predictive Control (MPC). For each of them, the simulations, performed in Matlab/Simulink, are reported. Successively, it is described Simscape and Simscape Multibody, by reporting their main features and blocks. In particular, the physical model of the pneumatic actuator and electric motor are deepened. Then, cascade and parallel PIDs are designed for both of them. The main part of the thesis is concentrated in the final part, where it is reported the experimental phase that led to the stabilization of the real physical system. The obtained results are highlighted, by imposing as setpoint firstly a step signal, then a square wave signal and a sinusoidal signal too. Some of these tests are conducted by varying the concentrated mass of the pendulum and length of the rod.