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This article deals with the development of a real-time digital experimental setup for reinforcement of control education, using available components such as prototyping system and a DC motor module for graduate research activities. The prototyping system called prototyper is a flexible development system to control designs of a real plant without manual programming. The DC motor module is a bench-scale analog system and it was modified to be used as a hardware in the loop (HIL) in the implementation of the experimental setup. The design of PID controllers and the frequency response tests were conducted. It is demonstrated that the design of PID controllers and frequency response tests can easily be conducted on the developed experimental setup. This work aims to train student practically in the education of real-time digital controller in automatic control and mechatronic courses.

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This article addresses the development of a control system design methodology to make control courses easier to understand. The methodology can be handled in four stages: Modeling, controller design and tuning of the controller gains, simulation, and experimental studies. A PC‐based control system environment is chosen to help students/researchers understand the control system both theoretically and experimentally. An electro‐hydraulic system is used for training. Such fluid power systems are widely used in the industrial area and combine different engineering system properties. First, a system is defined by a mathematical model and simulated using the MATLAB/Simulink environment. An easy to use toolbox, Simscape/Simhydraulics, is used to facilitate the modeling phase in simulation of the hydraulic system. Next, the design of the feedback controller is proposed. Basic controllers in control education, such as proportional + derivative + integral (PID) and a Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC), are utilized, and the gains of the controllers are tuned with a simplified method according to the given design criteria. The proposed tuning method can also be useful for overdamped or first‐order systems. Time and frequency responses of the system are obtained and evaluated. The experimental studies are conducted on a hydraulic control system at the Automatic Control Laboratory of the Mechanical Engineering Department of Uludağ University. This work aims to train engineering students/researchers both theoretically and practically regarding PC‐based control system design and fluid power systems.

Proportional solenoids are generally preferred in the solenoid valve parts of electropneumatic brake valves used in brake systems of heavy vehicles. Using of proportional solenoid valve in the system, a proportional relationship is obtained between the current and the magnetic force in a specific working region, independently of the displacement of moving element. According to applied magnetic force, the moving element of the solenoid moves and the proportional flow required for the fluid part of valve is transmitted to the system. In applications about flow control, it can be seen that proportional mass flow rate output can be obtained by using on-off type solenoid valves driven by various techniques such as Pulse Width Modulation (PWM). In this study, a solenoid design which is the first phase for analyzing the usability of on-off type solenoid in electronically controlled pneumatic brake systems has been made and static characteristics of solenoid have been investigated theoretically. Solenoid has been sized according to specific design parameters and modeled by using ANSYS/Maxwell finite element program. Static characteristics of the solenoid defined by current-displacement-magnetic force and current-displacementmagnetic flux linkage curves have been obtained.