Designing and Building a Ball-on-Beam Balance System using an Infrared Sensor
Authors
Hamzah Ali Alkhazaleh
College of Engineering and IT, University of Dubai, Academic City, 14143, Dubai, UAE
Rebeya Anzum
Postgraduate Student, Kulliyyah (faculty) of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). P.O. Box 10, 50728 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Harikumar Pallathadka
PhD, Manipur International University, Imphal, Manipur, India
Automatic control has played a vital role in scientific development and is the integral part of manufacturing and industrial processes. One of the major problems in different industries is unstable systems control. Aircraft pitch angle control or vehicle roll angle control during cornering a bend can be obvious examples of instability control. Ball on beam balancing system is a laboratory sample for an unstable system so that by the better balance of this sample, the ability to improve the control of unstable systems can be obtained. The main purpose of this research is to build and develop the ball on beam balancing system by applying the infrared sensor and microcontroller. The challenge of ball on beam balancing system is to keep the rolling ball on a specified point of the track. For optimal control of the ball in the desired position, a proportional algorithm in BASIC programming language is written. In this program position of the ball observed in real time via infrared sensor and according to the position of the ball, angle of servo motor gets adjust until the ball be reach to the set point.
