Multi Loop Control: Some Aspects with regard to Engineering Education

Abstract The paper deals with computer modelling and simulation engineering (CMSE) as an important part in many higher education engineering programs. Some activities were initiated by an Erasmus+ project InMotion with the general aim to improve the level of competencies and skills in CMSE by the development of new and innovative education approaches and learning modules at some Russian Federation and Malaysian universities in cooperation with three European universities. The basic role of the University of Ljubljana is to transfer the appropriate experiences and knowledge in the area of control systems. So this paper briefly describes our way of teaching the control engineering using some important methods and modern tools. After a brief presentation of the red thread of CMSE education a laboratory set-up, consisting of three tanks is used to demonstrate some characteristic approaches in control education. The modelling is the first step. After that the single loop and multi-loop control systems are designed using well known Ziegler-Nichols tuning methods and computer optimization. The emphasise is given also to the appropriate modelling, simulation and control design environments. The Matlab-Simulink as a representative of causal conventional approach and Dymola-Modelica as a representative of a more advanced acausal multi-domain and object oriented approach are used. In the final discussion some experiences arising from the described control education are given and some advantages and disadvantages of the mentioned computer environments are analysed.