PID Turntable
Completed Fall 2024MEC 411: Control Systems - Analog and digital PID control implementation for precise turntable positioning
Overview
A turntable that tracks an arbitrary reference waveform with minimal error. I built the same PID loop twice — once in analog hardware with op-amps, once digitally in LabVIEW over a DAQ — to compare what each approach costs you in tuning effort and response.
Build
Analog loop
Op-amps compute the proportional, integral and derivative terms, with resistor and capacitor networks setting the gains and potentiometers for tuning. Fast, but every gain change means turning a screw.
Digital loop
The same control law in LabVIEW, reading the encoder through a DAQ and writing motor commands back. Slower per cycle, but gains change in software and the response is easy to log.
Tracking
Tuned for step response first — minimal overshoot, short settling — then checked against sinusoidal and triangular references from a wave generator, watching error on the oscilloscope.
Gallery
