Hope College Department of Physics and Engineering Research Experiences for Undergraduates Summer 2005 Project Summary

The objective of this project was to design, build, and find the modeling parameters for an inertia disc driven pendulum. The design was determined by a number of parameters that were specified at the beginning of the project. These parameters were: that the pendulum be reasonably portable, sturdy, have a low amount of friction, and that the inertia disc be able to impart enough momentum to overcome the inertia of the arm.

After designing the pendulum in ProE the pendulum was built to the predetermined specifications. Mulder, J. and Abrahantes, M. developed an interface between the pendulum and the computer. Large quantities of data on the system and how it reacted to various inputs were taken. MATLab was used to implement algorithms to determine the modeling parameters used in system identification. Appropriate models of the pendulum depending on various frictions were created in Simulink. These Simulink models were used to test the validity of the modeling parameters determined in MATLab.

K.J. Buter, J. Mulder, M.Á. Abrahantes, ''CONSTRUCTION AND MODELING OF AN UNDERACTUATED PENDULUM DRIVEN BY AN INERTIA DISC'', The Joint Meeting of the SIXTEENTH ANNUAL Argonne Symposium for Undergraduates in SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS & THE CENTRAL STATES UNIVERSITIES, INCORPORATED (csui), November 4-5, 2005
http://www.dep.anl.gov/p_undergrad/ugsymp/2005Abstracts(PDF)/Buter,%20Karl.pd

"MODELING, IDENTIFICATION AND CONTROL OF AN UNDER ACTUATED INITIAL WHEEL PENDULUM", M. Abrahantes, J. Mulder, K. Buter. IEEE. S.S. on System Theory. Macon , Georgia. Proceedings page 1.