Stability Control for an Inverted Pendulum : Simulation and Control System Implementations

Sammanfattning

This bachelor’s thesis explores the stabilization of an inherently unstable system, the inverted pendulum, using a Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller implemented in a simulated environment and tested in hardware. The inverted pendulum poses a classic control problem due to its natural tendency to fall over, making it an ideal project for exploring different control systems. To solve the problem of stabilization of the pendulum a physical model of the system was constructed and the dynamics of the system were modeled in the Simulink environment. A PID regulator was chosen as the controller and different methods were used to find PID coefficients for achieving system stability. Various experiments were conducted to fine tune the gain values. The results demonstrate that while the system could be stabilized for a short period of time, maintaining long term stability proved challenging due to mechanical limitations and the non-ideal behaviors of the components, particularly the stepper motor used for actuation. These experiments provided insights into the discrepancies between simulated predictions and actual performance, highlighting the impact of factors choosing right input values for the simulation and mechanical limitations. Ultimately, this project reinforced the theoretical foundations of control systems and highlighted practical challenges that are present in such a project, also offering improvements for alternative actuation mechanisms and more robust and better suited control algorithms.