Modeling, simulation, and graphical visualization of a liquid level control system

This paper describes a Windows/C++-based PC environment for simulating and animating a liquid level tank under automatic control. The program consists of four modules: (i) a program user-interface module,(ii) a simulation module,(iii) a graphics/animation module, and (iv) an education module. The prog-ram-user interface module allows the user to interact with the program. More specifically, this module permits the user to select the desired liquid level model structure, model parameters, control law structure, control law parameters, reference commands, disturbances, initial conditions, integration routine, and integration routine parameters. The simulation module is responsible for generating a numerical solution for the closed loop dynamics. The graphics/animation module updates plots and animation on the screen using data generated by the simulation module. The education module provides the user with interactive lessons designed to teach fundamental systems and controls concepts. Designed to communicate with MATLAB, it is shown how this environment may be used to analyze many "what if" scenarios - observing. system dynamics both graphically and through animation, making the environment a very useful tool for teaching control system design concepts.