AN EDUCATIONAL TOOL WITH REMOTE ACCESS FOR TEACHING MODELLING CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR ENGINEERING COURSES Wânderson O. Assis 1 , Alessandra Dutra Coelho 1 , Rubens Gedraite 2 , Eduardo Nadaleto da Matta 1 , Léo Kunigk 1 1 Centro Universitário do Instituto Mauá de Tecnologia, 2 Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, 1 Praça Mauá, 01, São Caetano do Sul, SP, ZIP CODE 09580-900, Brazil 2 Av. João Naves de Ávila, 2121, Uberlândia, MG, ZIP CODE 38400-902, Brazil wanderson.assis@maua.br, alessandra.coelho@maua.br; rgedraite@feq.ufu.br; eduardonadaleto@maua.br; kunigk@maua.br ABSTRACT This paper presents the use of a teaching tool that allows the temperature control and the system identification by Weighted Least Square Method. The system is an application of remote access laboratory, a WebLab, with real equipments and systems that can be remotely controlled by the web. At the approach, the WebLab allows the development of multidisciplinary experiments related to modelling control systems and is used as a tool for engineering education and for research projects. KEY WORDS Control system, system identification, modelling control systems, WebLab. 1. Introduction The continuous evolution of technology of information and the growing of new computational tools provide considerable advances to remote education and research fields. The laboratories using remote access, i.e. the WebLabs, are clear examples of computation use in education, but with a large differential because provide a possibility of a real learning with a distance supervision. This is possible mainly because the WebLabs provide a possibility of developing practical experiments, by accessing the equipment through the net in real laboratories and thus permitting control and data acquisition in real time. WebLabs have been developed and implanted in several Brazilian universities since last decade, presenting solutions for remote operations [1-4]. Several authors report about experience in utilization of WebLabs for teaching physics, chemistry [5], processes control [6, 7] and robotics [8]. Some WebLabs provide the possibility of development electronics experiments, including simulation tools [9, 10]. This paper presents the implementation of a didactic system, similar to industrial process for teaching modelling temperature control systems and parameters identification. The system is used to teaching process control and instrumentation in engineering courses. 2. Temperature Control System A computer-based control system is typically formed by digital computer, data acquisition board, interface electronic circuits and software package that allows the user to obtain, analyze and display all the experimental data [11]. The process control system, illustrated at Figure 1, is a didactic heating system, built with wood, including a lamp, where the heating is controlled by adjusting the applied voltage. A thermocouple (PT100) is used as temperature sensor and provides a voltage proportional to temperature. An electrical panel (Figure 2), including electronics signal conditioning circuits provide the conversion of voltage levels of sensor voltage, while a solid state relay produces adequate power in the lamp based on control signal produced by a data acquisition system. Cooling is produced by the control voltage applied to a cooler. Figure 1. Temperature Control System Proceedings of the Sixth IASTED International Conference August 16 - 18, 2016 Campinas, Brazil Modelling, Simulation and Identification (MSI 2016) DOI: 10.2316/P.2016.840-063 196