PIPIMC: Computational Tool for Teaching FOPDT Model Identification and PI-IMC Tuning

Modeling, PID controller tuning and advanced control design are necessary theoretical contents and of fundamental importance in the academic formation of electrical, chemical, automation and control engineers. Given the complexity and abstraction of control conceptions, several educational tools have been developed, with different characteristics and functionalities, trying to lessen the hardships in the teaching/learning relationship and offering students a larger set of options to understand these theoretical contents. This paper presents a new computational tool as an alternative for training, teaching and learning in First-Order Plus Dead-Time (FOPDT) plant identification and PI control tuning with Internal Model Controller (IMC), both using simplified models from the FOPDT representation. This educational software, called PIPIMC, has an interface which is pleasant, motivational and intuitive for the user, produces interesting dynamic results and was developed in Matlab® environment.