I'm at the planning stage of a levitation project which will control the "target" in all three axes (X,Y and Z).
I hope to use Brett Beauregard's PID function on all axes to simplify the code but am concerned that I might run out of processing time on a Micro if I use the function for each axis every millisecond.
Has anyone a feel for the likely execution time - I have a suspicion it might be in the hundreds of microseconds as there are quite a few heavy calcs to be done?
Hi,
How are you levitating your object?
If magnetically, how will you prevent the magnetic fields interacting with each other?
How much power do you think you will need?
Can you post a basic diagram of your proposed setup mechanically?
Thanks.. Tom....
I thought you could design the magnetic field to make the objects position stable , then you can just raise and lower controlling the one axis .
I'm re-inventing the wheel for the fun of it - there are already commercial versions using my preferred setup.
Most of the levitation will be provided by permanent magnets, but these cannot provide a stable situation. It is necessary to continuously monitor the position of the object and apply correcting forces via the electromagnets - hence the use of the PID controls.
The maximum power is likely to be in the order of 6 to 8watts if all the coil currents are at maximum - an unlikely situation as this would imply that control about to be lost. More likely its going to be around a tenth of that if the PID's are doing their job correctly. Time will tell!!
Unfortunately, Hammy, Earnshaw’s Theorem tells us that levitation by magnets alone is not possible - active intervention is required. (Hence the loud hum from UFO's
You beat me to it Tom!!
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