Online PID practice

PID loops are fairly easy to explain but it can be a pain to practice and simulate them. Let's talk just a little about them and point you to some places to try them out.

Proportional Integral Derivative controls deal with different types of error. Roughly speaking, Proportional compares the current value at the setpoint. Integral deals with the accumulated time that a setpoint has not been met. Derivative deal with the rate of change of the error. If you are interested in the math, YouTube or Google. Make sure you are comfortable with differential equations beforehand (link to Khan, another great resource).

When it comes to setting up a lab, you also have options. If you are decent at programming and have a computer with admin privileges, try Python. If you have money to spend, try Simulator – OptiControls (free for 15 days as of this post) or Softinery. If not, you still have options.

Our fellow blessed nerds have provided two more options! Try our either this or that. Both allow you to play with the model themselves and the PID tuning response. Spend at least 15 minutes with one, until you feel more comfortable in using it. If time permits, I will go into detail on at least one of them.