Modular approach to motion control and laboratory automation.

摘要

The main purpose of the thesis is to present an original design of an intelligent motion controller. This controller serves as a basic unit in modular design of motion control for laboratory automation. As a stand-alone unit, the controller was used to automate an existing McBain-Bakr apparatus for adsorption measurements. A simple portable one-dimensional robot was built to scan the position of a sample using a specially developed laser optics system. Automatic recording of the position versus time allows study of adsorption-desorption dynamics.; Another objective is to show how interfacing applications to the PC family can be done. A design of an adaptor board featuring multiple I/O and interrupts lines, timers, and serial communication is presented. Such a board can be used for a variety of tasks in experimental control.; The contents of the thesis should give practical knowledge to a prospective reader about solving problems of interfacing and motion control using a Personal Computer as a host controller. Such knowledge is valuable to a researcher involved in automation of the laboratory. Availability of complex and standardized electronic circuitry, and products in the form of modules, has brought automation to a new level. Integration of those modules to form a flexible controlling system of an experiment can be done quickly and in a cost effective way. This offers increased productivity and opens new possibilities of original research.