International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication ISSN: 2321-8169

Volume: 5 Issue: 5 1332 1339

_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Dynamics and Control of Ball and Beam System

Santosh Anand Rajkishore Prasad

Research Scholar, P.G. Department of Electronics, B.N. College, Patna, Ashok Rajpath, Patna, India.
B.R.A. Bihar University, Muzaffarpur, Bihar , India e-mail:[email protected]
e-mail: [email protected]

Abstract In this paper modeling and dynamics of Ball and Beam system have been studied and presented. Ball beam system is
very useful system is widely used in control system laboratory as an experimental arrangement. Its basic principles of control is
similar to control principles used in many industrial applications. So understanding control of ball and beam system makes one to
understand and design control strategy for industrial application. Due to such resemblances and simplicity this system has been
widely used and studied and controlled using different techniques. Here in this paper system dynamics and control of the system
using PD controlled is presented.
Keywords-ball and beam system; control; dynamics; optimal control;
________________________________________________*****_________________________________________________

I. INTRODUCTION
In recent age with evolution of science and technology many It has two degrees of freedom. In this system a ball is
placed at the beam as shown in Fig.1, and lever arm attached to
control problems have arisen in real physical world. Control
one end point on the beam and other end of a lever arm also
problems can be solved by specific suitable controller.
attached to a rotation system or motor. When lever arm changes
Controller design is an expression of control system the position of beam from its reference position with angle
imagination and creativity. The problem of designing a then position of ball also changes in non-linear fashion due to
controller has always been a source of study for control system gravity. If the beam angle remains constant the ball will pass
engineers. Some real physical problems cant be brought into through the beam with changing velocity. In order to regulate
laboratory to study. So to solve such problems an equivalent motion of the ball on beam the inclination of the beam is
system is developed in laboratory. One of them is ball and required to be changed in such a way that can stop fall out of
beam control system. The ball and beam system is one of the the ball by reversing direction of motion. Such changes in the
most important models used in teaching control system beam angle at proper time leads to regulated motion of the ball
engineering. This system is basically part of study of control on beam. Also by properly adjusting inclination of the beam
system development and is widely used, because of its ball can be positioned at any point on the beam. If it has to be
simplicity and safe mechanism to study dynamics of unstable done manually, the whole thing looks like a toy that requires
system. There have been several studies on the development of concentration and manipulation in beam angle observing
automatic control system for it. The theories used to solve position of the ball on beam. However, to do the same
control of ball and beam problem is useful in many other real automatically, it requires a controller that can control rotation
control applications such as in horizontal stabilization of air- of motor to adjust tilt of beam such that position of ball is
plane at landing and take-off, turbulent air flow and aerospace controlled.
control etc., however, bringing such type of problems in Many researchers have designed and studied ball and
laboratory is neither easier nor safer. Thus using simpler and beam system. Some of them are described here for reference.
safer system of same control nature can be used. Ball and Arroyo, in his research, built system ball on balancing beam
beam system provides such a platform. Different researchers using resistive wire sensor to control position of the ball using
have developed ball and beam system. A typical ball and PD controller [1]. In that system design of PD controller is
beam system is shown in Fig.1. easier, however, the tilt angle of the beam was neither
measured nor controlled which affected robustness of the
system. In another work [2], Linear Quadratic Regulator
(LQR) controller has been used to develop system named as
ball and beam balancer in which both the position of the ball
and tilt angle of the beam are measured and controlled.
Quanser developed a commercial product named ball and
beam module using PID controller using DC servomotor. The
other system as reported in [3] which uses ultrasonic sensor to
sense position of the ball and potentiometer to measure tilt
angle of the beam. The ball and beam system developed by
Hirsch uses ultrasonic sensor to sense position of the ball on
the beam [4]. In [5], the described system has been made from
acrylic and aluminum and control is similar to that of in [2].
Lieberman developed a system known as a Robotic Ball
Balancing Beam. In that system resistive wire based position
Fig.1 Ball and Beam System. sensor has been used to sense position of the ball on the beam
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International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication ISSN: 2321-8169
Volume: 5 Issue: 5 1332 1339
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
[6]. Ball and beam system is a simple system which is an consider the Fig.2 in which position of the ball at any instant of
example of unstable open loop system, however, complexity time is x, the inclination of the beam is considered along x-axis.
in its control, makes it very significant system, for control The motion of the ball on beam is translational and
engineers. It has both academic and industrial applications. In rotational. Now, let the translational acceleration of the ball is
the control laboratories it is used to demonstrate principles of for which force is given by
many complex and big system which cannot be brought into 2
= = 2 , (1)
laboratory setup. Ball and beam and its two dimensional
version, that is ball on balancing plate, have many practical where = .

applications in real world control problems such as The rotational torque of the ball = J

passengers platform balancing in luxury cars, the control of where =
exothermic chemical process reactions where heat increase the and = ,
process, control of rocket toppling control system and aircraft
vertical takeoff and airplane horizontally stabilizing during and rotational force = = 2

landing and in turbulent airflow and moving liquid container
on road etc. Ball and beam system having two degree of
freedom and due to inherent nonlinearity it is a challenging
control problem[7]. Ball and beam system is used for teaching,
understanding control characteristic and solving difficult
control problems. For many unbalanced system, present in
daily life, where size and shape not suitable for study purpose
in laboratory, ball and beam system can be used to learn
control mechanism. Some unbalanced systems are
exothermically preceding reactions, in power generation, and
in aerospace. These types of real unbalanced systems are most
difficult and dangerous control problems and cannot be
brought in laboratory. So, ball and beam system gives an
advanced role in study of this type of real unbalanced system
and suitable controller design for industrial as well as
academic purposes.
II. MODELING AND DYNAMICS
Mathematical modeling of any system provides ways for Fig.2. Ball and Beam system with Newton balances of forces
scientific study and understanding of the system functioning
and behavior. Ball and beam system can be broken into As shown in Fig.2.We have
subsystems and functioning of each subsystem provides
integrated effect in which ball looks moving smoothly on the + =
beam in accordance with tilt of the beam and vice-versa. From (2)
the mathematical analysis point of view, thus it becomes 2 + =

important to know contribution and co-ordination of each
subsystem. From the control point of view it is essential to Now, tilt of the beam is controlled by rotational angle
develop equation of motion of and transfer function of the of the gear disc connected to motor. The liver arm elevates
system[8].
and brings down beam as per value of as shown in Fig.2. In
A. Transfer function of Ball Beam system the simple way the relation between and can be obtained
Transfer function of any system is defined as the ratio of using geometry of the lever arm section as shown in Fig.3. As
Laplace transform of output and input. Using classical is obvious from diagram of ball and beam system that the up
Newtonian balance of forces method as shown in Fig.2.We can and down motion in beam is produced due to its rotations
derive transfer function and equation of ball and beam system. about 1 . The said rotation of beam is produced by rotation of
The equation of motion of ball on beam can be derived using motor at . The beam is connected at to lever mechanism
Newtonian mechanics or Lagrange method. Then from these consisting of lever arms = and = .The rotation in
equations transfer function of the system can be obtained. Such motor produces rotation in and vertical shift in arm
an analysis also provides better understanding of the which accordingly moves beam 1 . The relation between
functioning of the system which further helps in the controller angular displacement in and corresponding deflection in
design using different methods. The mathematical modeling of beam is required. Let the motor arm reaches at and end
the system requires relation between position of the ball and tilt of beam moves to such that = and 1 = .
angle of the beam and relation between input voltage and angle
Obviously,
of rotation of DC motor. Thus its transfer function can be
obtained as combination of transfer functions of subsystems = cos ; = sin ;
namely (i) beam tilt to ball position and (ii) motor input voltage = = (1 cos )
to its angle of rotation and tilt angle of the beam. In order to 1 = cos ; = sin ; = (1 cos )
derive relation between ball position and beam angle let us = sin ; = cos ; = cos sin
= =

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International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication ISSN: 2321-8169
Volume: 5 Issue: 5 1332 1339
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
sin = Acos + sin
+ 2 () = ()
sin (1 cos ) sin = 0 2
sin (1 cos ) sin = 0
sin = sin (1 cos ) 30
Beam Length L=10 unit,Lever Arm H=16 unit, Motor shaft d=4 unit

= sin sin 1 cos (3)

Now 20

+ =
sin + = 10

sin + ( cos ) = cos

(in Degree)
sin = (1 cos ) (1 cos ) (4) 0

The general solution for and is complex[10] for the given

input angle . However, under restriction that the dependence -10

of on is very weak and thus from (4) we can get Approx1

-20 Approx2
Real

-30
-100 -80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100
(in Degree)

Fig.4 Relation between and as per different approximated

relation which shows that the relation is linear for smaller
value of motor angle

() 1
= = 2
() (8)
+
2
Obviously, transfer function is double integrator
and thus provides challenging control problem. We know that
2
the moment of inertia of ball is = 2 . Thus the transfer
5
function can be finally given by

1
= = 2
S (9)

where constant = 7 .

Since the tilt angle of the beam is controlled by the
motor angle and is controlled by the input voltage, the
transfer function of motor is also essential to establish relation
between and input voltage.The DC servomotor linked to
beam pivot decides tilt of the beam which in turn controls
Fig.3. Relation between motor angle and beam angle motion of ball on the beam[9]. As discussed above the tilt
angle and angular rotation of the motor are related by
sin = (1 cos ) Eq.7.The angle of rotation of the motor decided by the
= sin

1 cos (5) applied input voltage ().The transfer function () of
the motor is obtained as follows.
And As shown in figure a DC motor is used in servo
(6)
sin sin motor, we first model DC motor which may be armature

controlled or field controlled. We consider here armature
, (7)
controlled DC motor. In the armature controlled DC motor

shaft position and speed is controlled by armature current and
cos sin field current is kept constant. The circuit diagram of armature
=
& =

2 2 controlled DC motor is shown in Fig.5.
1 2 (sin )2 1 2 (1cos )2

The beam angle is proportional to motor angle which in turn

proportional to input voltage.
From Eq. (2) and (7), we get

2
+ = , ( sin )

Taking the Laplace transform of both sides assuming

initial condition zero. We get Fig.5 Armature controlled DC motor.
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International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication ISSN: 2321-8169
Volume: 5 Issue: 5 1332 1339
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Parameters shown in the Fig.5.are,

= Taking Laplace transform we get
= () + () = ()
= ( ) + =
=
= ( + ) =Equivalent MI of motor and Load = (15)
+
0 =

The applied armature voltage setup armature This means position () of the shaft in above block diagram
current in the armature circuit the torque produced by is obtained by integrating

. Thus the block diagram of
motor is proportional to airgap flux and armature current +
and can be given by Fig.6 can be modified as shown in Fig.7.

= 1 = 1
= 1 = 1 =
where 1 = ; = constant
is known as motor constant

Application of KVL in armature circuit gives

+ + = (10)

where is the back emf produced by the rotation of armature
in the magnetic field and is proportional to speed of the motor

= , (11) Fig.7 Modified block diagram of DC motor

where is the back e.m.f. constant.
The torque developed by motor is used to rotate load and
in fighting viscous forces.
Thus the torque equation is given by It is interesting to note that that DC motor is an open
loop system but the block diagram in Fig.7 shows that it keeps
2 (12) a built-in feedback loop for the back e.m.f. However, this
+ = =
2 feedback is taken as electric friction which is proportional to
negative rate of change of position () of the motor.This
Now taking Laplace transforms, assuming initial condition feedback improves stability of the motor. The overall transfer
zero of equation (10), (11) and (12), we get function of the block diagram of Fig.7 is given by
() + () + () = () ()
( + ) = () (13) () =

= ()
2 + = =
3
+ + 2 + +
These equations can be used to represent block diagram of Since is very small or negligible.
motor as shown in Fig.6.

() =
( + + )

(16)
= ,
+

where = + .


Fig.6 TF of DC motor Appearance of term in = + shows that the in built

feedback loop for back e.m.f. enhances viscous friction and
thus known as electric friction.

In Eq(12) putting = =

We get
(14) () = =
+ = ( + 1)
+1

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International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication ISSN: 2321-8169
Volume: 5 Issue: 5 1332 1339
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
(17) ball will roll down under gravity and go out of the beam with
velocity depending upon tilt of the beam as shown in Fig.11.
where = = , Thus to control and regulate motion of the ball on the beam
some control mechanism is required which will change tilt of
= = .
the beam in such way that will stop fall down of ball as well as
regulate motion of the ball. This TF contains two poles at
Further it can be shown that = in MKS units. Also, the origin.
transfer function for the speed can be given by
Step Response
= 100
( + 1) (18)
where and are gain and time constants depending on
motor parameters such as armature resistance, back e.m.f. 80
constant and motor load equivalent moment of inertia.
Thus the simplified block diagram of the motor is given by

Boll Position
60

40

20

Fig.8. Simplified block diagram of DC motor

0
0 10 20 30 40
Time (seconds)
This block diagram makes it obvious that DC motor is an
Fig.10.Step response of ball and beam system which shows that
integrating device. In the servo system this DC motor is
for the constant tilt angle the ball will move away from if tilt is
connected to load via gear system and a position sensor such not changed.
as potentiometer is attached to the output shaft.
The overall open loop transfer function G(s) of the ball and
beam system can obtained by combining motor function G m(s) 3.5
=0
and GB(s), TF of ball and beam system as shown in Fig.9. =5
3
=10
=15
Maximum Velocity (m/s)

2.5 =20
=25

2 =30

1.5

Fig.9. TF of Ball and Beam system 1

0.5
System parameters used in simulation
m = 0.111 kg;R = 0.015 m;g = -9.8m/s^2; 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
L = 1.0h; d = 0.03m; Position on Beam(in m)

J = 9.99e-6 kgm^2;
Fig.11 Velocity of ball at different positions of beam for
The overall transfer function G(s) of the ball and beam system different values of beam tilt (in degree)
is given by
= . This transfer function includes relation between motor arm
rotation and transmission of to beam angle . The input
() (19) voltage rotates motor and the angular displacement of motor
= = 3
arm is transmitted to beam rotation. Obviously this contains
() (1+) two parts namely (i) input voltage to motor arm rotation and
motor arm to beam rotation. The relation between and beam
angle is also complicated and has been obtained in Eq.(3), (6)
III. NATURE OF TRANSFER FUNCTION and (7). This relation is shown in Fig 12 for different d/L ratio
A. Beam tilt to ball positin TF and it is evident that for smaller range of , beam angle
varies linearly. The value of beam tilt depends on the contact
This transfer function as obtained in Eq.(7) and (8) decides point of the lever arm with beam also. For the given setup of
position of the ball on the beam for the given tilt angle of the motor arm length and lever arm such variation in beam tilt is
beam. The step response of this transfer function is shown in shown in Fig.13 as per Eq.(6). The linearity as well as range of
Fig.10 which shows that for the any given tilt of the beam the relation reduces with increasing contact length.
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International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication ISSN: 2321-8169
Volume: 5 Issue: 5 1332 1339
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

30 Value of \theta and \Beta

60
Approx1
d=4,A=5
Approx2
20 d=2.5,A=5
Approx3 50 d=3.5,A=7
d=4,A=14
d=4,A=16
10 40

(in Degree)
(in Degree)

0 30

20
-10

10
-20

0
-100 -80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100
-30 (in Degree)
-100 -50 0 50 100
(in Degree) Fig14 Dependence of on motor angle for different values
of motor arm d and lever arm A.
Fig.12 The relation between beam motor angle between and
beam angle shown by legend Approx1, Approx2 and
Approx3 for Eq.(3),(6) and (7) respectively.
Real Value of and
The dependence of on motor angle for different values 50
of motor arm d and lever arm A, as is obtained in Eq.(5) is
45
shown in Fig.14. The practical values for the same setup
obtained by making diagram as shown in Fig.3 were measured 40 d=4,A=5
d=2.5,A=5
and are plotted in Fig.15 which shows agreement with Eq.(5). 35 d=3.5,A=7
d=4,A=14
(in Degree)

30 d=4,A=16
Beam Contact Length L=100 unit,Lever Arm A=16 unit, Motor shaft d=10 unit
100
25
10 cm
80
30 20
60 50
15
70
40 90
10
100
(in Degree)

20 5

0 0
-100 -80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100
-20 (in Degree)

-40 Fig.15 Relation between of and motor angle measured for

different values of motor arm d and lever arm A.
-60
B. Motor transfer function
-80
The motor transfer function as given by Eq.(17) and (18)
-100
-100 -80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100
(in Degree)

Fig.13 Variation in beam tilt with variation in motor angle 1.6 Motor Position
for different contact point of lever arm on beam. 1.4 Step Input
g
It is obvious from these graphs that the dependence of 1.2
and motor angle can be ignored for ranges up to -30 t0o 30 1
degrees. The tilt in beam angle depends on point contact with
0.8
lever arm but contact near the pivot O of the beam may
introduce unwanted vibration in the beam. The ration of length 0.6
of motor arm and beam length plays important role in deciding 0.4
these relations. The graph shown in Fig 14 in red line presents
0.2
approximation done by Eq.(7) for the relation between beam
angle and motor angle. For the approximation of these angular 0
0 0.5 1 1.5
relation in [10] authors have presented nonlinear relations Time (sec)
taking into consideration three parameters namely beam length, Fig.16 step response of motor (open loop)
lever arm length and motor arm length.
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International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication ISSN: 2321-8169
Volume: 5 Issue: 5 1332 1339
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
represents a system which requires control to direction of
rotation. For the given constant input the motor shaft position
C. Ball and beam system transfer function
is shown in Fig 16. .In order to control motor PD control can
be used. The motor transfer function () represents 2nd The overall transfer function as obtained above in
order system and PD control will preserve its order. In the PD Eq.(19) of the ball beam system represents 4th order system.
controller the control signal 1 () is given by The open loop behavior of the ball and beam system, as shown
in Fig. 10 indicates that with no control on the tilt of beam,
1 = + the beam allows ball to move rapidly over it to fall out. The
close examination of ball beam system from control point of
where = Proportioonal gain
view shows that for the controlled movement of ball on beam,
= Derivative gain
beam angle needs to be changed according to position of the
ball so that ball can be stopped from falling down. The beam
These PD parameters are tuned to give optimal
performance. The step response of PD controller is shown in angle is decided by the motor angle through lever arms.
Fig.18 The amount of rotation in motor is governed by the input
voltage supplied to motor. The functional relation for
control of ball beam system is shown in Fig.20. Obviously, the
equivalent block diagram contains TF of fourth order and
design of the controller for the same is very difficult. However
ball beam system can be controlled by two controllers one for
motor control and other for the beam angle control per ball
position.

Fig.17 SIMULINK Model of DC motor control.

Step response of PD controller

1
Kp=10
Fig.20 Control of Ball Beam System
Value

0.8 Kp=50
Kd=5 Kp=100
0.6 Kp=150
step The step response of ball and beam system using PD control
0 1 2 3 4 5 is shown in Fig 21 for different values of Kp and Kd.
Time
Step response of PD controller

1 Kd=5
kd=2
Step Response (PD Controller)
Value

0.9 kd=1
0.7
kd=0.1 Kp=150
0.8
step
0.6
0.7
0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2
Time 0.5
Fig.18 Step response of PD controlled DC motor.
0.4

0.3

Kd=5,Kp=10
0.2
Kd=15,Kp=10

0.1 Kd=30,Kp=10
Kd=100,Kp=10
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time(sec)

Fig.21 Step response of PD controlled Ball beam system.

Fig.19 Tracking of input signal pattern by PD controlled motor

obtained by simulation in SIMULINK.
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International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication ISSN: 2321-8169
Volume: 5 Issue: 5 1332 1339
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
IV. CONCLUSIONS [5] A. R. Rosales A ball on beam project kit, B A thesis, MIT,
USA,2004
In this paper dynamics and control of ball and beam [6] J. Lieberman, A robotic ball balancing beam,
system has been presented. The system function for http://bea.st/sight/rbbb/rbb.pdf, 2004
different subsystems have been obtained and detailed [7] John Hauser, S. Sastry, and Peter Kokotovic,Nonlinear control
analysis on relation between motor and beam angle has via approximate input-output linearization: The Ball and Beam
example,1992
been presented with theoretical and experimental results.
[8] Bipin Krishna,S. Gangopadhyay, Jim George,Design and
PD control has been used to control the system and result simulation of Gain Scheduling PID controller for Ball and Beam
obtained by simulation in SIMULINK have been also system,Signal processing and Electronics Engineering
presented. (ICSSEE, 2012) Dubai (UAE) December 26-27, 2012
[9] Santosh Anand, R. K. Prasad and M. M. Prasad, Deptt of
Electronics, B. R. A Bihar University, Muzaffarpur, Control of
Ball and Beam system, Ideal science review (A referred journal
V. REFERENCES of science),ISSN: 2320-1819,Vol.- II, no.- 1, April 2013,
[1] S. Arroyo,Ball on balancing beam,built by Berkeley robotics published by Buddha mission of India, Patna, Bihar, India
laboratory available at [10] A novel ball on beam stabilizing platform with inertial sensors
http://bleex.me.berkeley.edu/ME102/proj_archive/F03/Proj9/con by Ali shahbaz haider, Basit safir, Muhammad nasir and Farhan
tactinfo.htm, 2006. farooq, Electrical Engineering Dept., COMSATS Instituate of
[2] S. Ambalavanar, M. H. Moinuddin and A. Malyshev, Ball and Information Technology Wah Pakistan, (IJACSA) International
Beam balancer, BA Thesis, University of Lakehead,2006 Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, vol.6,
no.8, 2015
[3] Quanser, Ball and Beam module, www.quanser.com ,2006
[4] R. Hirsch (1999), Ball on Beam instruction system, shandor
motion systems, 1999

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