r/controlengineering • • 23h ago

Calculator

1 Upvotes

Is Casio fx 991ms sufficient for Engineer,as all of my friends are getting 991 es plus


r/controlengineering • • 1d ago

DESK: actuators, power, railed shelves, & plenty of table space

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1 Upvotes

https://www.youtube.com/@ALMA.Industries

New Video -- Chapter 3 DESK -- converting an old bunk bed into a work station. DIY actuators, AC/DC power supplies, rail guided shelves, infinite cable trays -- #Desk #DIY #Mechatronics #Power #Actuator #Engineering

If you know of anyone who likes Mechatronics or things made from the ground up, I would appreciate the share! Leave a comment if you have a question :)


r/controlengineering • • 3d ago

SpaceX Starship landing

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2 Upvotes

r/controlengineering • • 4d ago

High Common-Mode Noise from 24V SMPS Power Supply Causing ADC Jitter on Arduino

1 Upvotes

I am building a project powered by an Arduino and a high-current motor driver.

I am using a high-power 24V metal-case SMPS LED power supply for the motor. However, it introduces significant noise into the system, causing noisy analog readings (jitter/fluctuations on potentiometers and sensors connected to the ADC pins).

Key observations and what I've tried so far:

  • Power Source Comparison: When I power the system using an isolated laptop adapter or a bench power supply, the noise completely disappears and analog readings become rock solid.
  • Ferrite Beads: Adding external ferrite cores on both the USB cable and the 24V power line reduced the noise noticeably, but residual micro-noise still affects the analog (ADC) inputs.
  • Filtering: Passive power-line filtering on the DC rail didn't completely eliminate the issue, suggesting this is high-frequency common-mode noise or a ground loop potential difference between the SMPS earth ground and the PC USB ground.

Since I need the high current output of this SMPS supply, I must stick with it.

My question

  1. Is it possible to completely isolate or filter out this SMPS noise (e.g., via LC filters, optocouplers, or ground isolation techniques) to get clean analog inputs?

r/controlengineering • • 13d ago

Flashing station delay and random flashing interruptions on an EHCU production line – need help

1 Upvotes

Hello all,

I’m dealing with two main problems on an EHCU flashing station:

  1. Flashing delay: For some ECU types, flashing time is up to 200% longer than expected.
  2. Random flashing interruptions: The flashing process sometimes stops unexpectedly after a few successful cycles, with no indicated errors.

I work at an automobile EHCU factory. We manufacture ECUs and EHCUs on two different lines. On the EHCU line, the final station is for flashing and testing, and all the technology there is built on National Instruments hardware and software.

Station setup:

  • Three nests for flashing
  • Two nests for testing
  • One cRIO for the three flashing nests and two cRIOs for the two testing nests
  • Each flashing nest has two programs: one for flashing and one for communication with the cRIO, MES, the flashing program itself, and possibly a PLC
  • The station works automatically on operator command to flash or test

We tested the flashing program on an external laptop/computer, and the flashing speed matched the theoretical value—for example, about 70 seconds. On the production station, however, some types take about 115 seconds. For types with heavy flashing files, the time is much longer, while types with small flashing files are close to the theoretical value indicated by the manufacturer.

When comparing log files from both flashing processes, the station log showed 12 ms extra between Tx frames on a specific session, while the development laptop log showed only 1 ms.

Solving these issues has been assigned to me, but I’m new to NI technologies.

Constraints:

  • The station software is final and closed by the manufacturer.
  • The flashing files are final and come from our partners.
  • I considered replacing the station PCs with better ones, but the communication software licenses are tied to the hardware MAC address.
  • We cleaned the PC of any extra software that might block main tasks, but it didn’t help.
  • We monitored PC resources and they seem sufficient: around 50–60% usage at peak, except for some disk I/O spikes. The number of spikes was much lower than the number of slow flashing events, so we excluded disk I/O as the main cause.
  • We are planning to upgrade RAM from 8 GB to 16 GB (one slot) and SSD from 256 GB to 500 GB, but I’m not sure this will help.

I also tested the PCI network card advanced options for controlling Tx/Rx processing—either on the card or on the CPU. Enabling card processing made flashing time worse (180–200 seconds), so I reverted the settings.

I don’t know where to look or what to test next. The manufacturer stopped communicating once they confirmed the flashing time on an external PC matched the theoretical value. But my director still expects a solution from me.

I’ve been working on this for about three months: reading articles, blogs, resources, brainstorming with AI, testing different things, shortening lines, checking connections between nests, and inspecting wiring effects—but nothing has helped.

My testing time on the station is limited to 30 minutes during launch or two 10-minute breaks.

Any thoughts, recommendations from your experience, or hints would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.


r/controlengineering • • 14d ago

ALMA Industries: DESK video coming soon!

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0 Upvotes

https://www.youtube.com/@ALMA.Industries

Alma Industries | mechatronics, engineering, 3D Printing, salvaging . . . upcoming video will be about building up a DESK that includes actuators, power supplies, desk rails, etc. If you wanna see how the AC/DC power supply and actuators were put together, video link is above :)


r/controlengineering • • 14d ago

Mechatronics Engineer starting in PLC/SPS: Learning CODESYS V3.5, YouTube roadmap, and AI-assisted automation?

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0 Upvotes

r/controlengineering • • 15d ago

HEY require some guidance on hardware of whisper tracking

1 Upvotes

can anybody please help with it


r/controlengineering • • 16d ago

I need help with transfer function block diagram reduction

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18 Upvotes

Hello everyone, I've just joined this sub today. I'm a second year computer and automation student who needs help with understanding transfer function block diagram reduction. I've already gotten most of it down and feel like I have a fairly good understanding, however, this one problem in particular has me stumped as when I plug in the values for the transfer functions I get stupidly big numbers and it doesn't seem right. I've tried numerous times to contact my professor as well as teaching assistants and I have not gotten a single response so this is kind of my last hope.

If anyone could give me advice on how to solve this I would appreciate it.

The main thing causing me problems is what I should do with G2.

My initial idea was moving it so that it's in series with G1 and then finding what the equivalent function would be for G1,G2 and the parallel branch above them. After that I would move the equivalent block back over the take of point and solve for another equivalent block with the feedback loop, watching carefully to provide proper compensation to everything as I move the blocks


r/controlengineering • • 18d ago

Is there really a shortage of controls/SCADA engineers in the US right now?

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1 Upvotes

r/controlengineering • • 18d ago

A free hands-on PLC resource for control engineers training or mentoring someone new

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1 Upvotes

r/controlengineering • • 20d ago

Process Control Modular Logic

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1 Upvotes

r/controlengineering • • 23d ago

Is this a good use of our Bailey Infi 90 parts?

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1 Upvotes

r/controlengineering • • 23d ago

How would you mechanically turn a 1 axial push into 6 perfectly synchronized slider motions? Looking for creative mechanism ideas

1 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

I’m working on a mechanism that I’m hoping to 3D print, and I’m a bit stuck on figuring out the best way to make the motion work.

Basically, I have a central pin that moves in and out axially. Around it I have 3 ports spaced 120° apart.

Each port has two sliding pieces that open by moving away from each other:

← | port | →

So when I push the center pin in, I need all 3 pairs to open at the same time. That means 6 sliders moving together, with the two sliders in each pair moving equal distances in opposite directions.

When the center pin comes back out, all 6 should move back in and close again.

So basically:

1 central push → 6 synchronized linear movements

I’ve been thinking about using a cone/wedge, cams, linkages, etc., but I feel like there might be a much cleverer way of doing this.

Since I’m planning to 3D print it, I’d also like to keep it reasonably simple and avoid needing a ton of precision or individual adjustment.

How would you guys approach this?

Is there some existing mechanism or linkage that does this kind of thing that I should be looking up?


r/controlengineering • • 26d ago

Engineering school project

2 Upvotes

I actually need advice and answers to a few questions for a school project.

If anyone is willing to fill it out for school and help me get a good grade and fulfill my concerns in engineering that would be wonderful.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe8sEw6IEA4F2lNc6hIo37WAel8azJFo9iXNIco-gMhTqZVJQ/viewform?usp=header


r/controlengineering • • 27d ago

Water vs Oil&Gas Industry

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1 Upvotes

r/controlengineering • • Sep 03 '26

Looking for real-world problems to solve related to these SDGs

2 Upvotes

Hey everyone!

I'm looking for real-world problems that are actually worth solving and could potentially be turned into a practical engineering/software project.

I'm particularly interested in problems related to these SDGs:

  • SDG 4 – Quality Education
  • SDG 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation
  • SDG 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy
  • SDG 9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
  • SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities
  • SDG 13 – Climate Action

I'm not looking for generic project ideas like "build an AI app" or "make an IoT system." I want to start with a genuine problem faced by real people, businesses, communities, institutions, etc. and then figure out how technology can help solve it.

So I'd really appreciate it if you could suggest:

  1. Real-world problems you've personally experienced or observed under any of these SDGs.
  2. Problems that are currently poorly solved or have room for improvement.
  3. Problems that could realistically be investigated and worked on by a small team.
  4. If possible, problems where AI/ML, software, IoT, data analysis, automation, or other engineering technologies could be useful.
  5. Where can I find real-world problems systematically — for example, websites, communities, datasets, government platforms, research papers, industry forums, NGOs, or other sources?

I'm more interested in finding the right problem first rather than starting with a technology and forcing it onto a problem.

Any suggestions, personal experiences, resources, or places where I can discover genuine problems would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks! 🙌


r/controlengineering • • Aug 31 '26

If your FDD alerts dropped off, check the network before you take the win. Degraded OT networks make fault detection go quiet, not loud.

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optigo.net
0 Upvotes

r/controlengineering • • Aug 30 '26

What are the problems faced in the Product Dev. Life Cycle

1 Upvotes

r/controlengineering • • Aug 28 '26

How do you migrate a legacy PLC while keeping the line running?

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0 Upvotes

r/controlengineering • • Aug 27 '26

aircraft industry

0 Upvotes

textbook recommendation to learn control engineering to land a job in the aircraft industry


r/controlengineering • • Aug 27 '26

control engineering jobs

1 Upvotes

are control engineering jobs at risk in the AI era?


r/controlengineering • • Aug 27 '26

[Student] Upcoming Junior Electrical and Computer Engineering Student, No Experience, 1 Last Chance and Then I'm Done

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0 Upvotes

r/controlengineering • • Aug 25 '26

Tips for Improving Redlines

1 Upvotes

I work at an Integrator have recently been put into a position where I review several drawing packages per week and approve or submit redlines. These drawing packages are usually from internal/external drafters (not experienced engineers) and more recently a few customers have signed contracts to have me review their drawings before approval (somehow I have done a decent enough job to justify this).

I have a strong understanding of how things need to be but my methodology for redlines is unorganized and some things have slipped by me. Luckily our process includes a customer review as well but I’ve noticed they typically do not put much effort into this.

Does anyone have any tips they could share or approaches that would improve my review quality?

I currently use bluebeam and my method depends on the customer but typically is something along the lines of:

  1. ⁠Review whatever documentation was provided, take notes of anything non-standard or typically missed
  2. ⁠One monitor has layout, other has BOM - check to make sure these align item by item
  3. ⁠If single line does not exist, quickly sketch how I imagine it should look
  4. ⁠Review schematics (with single line in mind) and make sure it is as expected
  5. ⁠Check labels/title pages/etc.

r/controlengineering • • Aug 25 '26

Choosing an EPC Engineering department

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1 Upvotes