controller

controller

the equipment concerned with controlling the operation of an electrical device

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

controller

[kən′trōl·ər]

(control systems)

automatic controller

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

controller

An electric device (or combination of devices) designed to initiate one or more functions of operation, such as starting, stopping, reversing, and speed changing, of the apparatus to which it is connected; operation may be manual or automatic.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

controller

A person authorized to provide air traffic control services. The term also refers to radar controllers employed either on air traffic or air defense duties.

An Illustrated Dictionary of Aviation Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

controller

(hardware)

Part of a computer, typically a separate circuit board, which allows the computer to use certain kinds of peripheral devices. A disk controller is used to connect hard disks and floppy disks, a network controller is used for Ethernet. Other controllers are: keyboard controller, interrupt controller and graphics controller.

This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

controller

(1) A device used to play video games. See video game controller.

(2) An electronic circuit board or system. In a computer, controllers contain the circuitry to run a peripheral device and are either contained in the chipset on the motherboard or on a plug-in expansion card. See control program and PC chipset.

Not As Much These Days

Although gamers may have a high-end graphics card that plugs into the computer's PCI Express bus, most peripheral control is in the chipset on the motherboard. See PC chipset.

Copyright © 1981-2025 by The Computer Language Company Inc. All Rights reserved. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Controller

 

a low-voltage electrical device used for starting, speed regulation, reversing, and electric braking of DC and AC motors. It varies the electrical resistance in a control circuit and the connections in the power and excitation circuits of motors. Controllers are usually operated by means of a manual lever or a handwheel; servomotors are used for remote control.

Controllers are built as multistage flat, drum, or cam-operated contact switches. Flat controllers are mainly used where a large number of switching steps are required, as in the starting and regulation of electric motors up to 30–40 kilowatts (kW) in power. Drum controllers are used more often than other types for the direct control of DC motors up to 45 kW and AC motors up to 75 kW in power. As the drum is turned, segmented copper contacts touch fixed contacts, establishing different connections in the motor’s control circuits. For the control of high-powered electric motors where a large number of switching operations occur (up to 600 per hour), greater reliability is obtained with cam-operated controllers having rolling contacts, which provide greater wear resistance than sliding contacts.

REFERENCES

Babikov, M. A. Elektricheskie apparaty, part 2. Moscow-Leningrad, 1956.
Chunikhin, A. A. Elektricheskie apparaty. Moscow, 1967.

V. K. IVANOV

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.