NCTU Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering 2015 Spring Course

<Dynamic System Simulation and Implementation> by Prof. Yon-Ping Chen

3. Simulation of DC Motor
Ra

La
ia(t)

vs(t)
+

TL(t)

vb(t)

TM(t)

Figure3-1
The dynamic model of a DC motor, depicted in Figure3-1, has been derived to
contain the electrical part:
Ra ia t La

dia t
k t v s t
dt

(3-1)

and the mechanical part:

J M t BM t kia t TL t

(3-2)

t t

(3-3)

where ia(t) is the armature current, vs(t) is the voltage source, (t) and (t) is the
angular velocity and position of the rotor, and TL(t) the external torque from payload.
In practice, the motor is connected to a transmitting device and then a payload. For
example, the dynamic model of the payload can be a rotary structure described as

J L L t BL L t TL t

(3-4)

L t L t

(3-5)

where the torque TL t comes from the shaft of a transmittig device and is assumed
satisfying
TL t T t K s t L t Bs t L t

(3-6)

For simplicity, let the payload strictly stick to the motor, i.e., L(t)=(t) and L(t)= (t).
Then, TL t T t and from (3-2) and (3-4) we have
3-1

NCTU Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering 2015 Spring Course

<Dynamic System Simulation and Implementation> by Prof. Yon-Ping Chen

J t Bt kia t 0

(3-7)

where J J M J L and B BM BL . Next, we will use (3-1), (3-7) and (3-3) as

the dynamic model of the DC motor in simulation.

Ra/La

vs(t)

k/J

k/La
B/J

1/La

ia(t)

Figure3-2

(t)

(t)

To simulate the dynamic behavior of the DC motor, we have to rewrite (3-1),

(3-7) and (3-3) as below:

dia t
R
k
1
a ia t t
v s t
dt
La
La
La

(3-8)

t t

(3-9)

B
J

k
ia t
J

t t

(3-10)

and Figure3-2 shows the block diagram correspondingly. For demonstration, lets
consider the following case: Ra=0.5, La=1.610 H, J=410 N-m/(rad/s2), k=0.05
V/(rad/s) and B=1.510 N-m/(rad/s), and simulate the DC motor in MATLAB
Simulink with the block diagram in Figure3-3. The simulation results of ia(t), (t) and

(t) for initially idled DC motor with input vs(t)=Vs=1 V are given in Figure3-4, where
ia(t) and (t) finally approach Ia=0.0608 A and =19.393 rad/s. Based on these results,
is that possible to retrieve the motor parameters Ra, La, J, k and B?

3-2

NCTU Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering 2015 Spring Course

<Dynamic System Simulation and Implementation> by Prof. Yon-Ping Chen

Figure3-3

Figure3-4
From (3-8) and (3-9), we knows that once the DC motor is in steady state, i.e.,
the motor rotates in a constant velocity (t)= and the armature current reaches a
constant value ia(t)=Ia. That implies the variations of ia(t) and (t) almost vanish and
(3-8) and (3-9) become

3-3

NCTU Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering 2015 Spring Course

<Dynamic System Simulation and Implementation> by Prof. Yon-Ping Chen

Ra
k
1
ia t t
v s t
La
La
La

(3-11)

B
k
t ia t
J
J

(3-12)

which result in Ra I a k Vs and B kIa 0 . Since Vs=1 V, Ia=0.0608 A and

=19.393 rad/s, we have

V Ra I a
k
0.0516 0.0031Ra .

318.96 and k s

B Ia

Clearly, the parameters can not be obtained just from the simulation results.
In practice, we can simply measure the armature resistance Ra=0.5, and then
obtain k 0.0516 0.0031Ra 0.05005 and B

k
1.57 10 4 , which are
318.96

approximated to the values in simulation. As for the values of J, we have to simplify

the model by neglecting the small inductanc La, i.e., (3-8) is changed into
0 Ra ia t kt vs t

(3-13)

and (3-9) is rewritten as

B k2

J JRa

k
t
v s t
JRa

B k2
That means the time constant of (t) is
J JRa

(3-14)
1

. From the simulation result of

B k2
1
(t), we can find the time constant is 0.078 sec, i.e.,
which leads

J JRa 0.078

to J 0.078 B k 2 Ra 4.02 10 4 , near to the value in siimulation as expected.

The only term left to be determined is the small inductance La. Actually, in the spped
control of DC motor, we do not care about the exact model and often employ the
simplied mode (3-14), which is given as

t 12.82 t 249 vs t

(3-15)

It is easy to check that if v s t =1 V then (t) reaches 19.422 rad/sec as t increases,

which is near to the simulation result 19.393 rad/sec.
3-4