Tymoteusz Lasota Split, 12.05.

2017

DC motor speed control

system

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1. Introduction
2. DC Motors
2.1 DC motor
2.2 Control system PID controller
2.3 DC motor modeling
3. Case study DC motor speed control system
3.1 DC motor model
3.2 Simulation results
4. Conclusion
5. References

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1. Introduction

This report includes information about speed control system for DC motor. Mathematical model is
prepared using Matlab and Simulink software.

2.1. DC motor

A DC motor is any of a class of rotary electrical machines that converts direct current electrical
energy into mechanical energy. The most common types rely on the forces produced by magnetic
fields. Nearly all types of DC motors have some internal mechanism, either electromechanical or
electronic, to periodically change the direction of current flow in part of the motor.1

Electrical motors are everywhere around us. Almost all the electro-mechanical movements we see
around us are caused either by a AC or a DC motor.

This DC or direct current motor works on the principal, when a current carrying conductor is placed
in a magnetic field, it experiences a torque and has a tendency to move.

This is known as motoring action. If the direction of current in the wire is reversed, the direction of
rotation also reverses. When magnetic field and electric field interact they produce a mechanical
force, and based on that the working principle of DC motor is established. The direction of rotation of
a this motor is given by Flemings left hand rule, which states that if the index finger, middle finger
and thumb of your left hand are extended mutually perpendicular to each other and if the index
finger represents the direction of magnetic field, middle finger indicates the direction of current,
then the thumb represents the direction in which force is experienced by the shaft of the DC motor.2

2.2. Control system PID controller

A control system manages, commands, directs or regulates the behavior of other devices or systems.
It can range from a home heating controller using a thermostat controlling a domestic boiler to large
Industrial control systems which are used for controlling processes or machines.

In the most common form, the feedback control system it is desired to control a process, called the
plant, so its output follows a control signal, which may be a fixed or changing value. The control
system compares the output of the plant to the control signal, and applies the difference as an error
signal to bring the output of the plant closer to the control signal. 3

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A basic feedback loop: 3

A proportionalintegralderivative controller (PID controller) is a control loop feedback mechanism

(controller) commonly used in industrial control systems. A PID controller continuously calculates an
error value () as the difference between a desired setpoint and a measured process variable and
applies a correction based on proportional, integral, and derivative terms (sometimes denoted P, I,
and D respectively) which give their name to the controller type.

A PID controller continuously calculates an error value () as the difference between a desired
setpoint and a measured process variable and applies a correction based on proportional, integral,
and derivative terms. The controller attempts to minimize the error over time by adjustment of a
control variable ().

A block diagram of a PID controller in a feedback loop. r(t) is the desired process value or "set point",
and y(t) is the measured process value.4

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 2.3. DC motor modeling

We assume that the input of the system is the voltage source (V) applied to the motor's armature,
while the output is the rotational speed of the shaft. Using equations, some circuit laws, theories
and transfer functions, we can get mathematical model of DC motor. The main advantage of using it
is that if we mess up something it will not turn out to be expensive. We will try to do this in Matlab
and Simulink software, as it is the most popular.

3. Case study DC motor speed control system

3.1. DC motor model

So, there is our DC motor model created in Simulink:

This is the PID controller model:

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These are the starting parameters for the DC motor and PID controller:

We tried both types of voltage steering, the first one was providing signal from PID controller to
armature voltage input in DC motor:

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The second was providing signal from PID controller to field voltage input in DC motor:

3.2. Simulation results

While changing the PID controller parameters (tuning), we observed how does the Rotor speed scope
affects.

This is the scope for Kp=1, Ki=0 and Kd=0:

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Kp=10, Ki=0 and Kd=0:

Kp=1, Ki=1 and Kd=0:

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Kp=10, Ki=5 and Kd=2:

As we can see, sometimes the DC motor runs too fast (almost 250 rps), sometimes the drop from
attaching some load to the shaft is too big.

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4. Conclusion

It is a good idea to use the saturation block (Actuator), because of two facts. The first is that too big
current is not possible to be created. The second one is that Matlab cannot operate on such big
numbers.

There is nothing like the best type of regulation. Sometimes only proportional part is enough,
sometimes it is good to use both proportional and integral parts. There may be trouble with using
derivative part as it is hard to take control over it.

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References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC_motor
2. https://www.electrical4u.com/dc-motor-or-direct-current-motor/
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_system
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PID_controller

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