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Fuzzy logic based DSP controlled servo position control for ultrasonic
motor

Article  in  Energy Conversion and Management · December 2004

DOI: 10.1016/j.enconman.2004.02.001

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 Energy Conversion and Management 45 (2004) 3139–3153
www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Fuzzy logic based DSP controlled servo position

control for ultrasonic motor
G€
ung€
or Bal a,*
glu b, S
, Erdal Bekiro
_
ß evki Demirbasß a, Ilhami C
ß olak a

a
Faculty of Technical Education, Electrical Department, Gazi University, 06500 Besevler, Ankara, Turkey
b
Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering,
_
Abant Izzet Baysal University, Bolu, Turkey
Received 2 December 2003; received in revised form 2 December 2003; accepted 3 February 2004
Available online 11 March 2004

Abstract
In this paper, position control of an ultrasonic motor was implemented on the basis of fuzzy reasoning.
A digitally controllable two phase serial resonant inverter was developed to drive the ultrasonic motor by
using a TMS320F243 digital signal processor. The driving frequency was used as a control input in the
position control loop. The position characteristics obtained from the proposed drive and control system
were demonstrated and evaluated by experiments. The experimental results verify that the developed
position control scheme is highly effective, reliable and applicable for the ultrasonic motor.

2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Ultrasonic motor; Position control; Fuzzy logic; Digital signal processor

1. Introduction

The ultrasonic motor (USM) is a new type of motor that has different construction, charac-
teristics and operating principles than the commonly used conventional electromagnetic motors.
In recent years, a variety of novel types of USMs featuring high holding torque, high torque at
low speed, no electromagnetic noise, silent operation, compactness and flexible design possibilities
in their configuration have attracted special interest as servo actuators in direct drive motion
control applications [1,2]. The USM is particularly superior in high holding torque and high
response characteristics. As a result, it was expected to be used as a precise and accurate posi-
tioning actuator [3].
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +90-312-212-3962; fax: +90-312-212-7575.
E-mail address: gunbal@gazi.edu.tr (G. Bal).

0196-8904/$ - see front matter
2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2004.02.001
3140 G. Bal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 45 (2004) 3139–3153

The driving principle of the USM is based on high frequency mechanical vibrations and fric-
tional forces. Owing to this drive mechanism, it is difficult to derive a mathematical model of an
USM. Moreover, the control characteristics of USMs are complicated and highly nonlinear. The
exact values of the motor parameters cannot be obtained easily, and the motor parameters are
time-varying due to increases in temperature and changes in motor drive operating conditions,
such as driving frequency, source voltage and load torque [4,5].
Fuzzy logic control is especially preferred when the mathematical model of a control plant is
difficult to obtain. The fuzzy logic controller (FLC) is designed for control purposes on the operating
experience of the plant without using a mathematical model [6–8]. The fuzzy logic control technique
has been applied successfully to control ultrasonic motor drives in recent years [3,9,10]. However, the
position tracking characteristics under various load conditions have not yet been examined suffi-
ciently from a practical point of view, especially for small and rapid position references.
The purpose of this study is to achieve highly effective position control for a ShinseiÕs traveling
wave type USR60 USM. A drive system based on the high frequency two phase serial resonant
inverter was developed. Because of the complexity of the mathematical model and control of the
USM, a fuzzy logic approach was used in this study. A FLC was designed and integrated into the
position control loop. This drive system was controlled digitally by 16 bit fixed point
TMS320F243 digital signal processor (DSP).
The speed, ramp and periodical step position response characteristics of the traveling wave
ultrasonic motor (TWUSM) were obtained for different references and loads. The proposed fuzzy
logic based DSP controlled position control technique was tested and verified by experiments. The
experimental results show that the developed drive and control system is a very suitable method
for position control of the TWUSM.

2. USM and energy conversion

An ultrasonic motor is a special type of motor that is driven by the mechanical vibration force
of a piezoelectric ceramic in the stator. Although several USM types have been designed, the
rotary TWUSM is a commonly used USM type. The operating principle and theoretical back-
ground of a TWUSM are given in this section.
The energy conversion of a piezoelectric system is based on the piezoelectric element and a
mechanical vibration system. When the piezoelectric elements are excited by an electrical supply
with ultrasonic frequency, an ultrasonic vibration is produced in the mechanical vibration system,
composed of the rotor and stator. The stator amplifies the mechanical vibrations and transmits
them as a driving force to the rotor [11].
The speed of the USM is controlled by the,

• frequency of the two phase voltages,

• amplitude of the two phase voltages and
• phase angle between the two phase voltages.

An elliptic motion of points on the surface of the stator is generated by the traveling wave in the
stator. The vibrations are excited by a piezoelectric ceramic layer bonded to the lower surface of
 G. Bal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 45 (2004) 3139–3153 3141

the stator. The rotor is pressed against the stator by means of a disc spring and is driven by the
frictional forces in the contact layer. The rotation direction of the rotor is opposite to the direction
of the traveling wave [12].
To generate a traveling wave within the stator, it is necessary to have control of two mechanical
orthogonal modes. Electrode pattern A provides the cos kh and the pattern B provides the sin kh
By driving these two modes at 90 out of phase, a traveling wave is produced. Each pattern
provides a standing wave individually. The superposition of these standing waves produce the
traveling wave used in TWUSMs [13]:
- ¼ cos xt cos kh þ sin xt sin kh; ð1Þ

- ¼ cosðxt
khÞ; ð2Þ

2p
k¼ ; ð3Þ
k
where k is the wavenumber of the piezoelectric ceramic. k is the wavelength of the (+) and ())
polarized one section. By changing the sign of one of the drive signals, the direction of the
traveling wave and, thus, the direction of the rotor reverses.
The speed of the USM can be controlled by the amplitude, frequency and phase difference of
the two phase voltages. Since changing the driving frequency method gives a more flexible control
range than the other methods [14], in the present study, the speed of the USM is controlled by the
driving frequency. Fig. 1 shows the speed–frequency characteristic of the USM, which has a
nonlinear behavior. In this study, the motor speed is controlled within the 41.3–43.3 kHz fre-
quency range, which can be accepted as a linear frequency range. The speed–torque relation is
also an important characteristic. In Fig. 2, the speed–frequency characteristics of the USM are

140

120

100
Speed (rpm)

80

60

40

20

0
40.5 41 41.3 41.5 42 42.5 43 43.5
Frequency( kHz)

Fig. 1. Speed–frequency characteristic of USM.

3142 G. Bal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 45 (2004) 3139–3153

140
T=0.0Nm
T=0.1Nm
120 T=0.2Nm
T=0.3Nm

100
speed(rpm)
80

60

40

20

0
41 41.5 42 42.5 43 43.5
frequency(kHz)
Fig. 2. Speed–frequency characteristics of USM under the different load torques.

given under different load torques. When the load torque increases, the speed of the motor de-
creases.

3. DSP controlled USM drive system

To drive the USM, high quality semiconductor devices that can follow the optimum operating
point of the motor are required. It is difficult to drive the piezoelectric ceramic owing to its high
damping capacitance. For easy drive of the piezoelectric ceramic of the USM, a resonant fre-
quency approach is used. Fig. 3 shows a newly developed drive system of a two phase, high
frequency, voltage fed, serial resonant inverter for the USM. This inverter has features of both
pulse width modulation (PWM) and pulse frequency modulation (PFM) control techniques. The
LA and LB inductances have been connected in series with each phase to obtain resonance with the
damping capacitance (Cd ) of the USM. The inverter outputs are two phase high frequency AC
voltages with 90 phase difference. The rotating direction has been controlled by letting VA or VB
lead. The CW and CCW inputs provide direction control signals [15]. In practice, the driving
frequency is set higher than the resonant frequency of the mechanical vibration system because of
the basic operating characteristics of the USM [16,17].
Speed control of the USM was achieved by a variable driving frequency. The value of the
driving frequency was determined by comparing the AC voltage (Vs) of the feedback electrode of
the USM and a reference DC voltage (Vdc). The frequency signal was then applied to the opto-
isolator, split phase and voltage control oscillator (VCO) circuits.
The control input of the drive system was the switching frequency, fs . This input was obtained
from a comparison of the feedback electrode voltage (Vs) and the reference DC voltage.
According to the demanded speed, the value of switching frequency was adjusted. This was
 G. Bal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 45 (2004) 3139–3153 3143

Vd c control signal
CW CCW fs filter FLC
comparator
Vs reference
phase split,VCO, position
opto-coupler circuit

phase-A phase-B
inverter inverter

C1 S1 S2 LA

AC GND rotor
position
LB
C2 S3 S4 USM encoder

Fig. 3. Drive system of USM.

achieved by changing the level of the reference DC voltage. To change the level of the DC voltage,
the duty cycle of the PWM signal was changed. So, according to the duty ratio of the PWM
signal, the DC output of the low pass (LP) filter was controlled. Detailed explanations about the
design of the low pass filter and the produced PWM signals were given in Ref. [18]. The duty cycle
of the PWM was controlled with respect to the output of the FLC.
The USM drive system was controlled by the 16 bit fixed point TMS320F243 EVM digital
signal processor (DSP). The block diagram of the TMS320F243 controlled USM drive system is
given in Fig. 4. The event manager and general purpose input/output (GPIO) units of the DSP
were used for control of the USM. The PWM signal was generated by the general purpose timer-1
(GPT1). The GPT1 was set in the continuous up count mode to provide an asymmetric PWM
signal. Two pins of the GPIO were set as digital output to provide the CW and CCW direction
signals. The quadrature encoder pulse (QEP) circuit of the event manager was used for encoder
signals. The encoder is 500-ppr and has two quadrature encoder signals and one index signal.
These encoder signals were encoded digitally by the QEP circuit and converted to the speed and
position information for control purposes.

4. Fuzzy logic controller (FLC)

Basically, the FLC is based on the error signal of the control plant and change in this error. The
aim of this controller is to obtain robust control characteristics in tracking the reference command
under the parameter variations and variable operating conditions.
The block diagram of the constructed FLC is given in Fig. 5. The inputs of the FLC are po-
sition error (Dh) and speed (x), and the output is the manipulated value of the driving frequency
3144 G. Bal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 45 (2004) 3139–3153

USM drive system

USM
VA
+
two-phase half-bridge VB
Vd
serial-resonant inverter GND
-

encoder
TMS320F243 EVM S1 S2 S3 S4

Flash CW
GPIO VCO, phase split,
EEPROM
CCW opto-coupler circuit

Program fs
Event PWM
memory LP Vd c comparator Vs
manager
filter
QEP-A
Data QEP QEP-B
memory circuit Index

Fig. 4. TMS320F243 controlled USM drive system.

θ ref ∆θ

FLC ∆f f
θ USM
d/dt
ω
f(t-1)

Fig. 5. The block diagram of FLC.

(Df ). The manipulated value of the driving frequency (Df ) is added to the previous driving fre-
quency (f ðt
1Þ) to obtain the new control input (current driving frequency (f )) and applied to
the USM. Where href is the reference position; h is the actual position; Dh is the position error; x is
the speed; f ðt
1Þ is the driving frequency; f is the current driving frequency; Df is the
manipulated value of the driving frequency.
The relation between the driving frequency and rotary speed (x) of the USM cannot be ex-
pressed as a simple equation. The speed decreases as the frequency increases in a stable frequency
range [10]. Also the f –x characteristics depend on the load variations (Fig. 2). The manipulated
value of the driving frequency (Df ) is obtained using the FLC based on the position error (Dh)
and the speed (x). The position error and speed of the motor are determined as follows:
Dh ¼ href
h; ð4Þ

dh
x¼ : ð5Þ
dt
 G. Bal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 45 (2004) 3139–3153 3145

In position control of the USM, to allow design flexibility and tuning of the controller, the
input and output variables are represented in terms of per unit (pu) values. KDh, Kx and KDf are
related gain factors of the fuzzy logic controller. In this study, the values of these gain factors were
set to 0.5, 5 and 1000, respectively, and defined as follows:
DhðpuÞ ¼ Dh=KDh; ð6Þ

xðpuÞ ¼ x=Kx; ð7Þ

Df ðpuÞ ¼ Df =KDf : ð8Þ

Fig. 6 shows the membership functions of the FLC. Fig. 6(a) shows the membership functions
of position error; Fig. 6(b) shows the membership functions of speed; and Fig. 6(c) shows the
membership functions of the manipulated value of driving frequency. While the inputs of the FLC

NB NM NS Z PS PM PB

-1 -0.6 -0.2 0 0.2 0.6 1 ∆θ (rad)

(a)
NB NM NS Z PS PM PB

-1 -0.6 -0.2 0 0.2 0.6 1 ω (rad/s)

(b)

NB NM NS Z PS PM PB

-1 -0.5 -0.1 0 0.1 0.5 1 ∆ f(Hz)

(c)
Fig. 6. Membership functions of FLC: (a) position error (Dh), (b) speed (x) and (c) manipulated value of driving
frequency (Df ).
3146 G. Bal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 45 (2004) 3139–3153

Table 1
Control rules of FLC
x Dh
NB NM NS Z PS PM PB
NB Z PS PM PB PM PS Z
NM NS Z PS PM PS Z NS
NS NM NS Z PS Z NS NM
Z NB NM NS PB NS NM NB
PS NM NS Z PS Z NS NM
PM NS Z PS PM PS Z NS
PB Z PS PM PB PM PS Z
PB is positive big, PM is positive medium, PS is positive small, Z is zero, NB is negative big, NM is negative medium
and NS is negative small.

are determined as triangular membership functions, for easy and rapid calculation, the output is
selected as singleton membership functions.
The control rules of the FLC are obtained according to the expert experience and control
engineering as follows. If the position error is very big and the rotary speed is very slow, the USM
has to be accelerated. To accelerate the USM, the driving frequency should be decreased as shown
in Fig. 1. In this case, the manipulated value of the driving frequency should be a negative value to
decrease the driving frequency. Conversely, if the position error is very small and the speed is very
fast, the speed of the USM should be reduced. To reduce the speed, the driving frequency must be
increased. So, the manipulated value of the driving frequency should be a positive value to in-
crease the driving frequency. In this approach, the fuzzy control rules of all cases are given in
Table 1.
The implementation of the FLC for position control of the USM is summarized as follows:

1. The position of the USM is sampled.

2. The position error and the speed are calculated.
3. Fuzzy sets and membership functions of the position error and the speed are determined.
4. Change of control action (Df ) is determined with respect to the individual fuzzy rules.
5. The value of Df is calculated by using the center of gravity (COG) defuzzification method.
6. The new control signal is calculated as f ðtÞ ¼ f ðt
1Þ þ KDf  Df ðpuÞ and applied to the con-
trol plant.

5. Experimental results

In this section, the experimental results obtained from the fuzzy logic controlled position
control of the USM are presented. The technical specifications of the driver and the USM are
given in Appendix A.
Firstly, to see how the two phase outputs of the inverter are obtained, an example is given.
While the motor speed is 95 rpm, the measured AC voltage of the feedback electrode is shown in
 G. Bal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 45 (2004) 3139–3153 3147

Fig. 7. Voltage of feedback electrode.

Fig. 7. The value of this voltage is 34.6 V (rms) with 42.05 kHz frequency. To obtain the de-
manded speed, this voltage was compared with the fixed 2 V DC voltage. By comparing these
voltages, a switching signal with t ¼ 2:394  10
5 s (fs ¼ 41:74 kHz) was produced. This switching
signal was applied to four switches via the voltage control oscillator and phase split circuits to
provide the two phase AC voltages. Fig. 8 shows the waveforms of these output voltages with the
frequency of 41.74 kHz, which is equal to the switching signal frequency. The output voltages are
equal and 120 V (rms).
By changing the level of the DC voltage, the switching frequency (fs ) is changed, so the speed of
the motor is controlled. The required DC voltage for the comparing process is produced by the
low pass filter circuit. This circuit converts the PWM signal to the reference DC voltage according
to the duty cycle of the PWM. When the duty cycle is changed, the value of the produced DC
voltage also changes, so the switching frequency is changed. As a result, the speed of the motor is
varied to the demanded value.

Fig. 8. Output voltages of inverter.

3148 G. Bal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 45 (2004) 3139–3153

125

100

speed (rpm)
75

50

25

0
0 100 200 300 400 500
time (ms)

Fig. 9. Speed responses of USM at 75, 100 and 130 rpm.

Fig. 9 shows the speed responses of the USM at three different reference speeds, which are 75,
100 and 130 rpm. As is clearly seen from the figure, the USM tracks the reference speeds smoothly
without any overshoot or undershoot.
In order to examine the behavior of the motor, an experiment was performed for three different
ramp position commands, and the results, as illustrated in Fig. 10, show that the USM tracks the
command positions for all of the ramp responses robustly.
The developed FLC position control for the USM is highly load adaptive as illustrated in Fig.
11. Fig. 11(a) shows the reference position command applied as a periodical function with p
radians; Fig. 11(b) shows the actual position without load; and Fig. 11(c) shows actual position
with 0.2 Nm external load. As seen from Fig. 11, good tracking control performance of the USM

16
reference position
14
actual position
12

10
position(rad)

0
0 1 2 3 4 5
time (s)

Fig. 10. 1, 2 and 3 rad/s ramp responses of USM.

 G. Bal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 45 (2004) 3139–3153 3149

Fig. 11. Periodical p radian step response of USM: (a) reference position, (b) actual position without load and
(c) actual position with 0.2 Nm load.

drive and control system was obtained for the periodical step position command when the motor
was unloaded and loaded.
3150 G. Bal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 45 (2004) 3139–3153

Fig. 12. Periodical p/2 radian periodical step response of USM.

In this study, the position responses of the USM are also obtained for faster position com-
mands. While Fig. 12 shows the periodical p/2 step response of the USM, Fig. 13 shows the p/4
periodical step response of the USM. It is clearly seen from these figures that the USM tracks the
demanded position in a short time accurately, although the position command is very fast for
rotary motors. From Figs. 12 and 13, it can be said that the USM can operate like a stepping
motor having 45 or 90 step angle.
A 2p radian single step position response of the USM without load is given in Fig. 14(a) and
with 0.2 Nm external load torque in Fig. 14(b). These figures demonstrate that the developed FLC
position control system gives precise and robust position response for a single step position
command.

Fig. 13. Periodical p/4 radian step response of USM.

 G. Bal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 45 (2004) 3139–3153 3151

Fig. 14. 2p radian single step position response of USM: (a) without load and (b) with 0.2 Nm load.

6. Conclusions

In this paper, a highly effective position controller for a TWUSM was implemented. A fuzzy
logic controller was designed to provide effective position tracking performance of the USM. This
control was achieved and optimized by a TMS320F243 DSP.
A high frequency, voltage fed, serial resonant inverter was designed to drive the USM. The
speed and position of the USM were controlled by the driving frequency with detecting the
resonant state by the generated voltage of the feedback electrode mounted on the USM. This
control system compensates the speed and position characteristics variations of the motor. Firstly,
a digitally controllable drive system was designed, and then, it was integrated successfully with a
DSP.
The positioning servo system incorporating the USM was realized by controlling the drive
frequency on the basis of the designed FLC. The performance of the proposed driving and control
system was examined for step speed and ramp responses and periodical step position responses.
The control technique is simple and effective since only the driving frequency of the two phase
voltages is controlled. The robustness of the proposed drive and control system was demonstrated
3152 G. Bal et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 45 (2004) 3139–3153

and evaluated by experimental investigations. The experimental results verify that the developed
drive and control system give superior speed and position characteristics for the USM.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by The Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey
TUBITAK, through grant number 100E-012.

Appendix A

Technical specifications of driver and ultrasonic motor:

Driver
Power source voltage 12 V DC
Drive frequency 40–44 kHz
Drive voltage 100–130 Vrms
Inverter power 12 VA
USM
Rated torque 0.4 Nm
Rated power 4W
Rated speed 10 rad/s
Torque per volume 10,000 Nm/m3
Power per volume 66,700 W/m3
Torque density 3.5 Nm/kg
Power density 23 W/kg

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