GROUP.NO: E9.

POSITION CONTROL OF A DC MOTOR USING ROTARY

ENCODER.
BY:
KETKI SONAWANE.
GR.NO: 11810386.
Email: ketki.sonawane18@vit.edu
 INTRODUCTION:
In order to achieve various tasks of automation and precise movement of robotic parts, we
need position control in robotics. My task involved using a rotary encoder coupled with a dc
motor to control position of motor through a particular angle. I used the concept of PID.

The basic idea behind a PID controller is to read a sensor, then compute the desired actuator
output by calculating proportional, integral, and derivative responses and summing those three
components to compute the output.

Closed Loop System

In a typical control system, the process variable is the system parameter that needs to be
controlled, such as temperature (ºC), pressure (psi), or flow rate (liters/minute). A sensor is
used to measure the process variable and provide feedback to the control system. The set
point is the desired or command value for the process variable, such as 100 degrees Celsius in
the case of a temperature control system. At any given moment, the difference between the
process variable and the set point is used by the control system algorithm (compensator), to
determine the desired actuator output to drive the system (plant). For instance, if the
measured temperature process variable is 100 ºC and the desired temperature set point is 120
ºC, then the actuator output specified by the control algorithm might be to drive a heater.
Driving an actuator to turn on a heater causes the system to become warmer, and results in an
increase in the temperature process variable. This is called a closed loop control system,
because the process of reading sensors to provide constant feedback and calculating the
desired actuator output is repeated continuously .
 This figure illustrates the closed loop system.

 WORKING METHODOLOGY:
I interfaced incremental rotary encoder with arduino nano microcontroller to so as to verify my
program for encoder interface. I programmed the microcontroller to find the error, difference
between the set point and the process variable and used it to feed actuator input . Further, I
used the encoder and motor coupled assembly, connected the motor driver L298 with the
microcontroller and the motor. Then, by trial and error method I gave a constant of proportion
(P) to multiply the error for pwm for motor. We are able to achieve minimum error of 4 i.e 2.4
degree.

Further, on exploring how to use integration as summation of all errors, I used I, to reduce the
steady state error and was hence able to reduce the error to 1, i.e . 1.6 degree using PI. I learnt
the significance of integral term and the operation of a closed loop control system.

 INSIGHTS:
We should always check connections for short with multimeter before connecting to the
battery. Tuning should be done well to achieve the minimum possible error to increase
accuracy.

 RESULT:
I was able to rotate the motor to a particular angle. (Video available).

 REFERENCES:
1. ni.com : PID theory.
2. Arduino forum
3. Microcontrollersllab.com : for working to rotary encoder.
4. Seniors.
5. Datasheet for external interrupts for encoder pulses.