Angular Position Control for the PR CubeSAT HASP

By: Orlando Bousoño Zavala

MSEE – UPR Mayaguez

The following picture illustrates the general idea for the electro-mechanical model to be
subsequently derived. All derivations are performed symbolically for ease of substitution when
comparing different options within the design. Notice that even though two pairs of gears have
been used, they model may be easily modified if there’s need of adding or eliminating gear pairs.
This document elaborates the electrical and dynamic differential equations in order to obtain a
clear and accurate transfer function G(s) that may allow the ADCS team to design, simulate, and
tune several control options in order to meet the required constraints and specific needs for the
HASP.

Figure 1: Electromechanical Model as seen on Quanser’s Rotational Control Manual

A. Electrical Model

The electrical behavior follows Kirchoff’s Laws. The motor has an armature resistance
Rm and an armature inductance Lm. However, for most applications the armature
inductance is very small compared to the armature resistance and, thus, it can be
neglected in the subsequent derivations. The motor is responsible for the appearance of
the back emf (electro-motive force) eb which is related to the motor’s angular speed as:
 ( ) ( ) [1]

Here, km represents the motor’s back emf constant and wm stands for the motor’s angular
speed. With this in mind, and noticing that the motor current is our variable Im, the
circuit equation becomes:

( ) ( ) ( ) [2]

B. Mechanical Model

The mechanical model follows Newton’s Laws of Motion. First of all, let’s designate the
following variables:

Symbol Meaning
Jl Load Inertia
αl Load Angular Acceleration
Bl Load Friction Damping Constant
wl Load Angular Speed
τl Load Torque
Jm Motor Inertia
αm Motor Angular Acceleration
Bm Motor Friction Damping Constant
wm Motor Angular Speed
τml Resulting Torque Acting on the Motor
Shaft from the Load Torque
τm Motor Torque
Table 1: Dynamic Variables and their Meaning

With these variables, the dynamic equations governing the motion both at the load side
and at the motor side result in the following expressions:

( ) ( ) ( ) [3]

( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) [4]

If we call the internal gear ratio kgi and the external gear ration kge, then the following
equations follow:
 By designating the gear efficiency as ng, the expression for τml becomes:
( )
( )

Substituting [8] in [4] we obtain:

( )
( ) ( ) ( ) [9]

Thus, we may express τl(t) as:

( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) [10]

Substituting [10] in [3] we get:

( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) [11]

Using the overall gear ratio kg, the following relations are apparent from gear dynamics:

( ) ( ) [12]

( ) ( ) [13]

By substituting [12] and [13] in [11], the following expression is obtained:

( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) [14]

Factoring equal terms on both sides of [14] we have:

[ ] ( ) ( ) ( ) [15]

C. Electro-Mechanical Model

The motor torque τm is related to the motor efficiency nm, the motor current-torque
constant kt, and the armature current Im through the following equation:

( ) ( ) [16]

Solving for Im in [2] and using the relation [13], we obtain:

( ) ( )
( )

Substituting [17] in [16] we have:

 ( ) ( )
( )

Substituting [18] in [15] the following equation results:

[ ] ( ) [ ] ( ) ( ) ( )

Factorizing once again results in:

[ ] ( ) [ ] ( ) ( )

To simplify our derivation, let’s rename the following expressions of [20] as:

[ ] [21]

[ ]

Using [21], [22], and [23], equation [20] can be rewritten as:

( ) ( ) ( )

If we designate the angular position θ(t), the above equation can be expressed in its
differential equation form:

(̈ ) (̇ ) ( )

We may then apply the Laplace Transform to [25] and assume all initial conditions to 0
in order to obtain:

( ) ( ) ( )

Factoring the left side of [26] results in:

( ) ( )

We may then express the overall transfer function G(s) of the electro-mechanical system
as:
 ( )
( )
( )

D. Simulation of a Sample System

With the above derivation, a system was built in MatLAB and Simulink in order to test
whether the obtained plant will deliver the desired results when integrated with its own
controller. The following values were chosen from the Rotary Position Control Module
from Quanser:

Symbol Value Units

km 0.00767 V/(rad/s)
Rm 2.6 Ω
kgi 14 N/A
kge 5 N/A
ng 0.85 N/A
nm 0.69 N/A
kt 0.00767 Nm
Jl 18e-3 kg*m2
Jg 3.88e-4 kg*m2
Jm 3.87e-7 kg*m2
Bm 9.60e-7 Nm/(rad/s)
Table 2: Sample Parameters for Plant Controllability Simulations

With these values, the plant ends up like:

( )
( )
( )

This system is evidently controllable with no steady-state error due to one of its poles
located in the origin of the frequency domain. The system was simulated for a set of
desired angle commands in order to have a better idea of the response behavior. The
following image illustrates the block diagram built for simulation purposes. Notice that
the top arrangement contains the three control modes (proportional, integral, and
derivative) while the bottom one simulates the plant without any applied controls.
 Figure 2: System Block Diagram with Controlled and Uncontrolled Layouts

The following image shows the results obtained during simulation for a set of reference
angles. Notice that the desired angle step is marked in magenta, the uncontrolled
response in cyan, and the controlled response in yellow. Notice also how the controlled
response demonstrates not only a smaller overshoot, but also a considerably faster
settling time and rise time compared to the uncontrolled behavior.

Figure 3: System Response for a Set of Command Angles with Controlled and
Uncontrolled Responses (Magenta = Reference, Cyan = Uncontrolled Response,
Yellow = Controlled Response)