DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ROPAR

RUPNAGAR-140001, INDIA
IIT Ropar

DESIGN LABORATORY-I (ME205) REPORT

For

Experiment 4: Time response of Analog and Digital Motor Control

Submi ed by

Vaibhav Aggarwal (2020MEB1326)

Vaibhav Singhal (2020MEB1327)
Tejaswini Deshpande (2020MEB1322)
Thenlay Norboo (2020MEB1323)

Supervised by
Dr. Jitendra Prasad/ Dr. Srikant Sekhar Padhee/ Dr. Rajendra Muniyan

Extended Second Semester, 2022-2023

Report Submi ed on: 31-02-2023
 Experiment 4: Analog and Digital Motor Control

Table of Contents
1 Introduc on 3
2 Apparatus Details/Equipment specifica ons 3
3 Experiments 3
4 Experiment 1: Time response of Analog and Digital Motor Control 4
4.1 Aim of the Experiment 4
4.2 Theory Related to the Experiment 4
4.3 Experimental Procedure 4
4.4 Observa on Table 4
4.5 Calcula ons 5
4.6 Simula on Details 5
4.7 Comparison of Experimental Results with Theory/Simula ons 5
5 Conclusions & Discussions 8
6 Addi onal Informa on 8
7 References 9

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 Experiment 4: Analog and Digital Motor Control

1 Introduction

During this session, we focused on exploring control systems through a series of experiments
aimed at enhancing our understanding of DC motor control. The motor module served as the "plant" of
the control system in these experiments. Addi onally, it is worth men oning that control systems play
a crucial role in various engineering fields and have numerous real-life applica ons, ranging from
industrial process control to aerospace and robo cs.

2 Apparatus Details/Equipment speci ications

1) MS15 DC Motor Module: The "Plant" of the control system is a versa le unit equipped with a range of
analog and digital instruments, making it suitable for a wide range of inves ga ons.

2) AS3 Command Poten ometer: It provides a manually generated input signal, which is calibrated
in degrees to align with the calibrated disc on the output sha of the MS15 DC Motor Module.

3) CLIO Interface Module: The CLIO (Control Laboratory Input/Output) module bridges the gap
between the analog voltages of the motor system and the digital numbers of the computer
system. It facilitates the connec on between the two.

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 Experiment 4: Analog and Digital Motor Control

4) Wires
5) Virtual Control Laboratory So ware
6) Virtual Instrumenta on

3 Experiments
This experiment aimed to measure plant parameters, study the use of computers in real- me control,
examine the principles of analog-digital conversions, describe the characteris cs of a first-order lag
system, and outline the me model of the DC motor. It provided hands-on experience in control
systems concepts. For this reason, this experiment is performed:
● Experiment 1: Time response of Analog and Digital Motor Control

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 Experiment 4: Analog and Digital Motor Control

4 Experiment 1: Analog and Digital Motor Control

4.1 Aim of the Experiment

The aims of this experiment are:
● To measure the parameters of a plant using step tests.
● To use computers in real me control and its involvement at different control level.
● To study the conversions of analog to digital and vice versa and its principles.
● To describe the characteris cs of a first order lag
● To state the me model of the DC motor

4.2 Theory Related to the Experiment

Direct Digital Control
This is the simplest level at which computers are involved. A small computer(a single chip
microprocessor) replaces the electronics of an analog controller and as far as the control ac on is
concerned, behaves like an analog controller.
The plant signals are measured using analog and digital techniques. The drive signal is calculated by the
microprocessor and used to drive the plant.
The advantages of such controllers are that the same hardware can be used to deliver a wide range of
control schemes, the differences between applica ons being in the so ware, not the hardware. It is
also much easier to provide digital readouts and user-friendly setup controls when a microprocessor is
used.
Analog Interfacing
Most of the signals being measured are con nuous in nature. The motor velocity does not change in
steps. These signals are analog in nature, while the computer wants it in digits(1 and 0). Analog
interfacing is the technology of conver ng con nuous analog signals to and from discrete digital
numbers.

4.3 Experimental/Simulation Procedure

● First check all the connec ons of the apparatus used.
● Now disengage the output poten ometer then switch power ON and enable the motor.
● We will see the step response on the PC screen. The step response has two parts: Transient period and
Steady state period.
● Observe the signal and give proper parameters like Rate as 10 msec etc. and click freeze.
● Measure the Gain and Time constant which characterize the motor.
● Now measure the input and output spans using the freeze graph.
● Gain can be measured with these spans.
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 Experiment 4: Analog and Digital Motor Control

● Now in the transient response we will measure the me constant t1 using the ini al slope method.
● Likewise we will measure the me constant t2 using the se ling me method.
● We will then measure another me that it takes for the transient to change by 63% using the 63%
method.
● A er measuring the me constants enter the readings of model gain and me constant in the
observa on table.
● We will note the tachometer output giving different input voltage at different offsets.
● We will change the loads as no load, half load and full load, and note down the readings.

4.4 Observation Table

Table 1 shows the values of output tacho voltage when the input voltage and offset is changed. As we
have used DC input in the experiment, we have varied the offset value.
Table 1: Data obtained while performing the experiment and varying the offset and input voltage

Offset Tacho Output

Input Voltage
(%) Voltage
0 0 0
10 0.5 0.315
20 1 0.835
30 1.5 1.345
40 2 1.860
50 2.5 2.375
60 3 2.895
70 3.5 3.410
80 4 3.925
90 4.5 3.980
100 5 3.977

Table 2: Data obtained while performing the experiment and keeping the offset constant at 50% and varying the load

Tacho Output
Loading
Voltage
No load 2.385
Half load 1.815
Full load 1.340

4.5 Calculations
Once the steady state is achieved, we calculate the gain as follows.
Input span = A1 - B1 = 3 - (-3) V = 6 V
output span = A4-B4 = 2.2 - (-2.2) V = 4.4 V
Gain = output span/input span = 0.7333
From the transient state, we observed the me constant by three methods as discussed below:

1. Ini al Slope Method: T1 = 0.32 s

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 Experiment 4: Analog and Digital Motor Control

2. Se ling Time: T2 = 1.220 s

3. 63% Method : T3 = B4 + 0.63 (A4 - B4) = -2.2 + 0.63 (2.2 - (-2.2)) = 0.572 s

From posi on analysis, we have the following value of slope:

slope = 245.833

4.6 Simulation Details

No simula ons as such have been performed in the experiment. Although we didi use a computer
program named VCL(Virtual Control Laboratory) to set out input voltage to the setup. From computer
so ware we have to select which kind of input wave we are expec ng to give the rota ng sha . Firstly
we open the file CA06PE02 in VCL. Then we set the se ngs like INPUT- ON, POSITION- OFF and
VELOCITY- ON. So that we can see values of velocity and input. This file would enable us to run the
motor in an Open loop system with 50% level for 5V DC signal. Now we change offset from 0% to 100 %
with a difference of 10 in each reading and note the input as well as tacho voltage. And we get the
above a ached results by using the meter op on.Also we change the loads in the motor- no load,half
load and full load.

For the 2nd part of experiment that is calcula ng me and posi on response, we Load another file i.e.
CA06PE03 which has level set to 60% and for posi on we set POSITION switch to ON. Next once we
start giving input we use the freeze op on to record the response. Now we can calculate ,Gain, me
response and posi on response from graphs recorded easily.

4.7 Results
(Must show contour plot of various stresses/strain obtained in a er FE simula on and discuss the
comparison with experimental results)

In results we see that , that velocity voltage Vs input voltage looks like:

For what input we are giving we don't exactly get the same output since there is loss due to iner a
a er a certain increase in input voltage the velocity voltage does not change.
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 Experiment 4: Analog and Digital Motor Control

5 Conclusions & Discussions

Vaibhav Aggarwal (2020meb1326)

In this experiment, we understood the concept of a control system, to be a precise closed loop
control system. We started the experiment by learning about the reasons why we need a control
system. I also learnt about the different components of a control system. As I have chosen the DC
input, I have varied the offset and the input voltage and noted the values of output tachometer
voltage. Then we calculated the me constant for a given plant using the three methods
men oned above. The output voltage shown by tachometer is not the same as input voltage
because of the losses due the disc iner a and also because of the self vibra on due to
non-uniform distribu on of mass of the disc.

Tejaswini Deshpande(2020MEB1322)
In this experiment we got to know the difference between open loop and closed loop system. How
we need controllers for ge ng specific out . The main 3 reasons why we use a motor at all is we
need some specific desired output, we need the response quick and we need it irrespec ve of
loading condi on. That is even if there is some fluctua on in input we desire the same output
hence we need a motor to work for the same.And also we learnt how me response can be
calculated using different methods. This experiment gave us an introduc on to how motors are
controlled and why they are used. We also realised that mul ple losses would occur in the motor
due to its iner a and in different loading condi ons different amounts of losses are observed.

Vaibhav Singhal(2020MEB1327)
In this experiment, we learned about controlling a DC motor using a motor control module. We
studied the different components in the control system and connected them in a circuit. We
calibrated a poten ometer and found the rela onship between its degree and voltage output. We
also discovered how the output voltage of the sha is related to the input voltage and how it
changes when the load changes. Finally, we analyzed the me and posi on response of the
system, calcula ng gain and response me using different methods.

Thenlay Norboo(2020MEB1323)
In this experiment we got to know about analog and digital control be er. We learnt about the
importance of controls as it is used to get a specific output, which will not vary with loads and get
minimum transient me. We performed this experiment with different load condi ons. We learnt
to calculate input span, output span, gain, me constant and slope using the graph. The results will
not be ideal as there will be some self iner al losses by the plant and some approxima ons while
using the graph. We also learnt to calculate the me constant using different methods. We studied
about the apparatus , its parts, sensors used, use of eddy current in applying resis ng load, the
plant , the controller, the so ware used in PC etc.

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