ELEC-E8405 Electric Drives Assignment 2

Modelling and Simulation of

a DC Motor Drive

1 Introduction
A simulation model of the DC motor drive will be built using the Matlab/Simulink
environment. This assignment aims to familiarise you with basic features of Simulink and
to demonstrate modelling approaches applicable to electric drives. After this assignment,
you will be able to:
1. Model and simulate a DC motor drive in the Matlab/Simulink environment;
2. Tune the current and speed controllers using a model-based approach;
3. Explain effects of the pulse-width modulation (PWM) on control performance.
The model of the DC motor is first built and tested in Section 2. Detailed step-by-step
instructions are given for creating the model. In Section 3, the motor model is augmented
with models for the DC-DC converter and PWM. In Section 4, the current and speed
controllers are added to the model.

A report is to be written on this assignment in groups of two (or alone). Submit

your report as a PDF file to the MyCourses portal (mycourses.aalto.fi) no later
than on Wednesday, 27.11.2019, at 23:55.
In your report, answer briefly the questions given inside this kind of framed boxes.
The report should be clearly and consistently written. The requested figures describing
the models and simulation results should be included in the report. Submit also the
requested Simulink models to MyCourses. These models will be used to check that
you have built the models yourself.
Guidance is available in room C105 (T2) on
ˆ Wednesday, 6.11.2019, at 10:15–12:00
ˆ Wednesday, 20.11.2019, at 10:15–12:00
The assignment will be graded on a scale of 0. . . 20 (two points per problem). You are
encouraged to discuss with other students but copying solutions from other groups is
not allowed! The reports and models will be checked for plagiarism.

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2 DC Motor Model
2.1 Dynamic Equations
First, a simulation model of the permanent-magnet DC motor will be built. The following
state equations are taken as a starting point:
dia
La = ua − Ra ia − kf ωM (1a)
dt
dωM
J = kf ia − TL (1b)
dt
The armature voltage ua and the load torque TL are the inputs of the model. The armature
current ia and the angular rotor speed ωM are the outputs of the model. Rating and
parameters of the motor are given in Table 1.

Table 1: Rating and parameters of the DC motor.

Rated voltage UN 120 V

Rated current IN 20 A
Rated speed nN 3000 r/min
Rated torque TN 7 Nm
Armature resistance Ra 0.5 Ω
Armature inductance La 2.5 mH
Flux constant kf 0.35 Vs
Total moment of inertia J 0.001 kgm2

(a) (b)

Figure 1: Blocks needed to build the DC motor model: (a) Drag and drop these blocks from the Library
Browser to your model; (b) Rename the input and output signals by selecting their names and typing
new names. Double click the Sum and Gain blocks and specify them according to the figure.

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2.2 Building the Model

Start Simulink by writing the command simulink in the Matlab Command Window.
The Simulink Library Browser opens up, and you can see the blocks available. Create
a new Simulink model using the button or the menu (File→New→Model). For the DC
motor model, you will need the blocks shown in Fig. 1(a). Drag and drop these blocks
from the Library Browser to your new model. Then, rename the input and output signals
by selecting their names and typing new names according to Fig. 1(b). Double click the
Sum and Gain blocks and specify them according to Fig. 1(b).
Next, connect the blocks according to the equations given in (1). Use the current ia
and the speed ωM as state variables in your model. This means that the output of one
integrator block should be the current ia and the output of the other integrator block
should be the speed ωM . The inputs of these integrator blocks should be dia /dt and
dωM /dt, which you can solve from (1).
Create the subsystem from your model. You can create the subsystem by selecting all
the blocks and then right-clicking one of the selected blocks. This opens a menu similar
to one shown in Fig. 2, where you should choose Create Subsystem from Selection. You
can rename the new subsystem as DC Motor (click its name and type the new name).
Next, the subsystem will be masked. Open the Mask Editor by right-clicking the sub-
system and choosing Mask→Create Mask. In the Mask Editor, choose the pane Parameters
& Dialog. Mask the subsystem according to Fig. 3. After you have masked it, you can set
numerical values for the model parameters by double-clicking the subsystem, cf. Fig. 4.
Open the Configuration Parameters window, e.g., using the menu: Simulation→Model
Configuration Parameters. Set the values 0.5 and 1e-4 for the parameters Stop time and
Max step size, respectively, according to Fig. 5. Remember to save your model regularly.

Figure 2: Creating a subsystem.

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2.3 Testing the Model

Before starting to build the control system, the motor model will be tested. Connect the
blocks Step and To Workspace to the motor model according to Fig. 6. Specify the names
of the workspace variables to which the To Workspace block writes the data according to

Figure 3: Masking the subsystem.

Figure 4: Giving numerical values for parameters.

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the figure. Specify the voltage step block so that the voltage is stepped to its rated value
120 V at t = 0.1 s. The load torque should be stepped to its rated value at t = 0.3 s.
Simulate the model, for example, using the menu: Simulation→Run. After the simu-
lation, you can plot the results in the Matlab workspace using the following commands:
subplot(2,1,1); % Divides the figure to two subplots
plot(ia.time,ia.data); grid on;
%IN = 20; % Rated current
%plot(ia.time,ia.data/IN); % This would plot the p.u. current
xlabel('Time (s)'); ylabel('Current (A)');
subplot(2,1,2);
plot(wM.time,wM.data); grid on;
xlabel('Time (s)'); ylabel('Speed (rad/s)');

It is practical to write and save these commands as a script (e.g., using the name fig.m)
and then run the script by typing its name (fig) in the workspace. This way you can
easily edit and reuse your scripts. The simulation results should look similar to those
shown in Fig. 7. If they look different, you should debug your model.

Figure 5: Configuration parameters. Set the new values for the parameters Stop time and Max step size.

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Figure 6: Step inputs for the voltage and load torque.

Figure 7: Rated voltage step at t = 0.1 s and rated load torque step t = 0.3 s.

Figure 8: Rate limiter. Select the continuous sample time mode.

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1. Simulate the sequence corresponding to Fig. 7. Modify the plotting script so

that the per-unit current and the per-unit speed are plotted (use their rated
values as base values and do not normalize time). Show this result in your
report. Remember to change the axis labels. Explain why there is a very large
peak in the current after the voltage step is applied.
2. Using the analytical motor model, calculate the values for the current ia and
the rotor speed ωM in the steady state, when the voltage ua = UN and the load
torque TL = TN . Compare these values to your simulation results.
3. Limit the rising rate of the voltage to 120 V/0.1 s using the Rate Limiter block, cf.
Fig. 8. Place this block between the voltage step and the motor model. Simulate
the model and show the results in your report. Briefly comment on the current
and speed responses.

3 DC-DC Converter and Unipolar PWM

The motor is fed from a four-quadrant DC-DC converter, whose DC-bus voltage is Udc =
140 V. Ideal power switches are assumed. Hence, the converter can be modelled using the
equivalent circuit shown in Fig. 9(a).
The switching states of the two bi-positional switches are denoted by qA and qB .
The value of the switching state is 1 if the switch is connected to the positive potential
of the DC bus and otherwise 0. The instantaneous output voltage of the converter is
ua = uAN − uBN , where uAN is the voltage between potentials A and N and uBN is the
voltage between potentials B and N. Hence, the instantaneous output voltage can be
expressed as
ua = (qA − qB )Udc (2)

qA
1
dA
0
t
qB carrier
A ia 1
dB
Udc ua 0
B t
ua
N
Udc
ua,ref
qA
ua,ref
PWM qB 0
Tsw t
(a) (b)

Figure 9: (a) Equivalent circuit of the four-quadrant DC-DC converter. The potentials A, B, and N
are marked in the circuit. The positions of the bi-positional switches in the figure correspond to the
switching states qA = 1 and qB = 0, and the output voltage is ua = Udc . (b) Example waveforms in
unipolar PWM.

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The average voltage over the switching cycle is

ua = (dA − dB )Udc (3)

where 0 ≤ dA ≤ 1 and 0 ≤ dB ≤ 1 are the duty cycles.

The switching states of the chopper are to be generated using unipolar PWM, whose
operating principle is illustrated in Fig. 9(b). The references for the duty cycles are
determined by    
1 ua,ref 1 ua,ref
dA = 1+ , dB = 1− (4)
2 Udc 2 Udc
where ua,ref is the reference voltage. The duty ratios are compared to the carrier signal,
which is a triangular wave alternating between 0 and 1 and having a period of Tsw =
200 µs. When the duty ratio is higher than the carrier, the corresponding switching state
is 1 and otherwise 0. An implementation of unipolar PWM is shown in Fig. 10(a).
For simulating fast switching phenomena with good accuracy, the solver time step
should be a few decades shorter than the switching period (or, alternatively, the solver
should be informed about the switching instants). Open the Configuration Parameters
window and set the value 1e-6 for the parameter Max step size (cf. Fig. 5). Naturally,
the simulation becomes slower due to the shorter time step.

(a)

(b)

Figure 10: (a) Simulink implementation of unipolar PWM. (b) Motor model with unipolar PWM and
converter model. Specify the Repeating Sequence block by setting Tsw*[0 0.5 1] for the Time values and
[1 0 1] for the Output values. The Zero-Order Hold block represents sampling synchronised to the PWM
(set the value Tsw/2 for the Sampling period parameter). You can assign the values for the variables Udc
and Tsw either via masking the subsystem (as was done in the case of the DC motor) or simply via the
Matlab workspace (i.e., type Udc = 140 and Tsw = 200e-6 in the workspace).

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4. Augment your simulation model with unipolar PWM and converter models.
Your model should look similar to the model in Fig. 10(b). Simulate the model
and show the results in your report. Briefly comment on differences compared
to the previous simulation, where an ideal voltage source was assumed. Submit
this version of your simulation model to MyCourses.
5. Plot the waveforms of the actual current ia and the synchronously sampled
current ia k in the same subplot. Show also the waveform of the voltage ua.
You can plot the results using the following script:
subplot(2,1,1)
plot(ia.time,ia.data); grid on; hold on;
stairs(ia k.time,ia k.data,'r'); % Discrete signal
axis([0.15 0.1504 9 11]); % Controls axis scaling
xlabel('Time (s)'); ylabel('Current (A)');
subplot(2,1,2)
plot(ua.time,ua.data); grid on;
axis([0.15 0.1504 −10 150]);
xlabel('Time (s)'); ylabel('Voltage (V)');

Show the results in your report and briefly comment on them.

4 Cascaded Control
The control system of the DC motor is shown in Fig. 11. The control structure is cascaded:
the outer loop is the speed control loop and the inner loop is the current-control loop.
For simplicity, the switching harmonics due to the PWM will be omitted in the following
(but the voltage saturation will be taken into account).
Save the simulation model you have made, and copy it using a new name for the
following changes. You can remove the PWM and converter models. In order to speed up
your simulations, open the Configuration Parameters window and set 1e-4 for the Max
step size parameter.

4.1 Current Control

Augment your simulation model according to Fig. 12(a). An implementation of the 2DOF
PI current controller with the anti-windup scheme is shown in Fig. 12(b). You can tune the

Udc

ωM,ref
Speed TM,ref 1 ia,ref qA , qB
controller kf Current ua,ref
controller PWM

ia
ua ia
ωM

Figure 11: Cascaded control system of the DC motor. In the following, PWM and converter models are
omitted for simplicity.

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controller using the following script, which you should run before starting the simulation:
clear; % Removes variables from the workspace
%% Parameter estimates
Ra = 0.5; % Armature resistance
La = 2.5e−3; % Armature inductance
kf = 0.35; % Flux constant
J = 1e−3; % Moment of inertia
%% Gains of the 2DOF PI current controller
alphac = 2*pi*500; % Closed−loop bandwidth
kpc = alphac*La; % Proportional gain
kic = alphacˆ2*La; % Integral gain
r = kpc − Ra; % Active resistance
Umax = 140; % Saturation: upper limit
Umin = −140; % Saturation: lower limit
%% Gains of the 2DOF PI speed controller (for Section 4.2)
%alphas = 0.1*alphac; % Closed−loop bandwidth
%kps = ...; % Proportional gain
%kis = ...; % Integral gain
%b = ...; % Active damping
%TN = 7; % Rated torque
%Tmax = 2*TN; % Saturation: upper limit
%Tmin = −2*TN; % Saturation: lower limit

Test your model using a 1-Nm 100-Hz square-wave torque reference. The results should
look similar to those in Fig. 13.

6. Calculate the theoretical rise time of the torque and compare it to the simulated
rise time.

4.2 Speed Control

Finally, the 2DOF PI speed controller will be implemented and tuned. This controller has
a similar structure as the 2DOF PI current controller. An implementation of the control
system is shown in Fig. 14.

(a) (b)

Figure 12: (a) Torque control. For testing the model, specify the Signal Generator block to generate the
square wave with an amplitude of 1 Nm and a frequency of 100 Hz. (b) 2DOF PI current controller with
anti-windup. Set Umax for the upper limit and Umin for the lower limit in the Saturation block.

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0
7. A term proportional to the measured speed is subtracted from the output TM,ref
0
of the PI speed controller, i.e. TM,ref = TM,ref −bωM , where b is the active damping
constant. Derive the transfer function G0 (s) from TM,ref
0
to the angular speed ωM
assuming the current control to be ideal (i.e., the torque equals its reference).
Based on this result, give the tuning equations for the 2DOF PI speed controller.
8. Tune the speed controller of your simulation model for the closed-loop band-
width αs = αc /10. Test your model using the square-wave speed reference,
whose amplitude is 160 rad/s and frequency is 4 Hz. Generate the rated load
torque step at t = 0.3 s. Show results of this simulation in your report. Show
also the figures describing the main level of your simulation model and the
implemented speed controller. Submit this version of your Simulink model to
MyCourses (including your initialisation script).
9. This problem aims to illustrate the robustness of the closed-loop control scheme
against parameter errors. Generally, resistances depend on temperature (about
0.4%/K) and inductances may vary due to the magnetic saturation. Change the
actual armature resistance in the motor model to 150% of its original value and
the actual armature inductance to 70% of its original value, but do not change
the values in the control system. Simulate the model. Show the results and
comment on them in your report. After this problem, restore these parameter
values back to their original values.
10. This problem aims to illustrate the importance of the anti-windup scheme. Re-
move the anti-windup in the speed controller (but do not remove the saturation
of the controller output). Show results of your simulation and comment on them.

Figure 13: Testing of the torque controller with a 1-Nm 100-Hz square-wave torque reference.

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Figure 14: Cascaded control. Specify the Signal Generator block to generate the square wave with an
amplitude of 160 rad/s and a frequency of 4 Hz. Specify the Step block to generate the rated torque step
at t = 0.3 s.

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