A Four Quadrant Adjustable Speed Drive For

Series Wound DC Motors

A Dissertation Part-I
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment for the Award of the degree of

Master of Technology
in
Power Electronics
Submitted to

Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidhyalaya, Bhopal (M.P.)

By

Ravindra Kumar
Srivastava

0126EE18MT10

ORIENTAL COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY, BHOPAL

Approved by AICTE New Delhi & Govt. of M.P.
Affiliated to Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidhyalaya, Bhopal (M.P.)

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 ORIENTAL COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY, BHOPAL
Approved by AICTE New Delhi & Govt. of M.P. & Affiliated to
Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidhyalaya, Bhopal (M.P.)

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the Dissertation Part-I work entitled "- A Four
Quadrant Adjustable Speed Drive For Series Wound DC Motors " being
submitted by Ravindra Kumar Srivastava Enroll.No 0126EE18MT10
for partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of M.Tech. Degree
in Power Electronics to Oriental College of Technology, Bhopal (M.P.) is
a record of bonafide work done by him under my guidance.
 Prof. Lalit Jain
Prof. Lalit Jain
Guide
Asst. Prof.
Asst. Prof. Deptt. of EX,
Head of Deptt. of EX,
OCT,Bhopal
OCT, Bhopal

Dr. Netra Pal Singh

Director,
OCT, Bhopal
 ORIENTAL COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY, BHOPAL
Approved by AICTE New Delhi & Govt. of M.P. & Affiliated to
Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidhyalaya, Bhopal (M.P.)

APPROVAL CERTIFICATE

This dissertation part-I work entitled “ A Four Quadrant Adjustable Speed Drive

For Series Wound DC Motors” submitted by Ravindra Kumar Srivastava is

approved so that he/she can continue their thesis work for the award of degree of

Master of Technology in Power Electronics.

Internal Examiner External Examiner

Date: Date:
 ORIENTAL COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY, BHOPAL
Approved by AICTE New Delhi & Govt. of M.P. & Affiliated to
Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidhyalaya, Bhopal (M.P.)

CANDIDATE DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the Dissertation Part-I work presented in the report entitled as “

A Four Quadrant Adjustable Speed Drive For Series Wound DC Motors” is

my own work conducted under the guidance of Prof. Lalit Jain, Assistant Professor,

Department of EX, OCT, Bhopal. I further declare that to the best of my knowledge

the dissertation part-I work does not contain any part of work that has been

submitted for the award of any degree either in this university or any other

university without proper citation.

Date: Ravindra Kumar Srivastava

Place: Bhopal 0126EE18MT10

Prof. Lalit Jain Dr. Netra Pal Singh

Asst. Prof. Director,
Head of Deptt. of EX, OCT, Bhopal
OCT, Bhopal
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I express deep sense of gratitude and respect to my learned Guide Prof. Mr. Lalit Jain
during my dissertation work, so that could finalise the title of thesis. Without his
enthusiasm and encouragement this dissertation part-I would not have been completed. He
has timely suggested actions and procedures to follow for which I am really grateful and
thankful to him.

My sincere thanks are due to Dr. Netra Pal Singh, Director, OCT and Mr. Lalit Jain,
Head of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department, for providing necessary
research facilities to achieve this work. My heartful thanks to all faculty members of
Electrical & Electronics Engineering Department, OCT for providing moral support and
constant encouragement throughout this work.

I am heartily thankful to the Management of Oriental College of Technology for providing

me all the facilities and infrastructure to take my work to the final stage.

I express my thanks to Mr. Rishabh Shukla, M.Tech Coordinator, for cooperation,

guidance and support.

Ravindra Kumar
Srivastava
(0126EE18MT10)
 ABSTRACT

Motor control is a complex topic due to the wide range of issues involved. The
following report discusses these issues, including motor theory, digital and analog
electronic design, high power DC-DC converters, thermal design, EMI and EMC
issues, and software design.

The completion of this project has demonstrated the advantages of using a

microcontroller as the basis for the design and proved the feasibility of using a
highly integrated approach to the circuit design. Testing of the control system
showed that its performance is suitable for the application and highlighted the
benefits of using software to incorporate many useful features in the design with a
low parts count and minimal cost.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certificate i
Approval Certificate ii
Candidate Declaration iii
Acknowledgment iv
Abstract v
List of Figures vi

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 13-14

1.1OVERVIEW 13

1.1.1Why a Series Wound Motor Was Chosen 13

1.1.2Why Use Power Electronics 13

1.1.3 Why Control Voltage with the Switch-Mode Method 14

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE SURVEY 15

CHAPTER 3: PROBLEM FORMULATION 16-17

CHAPTER 4: OBJECTIVE 18

CHAPTER 5: METHODOLOGY 19-23

5.1How Half Bridge With Reversing Contactors Works 21

5.2 Microcontroller Implementation 22-23

CHAPTER 6: EXPECTED OUTCOMES 24-25

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 6.1 Pulse Width Modulation 24

6.2 Shoot through Protection Logic 25

6.3 Forward/Reverse Switching 25

CHAPTER 7: PROS & CONS WITH APPLICATIONS 26

CHAPTER 8: CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE 27

References 28

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 1.0 Half Bidge Configuration 16

2.0 Half Bridge with Reversing Contactors 17

3.0 Simple System Block Diagram 19

4.0 Functional Block Diagram 21

5.0 PWM Output During Normal Operation 23

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 CHAPTER –I INTRODUCTION

1.1OVERVIEW

The proposed drive system will consist of a power electronic circuit and its associated
control logic, powered by an on-board 48V battery pack.

Four quadrant operation means the drive can operate the motor in four different modes by
changing the polarity of voltage and direction of current. These four modes are: forward
motoring (positive voltage and current), forward regeneration (positive voltage, negative
current), reverse motoring (negative voltage and current) and reverse regeneration
(negative voltage and positive current). The term regeneration (also known as regenerative
braking) means operating the motor as a generator. This brakes the motor by converting its
mechanical energy into electrical energy and sending it back to the batteries.

1.1.1Why a Series Wound Motor Was Chosen Series wound motors are commonly used
as traction motors in many applications, as they offer high starting torque, are robust, have
a simple design and are relatively low cost. . DC series motors are an ideal choice for
battery-operated equipment over AC motors, as they do not require the use of expensive
inverter circuitry to convert the DC voltage to an AC voltage required by the motor.

1.1.2Why Use Power Electronics There have been many methods of motor control
invented over the past hundred years or so. They range from simple rheostat type
controllers, which basically are a big variable resistor, to voltage-step contactor controls, to
the modern electronic versions available today. Before the advent of power electronics,
most methods of motor control were inefficient or did not provide smooth operation.
Modern variable speed drives are very efficient and use transistor technology to control
power to the motor smoothly and safely.

Variable speed drives are used wherever there is a need to vary the speed and torque of the
motor.

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1.1.3 Why Control Voltage with the Switch-Mode Method

Voltage control using the switch-mode concept utilises solid state components, including
high power transistors driven by PWM (pulse width modulation). The benefits of using this
method for motor control are many, in particular;

• The ability to smoothly control voltage (and current) delivered to the motor, thus
controlling its speed and torque.

• All operating modes can be realised, including forward, reverse and regenerative braking.

• High efficiency – losses can be minimised and an efficiency of 80% or higher is easily
obtainable.

• Easily implemented into digital circuits, allowing high levels of controllability and large
feature sets to be implemented in software.

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 CHAPTER 2:
LITERATURE SURVEY

A brief survey of previous literature reported is done.

National Semiconductor 2003, LM2907/LM2917 Frequency to Voltage Converter,

National Semiconductor Corporation, USA- The Microchip PIC16F877 features are given in

this book, including the way various analog inputs and digital outputs are interfaced to it. Four

quadrant operation of chopper in various modes in presented to understand operation.Half Bridge

configuration and Half bridge with reversing contactors are well explained

Valentine, R (ed.) 1998, Motor Control Electronics Handbook, McGraw-Hill, New York-
operation of dc series wound motor control for vehicles is given and its process of
feedback control is given which helped to understand the control of accelerator controlled
vehicle motor designed to work

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 CHAPTER 3:
PROBLEM FORMULATION

The typical way to get four quadrant operation using electronics is to use four switching devices
connected in the H bridge configuration illustrated in figure1. Switching on S1 and S4 will apply
voltage across the motor in one polarity, and S3 and S2 the other. The trouble with this circuit is
that it doesn’t work for series wound motors as is. This is due to the fact that the field is in series
with the armature. If the voltage across the motor is reversed, it will reverse the voltage across
both the armature and the field, so the motor will continue spinning the same way! This is the
reason why series motors can also work on AC. To circumvent this problem, either the field or
the armature connections must be reversed, but not both. Another problem with this
configuration is that it requires four high power transistors (or four banks of smaller transistors),
which are expensive. One of the aims of this project is to produce an economical design, so a
more cost-effective approach must be taken.

Figure 1.0: Half Bidge Configuration

The solution can be found in the half bridge, and some large mechanical relay switches
(contactors) to reverse the field connections. This circuit, shown in figure 2 , allows full four
quadrant operation while using half of the expensive power transistors required by the full
bridge. It may at first seem that the use of contactors will make the design more complicated and

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prone to contactor faults. However, the field connections need only be switched when the motor
must be reversed. This means that the motor will be at a stop when they operate, and thus they
are not interrupting any current. This will significantly prolong the life of the contactors.
In addition, the time taken for the contactors to switch is also irrelevant. The time it takes for the
contactors to switch is insignificant when compared to the time that must be allowed for the
motor to slow to a stop before its direction can be reversed.
This circuit also allows the field current and armature current to be equal. This is important,
because these currents must be the same to minimise arcing of the commutator.

Figure 2.0: Half Bridge with Reversing Contactors

CHAPTER 4:

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 OBJECTIVE

The objective of this project is to design an economical drive that will allow four quadrant

Operation of series wound motors in an EV application. While there are commercial series motor

Drives available, these are generally only of the single or two quadrant types. Regeneration with

Series wound motors is uncommon due to the construction of the motor. Modern power

Electronics make regeneration with these types of motors more feasible. With the aid of the of

Power electronic circuit used in this project, the effectiveness of regeneration with these motors

Could be investigated.

CHAPTER 5:

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 PROPOSED METHODOLOGY

Figure 3.0: Simple System Block Diagram

Figure 3.0 illustrates a block diagram of the whole system, showing how each of the individual

circuits presented link together. All the inputs to the system are converted to digital form by the
microcontroller and are processed by the control system software, which in turn

provides the outputs to the power stage. The inputs from the driver are an accelerator and brake

pedal, just like any normal vehicle, as well as a switch to select forward or reverse. The goal is to

make the control system operate the motor so that it operates in an intuitive way and has the

same response to drivers’ inputs just as any other ordinary vehicle would.

A relatively simple control system is required to achieve this goal, as the human driver forms

part of the feedback loop. There is no need for PI or PID controllers, the system must simply

respond as per the driver’s instantaneous commands. If the driver wants the vehicle to speed up,

they simply press down more on the accelerator. When they have reached their desired speed,

they simply ease off the accelerator until that speed is maintained. This “human feedback loop”

is the same principle used in any ordinary automobile. There is some feedback to the

microcontroller in the form of current, voltage, and speed, but this is only used to protect the

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circuit and ensure operation is only within the user-specified parameters.

The control system, in simple terms, reads the accelerator or brake pedal position and receives a

value from 0-100%. It then sets the PWM duty cycle accordingly, from 0-100%. If the system

senses that the motor current or speed is too high, it will automatically cut back the duty cycle to

protect the electronics and the motor.

Of course, the practical implementation of this system is somewhat more complex. There are

other issues to consider. For example, what happens if the driver selects reverse when the vehicle

is travelling forwards? What happens if the driver tries to do regenerative braking and the

batteries are already charged? What happens if the electronics short out or the accelerator fails

and the motor gets stuck full on? These issues are addressed by the control system software and

the circuit design.

One important safety aspect to consider is the braking system. The motor control can provide

regenerative braking, but since the braking energy must go into the batteries it cannot operate if

the batteries are fully charged. This means that sometimes the drive will not be able to provide

any braking force. To address this issue, the vehicle must have a mechanical brake that is

sufficient to do all the braking on its own. The electrical and mechanical brake would still be

controlled by the same pedal, the first portion of brake pedal travel will be regenerative braking

only, and then if the pedal is pressed further the mechanical brake will come on. Using this

method the driver should not notice much of a change in braking performance even if

regeneration cannot take place as they will instinctively push down more on the pedal until the

desired amount of braking is achieved.

Another important issue is safe start up and shut down of the power stage to ensure the vehicle

doesn’t move unexpectedly due to a fault condition. This issue is addressed in the

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microcontroller’s software. When the system is powered up, the power stage and main contactor

is switched off. The software performs “self-tests” to ensure that no pedals are being pressed and

that the power stage circuit pre-charges properly before turning on.

These measures will detect if a potentiometer is faulty or a pedal is accidentally held down

5.1 HOW HALF BRIDGE WITH REVERSING CONTACTORS WORKS

Figure 2.0: Half Bridge with Reversing Contactors

This circuit effectively consists of two types of DC-DC converter combined. There is a buck

(step-down) converter and a boost (step-up) converter. The buck converter is used to step the

battery voltage down to control the speed of the motor. The boost converter is used to boost the

motor voltage high enough to charge the batteries when the circuit is operating in the

regenerative mode. The PWM technique is used to control the switches in the half bridge circuit

to vary the power delivered to the motor. So how does this circuit achieve four quadrant

operation? switch (S1) and the bottom diode form a step down converter

that can reduce the voltage to the motor.

When S1 turns on, current flows from the battery into the field and armature of the motor,

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causing it to spin. When it turns off, the current in the motor must continue to flow as the motor

is very inductive, so it does so through the lower diode. Thus, varying the duty cycle of S1 will

control the motor in the motoring mode. To reverse the rotation of the motor, the connection of

the field is simply reversed using the contactors.

To use the motor as a generator the current must flow out of the motor into the batteries. For this

to happen, the voltage across the

motor must be greater than the battery voltage. This physically cannot happen unless the motor

voltage is boosted somehow. This is the role of S2; it forms part of a stepup converter. To make

the circuit work as a boost converter, S2 is turned on, which effectively shorts out the motor.

This causes a large current to build up in the motor loop. When this current has built up, S2 is

turned off. Due to the inductive nature of the motor, it will try to keep current flowing, so its

voltage will rise until it becomes high enough for current to flow through the upper diode and

into the battery pack. Applying the PWM control signal to S2 allows the motor to be controlled

as a generator. Once again, to perform regenerative braking while the motor is reversing, the

contactors are used to reverse the field connection.

5.2 Microcontroller Implementation

The Microchip PIC16F877A microcontroller was chosen for use in this design. This section

discusses how the microcontroller’s features are used in this design, including the way various

analog inputs and digital outputs are interfaced to it. Figure 4.0 represents the inputs and outputs
of

the microcontroller.

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 Figure4.0:Functional Block Diagram

The output from the microcontroller to the power stage is in digital form. There are six outputs

from the microcontroller to the power stage; the PWM signal, a high side select signal, a low

side select signal, pre-charge enable, main contactor enable signal, and a forward/reverse

contactor control signal. The PWM and high & low side select signals are connected to the

protection logic circuit. This circuit ensures that only the PWM signal is applied to either the

high or low side at any particular time. The PWM output to the power stage can be switched off

by setting both high & low side select signals to a logic 0 or a logic 1.

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 CHAPTER 6:

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

6.1 Pulse Width Modulation

This simple test was used to ensure that the PWM signal output was correct and varied in

accordance with the position of the brake or accelerator positions when no preset current, speed

or voltage limits were exceeded. Figure shows the 15kHz PWM output from the

microcontroller’s CCP pin as captured by the oscilloscope.

Figure 5.0 – PWM Output During Normal Operation

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6.2 Shoot through Protection Logic

Testing of the shoot through protection logic was undertaken to ensure that only the low
side received the PWM signal during regeneration, and only the high side during motoring.
Using the oscilloscope, it was found that at no time were both the high and low sides
signalled to be switched on at once. Varying the accelerator and brake potentiometers
proved that the circuit did indeed apply PWM to the correct side of the bridge, and that any
movement of the brake pedal overrides the position of the accelerator pedal and changes
the drive to regenerative braking mode.

6.3 Forward/Reverse Switching

To ensure the reversing contactors are only switched when the PWM signal is off and the
motor has stopped spinning, the speed potentiometer was first set to indicate to the
microcontroller that the motor was spinning at around 3000r/min. The selection switch was
then changed from forward to reverse. The PWM signal was shut off by the
microcontroller, and the LCD displayed “Spinning down”. The speed potentiometer was
then turned down to zero, and the microcontroller then switched on the reversing
contactors and changed the LCD display to “Reverse!” The same process was repeated, but
this time the switch was changed from reverse to forward. Again, the circuit operated as
excepted and no bugs were discovered.

CHAPTER 7:

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 PROS & CONS WITH APPLICATIONS
The testing proved that the microcontroller operated as desired and provided a control

system that implements all the required features with adequate response times. Even though

the accuracy and resolution of the ADC may not be particularly high, it is more than

sufficient for the purposes of this design.

Testing of the control system and its associated circuity proved that the design is suitable
and able to provide safe operation of the power stage. The features provided by the

adjustable speed drive are well suited to application in an EV, particularly the fully

adjustable parameters, which allow for safe operation of the EV during forward and reverse

motoring as well as braking.

CHAPTER 8:

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 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE

This project presents many opportunities for further work. The most obvious being the full
construction and testing of a power stage to be coupled to the control system. This would
be a large task, and involves a large amount of testing and careful design. The end result,
however, would be a very useful design which could be used in many different types of
electric vehicles. To reduce pollution and our demand on ever depleting fossil fuels, more
environmentally sound ways of transport need to be developed. An EV motor control can
be powered with high technology batteries or hydrogen fuel cells to make a long range
road going vehicle or used in conjunction with an internal combustion engine to form a
hybrid drivetrain.

During the course of the project many areas with potential for further investigation also
became apparent. Most notably these include:

• Noise immunity of high power motor controls and microcontroller circuity – noise has
the potential to render an otherwise perfect design totally useless or even dangerous. •
Regeneration with series wound DC motors – regeneration with series wound DC motors is
uncommon, but could be practical with the use of variable brush timing and power
electronics. This would yield efficiency gains and extend the distance the EV is able to
travel before needing to recharge. • Testing and refinement of high power motor control
circuits – development of a process to efficiently and effectively test high power circuits
while minimising the financial cost and time taken.

REFRENCES

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National Semiconductor 2003, LM2907/LM2917 Frequency to Voltage Converter,
National Semiconductor Corporation, USA

Valentine, R (ed.) 1998, Motor Control Electronics Handbook, McGraw-Hill, New York

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