ICE 3015: CONTROL SYSTEM

COMPONENTS

Class 5: Servo Motor Driver, Control &

Model

Dr. S. Meenatchisundaram
Email: [email protected]

Control System Components (ICE 3015)

Dr. S.Meenatchisundaram, MIT, Manipal, Aug – Nov 2018
 Servo Motor Controller:
• A servo motor controller is a circuit that is used to control the
position of a servo motor.
• It is also called as a servo motor driver.
• A servo motor controller consists of a controller, the servo motor
and the power supply unit.
• Servo motor driver may be used to control a single servo or even
a group of servo motors.
• In many projects where servo motor controlling is the mainstay of
the task to be accomplished, the controller must drive more than
one servo.
• An example of this is an RC airplane, which uses many servos.

Control System Components (ICE 3015)

Dr. S.Meenatchisundaram, MIT, Manipal, Aug – Nov 2018
 Servo Motor Controller:
• Essential Components
A micro-controller
A power supply unit
• Miscellaneous Components
A potentiometer
Connectors, wires etc.
Micro-controller:
• A servo motor is driven by applying the voltage signal at regular
intervals.
• The servo is sensitive to timing variations.
• A pulse of specific width has to be applied at specific intervals of
time.
Control System Components (ICE 3015)
Dr. S.Meenatchisundaram, MIT, Manipal, Aug – Nov 2018
 Servo Motor Controller:
• Typically, the duration of pulse varies from 0ms to 2.2ms and the
repetition rate is 50Hz to 60Hz.
• For precise position control, the controller that is chosen must
have timers that have the required resolution.
• Also, if more than one motor has to be controlled simultaneously,
the processor clock must be fast enough.
• For a single motor control, an 8051 can be used like a AT89s51
or a P89v51RD2.
• But for more than one motor, we must use a PIC, like a PIC18F
or a ATMEGA, so that it’s internal PWM can be utilized.
• However, the selection of micro-controller depends totally on the
designer and the project requirements.

Control System Components (ICE 3015)

Dr. S.Meenatchisundaram, MIT, Manipal, Aug – Nov 2018
 Servo Motor Controller:
Power Supply:
• The design of the power supply unit servo motor controller
depends on the number of servo motors that are interfaced to the
board.
• Servo motors operate from 4.8V to a 6V supply voltage.
• The typical value is 5V.
• Applying voltages greater than the supply voltage is not advisable
as it may render the motor permanently useless.
• The current draw of the motor is variable and depends on the
torque that it generates.
• Also it will draw less current when in idle mode and more current
when it is running.

Control System Components (ICE 3015)

Dr. S.Meenatchisundaram, MIT, Manipal, Aug – Nov 2018
 Servo Motor Controller:
• A servo motors maximum current draw is given as its stall
current.
• This is the maximum current it will draw when running with the
maximum torque before it stops due to overload.
• This current value can be as high as 1 A for some motors.
• For a single motor control a voltage regulator like a LM317 can
be used along with a suitable heat sink.
• But when multiple motors need to be interfaced, a high quality
supply with higher current rating must be used.
• A SMPS (Switched mode power supply) can be a good option.

Control System Components (ICE 3015)

Dr. S.Meenatchisundaram, MIT, Manipal, Aug – Nov 2018
 Servo Motor Controller:
• Block Diagram below showing interconnections in a Servo Motor
Driver:

Control System Components (ICE 3015)

Dr. S.Meenatchisundaram, MIT, Manipal, Aug – Nov 2018
 Controlling Servo Motor:
• The servo motor has three terminals.
1. Position signal (PWM Pulses)
2. Vcc (From Power Supply)
3. Ground
• The servo motor angular position is controlled by applying PWM
pulses of specific width.
• In order to generate the PWM (Pulse Width Modulation)
waveform, as shown in figure below one can use either the
internal PWM module of the micro-controller or the timers can be
used.

Control System Components (ICE 3015)

Dr. S.Meenatchisundaram, MIT, Manipal, Aug – Nov 2018
Controlling Servo Motor:

Control System Components (ICE 3015)

Dr. S.Meenatchisundaram, MIT, Manipal, Aug – Nov 2018
 Controlling Servo Motor:
• Using the PWM block is more flexible as most micro-controller
families design the blocks to suit the needs of application like
Servo motor.
• For different widths of PWM pulses, we need to program the
internal registers accordingly.
• Now, we also need to tell the microcontroller how much it has to
rotate.
• For this purpose, we can use a simple potentiometer and use an
ADC to get the rotation angle or for more complex applications an
accelerometer can be used.

Control System Components (ICE 3015)

Dr. S.Meenatchisundaram, MIT, Manipal, Aug – Nov 2018
 Modelling of DC Servos -
Introduction:
• A DC motor is an actuator that converts electrical energy to
mechanical rotation using the principles of electromagnetism.
• The circuit symbol for a DC motor is shown in figure below:

Control System Components (ICE 3015)

Dr. S.Meenatchisundaram, MIT, Manipal, Aug – Nov 2018
 Circuit Theory Model:
• The circuit shown in figure below models the DC servomotor.

• Note that an armature control current is created when the

armature control voltage, Va, energizes the motor.
• The current flow through a series-connected armature resistance,
an armature inductance, and the rotational component (the rotor)
of the motor.
Control System Components (ICE 3015)
Dr. S.Meenatchisundaram, MIT, Manipal, Aug – Nov 2018
 Circuit Theory Model:
• The rotor shaft is typically drawn to the right with the torque (Tm)
and angular displacement (θm ) variables shown.
• The motor transfer function is the ratio of angular displacement to
armature voltage.

• Three equations of motion are fundamental to the derivation of the

transfer function.
• Relationships between torque and current, voltage and angular
displacement, and torque and system inertias are used.

Control System Components (ICE 3015)

Dr. S.Meenatchisundaram, MIT, Manipal, Aug – Nov 2018
 Circuit Theory Model:
• Torque is proportional to the armature current. The constant of
proportionality is called the torque constant and is given the
symbol Kt .
• The time and frequency domain relationships are given as
equations 1 and 2.
Tm ( t ) = K t I a ( t ) (1)
Tm ( s ) = K t I a ( s ) (2)

• The back electromotive force (back-emf), Vb, is a result of the rotor

spinning at right angles in a magnetic field.
• It is proportional to the shaft velocity. The constant of
proportionality is called the back-emf constant and is given the
symbol Kb .
Control System Components (ICE 3015)
Dr. S.Meenatchisundaram, MIT, Manipal, Aug – Nov 2018
 Circuit Theory Model:
• The time and frequency domain relationships are given as
equations 3 and 4.
dθ m (3)
Vb ( t ) = Kb ∗
dt
Vb ( s ) = K b ∗ sθ m ( s ) (4)
• Torque can also be written as a relationship that depends on the
load attached to the motor shaft.
• If the load inertial and damping behaviours are reflected back to the
shaft the resulting equivalent inertia coefficient and viscous
damping coefficient can be used to model the mechanical system
attached to the shaft.
• These equivalents combine the motor and load properties in a
model with a single degree of freedom.
Control System Components (ICE 3015)
Dr. S.Meenatchisundaram, MIT, Manipal, Aug – Nov 2018
 Circuit Theory Model:
• The figure below shows the equivalent system of a motor with shaft.
• The torque equation can be written by inspection by summing the
forces acting at the shaft.

Tm = ( J e ∗ s 2 + De ∗ s ) ∗θ m (5)
1
Gθ =
J e ∗ s 2 + De ∗ s (6)

Control System Components (ICE 3015)

Dr. S.Meenatchisundaram, MIT, Manipal, Aug – Nov 2018
 Circuit Theory Model:
• The DC servomotor transfer function block diagram can be created
through an examination of the armature current equation.
• Ohm’s law for impedances is used to write the armature current
equation in the s-domain.
• Note that the equation includes both real and imaginary parts of the
impedance. The reactance is inductive.
Va − Vb 1
Ia = = (Va − Vb ) = GI (Va − Vb )
Ra + s ∗ La Ra + s ∗ La

Control System Components (ICE 3015)

Dr. S.Meenatchisundaram, MIT, Manipal, Aug – Nov 2018
 Circuit Theory Model:
• Similarly, the equations of motion can be used to relate the
armature current to torque, torque to angular displacement, and
angular displacement to the back-emf.
• The complete block diagram is shown in figure below.

• Note that this actuator is a feedback system that can be reduced to

the standard form for derivation of the gain. The series gain path is
reduced to an equivalent gain through multiplication.

Control System Components (ICE 3015)

Dr. S.Meenatchisundaram, MIT, Manipal, Aug – Nov 2018
 Circuit Theory Model:
• The reduced block diagram is shown in figure below.
• The forward path gain is traditionally called G while the feedback
path gain is H.

• The gain can be calculated directly from the reduced block diagram:

Control System Components (ICE 3015)

Dr. S.Meenatchisundaram, MIT, Manipal, Aug – Nov 2018
 Circuit Theory Model:
θm G GI K t Gθ
Gm = = =
Va 1 + GH 1 + ( GI K t Gθ )( K b s )

• Note that the denominator contains a + sign because the block

diagram has negative feedback at the summation node.
• The denominator would contain a - sign if the block diagram used
positive feedback.

Control System Components (ICE 3015)

Dr. S.Meenatchisundaram, MIT, Manipal, Aug – Nov 2018
 Workout:
• Calculate the transfer function of a DC servomotor with the
following parameters:
Parameters Value
Ra 2.6 Ω
La 180 µH
Kt 7.67E-3 N*m/A
Kb 7.67E-3 V/(r/s)
Je 5.3E-7 kg*m2
De 7.7E-6 N*m/(r/s)

Control System Components (ICE 3015)

Dr. S.Meenatchisundaram, MIT, Manipal, Aug – Nov 2018