THE UNIVERSITY OF GAZIANTEP, FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICSENGINEERING

AUTOMATIC CONTROL SYSTEMS (EEE 352) LABORATORY, EXPERIMENT 03

INPUT-OUTPUT CHARACTERISTICS OF ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS

USED FOR ROTATIONAL POSITION AND SPEED MEASUREMENT
1. Aim of the experiment
Describe the constructions, principles and applications of the following transducers:
a) Servo Potentiometer for position measurement,
b) Tacho-Generator for counting and speed measurement.
Obtain Input-Output characteristic of the electromechanical transducers above in (a) and (b) to be
used in continuous time control systems.
2. Characteristics of Transducers and Electromechanical Transducers
The D1750 unit provides examples of a full range of input and output transducers. There many
electromechanical transducers are given to measure the rotational position or to count and measure
the rotational speed. In this experiment session a particular attention will be given to Servo
Potentiometer to measure rotational position and Tacho-Generator to measure rotational speed.
3. Characteristics of Transducers and Electromechanical Transducers
The servo potentiometer is a device that can be used to convert a linear or angular displacement into
a voltage. A circular potentiometer is a resistor whose resistance varies with the movement of a
rotating shaft position. Mathematically, this fact is expressed by the following equation

v(t ) k p (t )

(1)

where kp is potentiometer constant. The Laplace transform of (1) is

V ( s ) k p ( s)

(2)

Thus the transfer function of the potentiometer is a constant, kp and shown in Figure 1.
v(t)
Volt

kp

00

(t)
Degree

Figure 1: The characteristic of the potentiometer.

A special positional potentiometer is mounted on the experiment board which has a very large arc of
turning, approaching 360. It is called a Servo Potentiometer. To bring the potentiometer scale into
Exp.3:1

contact with the drive wheel on the shaft, press and release the mounting at the point arrowed in
Figure 2.

Figure 2: The experiment setup for the servo potentiometer.

The potentiometer can then be turned manually with the shaft using one of the large wheels such as
the Hall Effect Sensor Disk. The potentiometer can be turned directly from the dial, manually, if
preferred. The 5V input voltages to the Servo Potentiometer are connected internally.
3.1 Pre-Lab Problems to be solved and submitted BEFORE the lab
Consider equation (1) and Figure 1 with Figure 2 and answer the following questions:
Q. 3.1: Plot the input-output characteristic of the servo potentiometer for -180 +180.
Q. 3.2: Is the input-output characteristic of the servo potentiometer for -180 +180 linear?
Why?
Q. 3.3: Is the input-output characteristic of the servo potentiometer for -360 0 or -0 +360
linear? Why?
Q. 3.4: Which range of angular position can be measured from the servo potentiometer? Explain?
3.2. Experiment: Input-output characteristics of a servo potentiometer
Connect a digital multi-meter in the 20V DC range to the output of the potentiometer as shown in Figure
2. Turn the potentiometer to find the maximum positive output voltage position. Note the value of this
voltage and the angle, as given on the potentiometer dial, in the first column of Table 1 overleaf.
Table1: Output voltage servo potentiometer
Control
Dial
Setting,
Output
Volt. (V)

1500

1200

900

600

300

360 0/
00

3300/
-300

3000/
-600

270 0/
-900

240 0/
-1200

210 0/
-1500

Rotate the dial in steps of 30clockwise from the maximum voltage position, note the output voltage at
each step and record the values in Table 2.4. At the final step, write down the angle from the dial setting
and the value of the maximum negative voltage setting. From the information recorded in Table 2 , draw
the characteristics of the output voltage versus dial setting of the Servo Potentiometer in Figure 3.

Exp.3:2

Output Voltage

+5
+4
+3
+2
+1
-270 -240 -210 -180-150120 -90 -60 -30
+30 +60 +90 +120 +150+180+210+240+270

-1

Dial Setting,

-2
-3
-4
-5
Figure 3: Input Output characteristic of the Servo Potentiometer.
3.3. Tasks to be done and given in lab report
Do the following tasks by considering experiments results obtained above;
Task 3.1: Classify the characteristic of the Servo Potentiometer obtained from the results of
experiment?
Task 3.2: Discuss the characteristic of the Servo Potentiometer nearby 00 obtained experimentally. Is
it possible to measure exact position nearby 00 and why?
Task 3.3: Discuss the characteristic of the Servo Potentiometer nearby 180 0.
Task 3.4: Plot and show which ranges of the angular position can be measured by the Servo
Potentiometer.
Task 3.5: Do a literature review to list of analogy transducers to measure angular position and list of
digital transducers to measure angular position
4. Characteristics of The DC Permanent Magnet Tachometer Generator (Tachogenerator)
A generator refers to a device which converts mechanical energy into electrical energy. As such, a
tachometer generator is a machine which, when driven by a mechanical torque, produces an electric
output voltage, V(t), proportional to the speed of rotation,(t). Figure 4 shows the construction and
electrical circuit arrangement of the DC Permanent Magnet Tacho-Generator fitted to the DIGIAC
1750 Trainer. This consists of a set of coils connected to a commutator which rotate inside a
permanent magnet stator. The rotating assembly is called the armature. With the coils rotating, an
alternating Electro Motor Force, EMF, is generated in them. The commutator converts this to DC
Volts. The diodes in Figure 4 (b) are fitted to limit any voltage spikes that may be generated by the
commutation process (i.e. conversion from AC to DC) to a maximum of 12V. The main
characteristics of the device are given in Table 2.
Exp.3:3

(a)

(b)

Figure 4: The DC Permanent Magnet Tachogenerator: (a) Construction arrangement and (b)
Electrical circuit arrangement.

Table 2: The characteristics the DC Permanent Magnet Tacho-Generator

Open circuit voltage (12V to motor)
10.5 V
Short circuit current (12V to motor)
750 mA
Output impedance
39
Output noise
200 mV p-p

The input-output characteristic of the tachometer generator is a non-linear and has hysteresis.
Increasing input speed follows the different curve then from the cfurve of decreasing input speed
and results a 'hysteresis loop,' as shown in Figure 5 (a) below. The tachogenerator has no input until
increasing speed to 1. Then the voltage is induced (measured) from the tachogenerator output
until V2. Increasing speed further above 2 doesnt change the output voltage and thechogenarator
output has saturation voltage V2. The arrows in Figure 5 (a) show the increase and degrease
diraction of the input speed of the thechogenarator. Decreasing input speed of the tachogenerator
degreases the output voltage but follows different path. Further degreasing leads to V1 for zero input
speed. To use tachometer generator as a transducer the characteristic between 1 and 2 is
linearized as shown in Figure 5 (b).
V(t)
Volts
V2

V(t)
Volts
V2

kv
V1
0

1
(a)

(t)
Speed

1 Linear 2
region

(b)

(t)
Speed

Figure 5: The characteristic of the tachogenerator; (a) the actual and (b) linearized at the origin.
Exp.3:4

The magnitude of the generated Electro Motor Force, EMF, is proportional to the rate of cutting flux
and therefore to the rotational speed. The polarity depends on the direction of cutting flux and
therefore on the direction of rotation. Thus output voltage of tachometer generator to measure the
angular velocity (speed) is depicted in Figure 6 for small signal is;

v(t ) k v

(t )
k v (t )
t

(3)

where (t) is angular velocity of shaft and kv is the sensitivity of tachogenerator in volt per radian
per second.
EMF, V(t)
Volts

kp

(t) Speed

00

Figure 6: The characteristic of the DC Permanent Magnet Tachogenerator.

4.1 Pre-Lab Problems to be solved and submitted BEFORE the lab
Q. 4.1: Do a literature review for analogue transducers to measure linear and rotational velocity.
Q. 4.2: Do a literature review for digital transducers to measure linear and rotational velocity.
Q. 4.3: How the speed of a DC motor is measured. Explain?
Q. 4.4: How the speed of an AC motor is measured. Explain?
4.2. Experiment: Characteristics of a DC Permanent Magnet Tacho-Generator
Connect the circuit as shown in Figure 7. Set the COUNTER/TIMER controls to COUNT and 1s.
Set Amplifier #1 GAIN COARSE control to 10 and GAIN FINE to 0.1.
Switch ON the power supply.
Apply an input to the motor and set the shaft speed to 5 rev/sec indicated by the counter after
pressing the RESET button. Note the output voltages indicated on the Moving Coil Meter and record
the values in Table 3.
Table 3: The output voltage against shaft speed.
Shaft Speed (rev/sec), n
5
Output Voltage (Moving Coil Meter),

10

20

30

40

Repeat the procedure for the other shaft speed settings indicated in Table 3. Draw the graph of
output voltage, V, against shaft speed, n, on the axes provided in Figure 8.

Exp.3:5

Figure 7: The experiment setup for DC Permanent Magnet Tacho-Generator.

10
Output 9
EMF, V(t) 8
Volts 7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Input, (t) Speed
Figure 8: The input-output characteristic of DC Permanent Magnet Tacho-Generator.
Base on the experiment results answer the following questions;
EQ. 4.1: Is the characteristic linear?
Yes
No
Exp.3:6

EQ. 4.2: From your graph depicted in Figure 8 estimate and enter your experimental recorded
output voltage from the digital multimeter when the shaft speed is 25 rev/sec. Compare both results.
4.3. Calibration of the Moving Coil Meter to Indicate Speed Directly:
The scale to be used is 20V represents 2000 rev/min (100 rev/min/V).

Figure 9: The Moving Coil Meter.

Transfer the connection of the Moving Coil Meter from the input of Amplifier #1 to the output of
Amplifier #1 in Figure 7.. Set the GAIN FINE control to just a little above 0.3. Apply a low input to
the motor and set the shaft speed to 5 rev/sec (300 rev/min) as shown on the Counter after pressing
RESET. Adjust the OFFSET control of Amplifier #1 to set the Moving Coil Meter reading to -7V as
seen from the Figure 9. Change the motor drive voltage to set the shaft speed to 30 rev/sec
(1800rev/min) as shown on the Counter after pressing RESET. Adjust the GAIN FINE control of
Amplifier #1 so that the Moving Coil Meter indicates +8V.
Repeat both of the above settings and adjustments as often as necessary to make both of them
correct (changing one of them will have altered the other. Some anticipation may be helpful). The
meter will then be calibrated as shown in Figure 9.
Use the calibrated Moving Coil Meter to set and complete the motor speed as shown in Table 4.
Calculate the corresponding speed in rev/sec and then check at each setting against those obtained
from the Opto Transducer and Counter.
Table 4: The motor speed.
Shaft Speed (rev/min)
Calculated Shaft
Speed (rev/sec)
Shaft Speed from
Counter (rev/sec)

600

1000

1200

1600

Consider the experiment results and answer the following questions;

EQ. 4.3: Which was easier for setting the motor speed, the calibrated
Moving Coil Meter, or

the Counter
Exp.3:7

and explain?
EQ. 4.4: Classify the characteristic of Tachogenerator obtained experimentally?
EQ. 4.5: Discuss the characteristic of Tachogenerator nearby low speed nearby origin obtained
experimentally. Is it possible to measure exact speed nearby speed0 and why?
EQ. 4.6: Discuss the characteristic of Tachogenerator nearby the highest speed.
EQ. 4.7: Plot the characteristic of Tachogenerator Output Voltage Volt versus Shaft Speed
(rev/sec), n.
5. Lab report
The report should log the results from the experiment with your own interpretations, observations
and conclusions. You should try to answer all questions in the manual. The report must be typewritten. Unless otherwise stated, no question should require more than a page to answer.

Exp.3:8