DC-Servomechanism

1. Servomechanism Model
The position servomechanism is schematically described in the figure above.
It consists of a DC-motor, gearbox, elastic shaft and load. We derive the
equations of the system, in order to obtain a model suitable for control tasks.
To this aim, let us consider each physical component of the system.
(a) DC Motor - Armature Control
i.
V = Ri + e (1)
where V = applied armature voltage, i =armature current, R =re-
sistance, e =back e.m.f
ii.
e = kb ωM (2)
where ωM = θ̇M =angular velocity of motor-shaft, kb =constant
iii.
φ = kf if (3)
where φ =air gap fux, if =field current, kf =constant
iv.
TM = k1 φi (4)
where TM =torque developed by the motor, k1 =constant
v. By steady-state power balance
TM ωM = ei (5)

and therefore k1 kf if = kb = kT , kT =motor constant

vi.
JM ω̇ M = TM − βM ωM − Tr (6)
where JM = equivalent moment of inertia of motor, βM =equivalent
viscous friction coefficient of motor, Tr =other torques.
vii. In summary:
V = Ri + kT ω
(7)
JM ω̇M = kT i − βM ωM − T r

(b) Gear Box

Consider the gear box depicted in the next figure.
 i. Same distance traveled by the two wheels
θ1 r1 = θ2 r2 (8)

where r1 , r2 = wheel radii

ii. and therefore
θ1 r2 N2
= = =ρ
θ2 r1 N1
where N1 , N2 =number of teeth, ρ =gear ratio.
iii. By differentiation,
ω1 = ρω2
iv. Power transmission (no loss)

T1 ω1 = T2 ω2
and therefore
T1 1
=
T2 ρ
By referring again to the first figure, we have for θ1 = θM , θ2 = θs ,
T1 = −Tr , T2 = T
θs = ρ1 θM
(9)
Tr = − ρ1 T
where θM =angular displacement of motor shaft, θs =angular dis-
placement of load-side gear, T =torque acting on the load.

(c) Elastic Shaft

The shaft has finite torsional rigidity kθ :

T = kθ (θL − θS )

where θL =angular displacement of load.

(d) Load Dynamics
JL ω̇ L = −βL ωL − T
where ωL = θ̇L =angular load velocity, JL =equivalent moment of inertia
of load, βL =equivalent viscous friction coefficient of load.

(e) Differential Equations of the System

By collecting the previous eqautions, we can write

θM βL
ω̇ L = − JkθL θL − ρ − JL ω L
kT V −kT ωM βM ωM kθ θM
(10)
ω̇ M =
JM R − JM + ρJM
θL − ρ

(f ) State-Space Model
By setting xp = [θL , θ̇L , θM , θ̇M ], the model can be described by the
following state-space form
0 1 0 0 0
− JkLθ − βJLL kθ
ρJL 0
ẋp = 0 0 0 1 xp + 00 V
kθ β +k /R
2 kT
ρJM
0 − ρ2kJθ M − M JMT RJM
(11)
θL = 1 0 0 0 xp
θ˙L = 0 1 0 0 xp
T = kθ 0 − kρθ 0 xp

Since the steel shaft has finite shear strength, determined by a maximum
admissible τadm = 50N/mm2 , the torsional torque T must satisfy the
constraint
T ≤ 78.5398N m
Moreover, the input DC voltage V has to be constrained within the range

V ≤ 220V

The model is transformed in discrete time by sampling every Ts = 0.1s

and using a zero-order holder on the input voltage.

(g) Parameters
 The parameters of the system are reported in the following table.

Symbol Value (MKS) Meaning

LS 1.0 shaft length
dS 0.02 shaft diameter
JS negligible shaft inertia
JM 0.5 motor inertia
βM 0.1 motor viscous friction coefficient
R 20 resistance of armature
kT 10 motor constant
ρ 20 gear ratio
kθ 1280.2 torsional rigidity
JL 50JM nominal load inertia
βL 25 load viscous friction coefficient
Ts 0.1 sampling time

2. Exercises
Neglect the constraints in the following exercises.
(a) Describe with a Matlab script the continuous-time (CT) and the discrete-
time (DT) model of the DC-Servomechanism.
(b) Describe with a Simulink Model the continuous-time and the discrete-
time model of the DC-Servomechanism.
(c) Compute the outputs θL and θ̇L for a step input of V = 120V olts and
zero initial conditions (for both the CT system and the DT system).
(d) Compare the CT and the DT response.
(e) Compute the zero-input response for θL (0) = θM (0) = 0, θ̇L (0) = 1rad/s, θ̇ M (0) =
20rad/s.
(f ) Compute the outputs θL and θ̇ L for the inputs V = 120 sin(wt)V olts for
w = 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10, 100, 1000, 10000 and zero initial conditions.
(g) Is the system stable?
(h) Is the system Controllable?
(i) Is the system Observable with y = θL ?
(j) Is the system Observable with y = [θL θ˙L ]?
(k) Design a linear observer assuming that y = [θL θ˙L ].