ETD820S:

Electric Drives 415

Lab 1: Dynamic Simulation of a GTO Fed DC Motor Drive.

Objectives

 To serve as an introduction to the Matlab’s drives library
 To model and simulate a gto fed DC motor drive in Matlab/Simulink.
 To investigate the response of the drive due to a change in the reference speed and load torque.
 To obtain and display visual Torque and speed measurements in Matlab/Simulink.

Introduction & background theory

Simulink is a block diagram environment for multi-domain simulation and Model-Based Design. It supports
system-level design, simulation, automatic code generation, and continuous test and verification of embedded
systems. Simulink provides a graphical editor, customisable block libraries, and solvers for modelling and
simulating dynamic systems. It is integrated with MATLAB, enabling you to incorporate MATLAB algorithms
into models and export simulation results to MATLAB for further analysis.

Drives are found in everyday life applications such as drills, elevators, fans, robotics and many other systems
that require speed/motion control. Drives that use electric motors as their prime movers are known as
electrical drives. As such, in this experiment, you will build and simulate a dc motor drive system.

Procedure

1. Open a new window and give it a name of your choice. Using Simulink, build a subsystem of the
following figure and name it ‘Current Controller’. Set the relay’s switch on point to h/2 and switch off
point to -h/2. Left click the controller and select mask subsystem and in the parameters column define
the hysteresis band and name it h. Now, double click the masked subsystem and set h to 2 A.

2
Ia
1
g
1 Relay
Iref

Figure 1 Current Controller

ETD820S Lab 1 Penti & P. Kumar Page 1

 2. In the same window, build a subsystem of figure 2 and name it ‘Speed Controller’. Left click the
controller and select mask subsystem and in the parameters column define Kp, Ki and the current
limit. Double click the masked subsystem and set Kp to 1.6, Ki to 16 and current limit to 30 A.

Kp
1
1
Wm 1
Ki Iref
s
2
Wref

Figure 2 Speed Controller

3. After you have built the two subsystems, build the main drive model shown in figure 3 and integrate
the current and speed controllers into the main model as shown below.

<Speed wm (rad/s)>
Speed Controller
Current Controller
Wm

Iref 120
Iref
Wref Ref Speed (rad /s)
g
Ia

Ref Speed
Selection Speed Step

<Armature current ia (A)>

Filter
<Electrical torque Te (n m)>

Scope
+ Torque (N.M)
v
- 5
Vd

Step Torque 5HP /240 V

Torque DC Motor
Selection
TL m

LS
g
k A+ dc A-

Gto F+ F-

Continuous 280 V Free wheeling

Vdc Diode

240 V
Vf

Figure 3 GTO fed dc motor drive model

ETD820S Lab 1 Penti & P. Kumar Page 2

 4. Set the torque step as follows: Initial Value 5, Final value 50, sample time 0 and step time 1.2s.
5. Set the speed step as follows: step time 0.5, initial value 120, final value 200, and sample time 0.

Circuit Description

The DC motor is fed by the DC source through a chopper which consists of GTO thyristor and free-wheeling
diode D1. The motor drives a mechanical load characterised by inertia J, friction coefficient B (internal
parameters), and load torque TL. The hysteresis current controller compares the sensed current with the
reference and generates the trigger signal for the GTO thyristor to force the motor current to follow the
reference. The speed control loop uses a proportional-integral controller which produces the reference for the
current loop. Current and Voltage Measurement blocks provide signals for visualization purpose.

Simulation

Motor starting
Start the simulation. Observe the motor current, voltage, speed and torque during the starting on the scope. At
the end of the simulation time, the system has reached its steady-state operation point.

Response to a change in reference speed and load torque

The initial conditions to start with wm = 120 rad/s and TL = 5 N.m has been saved in the speed and torque
steps respectively.

 Now, double click the Manual Switch block (Ref speed selection) to switch from the constant "Ref.
Speed (rad/s)” and restart the simulation and observe the drive’s response to successive changes in
speed reference (Save the scope graphs).
 Set it back to constant Ref speed and double click the Manual Switch block (Torque selection) to
switch from the constant "Torque (N.m)” and Restart the simulation and observe the drive response to
successive changes in load torque (Save the scope graphs).
 Finally, switch both of them from the Ref speed and torque selection points (simultaneously), restart
the simulation and observe the drive’s response to successive changes in speed reference and load
torque (Save the scope graphs).

Lab 1 Report Instructions

General rules about lab reporting (applicable to all following lab reports of this semester):
1. Please use a word processor to typeset your report.
2. Please write the following info on the front page of your report:
 Course code & name
 Experiment number & name
 Your Programme of study
 Your name and student ID
3. Your report should include at least the following sections:
 Objectives
 Introduction
 Simulation results

ETD820S Lab 1 Penti & P. Kumar

Page 3
  Analysis of results – Point out the effects of changing the Ref speed on torque and armature current,
voltage & the effects of change in load torque on the speed, armature current & voltage.
 Conclusion

Helpful Tips
Q: How to copy the circuit diagram from Matlab/Simulink to MS Word?
A: Select the diagram using copy (Ctrl-C) and paste (Ctrl-V) into MS Word.
Q: How to copy output graph from Matlab/Simulink MS Word?
A: In the scope output window, copy (Ctrl-Print screen) and paste (Ctrl-V) into MS Word.

ETD820S Lab 1 Penti & P. Kumar Page 4