EEE325– Control Systems

Lab # 05
An Introduction to Vertical Take-off and landing (VTOL)
and Design of a Current Controller using LabVIEW

Name Ubaid Ur Rehman

Registration Number FA18-BEE-121

Class FA18-BSEE-E

Instructor’s Name Sir Abubakar Talha Jalil

1
LAB #5: An Introduction to Vertical Take-off and landing (VTOL)
and Design of a Current Controller using LabVIEW/MATLAB
Objective
 The objective of lab experiment is to introduce the VTOL system and open-loop and closed-loop
operations on the system and Design of a current controller to control the amount of current
drawn by the propeller motor
Required:
Software
 MATLAB/LABVEIW

Methodology
In this lab we familiar with The QNET vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) trainer. The system consists of a
variable speed fan with a safety guard mounted on an arm. At the other end of the arm, an adjustable
counterweight is attached. This allows the position of the weight to be changed, which in turn affects the
dynamics of the system. The arm assembly pivots about a rotary encoder shaft. The VTOL pitch position
can be acquired from this setup. Some examples of real-world VTOL devices are helicopters, rockets,
balloons, and harrier jets. Aerospace devices are typically more difficult to model. Usually this will involve
using software system identification tools to determine parameters or actual dynamics The VTOL device is
broken down into two subsystems: the voltage-current dynamics of the motor and the current position
dynamics of the VTOL body A PI current controller, the inner loop, is designed to regulate the current
inside the motor according to a desired current reference. This current reference is generated from the
outer-loop controller: a PID compensator that controls the pitch of the VTOL trainer In cases where the
actuator has relatively slow dynamics, such as an electromagnet with a large inductance, it is favorable to
design a current controller. Typically, a proportional-integral compensator is used to regulate the current
flowing in the load. This basically makes the actuator dynamics negligible and simplifies the control design
of the outer loop we used to feed an open-loop voltage or current to the QNET-VTOL Trainer . In this
mode, a current controller is used to regulate the current in the motor, as discussed in previous section
and the user chooses the reference current. In voltage mode, the voltage chosen is applied directly to the
QNET amplifier, which in turn drives the motor
LAB TASKS
TASK 1
Set the current control ON switch to OFF. Set the open-loop Voltage knob to 4.0. Vary the voltage between
4.0 V and 8.0 V by steps of 1.0 V and measure the current at each voltage and find the resistance.
GRAPH
RESULT

Sr. Voltage(V) Current(I) Resistance (R=V/I)

1 4 1.4 4 / 1.4 = 2.85
2 5 1.75 5 / 1.75 = 2.85
3 6 2.1 6 / 2.1 = 2.85
4 7 2.5 7 / 2.5 = 2.80
5 8 2.9 8 / 2.9 = 2.75
Average Resistance 2.82

Hence by varying the voltage of motor attached, the current also changed accordingly. When the Current
control was off then by rising the voltage, the current also increased and by R=V/I, the resistance was
obtained, and average resistance was 2.82.
Lab task 2
In the current set point section set:

 Amplitude = 0.20 A
 Frequency = 0.40 Hz
 Offset = 0.90 A

In Control Parameters section set the PI current gains to:

 Kpc = 0.250
 Kic=10

Examine the reference and measured current response obtained in the current (A) scope and

A) Show and explain effects of having no integral gain. Attach a sample response.
B) Show and explain effects of having no proportional gain. Attach a sample response.
PART A
GRAPH
Integral gain is controlling the current response time of the system so by changing the integral gain, the
response will be affected. The response time becomes quite slow when the integral gain is dropped
PART B
GRAPH

Proportional gain constant is controlling the current oscillation of the system so by changing the
proportional gain, the response will be changed. The response becomes oscillatory when no proportional
gain is used. More oscillations would be performed, and system stability will be affected
LAB TASK 3
Calculate the PI gains, 𝑘𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑘𝑖, necessary to satisfy the following design criteria
 ⍵𝑛=42.5 𝑟𝑎𝑑/𝑠
 𝜉=0.7
Use the value of armature resistance as calculated in task 1 and inductance as given in the table below. Do
all the calculations in the space provided below. Also fill the table below.

Parameter Value Unit

𝑅𝑚 2.83 ⍵
𝐿𝑚 53.8 mH
ξ 0.7
⍵𝑛 42.5 rad/s
𝑘𝑝,𝑐 0.375 V/A
𝑘𝑖,𝑐 97.17 V/(A.s)

In the Current Set point section set:

 𝐴𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒=0.20 𝐴
 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦=0.40 𝐻𝑧
 𝑂𝑓𝑓𝑠𝑒𝑡=0.90 𝐴
In Current Control Parameters section, set the PI current gains to what you found above. Run the VI. The
VTOL Trainer propeller should begin turning at various speeds according to the current command.
Examine the reference and measured current response obtained in the Current (A) scope. Include a plot
showing the current response with your designed PI gains. Does it satisfy the design criteria? Discuss
below.
GRAPH

RESULT
The response with optimized PI gains reaches the set-point quickly and has little over-shoot with low
steady-state error. The response is much faster than the low integral case s and oscillations are not as
pronounced as in the pure integral case. Comparatively, these gains yield the best response.
POST LAB TASK
Design a PI controller to control the current drawn by propeller motor with following design criteria.
 Settling Time =5s
 Overshoot = 5%
RESULT

Overshoot =

0.05 =

= 0.07
 ts=

5=

𝑘𝑝, = -𝑅𝑚+2𝜉⍵𝑛𝐿𝑚

𝑘𝑝,=-2.74

𝑘𝑖, = ⍵𝑛2𝐿𝑚

𝑘𝑖, = 0.126
CONCLUSION
This lab helped to familiarize with QNET VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) trainer. The current
controller on QNET VTOL was implemented using lab view. Lab also helped to learn about PI controller
and how to design it in VTOL. With the help of PI controller current gain of system can be controlled and
operated under required conditions. The PI controller helped to stabilize the system. By reducing rise time,
steady state error and overshoot the maximum and stabilize output was taken from system which helped to
improve the results.