ME 6105 Modeling and Simulation

HW3: Energy-Based Systems Modeling in Modelica

Simulation Based Design of a High-Speed
Elevator System





Memebers:
Bo Yang
Fei Zhao
Xiayun Zhao
Sen Yang






Spring 2008
03-04-1008
2
Table of Content
Task 1: Define your goals and problem domain ............................................................................... 3
Problem Domain ....................................................................................................................... 3
Simulation Scenario .................................................................................................................. 4
Task 2: System and Simulation Specification ................................................................................... 5
Systems ..................................................................................................................................... 5
Assumptions .............................................................................................................................. 6
Task 3 Create your models in Dymola .............................................................................................. 7
Sheave ....................................................................................................................................... 7
Car & Counter weight ............................................................................................................... 8
Brake System ............................................................................................................................ 9
Voltage Controllable Source ................................................................................................... 10
DC Motor ................................................................................................................................ 11
Sensor System ......................................................................................................................... 12
Motor Controller ..................................................................................................................... 12
Task 4 Verification .......................................................................................................................... 14
Sheave-car-counter weight system .......................................................................................... 14
Brake System .......................................................................................................................... 15
The Electrical System ............................................................................................................. 16
Task 5 Experimentation and Interpretation ..................................................................................... 19
Experimentation ...................................................................................................................... 19
Interpretation ........................................................................................................................... 19
Task 6 Lessons Learned .................................................................................................................. 20
References ....................................................................................................................................... 22
3
Task 1: Define your goals and problem domain
Problem Domain
Elevator systems are typical examples for complex mechatronic systems. High
safety-relevant demands are special properties of these systems. Practical experiments for the
function validation of developed components (subsystems) and their interactions are
mandatory necessary. However, the opportunities for experimental system optimization are
often limited by the system size and complexity. Experiments with system versions are too
expensive or impossible because of safety requirements. Furthermore, the investigation of
relevant operating conditions is very complicated. This difficult design situation can be
improved by accompanying system simulations.

Machine
Room
Top Of
Hoistway
Inside
Elevator
Outside
Mounted On
Elevator
Elevator
Entrance/Hall
way
Elevator
Pit/Bottom of
Hoistway
-Elevator
Control Systems
-Motors
-Handset
Telephones
-Machine Room
Lighting
-Brake Limit
Switches
-Final, Normal
& Slow Down
Switches
-Access Over
Travel Limit
Switch
-Main &
Auxiliary Car
Stations
-Car Position
Indicators
-Traveling
Lanterns
-Cab Lighting
-Car Top
Inspection
Station
w/Worklight &
Receptacle
-Magna-Track
Selector System
-Car Bottom
Worklight
&Receptacle
-Retiring Cam
-Cab Ventilation
Fan
-Door Interlocks
-Hall Stations
-Multi Light
Position
Indicators
-Hall Lanterns
-Access Switch
Stations
-Final, Normal
& Slow -Down
Switches
-Pit Switch
-Pit Worklight
and GFCI
Receptacle
Table 1 Components of a Typical Elevator System

A complete commercial elevator system contains many sub-systems and components
as shown in Table 1. Due to the size of the project, we abstracted a real elevator system into a
simple one consisting of components shown in Table 2. Instead of model an elevator that has
complete features, we focus on the motional aspects of a high-speed elevator that deliver
excellent performance in terms of travel efficiency and comfort. Therefore, we mainly model
the core parts of the mechanical system and the electrical system within an elevator that
deciding the motional performance without considering others such as the alarm, door,
lanterns, etc.



4
Mechanical System Electrical System Environment Factors
Car
Counter Weight
Rope
Sheave
Brake

Motor
Motor Speed Control

Sheave Friction
Wind Resistance

Table 2 Composition of the Abstracted Elevator System in our Model
Simulation Scenario
In Homework 2, we defined the design objectives as MAXIMIZE EFFICIENCY and
MAXIMIZE PASSENGER COMFORT. Based on these objectives, a set of attributes were
presented such as maximum speed, running time and maximum acceleration as to measure the
performance. Accordingly the simulation scenario will mainly focus on testing different
alternatives of the components in Table 2 to find the combinations that contribute to good
performance based on measurement of those attributes. For example, given that the elevator is
going to travel from 1st floor to 10th with certain weight in the car, we will measure the travel
time, maximum speed, maximum acceleration and other attributes in the simulation under
different configurations of the system components.

Specific questions to ask during simulation include:
- When integrating different components which work properly as individuals, will the
whole system perform as expected?
- What is the best configuration of the sub-systems given the two design objectives?
- Among the different sub-systems and components, which have the biggest influence on
the travel performances in terms of the efficiency and comfort?
- What are the inter-relationships among sub-systems that must be considered when
selecting alternatives?
- In terms of achieving basic performance of the elevator, whats the minimum complexity
required for the motor control mechanism?
- How well the design objectives could be realized in our model compared to real systems
in the market?

In answering those questions, we employ a bottom-up approach by developing the
components individually with alternatives included, integrating them and then testing the
system performance under different configurations.
In the context of design problem defined in HW2, the design objectives will all be
considered in the simulation the influence diagram is well followed. But the original plan on
design alternatives was modified in the simulation to reduce the complexity.
5
Task 2: System and Simulation Specification
Systems
Based on the major components in Table 2 we selected to model, an overall system
structure is shown in Figure 1 indicating how the major components are integrated as an
elevator system. Basically the whole system is modeled by integrating three sub-systems: the
electrical system, the mechanical system and environment factors.

Figure 1 System Structure of our Elevator Model

As shown in Figure 1, the electrical system mainly refers to the motor circuits, a
circuit controlling its voltage input, and the sensors that provides input to the control system
by monitoring the status of the mechanical system. We use a DC motor in our model. And the
control is made by changing the voltage input to the motor. The mechanical system includes a
car, a counter-weight, a rope connecting the two, a sheave that drive the rope to roll from the
car side to counterweight or vice versa, and a brake system that helps to stop the car. The
environment factors modeled in our model are two wind resistances imposed on the car and
the counterweight respectively. There are other environment factors such as the travel
distance input and the passenger weight which are taken as input not shown in Figure 1.


Motor
Motor Control Circuit
Car
Counter
Weight
Wind
Resistance
Brake
System
Sensors
Rope
Sheave
Wind
Resistance
Roll
Control
VoltageInput
- Travel Distance
- Weight Carried
Rotation
Speed
Counter-act Counter-act
Connec
Counter-act
Drive
Monitor
Electrical System
Mechanical System
6
Assumptions
Phenomena already included in our model:
- Variable passenger weight
- Variable traveling distances
- Wind Resistance on the Car and the Counter-weight
- Friction within the Sheave


Phenomena abstracted away in our model:
- Routing algorithm and passenger detection: As our focus is on the travel efficiency and
comfort, instead of modeling random customer arrival, we take both the passenger
weight and travel distance as deterministic input in each experiment.
- The friction on the moving car and the counter-weight
- Complexity in the motor control system: in real elevator systems, the mechanisms in
motor control are usually much more complicated than ours incurred by AC input,
variable voltage and frequency, etc. In our model we use a DC power and a DC motor
controlled by adjusting its voltage input.

Phenomena to be included:
- Stiffness of the rope

7
Task 3 Create your models in Dymola
In this section we are going to introduce the Dymola models of the key components in
our model and their verification accordingly. In Figure 2 is an overview of the elevator system
model in Dymola corresponding to the system structure in Figure 1. In this section we are
going to introduce the major component one by one.
sheave=0.2
fixed
fixed1=0
fixed2=0
W
.
.
.
W
.
.
.
c
o
u
n
t
e
r
W
e
i
g
h
t
I
Tau
S
M...
MC...
S
speed...
S...
I0
S
P1
damper_Brake
d=0.15
10
Desired_Distance
Approac...
Volt...
c
a
r

Figure 2 Overall Elevator Model in Dymola
Sheave
The sheave model is modified from the Winch model Chris provided in class. We
added two more ports in the model. Flange_damper is set to transfer rotational friction from a
damper, and also works as a brake to the whole system (see details in Brake component).
Flange_CWeight is a port to carry the counter weight, in addition to another port Flange_Car.
Related equations for the movement are shown in Figure 3.

8

Figure 3 Our Sheave Model in Dymola
Stiffness has not been considered in the current model. Due to the similarity of system
control, the total length of rope is set as constant.
Car & Counter weight
Car and Counter Weight are modified from sliding mass component. All the mass of
Car and Counter Weight are suspended by the tope on sheave. According to literature, typical
mass of a car is 1600 kg, and standard max load is 2000kg. The mass of counter weight is
usually designed as the sum of Car and half of max load, which is 1600+2000/2=2600kg.
Therefore, in the simulations in Task 5, such weight setting is regarded as standard.
During the traveling period, wind in the elevator shaft provides resistance, which is a
function of car velocity. Based on the homework one and literature review, the wind
resistance function has been defined as
wind_resistance=-k*air_density*vel_ms^2*sign(vel_ms), where k is set to be 0.05 as
the default condition.

9
f
force
v
speedSensor
product
k=-0.05
windConstant
sign1
si...
product1
k=1.29
AirDensity
flange_a1

Figure 4: Dymola Model of Wind Resistance
Brake System
Although the motor is controlled to decelerate before arriving, a brake system is still
necessary to assist a timely brake. We design a brake system by ourselves. The principle of
the brake system is to increase rotational friction at the sheave shaft when elevator car is
approaching its destination, so that its velocity will decrease very fast to a full stop.
The brake system consists of two components: Is_Approaching and
Damper_Brake.

(1) Is_Approaching
This component checks whether the elevator car is approaching a customer-specified
travel distance (S0).

Components Name Description
RealInput Car_s real-time position of elevator car
RealInput S0 desired distance specified by passenger
BooleanOutput Is_Approaching True: if the car is close enough to its destination
Figure 5 Dymola Model of the Component Is_Approaching

10
Note: we define approaching as the remaining travel is ErrorCoefficient * Desired
Distance. Here, the ErrorCoefficient is a small number (i.e., 1e-4)

(2) Damper_Brake
This component is based on Modelica.Mechanics.Rotational.Damper in Dymola
Library.
Graphically, we add an input connector Is_Stopping to signal the damper that it is
time to increase tau.

We specify a sufficiently large damper coefficient (i.e., 5e3) for the output torque (tau)
at flange_b; hence the rotational resistance increases significantly to brake. The graph and
Modelica language of the component - Damper_Brake is shown as below in Figure 6.


Figure 6 Dymola Model of the Component Damper_Brake
Voltage Controllable Source
The voltage output of this component has a range from -120V to 120 V, which is
controlled by two inputs: variable resistance and a switch signal.
11
ground
c
o
n
s
t
a
n
t
V
o
l
t
a
g
e
=
1
2
0
+
-
controlledIdealInter...
c
V
a
r
i
a
b
l
e
R
e
s
i
s
t
.
.
.
powerSensor
P
i
n
t
e
g
r
a
t
o
r
I
k
=
1
p1
n1
R S

Figure 7 Dymola Model of the Voltage Controllable Source
DC Motor
DC Motor is composed of resistor, inductor, eMF, inertia and damper, which also has
power and energy output.
L=0.01
inductor
eMF
k=3
inertia
J =0.2
fixed=0
d
a
m
p
e
r
d
=
0
.
3
powerSensor
P
R=0.05
resistor
add add
+
inte...
I
k=1
abs2
flange_b1
n1
p1
p
o
w
e
r
w
o
r
k

Figure 8 Dymola Model of the DC Motor
12
Sensor System
The sensor system gets the weight of car and counterweight to calculate the inertia of
them and the torque exerted to the shave because of their gravity. Also the current position of
the car is outputted.
add
+1
+1
add
+
+1
+1
product
R
k=0.2
product1
add1
+1
+1
add1
+
+1
+1
product2
k
k=-1
product3
g
k=9.81
product4
s
positionSensor
m_Car
m_CW
I
Tau
s
Car_s

Figure 9 Dymola Model of the Sensor System
Motor Controller
An elevator has a desired running curve as following: first accelerate at a constant rate,
then run at a constant speed, after that decelerate at the same rate as in the first step, finally
adjust the position of the car. The maximum acceleration is limited by the comfort
requirement of the elevator. The maximum speed is defined by the design of mechanical
system and energy consumption. Also the final position of the car and the jerk because of start
and stop needs to be carefully controlled. To achieve this requirement, the torque of the DC
Motor is computed in the entire process.
max
max
accelarate
0 constantspeed
decelarate
a
a
a

car car
T aI T =
The resistance in the system should be (Modelica codes shown in Figure 11):
V LB K
R K
T J B



=
+ +
&
&


13
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
car1.s [m] car1.v [m/s] car1.a [m/s2]

Figure 10 Typical Running Curves in Simulation


Figure 11 Modelica Codes of the Resistance in the Motor Controller
amax
- amax
Vmax
astart astop
14
Task 4 Verification
Sheave-car-counter weight system
Taking off the power and control system, Figure 12 shows the major structure of the
traveling sub-system.
sheave=0.2
fixed
fixed1=0
fixed2=0
W
.
.
.
W
.
.
.
c
a
r
1
c
o
u
n
t
e
r
W
e
i
g
h
t
damper
d=0.5

Figure 12 Structure of the Travling Sub-system
Condition 1: No wind resistance and damper friction
In this condition, the mass of car and counter weight have been set as different values
(parameters of two cases are shown in the following table), and there is no power supply to
the sheave. So the counter falls because of bigger mass. Two case studies have been done, and
have been compared to the theoretic results for system verification.
Case No. CW/kg Car/kg t/s s/m
1 100 0 1.56412 12
2 100 50 2.70914 12

Figure 13 Traveling Distances of the Counter Weight/ Car within the Two Cases

In Case 1, the counter weight drops as a falling object, therefore the theoretic travel
time for 12m is:

Case 1
Case 2
15
In Case 2, the tension of rope T=200g/3, therefore the acceleration of the car is

So the theoretic travel time for 12 m is:

All the simulation results in both cases perfectly match the theoretic results; therefore
the transmission of sheave, car and counter weight has been verified.

Condition 2: Wind resistance
Based on the wind resistance definition equation shown below,
wind_resistance=-k*air_density*vel_ms^2*sign(vel_ms)
A parameter study on the wind resistance coefficient k has been done. (Simulation
results shown as in Figure 14)

0 1 2 3 4 5
0
4
8
12

[
m
]
car1.s car1.s

0 1 2 3 4 5
0
4
8
12

[
m
]
car1.s car1.s

Figure 14 Traveling Distances in Simulation under Different Parameters
Observations on parameter study:
(1) With growth of k value, the increasing slope of car velocity decreased.
(2) When the abstract value of k is large enough, acceleration of the car maintains
constant after a short time.
All these observations match the real wind resistance, but it is also necessary at the
same time to find the real data based on literature.
Brake System
In our 4th version model EleCableCar_M4, we have two test examples for
verification of the brake system. One is CableCarSystem_Brake, and the other is
CableCarSystem_NoBrake.

K=-0.5
K=-5
K=-10
K=-20
16
As we can see from the following two examples, the car will stop at a point very close
to the customer specified distance (8m). But it is only 7.99938 m, not exactly 8m. Fortunately,
this problem has been addressed by imposing a motor control to brake. (For details, see the
part of verification of whole system) In Figure 15, we can verify that the brake system do
assist to brake significantly.

a) Without Brake b) With Brake
Figure 15 Traveling Distance Curve without/with Brake

Figure 15 Adding Brake into the Whole Elevator System(Shown in the red circle)
The Electrical System
Because the electrical should be designed with regards to the mechanical system
respond, it is verified using a mechanical system without friction first then some
compensation are added to the controller to account in the effect of friction. The system is
17
tested at full load (car mass is 3600kg) and the car will be pull up for 10 meters.
Test: 1.Motor drive. 2. Rotational damper at sheave
sheave=0.2
fixed
fixed1=0
fixed2=0
W
.
.
.
W
.
.
.
c
o
u
n
t
e
r
W
e
i
g
h
t
I
Tau
S
M...
MC...
S
speed...
S...
I0
S
P1
damper_Brake
d=0.15
10
Desired_Distance
Approac...
Volt...
c
a
r

Figure 16 System Overview with the Electrical System

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
0.00
0.04
0.08
0.12
0.16
0.20
0.24
0.28
0.32
0.36
0.40
0.44
controller1.R [Ohm] controller1.switch

Figure 17 Change of the Resistance in the Controller in Simulation
18
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
-1100
-1000
-900
-800
-700
-600
-500
-400
-300
-200
-100
0
100
voltage_controllable_Source.p1.v [V] voltage_controllable_Source.p1.i [A]

Figure 18 Voltage Controllable Source
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
-3200
-3000
-2800
-2600
-2400
-2200
-2000
-1800
-1600
-1400
-1200
-1000
-800
-600
-400
-200
0

[
N
.
m
]
dC_motor.flange_b1.tau

Figure 19 Torque Output of the DC Motor in Simulation

Observations:
From Figure 17~19, we can see that by adjusting the variable resistor in the control
circuit (Figure 17), the current input to the motor and thus the torque output are changed
accordingly to represent the accelerating, constant speed and decelerating processes in a
traveling process.
19
Task 5 Experimentation and Interpretation
Experimentation
In simulating the whole elevator system, we use a set of parameters of a typical
elevator design and the controller is optimized based on them. We assume the elevator lift the
maximum load up for a typical distance. All the parameters are shown in Table 3. Building on
the base configuration, in each experiment, we changed one of the alternative components to
identify the relationships between the design alternatives, chance event and the design
objectives (Table 4).

Base Configuration
Parameters K L V_max A_max Brake H M
Values 3 0.01 2 1 5000 10 3600
Performance
Attributes E[J ] a_start[m/s2] a_brake[m/s2] T[s]
Values 102004 -1.58098 -0.89457 7.72
Table 3 Base Configuration and Performance

Parameters Alternative
Values
E[J ] a_start[m/s2] a_brake[m/s2] T[s]
K 5 99274.4 -1.58098 -1.30259 8.28
L 0.005 100191 -1.58098 -1.38203 9.04
V_max 1 103415 -1.58098 0.893013 13.96
A_max 0.5 100546 -1.58098 -1.6803 9.16
Brake 2500 102006 -1.58098 -0.451355 7.88
H -10 1139.48 -1.58098 -0.92734 8.08
-5 1138.1 -1.58098 -.927361 5.44
5 52850.5 -1.58098 -.902585 5.88
M 1600 940.352 2.33294 -1.37104 7.25
Table 4 Experiments by Varying from Base Configuration

Interpretation
First, For the same load and running distance, since the controller is optimized for the
base configuration. So the running time is the shortest in this case.
Increase K and reduce L will decrease the hysteresis of the system, so the energy
consumption is smaller. When then the controller is optimized, the time and energy
consumption will both be smaller, the system has a better performance than current
configuration. However they are limited by motor design.
20
We expect the energy consumption will decrease as the maximum speed decrease since
the kinetic energy will be smaller also friction loss will be smaller, we observed this
phenomenon when the weight of the car is equal to the counterweight. While in this case, the
energy consumption is little higher, I think, first the kinetic energy only counts for 1% of the
total energy consumption, so this effect is not significant. Second, The controller is working
worse than the base case, more energy is dissipated.
Smaller maximum acceleration will lead to smaller energy consumption confirms with
physical law, Since the average speed is smaller then friction loss is smaller. Also average
current is smaller since the drive torque is smaller, so dissipation is smaller
Smaller brake force will lead to smaller final acceleration but longer running time and
larger position error.
In this configuration the mass of car is much larger than that of the counterweight. So
when the car is going down, there is no energy consumption in ideal case. The small values in
this model is because of transient effect.
Half the lifting distance will not lead to half time and energy consumption, a little bit
more.
Smaller mass will reduce hysteresis of the system and lead to smaller running time.
But will also have larger acceleration at start and stop.

Task 6 Lessons Learned
Bo Yang
Now I can understand Modelica is a programming language like C++. It also has
variable declaration If then, Do while and so on. Also the modeling style is just like write
code and debug. However the difference is also significant. First is the use of =, I need
always remember it is equal no assign value as in other programming language. So one
variable can only be define once, also there should not be any unused variable, otherwise
singularity will always accompany you. Second is unit. Most of the variables have unit, you
need to define it, and make sure the connector has the same type when connecting two blocks.
So I really like real input and output.
I designed the control scheme and the control system. There are so many exceptions
need to be considered. Whether maximum speed can be reached, how to handle a negative
driving torque, there is always new problem when you think you have finished it. Then
another line needs to be added to handle it. As time going on, the controller is getting longer
and longer, but also better and better. Hysteresis is another problem. I am trying to add
compensation to handle it. But it change with many parameters and very hard to predict, so
the large range result is not very good.
I can see my progress in grasping the Modelica and Dymola. In a new model, most of
the problems can be avoided,

Fei Zhao
In this assignment, my work focuses on the mechanical system, including sheave, car
& counterweight, and all resistance and sensor components. Firstly, some literature review
21
helps me gain some fundamental theory and general structure of an elevator, i.e. how the car
is carried up by a motor, how counterweight works to balance the system and reduce the
torque, how the controller makes decision on acceleration and stop, etc. This knowledge and
experience also works in architecture field, for instance the Building Automatic System
(BAS).
Besides, I have more sense on DAE and equation singularity after manipulating the
existing Modelica code of components. Finally I found the advantage of adding code in
Dymola models, and do not prefer to use many components to build an expression as before. I
also learnt that using global variables is a bad idea in Dymola modeling, instead we can use
sensors to transfer variable, and set parameters at the top level.
Also, according to our team regulation, I played the team leader role this time. I
scheduled and organized all the group meetings and set deadline for every step of work. We
tried to be proactive but still did not finish all the proposals raised in brainstorming session,
due to poor time management. In the next homework, we will try to add stiffness and other
features which may also cause uncertainty to the system.
Last but not least, I am learning English and trying to enhance my academic writing
skills.

Xiayun Zhao
In homework#3, I mainly worked on the cable-car system design, including the design
of sheave system and brake system. After converting
Modelica.Mechanics.Rotational.IdealGearR2T to a sheave in elevator system, I was excited to
see the variability and feasibility of Modelica.
Many problems came out when I used Dymola. Most were "singularity" problems. For
example, I added a Flange_a named "flange_damper" in the "sheave" component. Initially, I
only defined an equation of flange_damper.tau in Modelica language. Error came up with
singularity! I was frustrated because I couldn't think out another equation at that time. After
checking the info of Flange_a, I made a good guess that flange_damper.phi should also been
defined, although it is equal to flange_motor.phi.
Thanks to the substantial Dymola practice, I become more familiar with Modelica
language. Besides, I have a further understanding about DAE in Dymola.
I am content with my endeavor in the homework. However, I know well that my
modeling skills need to be improved. Take the brake system design for example. Next time, I
would like to explore "Modelica.Mechanics.Translational.Stop" and/or
"Modelica.Mechanics.Rotational.Brake", instead of modifying damper. I think it could be
better to make full use of professional brake components in Dymola library.
Finally, I really enjoyed our groupwork. It is nice to work together and learn from each
other.

Sen Yang

In Homework 3 I became more familiar with the operations under the environment
Dymola and Modelica including how to program customized component by adapting standard
component in the library and how to interpret the result to identify the problems in the model.
22
I learnt the overall process of modeling and simulation using Dymola and Modelica. It
was great that we develop the initial model of the system and refine it to a level with many
details. I learnt that a scaffolded plan of actions is a good way to start modeling from scratch.
By starting from the simplest system and adding uncertainty and complexity gradually, we
handle the complexity successfully although we need to do more.
I also learnt how to decompose a system into sub-systems and then integrate them into
a whole. The top-down and bottom-up approaches are extremely helpful in a team project.
References
[1] W.D. Zhua, L.J . Teppob. Design and analysis of a scaled model of a high-rise, high-speed
elevator. J ournal of Sound and Vibration 264 (2003) 707731
[2] Yuliang Leon Zhou. Modeling and Simulation of Hybrid Electric Vehicles. 2005
[3] Peter Schneider, Erich Huck, Peter Schwarz. A Modeling Approach for Mechatronic
Systems - Modeling and Simulation of an Elevator System. XI. Intern. Symposium in
Theoretical Electrical Engeneering, Linz, Aug. 19. - 22, 2001
[4] Yan Chen and Weidong Zhu. Dynamics and Control of Elevator Systems. Poster in
Dynamic Systems and Vibrations Laboratory, University of Maryland Baltimore County.
[5] Daniel Castellanos, Rainer Domer. System-Level Modeling and Simulation of an
Elevator Control System. Technical Report CECS-07-04 J une 25, 2007.