IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. IA-14, NO.
6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1978
A DC Motor Control System for Electric Vehicle Drive
BIMAL K. BOSE SENIOR MEMBER, IEEE, AND
~--18
Abstract-A control system of a dc separately excited motor for
electric vehicle drive is described. The armature of the motor is con-
trolled by a thyristor chopper, whereas the field is regulated by a high-
frequency transistor chopper. The control scheme combines the advan-
tages of both series and shunt motors and permits maximum possible
acceleration within the transient thermal ratings of the motor. In
addition, motor torque becomes smoother under all operating con-
ditions. A complete drive system has been formulated, designed, and
analyzed, and performances have been evaluated on a hybrid com-
puter. At present, the breadboard of the drive system is being tested in
the laboratory.
iD )/ J72
INTRODUCTION
THE PROPULSION system of a battery powered commuter
type electric vehicle is required to have high efficiency,
good reliability, reasonable cost and complexity, and should
satisfy the acceleration and braking requirements of typical
urban driving. Normally for such applications, dc series motor
drive with armature chopper control is used, which provides
the advantage of high starting torque. However, the base speed
of the series motor must correspond to maximum vehicle
speed which in turn results in relatively low torque/ampere at
zero speed. This fact limits the vehicle initial acceleration as
well as hill climbing ability. In addition, since the armature
and field currents are controlled simultaneously by the chop-
per, severe pulsation in battery current and motor developed
torque is introduced. A separately excited dc motor propul-
sion system provides several improvements in system perfor-
mance while at the same time can retain the advantage of the
series motor. The speed of the motor can be increased by a
ratio at least 2: 1 over the base speed by field weakening con-
trol which permits higher gear ratio for a given motor. Since
the field current is smooth, the motor pulsating torque is less,
and the reflected battery current is smoother when the current
is controlled by a high-frequency transistor chopper. Several
drive systems using separately excited motors have been de-
scribed in the literature which, however, fail to meet the opti-
mum performance requirements of the electric vehicle.
A separately excited motor control system has been de-
scribed here which combines the advantages of both series and
shunt motors. The control circuit with logic and interlocks has
been formulated such that the drive system gives smooth and
stable performance in all the modes and their transitions.
Paper SPCC 77-7, approved by the Static Power Converter Com-
mittee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society for presentation at
the 1977 Industry Applications Society Annual Meeting, Los Angeles,
CA, October 2-6. This work was supported in part by the U.S. Energy
Research and Development Administration (ERDA) under Contract
E(04-3)-1 294. Manuscript released for publication May 8, 1978.
The authors are with Corporate Research and Development, General
Electric Company, Schenectady, NY 12301.
0093-9994/78/1 100-0565$00.75 C IEEE 1978
565
ROBERT L. STEIGERWALD
l t
f
Fig. 1. Power Circuit of drive system.
DESCRIPTION OF CONTROL SYSTEM
In the proposed drive system, the motor armature is con-
trolled by a one-quadrant thyristor chopper, whereas the field
is controlled by a high-frequency transistor chopper. The
power converter for the armature circuit is shown in Fig. 1.
The circuit uses modified Jones type voltage commutation for
the main thyristor Q, and generages a pulsewidth modulated
voltage wave across the armature circuit. The frequency of
the chopper is programmed with the pulsewidth ratio (r),
such that minimum on and off times of Q1 are maintained for
the specified range of r. The chopper incorporates a bypass
contactor (1A) which impresses the battery voltage Eb directly
across the armature when the chopper output reaches the
maximum value. The motor speed is reversed by reversing the
field contactor as shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 2 shows the block diagram of the control system and
Table I gives the principal parameters of the vehicle and the
drive system. Essentially, it is a torque-controlled system
where armature and field currents (which are related to de-
veloped torque) are close-loop controlled by the driver-actu-
ated command poteltiometer. The armature currents are con-
trolled in such a manner so that the following operating modes
are obtained.
1) Mode I: This is equivalent series motor operation and
holds true in initial high acceleration mode. The Ia,* and If*
command signals are independent, but are tracked together
to a high value to get maximum developed torque of the
drive system. In this mode, the switch S1 remains closed, and
the switches 52 and S3 remain closed at position 1.
2) Mode II: This is shunt motor operation and can be con-
sidered as a special case of Mode I. This mode of operation
566 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. IA-14, NO. 6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1978

Battery

Command T
pot.
I'a
If

Camf

Fig. 2. Control Lsystem block diagram.

TABLE I
PRINCIPAL PARAMETERS OF VEHICLE AND DRIVE SYSTEM

Battery -54 cells (108 volts), 170 Ahr.

(lead acid) (6 hr. rate)
- Internal Resistance 0
.064 ohms
(50% discharged, 800F)
Motor - 24 HP, Separately Excited DC Motor
- Base Speed = 3000 RPM
- 1 hr. Armature Current Rating = 225A
- 1 hr. Field Current Rating = 10.5A
(50 volts)
- Armature Thermal Time Constant -- 8 sec.
- Field Thermal Time Constant -- 20 min.

Gear - 5.68 b
Ratio

Gross - 3300 lbs.

Fig. 4. Temperature overriding control performance.
Vehicle
Weight

-12V
KR

[Ta OR TI,r

1a

IOK K ngip ; fr;

1_-_ _S jTHERMAL TIME
- CONSTANT

Fig. 3. Armature temperature overriding control.

-Ifr K(Tf,-Tf)+If =-Klf

holds true at steady state and at below base speed of the
motor. The field current is maintained at the rated value, and
the armature current is controlled by the chopper to regulate
the developed torque.
3) Mode III: This is a field weakening mode of the motor
and holds true at higher than base speed. In this mode, the
switch S1 is open, but S2 and S3 remain closed in position 2.
The armature chopper is bypassed, and the armature current is
regulated by controlling the field current.
The transition from Mode I to Mode II is controlled by
armature and field temperature overriding controls shown as in
Fig. 2. Fig. 3 shows the armature temperature overriding con-
trol circuit, and Fig. 4(a) gives its performance. The commu-
tator and brushes in the armature circuit have the lowest ther-
Fig. 5. Field temperature overriding control.
mal time constant, and therefore the short-time armature cur-
rent rating is limited by this parameter. The time constant is
simulated by a RC circuit as shown in Fig. 4. The armature
current signal I, is impressed across the RC circuit to generate
armature temperature Ta signal which is then compared with
the reference temperature Tar, and the resulting error is am-
plified at the output of amplifier 2. If Ta exceeds Tar, the out-
put of amplifier 2 goes down until Ia* is clamped near the
rated value Iar The field tempeature overriding control circuit
is shown in Fig. 5, and Fig. 4(b) gives its performance. The
BOSE AND STEIGERWALD: DC-MOTOR CONTROL SYSTEM

250

200

150

100

50

0
0
_~ ~ %
- SHAFT TORQUE: 0.984 Fo/GR
RPM 14. 66 x MPH x GR
-

Fig. 6.
0 20
5_
0/6
4
W
v
G
F0
Fa

GR

2°%
-MPH

0% G RADE

30
SPEED( MPH)
0.012W +
=RESISTANCE
=WEIGHT 3300 LBS
-GRADE
-=GEAR RATIO
0.000029Wv, +639108 y2 +Wsin(tan'G)

Car resistance characteristics with speed.

40
NFOR 20 SEC.

50 60
567

Fig. 7. Steady-state performance of drive system.

field temperature Tf is measured by a thermistor, and the sig-
nal is compared with reference temperature Tfr. Then, the
error is amplified to the point A. So long as Tf > Tfr, the
diode D3 remains reverse biased and in this condition, if
If* > Ifr, the diode D1 is forward biased. Therefore If* is
directly transmitted to the output. However, if If* < Ifr, the
output remains clamped at Ifr. When Tf exceeds Tfr, D3 be-
comes forward biased, the amplier 3 output becomes nega-
tive which reverse biases D1, and the output is clamped at
Ifr. The output at A is also used to clamp -If signal field con-
trol loop to -Ifr magnitude, for Tf > Tfr which causes transi-
tion from Mode III to Mode II in the system. The temperature
overriding controls permit maximum available acceleration
torque as demanded in urban driving cycle and provides
smooth torque during transition from Mode I to Mode II and
from Mode III to Mode II.
Key parameters of the drive system are given in Table I. A
detailed description of the commuter vehicle whose parameters
were used in this study is given in [5].
The force-speed characteristics of this vehicle at different
grades are shown in Fig. 6. At low speed and 0-percent grade,
the main losses are due to the rolling resistance of the tires.
As speed increases, the aerodynamic drag increases propor-
tional to the square of the velocity, and at 45 mi/h the drag
force equals the rolling resistance. As the grade increases, the
component of vehicle weight is added to it. At 5-percent grade,
the short-time rating of the motor permits the vehicle opera-
tion for 20 s only. Fig. 7 shows the steady-state calculated per-
formance characteristics of the drive system at 0-percent grade.
As explained before, in Mode II operation, the armature cur-
rent is controlled by the chopper to control the vehicle speed,
whereas in Mode III, speed is controlled by regulating the
field current. The developed torque, which is related to the
product of field flux and armature current, increases with
speed to match the load curve as shown in Fig. 6. At the end
of Mode II, as the armature chopper reaches saturation (T =
0.95), the bypass contactor closes, and the control is trans-
ferred to Mode III.
568 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. IA-14, NO. 6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER
Fig. 8. Simplified control circuit diagram.
Fig. 9. Photograph of laboratory breadboard.
Fig. 8 shows the simplified version of the control schematic.
The circuit has been designed such that the mode transitions
occur smoothly without any jerk of the vehicle or any pos-
sible maloperation in the system. For less power consumption
and higher noise immunity, the circuit has been designed with
CMOS logic. Also multiple op amp chips are used to keep low
hardware count. Fig. 9 shows the photograph of the labora-
tory breadboard of the complete drive system.
The principal operation modes of the control system have
been explained before. There are in addition some logic and
timing circuits which provide various logical and interlocking
operations during the mode transitions. The operation se-
quence and performance in Mode II to Mode III transition can
be summarized as follows.
1) As the pulsewidth ratio of the chopper reaches the sat-
r loop gain variation due to speed may by permitted within system
uration value (0.95) and persists for time interval td2, closing
of bypass contactor is requested.
1978
2) This opens the Ia control switch S11 and closes S12 to
introduce bias voltage such that r is locked at 0.95. The switch
S21 is opened and S22 is closed to transfer If control within
the armature control loop.
3) Now the armature current is controlled by field current
If, as it goes below the rated value,lA contactor is closed.
and
4) This causes inrush of Ia which increases If to control it.
However, this tends to open IA (explained below), which is
locked closed for time td4 until Ia returns to the normal value.
This completes the mode transition.
The transition from Mode III to Mode II will follow if Ia*
is stepped down to low value or if the vehicle meets an upward
slope. The operation sequence in the former case can be ex-
plained as follows.
1) As I,* is reduced, the large positive loop error-tends to
increase If, which eventually goes above the rated value.
2) This increases field temperature, and If is brought down
to the rated value by fleld temperature overriding control.
3) This results in high Ia, and the contactor IA is tripped
open whenever I, cannot follow the commanded value Ia*.
4) When IA opens, If command is locked to zero, and Ia
control switch is locked open for time td, If decays to zero
-
in this interval which permits commutation capacitor to charge
up before the chopper is enabled.
5) Ia and If control switches are enabled at the end of td,
permitting satisfactory chopper operation.
SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND HYBRID
COMPUTER SIMULATION
The feedback control loops in Mode II and Mode III have
been analyzed in detail, and compensators have been designed
for stabilization of the loops. The field and armature circuit
nonlinearities and the battery internal resistance effect have
been taken into consideration for the stability analysis. Be-
sides, in the field control mode, the loop gain varies directly
with the speed. Fortunately, in the present system, the dc
stability, because the resulting steady-state error variation is
not perceptible to the human operator.
BOSE AND STEIGERWALD: DC-MOTOR CONTROL SYSTEM
W Noa
J QJ1l L
Fig. 10. Simplified power circuit simulation diagram.
Armati re
Voltage
ed
Armattire
Current
a
Command
I*
a
Torque
T
CHOPPING FREQUENCY f
Fig. 11. Steady-state waves at chopping mode.
The complete control system including the battery, power
conditioner, and motor was simulated on the General Electric
EAI 681 hybrid computer system to evaluate the system per-
formance. A unique feature of the hybrid computer is that it
permits direct simulation of logic circuits. The control circuit
was simulated with one-to-one correspondence except with ap-
propriate time scaling in the time-delay elements. The simpli-
fied simulation diagram for the power circuit is shown in Fig.
10. The simulation equations are given in the Appendix. The
battery was simulated with constant voltage source with fixed
internal resistance. The chopper was simulated as pulsewidth
modulated switch with programmed frequency variation, but
its commutation circuit was disregarded. The motor dynamic
equations were simulated with the coupled vehicle load taking
into consideration the field and armature inductance nonline-
569
--.-
w0N4gaeb -I
W --
fl\
_1i 7\
Volts
O Volts
D Amps
Ft - lbs
= 300 Hz
arities and the armature reaction effect. Since the speed varies
slowly because of large vehicle inertia, it was set as a independ-
ently variable parameter.
The drive system performance in static and dynamic condi-
tions under all the modes and the mode transition were evalu-
ated on hybrid computer, and the system operation agreed
well with the predicted performances. Fig. 11 shows the
steady-state performance of the drive system under chopping
condition. Since the field current remains constant, the ripple
in torque follows the armature current ripple. Fig. 12 shows
waves at transient condition under chopping mode for the
fixed vehicle speed setting. Fig. 13 shows waves for transition
from chopping (Mode Il) to field control mode (Mode III) and
also the transient response in Mode III. Fig. 14 shows the op-
eration of armature temperature overriding control circuit.
570 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. IA-14, NO. 6. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1978

I
I
I
'fO Volt
i- -1- K
Arria Lure I

Vo tale
ed i:LI'I-] r r-r
I r 150 Amps

I
III
1: I,

I; I.,;j- ',

Armature
.:
.;i
.,i
.ii' _-A0 LL-
Current -I -7$ =
- I1' i- !!7 -

ia

,,

Command -4 -t,__
i _ II_- -t50 Amps
a I

I
". on Time .1 -I - I
hoo*
T

I
i, I tssec t -1 l- 100 msec
F I, ~I

Fig. 12. Transient response in chopping mode.

-r r7 -- *i -1,

Arm. Field
Chopping 4|Control
-71 i j--I-t-- -F --t- -'
' t
I-
. tI 1 tI d-!7
4 14-1
L~~~4-
rvurnaure
riAVol taae
-a c
I-
L i I 1- I I ! I I It- -'tffffffffffffffi
-- L_ 4-4-i -t r- T-T 1ioo0 Volts
i'T4
----1 - ----1 ---I
,--4-. -f t-t-- t- ; -t
t- - -4 --+ :
Armature, -1iii {-t - _

Ciir re n tut<~r.tWT~~1-I

44*+ 4

Command _ _..-i-- i - - .- t: K x:i: -- -T

1-::1 1500 Amps

I - 1_-AH -ii

% on Time
T p 4
11;--
I Lf i =~~~1100
f - 4 t- t- 4-
4-
t

+ + 4-+ 4 + + + +

T;-; t 1- 25 Amps

Current. - - .-
-+ t-- --t1 t-- t t - -
I
f , Ii

1+ 00 msec

Fig. 13. Transient response in field control mode.

 BOSE AND STEIGERWALD: DC-MOTOR CONTROL SYSTEM 571

Command
'1T 1.
I a *-- r t 500 Amps

lizC --L-=- 4f

fi
t4
- -+-
F- ---t
e -t+--+ -+
F - +

Armature
-T ^: L- t 500 Amps
Current
Ia
a
[-. FIELD
CONTROL
_.i- t soo
2Am
Amps MODE
4iU L i Li ll _

Field I Ir
Current
If tor
. II 4-.-
I2 300
-MODE I
I4 I
MODE
m
600
-
200 300 400 500 600
Ia (AMPS)

(a)
Akrmw1ature-- _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _- t 1250C
Temp.
Ta

Field
Temp. 1250C

25 secs

Fig. 14. Temperature overriding circuit performance.

The field time constant is very large compared to armature

time constant, and therefore as shown in Fig. 14, the field
temperature overriding control is not effective. Fig. 15(a) and
(b) show the performance characteristics of the system in
chopping mode. These curves are generated from the simula-
tion results at a set speed with varying I. * command. If
I,,* < I. rated, the operation corresponds to Mode II, but it
goes to Mode I when 1.* > 'a rated. The Mode I data were
taken in rapid succession before temperature overriding control
became effective. In this mode, the slopes of T, If, and 'r are
higher, but the ripple current A- tends to level off. The arma-
ture chopper frequency variation is also shown in the Fig. 15.
Fig. 16 shows the performance curves in Mode III for a fixed
speed setting. As I.* is increased, I decreases until it reaches
the minimum clamping level set for the armature reaction ef-
fect. Fig. 17 shows steady-state characteristics at different
speed at fixed armature current.
CONCLUSION
A control system of a dc separately excited motor for an
electric vehicle drive has been described in the paper.I, the
control scheme, the torque of the drive motor is controlled in
the low-speed range by a armature circuit thyristor chopper,
but uses transistor chopper for field control in the high-speed
range. In addition, maximum available torque is obtained
300 400
I* (AMPS )
(b)
Fig. 15. (a) Performance curves in chopping mode. (b) Performance
curves in chopping mode.
during high acceleration by boosting the armature and field
currents simultaneously. The regeneration is not considered in
the present system which will be added in the next phase of
the development.
The control system has been designed and analyzed in de-
tail for stability and mode transition performances. The com-
plete drive system including battery, power conditioners, and
the motor has been simulated on General Electric hybrid com-
puter facility to evaluate the system performance, and the re-
sults agree with the predicted performance. The laboratory
breadboard of the drive system has been fabricated and is at
present under experimentation. The laboratory setup will be
used to evaluate the advanced drive components and control
techniques which are presently being developed to meet
ERDA near-term electric vehicle goals.
572 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. IA-14, NO. 6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1978

MOTOR SPEED - 4000 RPM

T MOTOR TOROUE ( FT-LBS)
CEMF:
If = AV. FIELD CURRENT( AMPS)
I AV.ARM.CURRENT (AMPS)
60 r eb = KbNkgW
50 I- Field:

401- Ntf = f (Ef-iifrf) dt

301-
if = f(N^).
201-
Airgap flux:
L-
Ntg = Nkf - Ka rNOa.

100 200 300 400 500 600 Torque:

I* (AMPS)
Fig. 16. Performance curves in field control mode.
T = KtNOgi,

;,: {:' AM>4F

T = CHOPPER % DUTY CYCLE
T ' AV. MOTOR TOROUE(FT-LBS)
If = AV. FIELD CURRENTIAMPS)
REFERENCES
[1] F. T. Thompson, "Feedback field control for an electric vehicle,"
U.S. Patent 3 989 990, No. 2, 1976.
[21 "The status of electric vehicle R&D in Japan," Look Japan, Dec.
10,1976.
[3] "ERDA Electric car-Interim summary report," submitted to
ERDA by General Electric Co., Apr. 1977.
[4] "Preliminary design trade-off studies report-Electric car project,"
submitted by General Electric Co., ERDA Contract E (04-3)-1294,
Jan. 10, 1977.
[5] R. Guess, W. Nial, and M. Pocobello, "Design of a current tech-
nology electric vehicle," 12th Intersociety Energy Conversion
Engineering Conf., Aug. 28-Sept. 2, 1977, Washington, DC.

2000 3000 4
SPEED(RPM)
Bimal K. Bose (S'59-M'68-SM'78), for a photograph and biography,
please see page 127 of the March/April 1978 issue of this
Fig. 17. Steady-state characteristics at different speed. TRANSACTIONS.

APPENDIX
SIMULATION EQUATIONS (IN STANDARD SYMBOLS)
1) Battery Voltage: = Robert L. Steigerwald was born in Auburn,
\| ll NY, in March 1945. He received the B.S.
ed =Eb -iaRB- degree in electrical engineering with distinc-
|>g tion from Clarkson Coliege of Technology,
Potsdam, NY, in 1967 and the M.S. and Ph.D.
2) Motor: degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
Troy, NY, in 1968 and 1978, respectively.
Armature: Since joining the Research and Develop-
ment staff of General Electric Corporation,
Schenectady, NY, in 1968, he has conducted
research and advanced development of solid
Nc,a = J(ed -eb -iaRa)dt state power conversion circuits employing SCR's, power transistors, and
gate turn-off SCR's (GTO's). He has also worked in the area of motor
drives and computer simulation of power circuits and drive systems.
ia =f(N.a). He is a member of Eta Kappa Nu.