Fuzzy Speed Control of Separately Excited DC Motor Using Armature Voltage

Control Method

A. A. Sadiq1 H. B. Mamman2 I. Musa3

1, 2
Electrical/Electronics Engineering Department
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University
Bauchi, Nigeria.
3
Mechatronics & System Engineering Department
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University
Bauchi, Nigeria.
1
sadiq8977@yahoo.com, 2buharimamman2007@yahoo.com, 3musfat2008@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT DC motors are commonly constructed with

This paper presents a simulation of the speed control
of a separately excited direct current motor (SEDM)
using fuzzy logic control (FLC) in Matlab/Simulink
environment. A fuzzy logic controller was designed
to vary the motor’s speed by varying the armature
voltage of the separately excited DC motor in the
constant torque region (below the rated speed). The
simulation results show that the armature voltage
control method is better than field control method
with regards to delay time and overshoot.
Keywords: Speed, DC motor, Matlab, Fuzzy logic,
Armature, Field
1.0 INTRODUCTION
A direct current (DC) motor is a device
that converts electrical energy into mechanical
energy, by electromagnetic means. DC motors
consist of rotor-mounted windings (armature)
and stationary windings (field poles) [Ansu and
Deep, 2008]. In all DC motors, current must be
conducted to the armature windings by passing
current through carbon brushes that slide over a
set of copper surfaces called commutator, which
is mounted on the rotor [George, 2008]. A direct
current (dc) motor is supposed to be operated at
an accurate and constant speed even if the load
on the system is increased or decreased.
wound rotors and either wound or permanent
magnet stators. The field coils have traditionally
existed in four basic formats: separately-excited
(SEDM), series-wound, shunt-wound, and a
combination of the latter two; compound-wound
[Waleed, 2008]. In a series wound motor, the
field coils are connected electrically in series
with the armature coils (via the brushes). In a
shunt wound motor, the field coils are connected
in parallel, or "shunted" to the armature coils
[Tang and Chassaing, 2001]. In a separately-excited
motor the field coils are supplied from an
independent source, such as a motor-generator
and the field current is unaffected by changes in
the armature current [Mustapha, 2005].
Generally, the rotational speed of a DC motor is
proportional to the voltage applied to it, and the
torque is proportional to the current.
The aim of this research is to control the speed
of a separately excited DC motor using armature
voltage control method and the objectives are to
control the speed of a separately excited DC
motor using the independent armature voltage
and field control methods, and to design and
build an effective Fuzzy logic controller for the
DC motor speed control.

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1.1 Speed Control of a Separately Excited DC
Motor
A separately excited DC motor (SEDM)
can be controlled, either by varying the voltage
applied to the field winding or by varying the
voltage applied to the armature. Speed of the
motor can be controlled by varying Va and
holding Vf constant at its rated value. Then as
the voltage applied to the armature is increased,
the armature current increases first. As the
armature current increases, the torque developed
by the motor increases and hence speeds of the
motor increases [Nagendra, 2001]. The drop
across the armature resistance tends to be small
and hence the motor speed rises almost
proportionately with the voltage applied to the
armature. But there is a limit to the voltage that
can be applied to the armature and that limit is
the rated armature voltage.
The speed of the motor corresponding to the
rated armature voltage and the rated field voltage
is its rated speed. Thus the speed of the motor
was varied below its rated speed by controlling
the armature voltage. It would be desirable that
the motor should be able to develop as high as a
torque as possible and hence the rated voltage
applied to the field is held at its rated value
[Mustapha, 2005]. We know that the expression
of speed control of DC motor is given by
equation 1 [Isaac and Victor, 2001].
Va −Ia Ra
ω= (1)
K∅
Therefore speed (ω) of any type of DC motor –
series, shunt, compound and separately excited
can be controlled by changing the quantities on
right hand side of the expression. So the speed
can be varied by changing;
(i) Terminal voltage of the armature Va
(ii) External resistance in armature circuit Ra
(iii) Flux per pole ∅
The first two cases involve changes that affect
the armature circuit and the third involves
change in magnetic field. Therefore speed
control of DC motor is classified as armature
ISBN: 978-0-9891305-1-6 ©2013 SDIWC
control methods and field control methods. The
aim of this research is to control the speed of a
separately excited DC motor using armature
voltage control method and the objective is to
design and build an effective Fuzzy logic
controller for the DC motor speed control
[Ogata, 2002]. Direct current (DC) motors have
been widely used in many industrial applications
such as electric vehicles, steel rolling mills,
electric cranes, and robotic manipulators due to
precise, wide, simple and continuous control
characteristics.
2.0 CONCEPT OF FUZZY LOGIC
CONTROLLER (FLC)
Fuzzy logic control is a control algorithm
based on a linguistic control strategy, which is
derived from expert knowledge into an
automatic control strategy. The operation of a
FLC is based on qualitative knowledge about the
system being controlled. Fuzzy logic, unlike the
crispy logic in Boolean theory, deals with
uncertain or imprecise situations. A variable in
fuzzy logic has sets of values which are
characterized by linguistic expressions, such as
SMALL, MEDIUM, LARGE, etc.(Mendel,
1995). Figure 1 shows the internal structure of a
fuzzy logic controller. Triangular membership
distribution is used in the analysis and
defuzzification is carried out by center of gravity
method [Mendel, 1995]. Generally, the number
of rules in a fuzzy logic controller depends on
the number of input and output variables and the
number of membership functions [Zadeh, 1996].
If all the premise terms are used in every rule
and the rule is formed for each possible
combination of premise elements, then the
number of rules is defined as in equation (2)
Nr = ∏ni=1 Ni (2)
Where, 𝑁𝑟 is the total number of rules, 𝑛 is the
number of input variables and 𝑁𝑖 is the number
of membership functions on each universe of
discourse, [Passino and Yurkovich, 1997].
226
 3.1 Realization of a Fuzzy Logic Controller
Knowledge Base
based DC motor Speed Control
Data Rule
Base Base The inputs to the Fuzzy Logic Controller
are speed error "e(t)" and change-in-speed error
"Δe(t)". The inputs as shown in Figure 3 are
described by equations 3 and 4.
Inference e (t) = ωr(t) − ωa(t) (3)
Inp System Outp
Fuzzification
ut Defuzzificati
on
ut Δe (t) = e(t) − e(t − 1) (4)
Figure 1. Structure of fuzzy logic controller where;
e(t) is the error signal
In centre of gravity (COG) method, the output 𝑒(𝑡 − 1) is the previous error signal
value is computed using the relation [Passino Δe(t) is the change in error signal
and Yurkovich, 1997]; ωr(t) is the reference speed
∑i b i A i ωa(t) is the actual speed
u= (3)
∑i A i
Where, Ai = ∫ ui is the area under the A Mamdani type FLC is used in this research
membership function ui and 𝑏𝑖 is the centre of with triangular membership functions. They are
membership function of the consequent 𝑖 𝑡ℎ rule. faster than many types of membership functions
and can easily be embedded into a
3.0 METHODOLOGY microcontroller. More number of fuzzy
In armature voltage control method, the membership functions will lead to more rules
field current, If is constant (and hence the flux and will require more computations in obtaining
density B is constant), and the armature voltage the defuzzification. Hence a set of five
is varied. A constant field current is obtained by membership functions with twenty-five rules
separately exciting the field from a fixed dc were chosen [Singh and Ahmed, 1996].
source. The flux is directly proportional to the
field current. Thus, the torque is proportional
only to the armature current. Figure 7 shows how
Rule
the armature voltage control method was Base
realized. The reference speed was set to a
particular value and the output of the fuzzy logic
Inference
controller is fed to the armature winding of the Fuzzifi Engine
Defuzzifier
separately excited dc motor while the field er

winding are supplied with a constant rated DC

source. e(t) Δ
e(
𝜔𝑟 +
Armat
ure
𝑉𝑎
A
DC Speed,
Refere
nce
ωr (t) Error
t)
AMot Computati
Voltag Speed on.
or
_ e
Mo
Act 𝜔𝑎 FLC F F ωa (t)
ual del DC
+ -
Spe Actual Motor
ed Speed
Figure 3. A Fuzzy Based DC Motor Speed Controller
𝑉𝑓 Design.

Figure 2. Armature Voltage Control Method

ISBN: 978-0-9891305-1-6 ©2013 SDIWC 227

3.2 Armature voltage control method FLC control method. Figures 5 show the SEDM
design transient responses at 1000rpm as reference
Here, the FLC designed has two inputs speed. It settles after 0.150 seconds and has an
which are the speed error (e) and the change in overshoot of 4.1%. The reference speed was then
the speed error (Δe). These two inputs are speed increased to 1200rpm as shown figure 6. In this
in revolutions per minute (rpm) and the output of case, it settles faster than at 1000rpm after 0.160
the FLC is voltage (V). The range chosen for seconds with a small overshoot of 0.8%. It can
both the speed error and the change in speed be seen that as the speed of the motor is
error is 1600 rpm (just below the motor rated increased the overshoot decreases, this shows the
speed) so as to achieve armature voltage speed effectiveness of the fuzzy logic controller
control method. [Nagrath and Gopal, 2009). Other transient
Figure 4 shows the Simulink model realization response characteristics are summarized in Table
for armature voltage control method, where the 1. It can be seen from Table 1 that the armature
output of the fuzzy logic controller is connected voltage control method has less settling time at
to the variable voltage source and then to the 1000rpm but with a higher overshoot. The
armature windings of the separately excited DC reverse is the case for 1200rpm.
motor. The field windings are supplied with the
rated field voltage of 300V. The outputs of the
DC motor are the speed, armature current,
armature voltage and the developed torque.
armature

To Workspace

Signal
Generator 5
1
1 Gain
s Scope
Integrator Gain 1

TL m
s
1200 1 +
A+ dc A-
-
Constant Gain 3 Terminator 1
1 Fuzzy Logic Controlled Voltage Source
F+ F-
Controller
Gain 2
DC Motor Terminator
Scope 1

DC Voltage Source

armtorque

To Workspace 1

armtime
Clock

Continuous
To Workspace2
Figure 5. Armature Voltage Control Method (1000 rpm)
Scope 2

Figure 4. Simulink model for armature voltage control

method

4.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Results of simulations done at various speed
references are hereby presented. The reference
speed levels of the SEDM chosen are as follows;
 1000 rpm and 1200 rpm were chosen as
reference speed below the rated speed.
This is because DC motors are usually
operated at speed below their rated speed.
 1750 rpm which is the rated speed of the
motor Figure 6. Armature Voltage Control Method (1200 rpm)
The speed of the SEDM was varied and
maintained at 1000rpm using armature voltage

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 Table 1. Transient Response Characteristics (1000rpm and Mechanical inertia, Jm (kg.m2) 0.0221
1200rpm) Friction coefficient, Bm (N.m.s) 0.002953
Armature Delay Rise Peak
Settling Back emf constant, Kv (V/rad/sec) 1.25
Voltage Time, Time, Time, Overshoot,
Time,Ts Motor torque constant,Km (N.m/A) 0.516
Control Td Tr Tp Mp (%)
(sec.)
Method (sec.) (sec.) (sec.) Rated speed, ω𝑟 (rpm) 1750
1000rpm 0.025 0.052 0.073 0.150 4.1

1200rpm 0.032 0.072 0.103 0.160

0.8

The reference speed was then increased to the

rated speed of the motor, which is 1750rpm. At
this reference speed armature voltage control
method and field control method were used to
compare the transient characteristics of the
motor. Results obtained are presented in figure 7
and 8. It can be seen from figure 7 that the speed
settles after 0.156 seconds with an overshoot of
0.6% using armature voltage control method
whereas figure 8 shows that using field control
method which settles after 0.128 seconds with an Figure 7. Armature Voltage Control Method (1750 rpm)
overshoot of 10.1%. See table 2 for other
transient characteristics. It can be seen from
table 2 that the field control method settles faster
than the armature voltage control method but
with a higher overshoot. The separately excited
DC motor used in the course of this research
work has the following parameters as shown in
Table 3.

Table 2. Transient Response Characteristics (Rated speed)

Delay Rise Peak
Settling
Control Time, Time, Time, Overshoot,
Time,Ts
Method Td Tr Tp Mp (%)
(sec.)
(sec.) (sec.) (sec.)
Figure 8. Field Control Method (1750 rpm)
Armature 0.033 0.077 0.101 0.156 0.6
Control
5.0 CONCLUSION
Field 0.008 0.017 0.027 0.128
10.1
Control The speed of a separately excited DC
motor has been efficiently controlled using the
Table 3. Separately excited DC motor parameters
armature voltage control method. Independent
Parameter (Unit) Value armature voltage control method and the field
Rated power (hp) 5 current control method have been achieved in
Armature resistance, Ra (Ω) 2.581 controlling the speed of the SEDM. Effective
Armature inductance, La (H) 0.0281 fuzzy logic controllers were designed and built
Armature voltage, Va (V) 240 for the armature and field control methods. In
Field resistance, Rf (Ω) 281.3 view of the above, it can be concluded that the
Field inductance, Lf (H) 156 aim and objective of the research have been
Field voltage, Vf (V) 300 achieved. The speed of SEDM has been

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successfully controlled by using Fuzzy logic
controller technique in Matlab/Simulink.
Triangular membership functions were used due
to their computational efficiency and simplicity.
The concept of FLC has simplified the control
technique by making it robust, cheap and can
easily be embedded into a microcontroller.
Unlike using conventional and other types of
controllers that require the linearized model of
the DC motor, fuzzy logic controller can be
designed using linguistic rules without knowing
the exact mathematical model of the motor.
6.0 REFERENCES
1. Ansu, M., Deep, S.: DC Motor Control Using Fuzzy
Logic. Unpublished master’s thesis, Institute of
Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Pulchowk
(2008).
2. George, M.: Speed Control of Separately Excited DC
motor. American Journal of Applied Sciences, 5,
pp 227-233 (2008).
3. Waleed, A.: Design and Implementation of Real Time
DC Motor Speed Control Using Fuzzy Logic.
Malaysia University of Science and Technology,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
(2008).
4. Tang, J., Chassaing, R.: PID Controller Using the
TMS320C31 DSK for Real Time DC Motor
Control. IEEE International Symposium on
Industrial Electronics, 2, pp 786-791 (2001).
ISBN: 978-0-9891305-1-6 ©2013 SDIWC
5. Mustapha, A.: Speed Control of Dc Motor using
Combined Armature and Field Control.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Brno
University of Technology, Czech Republic
(2005).
6. Nagendra, S.: Speed Control of DC Motor by Fuzzy
Controller. Unpublished master’s thesis, Power
Electronics, NRI Institute of Information Science
& Technology Bhopal, India (2001).
7. Isaac, A., Victor, S.: Mathematical Modeling and
Computer Simulation of a Separately Excited dc
Motor with Independent Armature/field control.
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8. Ogata, K.: Modern control Engineering. Pearson
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9. Mendel, J.: Fuzzy logic systems for Engineering
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