Electric Machines Drives

DC Motors Control

Author : Marc Anthony Mannah

Cursus : ECAM Engineering
UE : Control Engineering S6

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 Table of Contents
 Introduction to DC Drives
 Four-Quadrant Control
 Closed Loop Control
 Electronic Control
 Extras….

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 Introduction to DC Drives
• Due to commutators, DC motors are not suitable for very high speed applications and require more
maintenance than do AC motors.
• With the recent advancements in power conversions, control techniques, and microcomputers, the
AC motor drives are becoming increasingly competitive with DC motor drives.
• Controlled rectifiers are generally used for the speed control of DC motors. The alternative form
would be a diode rectifier followed by DC-DC converter.
• Yes it is simple, but keep in mind, DC motors have some issues:
Limited high speeds & Limited high powers and currents
Expensive
Need regular maintenance

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 Introduction to DC Drives – Control Steps
Regulation & Control Three phases power
network (EDF) v(t), i(t)
VAref Error
Determination of Determination of
IAref the setpoint of
the pulse width Firing
Setpoint
delay
Voltage

S1: + Voltage + Current Pulses Thyristors

Understanding Regulator Regulator Generator Rectifier
- -
the specs
Rectified Voltage
and Current
Measure of IA Hall effect u, iA
sensor V Imax
S3: Control &
DCM
PIDs
P
ω
Determination of
the Speed Measure
TD S2: Dynamic
corresponding
voltage Model
Tacho Dynamo

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 Four-Quadrant Control

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 Four-Quadrant Control – Sep. Exc. DC Motor
Motor Mode of Operation Generator Mode of Operation

Motor acts as a Generator and develops Eg

Eg < Va Eg > Va
Both Ia and If are positive Ia becomes negative, If positive
Developed torque meets load demand Kinetic energy is returned to the supply
Torque becomes negative, while speed is
positive, thus power reversed

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 Four-Quadrant Control – Sep. Exc. DC Motor

Speed > 0  Eg> 0

Speed > 0  Eg> 0 Torque > 0  Ia > 0
Torque < 0  Ia < 0 Ia > 0  Va > Eg
Ia < 0  Va < Eg

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 Four-Quadrant Control – Sep. Exc. DC Motor
Motor Mode of Operation Generator Mode of Operation
 Q1 and Q2 turned ON  Q3 and Q4 turned ON
 Supply voltage appears across the motor  Supply voltage appears in the reverse
 Armature current rises direction across the motor
 Armature current rises and flows in the
 Q1 and Q2 turned OFF
reverse direction
 Armature current decays via D3 and D4  Q3 and Q4 turned OFF
 Armature current decays via D1 and D2

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 Closed Loop Control

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 Closed Loop Control
• To maintain a constant speed, the armature (and or field) voltage should be varied continuously by

varying the delay angle of ac-dc converters or duty cycle of dc-dc converters.

• This will require a closed loop system to automatically respond to any change. (improved accuracy,

fast dynamic response, and reduced effects of load disturbances and system nonlinearities)

1. Develop the open loop transfer function of the system

2. Study of the effect of the surrounding parameters (Armature voltage, load)

3. Integrate the control & the feedback (closed loop)

4. Integrate the field control

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 Closed Loop Control

Vmeasured ωmeasured

If ωmeasured , Ve ↑ , control signal Vc ↑ , VA ↑ : more torque is

developed to restore ω to its original value

 Dynamic behavior of the DC machine (here separately excited) is needed

 For simplification, assume a linear power converter of gain K2
 Open Loop transfer is to be built

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 Closed Loop Control (1. Open Loop)

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 Closed Loop Control (1. Open Loop 2. Variables Effect)
DETAILS in EXTRA
1. Finding the expressions of the armature current IA and motor speed ωm.
2. Drawing the open loop bloc diagram.
3. Adjusting to the closed loop system.

4. Applying Superposition Theorem to finding the effect of Vr(s) and TL(s).

5. Applying the Final Value Theorem to deduce the effect of speed / torque variations (ΔVr and ΔTL).

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 Closed Loop Control (4. Complete Scenario)
ec

Block diagram for closed-loop

control of Sep. exc. DC motor Va
Power System
Speed Loop
Current
Current Loop sensor
To remove ripples

Eg Computation
IF Control (Eg=KvIFω)

ef
IF max
VA max
To remove ripples Speed sensor
VA Control IF Control
ω0
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 Electronic Control

 First quadrant control

 Two quadrants control
 Four quadrants control
 6 pulse converters (AC-DC)

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 Electronic Control (First Quadrant)
Remember:
During starting phase:
ω=0, EA=0,IA is too high
Need to decrease IA

3 2
VT = Vrms cos α = 1.35 Vrms cos α
π

Speed varied by changing VT using a 6

pulse converter
• At beginning, α = 90° → VT = 0:
• Switch S is closed and α is gradually
VRMS reduced so VT starts to build up
VETd E0A
• Ia starts to flow
• Motor starts to accelerate

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 Electronic Control (First Quadrant)

 Advantages:
• No extra resistors for starting are needed: no extra I2R losses
IA
• Losses in thyristors are << : almost all input power is provided to the motor
• Limit settings to limit the current in case of wrong starting
 Features
• At start, VT << Vrated: the motor absorbs a lot of reactive power Q
• At full speed, α = 15 to 20°, VT is slightly greater than Ea VT EA

 At rated conditions, VT ~= EA and IA ~=0. what happens if we increase α↗?

 VT will reduce ↘, thus IA will increase (in magnitude) but will be reversed.

 Td ↗ and ω ↘: the motor will produce more torque at a lower speed since load has not
changed

 IA reversed since VT is now less than EA , however, IA cannot flow to the source (circuit
configuration), thus IA is cut off and speed is decreased in a way we cannot tolerate
(motor coasting)
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 Electronic Control (Four - Quadrant)

 Precise speed and torque control from 0

to very high speed
 Two converters operate simultaneously:
current is continuous (IA=Id1-Id2)
 Even if IA=0, Id1, Id2 ≠0 → current is
continuous
 IA can be reversed simultaneously

!! Sophisticated control system

Two-quadrant control of a dc motor using two converters with

circulating currents
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 Electronic Control (Six – Pulse AC-DC Converter)

 Freewheeling diode allows to reduce

Q when the motor is starting

Negative part suppressed due

to the diode conduction

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 Electronic Control (Six – Pulse AC-DC Converter)
 Freewheeling diode (Dm) allows to reduce Q when the motor is
starting
Without Dm: VT=1.35 VRMS cosα

With Dm: VT=1.35 VRMS (1- cos(120 - α) )

 The presence of Dm allows to supress the negative part:

• Average voltage VT ↗
• Reactive power drawn from the line ↘

 When VAK>0, Dm conducts and the current will flow in the diode instead of the rectifier:
Short circuit and VT is forced to be zero instead of negative
The current will no more flow in the inverter, it will flow in the diode, and the reactive
power will decrease

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 Extras…

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 ω

Introduction to DC Drives
We know that to adjust the speed, we can adjust the armature
voltage : Td
1 𝑅𝑅2
ω= 𝑉𝑉𝐴𝐴 − 2 2 Τ𝑑𝑑
𝑀𝑀0 . 𝐼𝐼𝐹𝐹 𝑀𝑀0 . 𝐼𝐼𝐹𝐹
We know that to adjust the torque, we can act secondly on the
armature current :
Τ𝑑𝑑 = 𝑀𝑀𝑜𝑜 . 𝐼𝐼𝐹𝐹 . 𝐼𝐼𝐴𝐴
VA
IA
Control includes 3 Steps:
• Understanding the specs and setting the
strategy
• Identifying the parameters & the dynamic
model of the machines (open loop)
• Setting the compensators PID parameters IF
(close loop)

Td

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 Four-Quadrant Control – Chopper Case
Motor Generator Motor
T>0 T>0 T>0
ω <0 ω >0
Motor ω >0
T>0
ω >0 Generator Motor Generator
T<0 T<0 T<0
ω >0 ω <0 ω >0

Buck Chopper Buck Chopper (with 2 diodes)

(serial chopper) Bridge Chopper
Unidirectional in current and voltage Bidirectional in current but Unidirectional in voltage Bidirectional in current and voltage

Switch
D’
I I
K K K D’I K D’
Iin Iin

K’ D Iin
U D U
V
ID ID V U V
K’ D K’ D
ID ID

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 Four-Quadrant Control – Rectifier Case
Motor Generator Motor Generator Motor
C>0 T>0 T>0 T>0 T>0
ω <0 ω <0 ω >0
ω>0 ω >0

Motor Generator
T<0 T<0
ω <0 ω >0

Semi Converter Bridge Thyristors Bridge Dual Converter

(Thyristors and Diodes) Bidirectional in voltage but Bidirectional in current and voltage
Unidirectional in current and Unidirectional in current
voltage

Ω>0 Ω>0 Ω>0

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 Closed Loop Control (3. Control & Feedback)
In a more generalized way:
 Three controllers are needed: 1+τ iS
Gci ( S ) = K i
• PI current controller: τiS
• Mechanical system: 1+τω S
Gcω ( S ) = K ω
τωS
• Proportional gain of a P position controller: Kϴ

 Position control of DC motors requires Three loop control:

 Torque loop: Fastest
 Speed loop: Slower
 Position loop: Slowest

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 Closed Loop Control (4. Complete Scenario)
 Any speed error caused by change of speed command or load torque demand can
produce a high Iaref.
 The motor accelerates to correct the speed error, settles a new Iaref, which makes TL=Td,
resulting in a speed error=0.

 Any large speed error is limited by the current limiter and limits Iaref to a maximum
permissible value Iamax until the speed error becomes small and the current limiter
comes out of saturation
 Normally, the speed error is corrected with Ia <permissible value Iamax

 For ω<ω0: Speed control using VA (at maximum IF)

• If ω<ω0: Field error ef>>> and the field controller saturates: Maximum IF applied (low speed
implies high flux), and the speed control is done by ↑ Va.
 For ω>ω0: Speed control using RF or field weakening (at rated VA)
• If ω>ω0: Ea > Ea0, Va is then at its limit, and the speed control is done by varying IF, ω continue ↓
until the motor reaches its desired speed using IF control (high speed implies low flux)

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 Closed Loop Control (3. Control & Feedback)

Position control of DC motor

 The inner loop:
• Control of IA
• Fastest loop
• Limits the reference Iaref
• Prevents the motor overloading
• Transfer function ki 1
Open loop : GI ( S ) = Gci ( S ).K c .Gce ( S ) = .
Ra τ a .S
Suppose K c = 1 and τ i = τ a (appropriate choice)

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 Closed Loop Control (1. Open Loop)

 Armature current:

 Motor speed:

τa: time constant = Lm/Rm

τm: Mechanical time constant = J/B

Two variable parameters (Disturbances) can be considered:

Vr (control voltage)
TL (load torque)

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 Closed Loop Control (1. Open Loop)

The steady-state response is due to both parameters Vr(s) and TL(s).

We combine the effect of both responses using superposition:

• The response due to a step change in the reference voltage is obtained by

setting TL to zero: considering only the effect of Vr

• The response due to a change in load TL is obtained by setting Vr to zero

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 Closed Loop Control (2. System Response)
 A step change in Vr (TL =0)

 A step change in TL (Vr =0)

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 Closed Loop Control (2. System Response)
Using the final value theorem, the change in speed Δω due to a change in
Vr and TL (ΔVr and ΔTL) can be found by substituting s=0

Electrical circuit: Mechanical system:

1 Ra 1B
Gce ( S ) = Gm ( S ) =
1 + sτ a 1 + sτ m
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 Electronic Control (Two - Quadrant)
• For even faster speed control, we use 2 converters connected in reverse parallel: both
connected to the armature, only one operates at a time: 1 as a rectifier, 1 as an inverter

 I: Rectifier  II: Inverter

• Power to the motor • Power to the generator
• VT slightly higher than EA • VT slightly less than EA
• During operation I, II is inactive • I is inactive, II is active
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 Electronic Control (Two - Quadrant)
 Reversed current → reversed torque → speed↘ rapidly
 Motor operates in quadrants I and IV
 Direction of motion never reverses
 Converters act always in the same mode (I is always rectifier, II is always
inverter)

 Disadvantage:
• Current is discontinuous
• IThyrisor does not flow for more than 120°
• At low control torque, control becomes difficult

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 Electronic Control (Four - Quadrant)

 Precise speed and torque control from 0

to very high speed
 Two converters operate simultaneously:
current is continuous (IA=Id1-Id2)
 Even if IA=0, Id1, Id2 ≠0 → current is
continuous
 IA can be reversed simultaneously

!! Sophisticated control system

Two-quadrant control of a dc motor using two converters with

circulating currents
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 Electronic Control (Six – Pulse AC-DC Converter)

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