PC-based PID Speed Control in DC Motor
Guoshing Huang, Shuocheng Lee
Department of Electronic Engineering, National Chin-Yi University of Technology,
35, Lane 215, Chung-Shan Rd., Sec. 1, Taiping, Taichung, Taiwan, 41111, ROC
E-mail:hgs@ncut.edu.tw
Abstract
This paper presents a LabVIEW-aided PID
designed controller to monitor DC motor speed and
uses the software simulation of VisSim to analysis its
response. First, design the drive circuit of DC motor
and as the feedback signal through the photo sensor
and 8051 chip modules to produce rotational speed
signal, and show from SEG7 displays. To take out the
analog signal through D/A converter at the same time,
acquire the signal via the NI DAQ USB-6008 card. By
the LabVIEW-aided PID controller, the parameters
are adjusted to control the motor speed. The front
panel will display the speed of DC motor on the
screen. The simulation results are quite match with the
theoretical prediction for the behavior of the PID
controller. In this proposed paper, it demonstrates the
humanized operation interface that not only can
replace the traditional instrument, but also facilitate
the amateur engineer's operation under the remote
control and monitor.
1. Introduction
The DC motors have been popular in the industry
control area for a long time, because they have many
good characteristics, for example: high start torque
characteristic, high response performance, easier to be
linear control…etc.[1]. The different control approach
depends on the different performance of motors.
Because the peripheral control devices are enough,
there is the more extensive application in the industry
control system. Therefore, the DC motor control is
riper than other kinds of motors no matter in the
theoretic study or in the research and development of
the application technology and internet, the
measurement and the control system can be achieved
by PC-based today. However, the technique of
instrument design also moves forward the times of
“virtual instrument”, not only the designing time is
978-1-4244-1724-7/08/$25.00 ©2008 IEEE
shorten, but also the designing space is more elastic
extension. This paper presents to guide the motor
speed control field with the various advanced computer
technology and the development platform of
software/hardware. Let the dynamic state response of
motor have a better efficiency.
This paper is to design PID controller to supervise
and control the speed response of the DC motor with
the virtual instrument graphic monitor software
LabVIEW. To control the speed of motor and display
the changes of rotational speed of motor, the better
response of the system can be obtained. By the NI
USB-6008 [2] data acquisition (DAQ) card scratches
the data of D/A converter to transmit the signal in real
time to PC to be the speed response of DC motor real-
time supervision. Because the DAQ card has the
capability of the data storage and calculating, analysis
and A/D, D/A conversion …etc., matches with the
LabVIEW virtual instrument characteristic applying to
detect the revolution of DC motor. This mode can
substitute the traditional instruments, for instance,
oscilloscope, signal generator, power supply … etc.
and the test operation is convenient. It is not easy to be
influenced by the component ageing and the maintain
management…etc., and can be as the supervision basis
of the machine normal operation or not.
However, National Instruments increases the
productivity of engineers and scientists in developing
test, control, and design systems by providing software
products for a wide range of functionality. NI
LabVIEW is the graphical development environment
for creating flexible and scalable test, measurement,
and control applications rapidly and at minimal cost.
Using LabVIEW, the interface between engineers and
scientists with real-world signals, analyze data for
meaningful information, and share results and
applications. The intuitive block diagrams in NI
LabVIEW make it be easy to develop the custom
design applications while taking advantage of the PC
400 ICALIP2008
for processing, display, and device connectivity LabVIEW environment in order to reduce the output
[3][4][5][6]. error, as shown in Figure 2.
The structure of this paper is mainly divided into
the DC motor speed control system, the mathematic
model of DC motor and its control theory, the software
and hardware program, the computer software
simulation results, actual measurement results and
conclusions.

2. DC motor speed control system of the

structure
Fig. 2 PID speed control system of DC motor
functional block diagram.
2.1 System structure

The speed control system of the DC motor is shown
in Figure1. The main purpose is to link PC via USB
transmission line and data acquisition module (NI
DAQ USB-6008), then control the motor system to
achieve the speed control of motor and analyze the
response of the motor by software.
3. DC motor mathematics model and the
control theory
3.1 DC motor mathematic model
This DC motor system is a separately excited DC
motor, which is often used to the velocity tuning and
the position adjustment. This paper focuses on the
study of DC motor linear speed control, therefore, the
separately excited DC motor is adopted. Make use of
the armature voltage control method to control the DC
motor velocity, the armature voltage controls the
distinguishing feature of method as the flux fixed, is
also a field current fixedly. The control equivalent
circuit of the DC motor by the armature voltage control
method is shown in Figure 3.

Fig. 1 The structure of speed control system

of DC motor.

2.2 System functional block diagram system Fig. 3 The control equivalent circuit of the DC
structure motor using the armature voltage control
method
This system is to generate a pulse signal through the
disc of the rotary shaft and the photo interrupt module where
in DC motor. And compute the numbers of pulses
received in unit time with 8051[7], then calculate the R a : the armature resistance
speed of motor. We display the motor currently speed
using four SEG7 display, compare the output feedback L a : the armature inductance
signal with the input signal through D/A converter[8],
then execute the parameter adjustment of the PID i a : the armature current
controller through the designed program under the
if
: the field current

401
ea From equation (7) the armature inductance is very
: the input voltage
small in practices, hence, the transfer function of DC
eb motor speed to the input voltage can be simplified as
: the back electromotive force (EMF) follows,
Tm: the motor torque Ω (s ) K
= m (8)
ω E a (s) τs + 1
: an angular velocity of rotor
Where K = KT is a motor gain,
J : rotating inertial measurement of motor bearing m
R a B + KbKT
B : a damping coefficient R aJ is the motor time constant
τ=
R aB + K bK T
Because the back EMF e b is proportional to speed ω From equation (8), the transfer function can be drawn
directly, then the DC motor system block diagram which is shown in
Figure 5.
dθ(t) (1)
e b (t) = K b = K bω (t)
dt
Making use of the KCL voltage law can get
di a (t) (2)
e a (t) = R a i a (t) + L a + e b (t)
dt
Fig. 5 Simplified block diagram of DC motor
From Newton law, the motor torque can obtain armature voltage control system
2
T m (t) = J
d θ(t)
+ B
dθ
= K T ia (t) (3) 3.2 PID control theory
2 dt
dt

Take (1), (2), and (3) into Laplace transform,
respectively, the equations can be formulated as
follows:
E a (s ) = ( R a + L a s ) I a (s ) + E b (s ) (4)
E b (s ) = K b Ω (s )
Tm (s) = BΩ(s) + JsΩ(s) = K T I a (s)
Fig. 4 describes the DC motor armature control system
function block diagram from equations (1) to (6).
Fig. 4 DC motor armature voltage control
system function block diagram
The transfer function of DC motor speed with
respect to the input voltage can be written as follows,
Ω (s ) KT
G (s) = =
E a (s) ( L a s + R a )( Js + B) + K b K T
(7)
The development of PID control theories has already
60 years so far, PID control has been one of the control
system design method of the longest history. However,
this method is still extensively used now
[9][10][11][12]. The PID controller includes a
proportional term, integral term and derivative term,
(5)
where the proportional term is to adjust the output of
controller according to all of the magnitude of error,
(6) the integral term is used to remove the steady state
error of control system and improve the steady state
response, the derivative term is used to predict a trend
of error and improve the transient response of the
system. These functions have been enough to the most
control processes. Because the structure of PID
controller is simple, it is the most extensive control
method to be used in industry so far. The PID
controller is mainly to adjust an appropriate
proportional gain (KP), integral gain (KI), and
differential gain (KD) to achieve the optimal control
performance. The PID controller system block diagram
of this paper is shown in Figure 6.

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 transient response of system become slow down. It
cannot improve a steady state error of system, has not a
bigger function for the system. But this phenomenon is
only to limit in the first order control system. The
integral controller can remove a steady state error
while the step inputs, but it will be unstable if the
integral gain is excessive.

4. Hardware and software program

Fig. 6 PID controller system block diagram 4.1 Structure of the hardware circuit
The relationship between the input e(t) and output The hardware structure program in this paper is
u(t) can be formulated in the following, shown in Figure 8. Using the analog output port and
t de ( t ) the analog input port (AO/AI) of the DAQ Card, send
u ( t ) = K P ⋅ e ( t ) + K I ⋅ ∫ e ( t ) dt + K D (9) out signal to the error detector in order to control the
0 dt speed of motor. At the same time, scratch Vo of D/A
converter of the hardware circuit indicator on front
The transfer function is expressed as follows, panel, can control the DC motor rotational speed, and
analyze the systems response, as shown in Fig. 9.
U (s ) KI (10)
C (s ) = = K P + + K D s
E (s ) s

The controlled plant in this paper is a DC motor. The

PID DC motor speed control system block diagram is
shown in Figure 7.

Fig. 7 PID DC motor speed control system

block diagram

The closed loop transfer function of DC motor

speed control system expresses as follows,
KI K
(K P + + K D S) m
Ω (s ) S 1 + τs
G (s) = =
R (s) KI K
1 + (K P + + K D S) m
S 1 + τs
Fig. 8 The structure of DC motor speed control
2
(KDS + KPS+ KI )Km hardware system
= (11)
(KDKm + τ)S2 + (1+ KP Km )S+ KI Km
The system pattern is type1 in this case, the steady
state error ess= 0 which is with respect to the step
signal input. The differential controller raises a KD
value while the step signal inputs, then will let the

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 Fig. 9 PC-based speed monitor system Fig. 11 Front panel of PC-based PID DC motor
speed control system.
4.2 Monitor system design

The Design of this monitor system is used of PC and

DAQ card as the speed measurement and control unit
of the motor. Utilizing the LabVIEW software to
design the PID controller, applies on the DC motor
speed control. All the monitor point status and the
setting of monitor condition all can be executed and
displayed on the screen menu in real time. Figure 10
shows the structure diagram of DC motor speed control
monitor system. The interface between man and
machine of PC-Based PID DC motor speed control
system of this paper is shown in Figure 11, and the
program block diagram is shown in Figure 12.

Fig. 12 Program block diagram of PC-based

PID DC motor speed control system

5. Simulation result of the software

Fig. 10 The structure diagram of DC motor
speed control monitor system
In the following, apply the real gain of PID control
parameters KP, KI, KD to VisSim build-in vision
software (Ker, D. S., 2004), simulate the PID control
of DC motor speed control system according to the
hardware connected wire and the system function
block diagram to draw the PID DC motor speed
control system and verify with the actual system
response. The simulation results of the response of
PID speed control in DC motor are shown in Figure
13(a)-(e).

404

Fig.13 (a) The simulation response PID speed
control in DC motor for R=1, KP =3, KI=2, KD=0.01
Fig.13 (b) The simulation response PID speed control
in DC motor for R=1, KP =3, KI=3, KD=0.1
Fig.13 (c) The simulation response PID speed control
in DC motor for R=1, KP =5, KI=2, KD=0.01
Fig.13 (d) The simulation response PID speed control
in DC motor for R=1, KP =5, KI=4, KD=0.01
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Fig.13 (e) The simulation response PID speed control
in DC motor for R=1, KP =5, KI=5, KD=0.01
From above simulation response results shown as
Figure 13.(a)-(e), we know when the system is joined
the integral control, it can be accelerated the steady
state response time. To make use of simulation results,
can be verified as a result of basis with the actual
measurement.
6. Actual measurement results
This paper makes use of the PC-Based to be a
control the interface with the LabVIEW software
design program. With the PID controller, modulate the
parameters. By adjusting the gains of the KP, KI, KD,
acquire the best response of the satisfied system.
Through the actual adjusting KP, KI, KD gains, the
responses of this system can be obtain under the
different condition. After we take the actual control
parameters into VisSim to simulate, the results with
actual response and theories are rather near.
The following is the experimental comparison
explanation which is with respect to PID to physically
adjust gains KP, KI and KD...etc. to voltage feedback
response diagram. The unit of the transversal axis is
the time (second) and unit of the ordinate axis is a
voltage feedback response (V) as shown in Fig. 14. In
these experimental results, the input command R is
default to 1, in other words, the system response is
steady in 1V. Figure 14(a)-(e) show the system
responses of DC motor speed control by PID control
approach.
Fig.14 (a) The response of the DC motor speed
control for R=1, KP =3, KI=2, KD=0.01

Fig.14 (b) The response of the DC motor speed
control for R=1, KP =3, KI=3, KD=0.1
Fig.14 (c) The response of the DC motor speed control
for R=1, KP =5, KI=2, KD=0.01
Fig.14 (d) The response of the DC motor speed
control for R=1, KP =5, KI=4, KD=0.01
Fig.14 (e) The response of the DC motor speed
control for R=1, KP =5, KI=5, KD=0.01
To compare with Figure 14 (a) to (e), can be
relatively obtain, if raise KP then can get a quicker
transient response, and can reduce a steady state error
of the system in PID controller. To raise KD, will make
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the transient response become slower, but cannot
improve a steady state error. Raising the KI can remove
a margin of the steady state error. Through the
experimental results, we can know that the system will
produce an unstable phenomenon when KP is greater
than 7, KI is greater than 8. Therefore, the best control
parameters of this system are chosen as R=1, KP =5,
KI=5, KD=0.01.
7. Conclusions
This paper proposes to design PID controller to
control the speed of DC motor using the LabVIEW
software program, and display the speed of motor in
real-time in order to obtain the system response of PID
controller. Then assist this system to simulate with the
software of VisSim. Because the DAQ card has the
capabilities of data scratch and transmission, matches
with the LabVIEW virtual instrument characteristic
and analysis. The real-time monitor of application on
the motor not only can substitute the traditional
instrument but also can be as the monitor basis of the
machine operating normally or not. This programming
system is based on a structure of the PC, and combines
the DC motor supervision needed instrument, and then
replaces other hardware equipments with the cheaper
and more efficient method to provide operators with
the graphical interface of an easy and kind operation.
Through the actual tuning KP, KI, KD gains, the
responses of this system can be obtained under the
different condition. After the actual control parameters
transfer into VisSim for simulation, to compare the
results of actual response with its theory is rather near.
The development system can be set up a
fundamental to supervise and control the outdoor
factory from the indoor office. We can supervise and
control all motors in the factory or instrument
equipment indoors, and also monitor the factory
operational condition from the outside. In other words,
this system can monitor the motor currently, and also
can join all equipments which are desired to supervise
and control to perform a whole supervision system in
early future.
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