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DC Motor Torque Control Using State Estimation

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Control and Intelligent Systems, Vol. 44, No. 3, 2016
DC MOTOR TORQUE CONTROL
USING STATE ESTIMATION
Zanahul Farnaz,∗ Husain S. Sajith,∗∗ Anuradha D. Abeysekara,∗∗ Shirantha Welikala,∗∗
Prabath J. Binduhewa,∗∗ Parakrama B. Ekanayake,∗∗ and Lilantha Samaranayake∗∗
Abstract
In most robotics and automation applications, DC motors play
a pivotal role as they have proven to be one of the easiest to
control. Implementing feedback helps precise control with improved
noise performance and robustness against parameter variations. DC
motors with feedback control can be used for position, speed, or
torque used for control. For closed loop position and speed control
applications, the position and speed of the DC motors can be
obtained using an encoder connected to the shaft, which usually is
a cost-effective solution. Similarly, the electromagnetic torque of a
DC motor can be obtained by using a shaft-connected torque sensor.
However, this is usually an expensive solution with additional power
and interfacing requirements. Further, such torque sensors can
be too bulky to insert in a limited space environment and they
are generally sensitive to vibrations. To overcome these problems
with a low-cost solution, we use a state estimator to estimate the
torque of the motor. We compare the performance of closed loop
state estimator with a Kalman filter implemented for the same
purpose. In both cases, the input voltage to the motor and the
speed output of the motor are the input to the state estimator, while
the estimated torque is the output of the estimator. The estimated
torque output is used for closed loop torque control of the DC
motor. The state estimators and the torque controller, containing
pulse width modulation and PID controller, have been implemented
in low-cost microcontroller-based environment so that the solution
can be developed for large-scale manufacturing and offered as a
ready-made solution.
Key Words
Closed loop control, DC motor, Kalman filter, state estimation,
torque control
1. Introduction
Despite the introduction of attractive AC motor substitutes
[1], [2], the DC motor still remains popular among control,
robotics, and automation community as an ideal solution
∗Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel; e-mail:ahzfarnaz@hotmail.com
∗∗Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Faculty
of Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka; e-mail:
{hssajith.eng, abeysekara.anuradha, shirantha27}@gmail.com,
{prabathb, mpb.ekanayake, lilantha}@ee.pdn.ac.lk
Recommended by Dr. Muhammad Tahir Khan
(DOI: 10.2316/Journal.2016.3.201-2762)
130
for precise control using simple controller and simple power
electronics [3]. It has a wide range of applications in au-
tomotive, aerospace, material processing, manufacturing,
etc., industries as well as in precise instrumentation.
Typically, the DC motor is used for position servo [4],
velocity servo, or torque control applications. Depending
on the target application, the DC motors for control,
robotics, and automation applications have been equipped
with shaft-connected encoder for position feedback or a
tacho-generator for velocity feedback. For torque control
applications and fast and precise state feedback control, it
is required to measure the electromagnetic torque of the
DC motor.
It can be measured directly by a torque sensor
attached to the shaft. However, this is an expensive
solution requiring additional power and interfacing. In
addition, sometimes the torque sensor can be too bulky to
be implemented for certain applications.
Another alternative would be to use a current sensor to
measure the armature current and use the simple linear re-
lationship to find the electromagnetic torque. Requiring an
additional current sensor and its integration are the draw-
backs of this approach. In addition, the torque constant of
the motor can vary with time and therefore requires cor-
rections from time to time [5], [6]. The most cost-effective
approach would be to use the existing shaft-connected po-
sition encoder or the tacho-generator feedback and use an
estimation technique to find the electromagnetic torque of
the DC motor.
In this article, we use a state estimator to estimate
the electromagnetic torque of a DC motor using the speed
measurement and the input voltage measurement in real
time. For the input voltage measurement, a simple voltage
divider is used and speed measurement is taken through
an optical shaft encoder.
A fuzzy control together with a PID control has been
used in [7] to estimate the torque, which performs better
than a PID controller alone. However, this method is not
simple to implement in a low-cost microprocessor envi-
ronment as in [8]. Sliding mode observer-based methods
have been used together with extended Kalman filter for
electromagnetic torque estimation of nonlinear brushless
DC motors in [9] and for induction motors in [10], [11].
Observer-based torque estimation for DC motors has been
discussed in [12]. Torque estimation and control techniques
 (e) mutual inductance is negligible, and (f) armature reac-
tion is negligible. Hence, the linear model of the motor can
be achieved by (1) to (3). Ke and Kt are back electromo-
tive constant and motor torque constant [19]. Substituting
(2) and (3) in (1) yields (4). Applying Newton’s second law
of motion to the rotational motion of the motor gives (5).

dia (t)
v(t) = Ra i(t) + La + e(t) (1)
Figure 1. DC motor schematic diagram. dt

e(t) = Ke ω(t) (2)

based on neural networks and fuzzy logic theories have
been done for switched reluctance motors in [13], [14] which
hints the possible directions this work can be extended. Tm (t) = Kt ia (t) (3)
A sensor less safety power window control system
consisting of a DC motor in an automotive application Ra La dTm (t)
where a Kalman filter is used to estimate the electromag- v(t) = Tm (t) + + Ke ω(t) (4)
Kt Kt dt
netic torque can be found in [15]. Recurrent fuzzy neural
network-based sensorless control mechanism for DC motor
dω(t)
speed and torque can be found in [16]. Optimal feedback Tm (t) − TL (t) − Bm ω(t) = Jm (5)
control of DC motors using speed and torque feedback can dt
be found in [17].
Hence the armature current measurement is eliminated
This article is organized as follows: Section 2 presents
from the dynamic equations. This leads to the derivation
the modelling of the DC motor in state space with torque
of the state space, where the speed ω(t) and the electro-
and speed as states. It also gives the design and simulation
magnetic torque Tm (t) will be the states.
implementation of the closed loop observer and Kalman
filter to estimate the electromagnetic torque. Section 3
2.2 State Space Model of the DC Servo Motor
describes the design and simulation and the hardware im-
plementations of the torque controller using the estimated
torque. Results have been presented in Section 4 and this By selecting the states as earlier, the supply voltage v(t)
article is concluded in Section 5. and the load or disturbance torque TL (t) as the inputs
and the speed as the output, the derived linearized model
2. Modelling and Design equations of the DC motor results in the state space model
given in (6) and (7).
This section presents the modelling details of the motor ⎡ dω(t) ⎤ ⎡ Bm 1 ⎤⎡ ⎤
and the design of the state estimator, namely the closed − ω(t)
⎢ dt ⎥ ⎢ JmJm ⎥⎢ ⎥
loop observer and the Kalman filter for the servo motor, ⎢ ⎥ =⎢ ⎥⎣ ⎦
followed by the torque controller design [18]. ⎣ ⎦ ⎣ K ·K Ra ⎦ T (t)
dTm (t) e t
− − m
dt La La
2.1 Dynamic Model of the DC Motor
⎡ 1 ⎤⎡ ⎤
0 − v(t)
A schematic diagram of a linearized lumped parameter ⎢ Jm ⎥⎢ ⎥
+⎣
Kt ⎦⎣ ⎦ (6)
model of a DC motor is shown in Fig. 1, where 0 TL (t)
La
v(t) – supply voltage (V); ia (t) – armature current (A);
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
e(t) – back electromotive Tm (t) – motor electromagnetic  ω(t)  V (t)
y(t) = 1 0 ⎣ ⎦+ 0 0 ⎣ ⎦ (7)
force (V); torque (Nm); Tm (t) TL (t)
La – armature TL (t) – load torque (Nm);
inductance (H); 2.3 State Estimator: Closed Loop Observer Design
Ra – armature resistance Bm – viscous friction
As the observer is implemented digitally, its design has
(Ω); coefficient (kgm2 /s); also been carried out in the discrete domain. The state
ω(t) – motor shaft speed Jm – rotor inertia (kgm2 ). space model in Section 2.2 can be discretized with sampling
period h as in (8) and (9).
(rad/s);

x[k + 1] = Φx[k] + Γu[k] (8)

It is assumed that (a) symmetrical armature winding
is present, (b) there is no magnetic saturation, (c) hystere-
sis and eddy current losses are zero, (d) air-gap is uniform, y[k] = Cx[k] + Du[k] (9)
131
where Φ is the discrete system matrix, Γ is the discrete
input matrix, C = [1, 0], D = [0, 0], x[k] is the discrete state
vector, y[k] is the discrete output vector, and u[k] is the
discrete input vector. The Φ and Γ can be obtained by
(10) and (11).

Φ = eAh (10)
⎡ Bm 1 ⎤
−
h ⎢ Jm Jm ⎥
Γ = ∫ eAs Bds; A = ⎢
⎣
⎥;
0 Ke · Kt Ra ⎦
− −
La La
⎡ 1 ⎤ Figure 2. Simulink model of the closed loop observer.
0 −
⎢ Jm ⎥
B =⎢
⎣K
⎥
⎦ (11)
t algorithm [20] for the above system can be obtained as in
0 (18)–(22).
La

Here, h is the sampling period. For the above dis- Predictor step: Time update
cretized system, a closed loop observer with discrete ob-
server state x̂ and the closed loop observer gain matrix L Project the state estimates ahead:
can be designed as in (12) and (13).
x̂− [k] = Φx̂− [k − 1] + Γu[k] (18)
x̂[k + 1] = Φx̂[k] + Γu[k] + L(y[k] − C x̂[k]) (12)

y[k] = C x̂[k] (13) Project the error covariance ahead:

The estimation error of the closed loop observer x̃ is P − [k] = ΦP [k − 1]ΦT + Q (19)
given by (14).

x̃[k] = x[k] − x̂[k] (14)

Corrector step: Measurement update
which is used to design L, because the error dynamics of
the observer is given by (15). Compute the Kalman filter gain K:

x̂[k + 1] = (Φ − LC)x̃[k] (15) K[k] = P − [k]C T (CP − [k]C T + R)−1 (20)

To make observer error dynamics to be stable, the Update estimate x̂ with measurement:
eigenvalues should be located within the unit circle of the
complex z-plane. The observer gain matrix L has been
designed by using the principle of pole placement. The x̂[k] = x̂− [k] + K[k](y[k] − C x̂− [k]) (21)
poles of the closed loop observer have been placed such that
the error dynamics are a decade faster than the system, so
that the transient response will be smooth. The software
Update the error covariance P:
implementation of the observer using SimulinkT M blocks
is shown in Fig. 2.
P [k] = (I − K[k]C)P − [k] (22)
2.4 State Estimator: Kalman Filter Design
where Q = E[ηη T ] is the process noise covariance and
In the presence of plant noise η[k] and measurement noise R = E[νν T ] is the measurement noise covariance.
ν[k], the discrete time state space of the DC servo motor The software implementation of the Kalman filter us-
plant gets modified as in (16) and (17). ing Simulink blocks is shown in Fig. 3.

x[k + 1] = Φx[k] + Γu[k] + η[k] (16) 2.5 Design of the Torque Controller

y[k] = Cx[k] + Du[k] + ν[k]
The Kalman filter has two steps: (1) predictor step
and (2) corrector step. Accordingly, the Kalman filter
(17) The torque estimated by the state estimator was used to
design a torque controller for the system. Here, the input
voltage to the motor was changed using a PID controller
followed by a H-bridge formed by MOSFETs to control
132
Figure 3. Simulink model of the Kalman filter.

the output torque of the system. The input u[k] which is in this study. The first part of the section describes the
mentioned in (6) was changed as, hardware modules used in this work and the second part
⎛ ⎞ describes the complete Simulink model of the simulation.
Vin
u[k] = ⎝ ⎠ (23)
Tm 3.1 Hardware Implementation

Here, Vin is given by

 
Ki −1
Vin = Kp + + Kd (1 − z ) (Tref − Test ) (24)
1 − z −1
where Test is the estimated torque and Tref is the reference
torque. Kp , Ki , and Kd are the gains in the PID controller
in the usual notation. The torque controller was designed
such that the poles of the closed loop torque control systems
are much slower than the poles of the state estimator. The
software implementation of the controller using Simulink
blocks is shown in Fig. 4.
3. Implementation of Torque Controller
This section describes simulation and hardware implemen-
tation of the complete system consisting of the state esti-
mators and the torque controller for the DC motor used
133
The controller for the motor was implemented using a
MOSFET driver circuit. The supply voltage to the motor
is controlled using a PWM scheme and is measured at the
same time. The velocity of the motor is obtained from
the optical shaft encoder which comes with the DC mo-
tor. The supply voltage, which is in the range of 0–40 V,
is scaled down using operational amplifier circuit. The
observer Kalman filter and the controller have been im-
plemented in the STM32F4 DiscoveryTM development kit,
which is a state-of-the-art low-cost controller implemen-
tation platform. The STM32F4 Discovery development
kit consists of STM32F407VGT6 ARM Cortex-M4 32-byte
microcontroller featuring 1 Mbytes of flash memory, 192
kbytes of RAM, which enables to port the implementation
easily to a standalone single microcontroller in the future.
The physical arrangement of various components involved
is shown in Figs. 5 and 6.
Figure 4. Simulink model of the torque controller.
Figure 5. Block diagram of STM32F4 Discovery board and
motor connectivity.
3.2 Implementation of Simulation using
MATLABTM /Simulink
To programme the STM32F4 Discovery development kit,
it is necessary to convert the closed loop observer shown
in Fig. 2, the Kalman filter shown in Fig. 3, and the
controller in Fig. 4 which are in Simulink blocks into their
corresponding C program code. In general, this task is a
tedious process to convert the lines one by one. Instead,
“Waijung” [21] is a freely available Simulink block set that
can be used to generate the C code automatically from the
Simulink simulation models.
The closed loop observer model and the Kalman fil-
ter model are implemented in the Simulink environment
together with the “Waijung” Simulink block set as shown
in Fig. 7. In this implementation, a regular analogue to
134
digital module is used to measure the supply voltage to
the motor and a pulse width modulation capture module
is used to measure the pulse frequency generated from
the encoder. This frequency value is converted to speed.
Measuring the load torque is not feasible. Thus estimated
torque from the closed loop observer and Kalman filter
are fed into the respective modules assuming both the
estimated torque and the load torque are equal.
A UART transmission module is used to transmit the
measured values to the host PC. The closed loop observer
block and Kalman filter block have been used to estimate
electromagnetic torque developed by the motor.
4. Results and Discussion
Figure 8 compares the electromagnetic torque estimated
using closed loop observer and the Kalman filter with
the measured torque, when the load torque of the motor
is changed randomly by external means. The torque is
measured by connecting a current sensor to measure the
armature current and then by using (3). The results in Fig.
8 show that the electromagnetic torque estimated using
both methods follows the measured torque. The estimates
depend on the speed calculated using optical shaft encoder
measurements and the measurements of the input voltage
to the DC motor. Figure 9 shows the variation of error
in estimated torque which was found using the closed
loop observer and the Kalman filter. It can be observed
that the Kalman filter-based torque estimator has slightly
less error variation when compared with the closed loop
observer-based torque estimator.
Figure 6. Hardware implementation at laboratory.

Figure 7. Simulink model embedded on the STM32F4 Discovery board.

135
Figure 8. Estimated torque using closed loop observer and Figure 11. Error in estimated speed using Kalman filter
Kalman filter. and closed loop observer.

Figure 9. Error in Estimated torque using closed loop Figure 12. Torque control for a given torque reference.
observer and Kalman filter.

Figure 10 compares the measured speed with the esti-

mated speed using the closed loop observer and the Kalman
filter, respectively. It can be observed that both estimates
follow the general trends in the speed, but the Kalman
filter follows it more accurately. As the estimates depend
on the speed output, it can be anticipated that the elec-
tromagnetic torque estimated using Kalman filter is more
accurate than the one using the closed loop observer. Fig-
ure 11 shows the error variation of the speed estimated
using the closed loop observer and the Kalman filter. It
can be seen that the error variation in Kalman filter is
much less than it is in closed loop observer.
Figure 12 shows the results of the torque controller im-
plementation. The reference torque is a square wave with
magnitude varying between 0 and 0.2 Nm as shown in the
lower figure. The corresponding estimated output torque
is shown in the upper figure. As can be observed, the out-
put torque closely follows the reference torque and hence
the torque control has been implemented successfully.
Figure 10. Comparison of the actual speed with the esti-
The minor fluctuations in the torque estimate are due to
mated speed using closed loop observer and Kalman filter.
the variations in the speed measurement.
136
5. Conclusion
The electromagnetic torque of a DC servo motor has suc-
cessfully been estimated using both closed loop observer
and Kalman filter. The influence of plant and mea-
surement noise could be reduced with the Kalman fil-
ter. Both the initial designs which were implemented
in MATLABTM /Simulink environment have been success-
fully implemented in low-cost hardware. The results show
that torque estimated using hardware implemented esti-
mators agrees well with the measured torque. Further,
the estimated torque was used in DC motor torque control
application using an outer PID torque controller. The re-
sults show that the output torque profile follows the given
reference torque profile with adequate accuracy. Hence, it
is concluded that costly and bulky torque sensors can be
replaced with torque estimators which are implemented in
cost-effective hardware, for DC servo motor applications.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank the Department of Elec-
trical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka for facilitating this
project.
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Biographies
Zanahul Farnaz received the
B.Sc. Eng. (Hon) specialized in
Electrical and Electronic Engi-
neering from University of Per-
adeniya, Sri Lanka in 2015. Cur-
rently, he is working as an engineer
from October 2015 at Sri Lanka
Telecom Mobitel. His research in-
terests are in the fields of control
systems, robotics, Smart grid and
the Internet of Things (IoT). He
is a student Member of the IEEE.
Husain S. Sajith received the
B.Sc. Eng. degree in Electri-
cal and Electronic Engineering
in 2015 from University of Per-
adeniya, Sri Lanka. He is cur-
rently working as an Electrical
Engineer in Watermaster Qatar
WLL. He is an Associate member
of the Institute of Engineers Sri
Lanka. His research interest in-
cludes Robotics, Control Systems,
Power system modeling and High
voltage insulation system.
 Anuradha D. Abeysekara re-
ceived the B.Sc. Eng. degree
in Electrical and Electronic
Engineering with First Class Hon-
ours from the Faculty of Engi-
neering, University of Peradeniya,
Sri Lanka in 2015. He is cur-
rently working as a temporary
instructor from October 2015 at
the same university. His main
research interests include signal
processing, power systems, con-
trol, robotics, electronics, and embedded systems. He is a
student Member of the IEEE.
Shirantha Welikala received the
B.Sc. Eng. degree in Electri-
cal and Electronic Engineering
with First Class Honours from
the Faculty of Engineering, Uni-
versity of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
in 2015. He is currently working
as a temporary instructor from
October 2015 at the same univer-
sity. His main research interests
include control systems, robotics,
intelligent systems, automation,
electronics, embedded systems, and signal processing. He
is a student Member of the IEEE.
Prabath J. Binduhewa received
B.Sc. Eng. specialized in Elec-
trical and Electronic Engineer-
ing with First Class Honours
from University of Peradeniya,
Sri Lanka in 2005. He earned the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy
from University of Manchester,
UK in June 2010. Thesis title
of his research is “Microsource
Interface for a MicroGrid”. He is
currently attached to the Depart-
ment of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of
Engineering, University of Peradeniya as a senior lecturer.
He was working on MicroGrids and HVDC systems with the
Power Conversion Group of the University of Manchester
from October 2013 to December 2013.
138
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Parakrama B. Ekanayake ob-
tained his B.Sc. Eng. degree
in Electrical and Electronic En-
gineering from University of
Peradeniya, Sri Lanka in 2006.
Subsequently, he obtained his
Ph.D. degree from Texas Tech
University in 2011. Immediately
after his Ph.D. degree, he joined
as a faculty member at the De-
partment of Electrical and Elec-
tronic Engineering, University of
Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, where he still is. His current re-
search activities include blind source separation and blind
event separation, visual systems and sensor fusion tech-
niques for mobile robots, bio-realistic modelling of visual
systems, and coding of sensory information in biological
systems. He is a Member of the IEEE.
Lilantha Samaranayake re-
ceived his B.Sc. Eng. from Uni-
versity of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
in 2000 and Tech. Licentiate and
Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engi-
neering from the Royal Institute
of Technology (KTH), Sweden
in 2003 and 2006, respectively.
He has been a senior lecturer
in the Department of Electrical
and Electronic Engineering, Fac-
ulty of Engineering, University of
Peradeniya, Sri Lanka since 2007. He was a research
fellow at the Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan and
at the Advanced Vehicle Engineering Centre, Cranfield
University, UK. He is a Senior Member of IEEE.