EE207/23/Min1

Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar.

EE207: Control Engineering

Minor Test I

Date: 20 March 2023 Time: 2 hrs Marks: 20

____________________________________________________________________________________

1. A simple pendulum consists of a bob of mass m suspended from a massless string of length L (to centre of mass
of the bob). The air within which the bob will oscillate if released, offers a linear viscous retarding force that at
any instant is D times the linear instantaneous speed of the bob. For any oscillatory motion of the pendulum,
friction at the point of suspension offers a fixed retarding torque Tf. For oscillations, the pendulum has a
mechanism by which an external force F(t) can be applied to the bob in the direction perpendicular to the
suspension string.
a. With proper reasoning, formulate the dynamic, time domain differential equation for the angle θ(t) that the
suspension string makes to vertical through the point of suspension.
b. With the angle θ(t), and its time derivative as the two selected state variables, obtain the state equation for
the system in terms of state vector x(t) and input vector u(t).
$
x (t ) =f(x(t ), u(t ))
c. Obtain the equilibria of the state equation.
d. For each equilibrium point, obtain the state and input matrices for the respective linearised system.
e. Find out if the linearised systems are stable, unstable, or marginally stable, for each equilibrium point.
...(2 marks for each part)

2. When a stepper motor is provided input to move by one step, it oscillates over a short time before settling at the
required step position. While oscillating, its first swing goes to a maximum angle of 30% beyond the single step
position at 0.005s from the instant at which the stepping command was applied. Within how much time will it
settle within a 1.5% margin around the single step position ?
...(5)

3. A digital, two state system has its feedback matrix given by

a −a
F=
1 b
How must the real parameters a and b relate if the system is always marginally stable ?
...(5)
 EE207/23/Min1
Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar.

EE207: Control Engineering

Solutions to Minor Test I

1.
a. The applied torque to the pendulum, at any angle, is given by L.F(t). This drops across:
i. Accelerating moment of inertia: (mL2).d2θ(t)/dt2
ii. Damping torque: D.(Ldθ/dt).L = (DL2)dθ/dt
iii. Friction torque at pivot: Tf
iv. Negative torque due to tangential weight component: −(mg sinθ)L = −mgL sinθ
The overall dynamics can thus be described as

(mL 2 ) d 2t + (DL 2 ) d t + T f = LF(t ) − mgL sin (t )

2 ( ) ()
dt dt
d 2 (t ) D d(t ) g
u + m + 1 2 T f = 1 F(t ) − sin (t )
dt 2 dt mL mL L
b. With x T (t ) å (t ) d(t )/dt , the nonlinear state equation becomes
d x 1 (t ) x 2 (t )
=
dt x 2 (t ) −(D/m )x 2 (t ) − (mL 2 ) −1 T f − (g/L ) sin x 1 (t ) + (mL ) −1 u(t )

c. The equilibria are given by making the time derivative zero, so that
u(t )−T f /L
x 1 (t ) sin −1 mg
=
x 2 (t ) 0

d. The state equation is given at any equilibrium point as

d x 1 (t ) 0 1 x 1 (t ) 0
= $ + $ u(t )
dt x 2 (t ) −(g/L ) cos x 1 (t ) −(D/m ) x 2 (t ) (mL ) −1
So at any equilibrium point:
0 1 0
A(x(t ), u(t )) = ; b(x(t ), u(t )) =
(mL ) −1
u(t )−T f /L 2
−(g/L ) 1 − mg −(D/m )
e. The characteristic equation at any equilibrium point is given by
s −1
u(t )−T f /L 2 =0
(g/L ) 1 − mg s + (D/m )

⎧⎪ u(t ) − T f /L 2 ⎫⎪
us s+ D
m + ⎨ (g/L ) 1 − mg ⎬=0
⎪⎩ ⎪⎭
⎧⎪ u(t ) − T f /L 2 ⎫⎪
u s2 + D
m $ s + ⎨ (g/L ) 1 − mg ⎬=0
⎪⎩ ⎪⎭
which shows the eigenvalues with negative real parts at −D/(2m). Thus all equilibria are stable if D is
non-zero, and marginally stable if D = 0.
(2 marks for each part)
 EE207/23/Min1
2. Modelling the single stepping process as a damped oscillatory second order step response (dominant dynamics),
we observe a peak overshoot of 0.3 at 0.005s.
This allows us to estimate
e −/ 1− 2
= 0.3

u = − ln 0.3 = 0.3832
1 − 2

u= 0.3832 = 0.3578

1 + 0.3832 2
and
 = 0.005
*n 1 − 2

u *n =  = 672.86 rad/s
0.005 % 1 − 0.3578 2
To settle within 1.5% of the steady step position, we have a settling time
Ts = − ln 0.015 = 0.01744 s
0.3578 % 672.86
= 17.44 ms
(5 marks)

3. The characteristic equation of the system works out to

z−a a
=0
−1 z − b

u (z − a )(z − b ) + a = 0
u z 2 − (a + b )z + (ab + a ) = 0

(a + b ) ! (a + b ) 2 − 4(ab + a ) (a + b ) ! (a − b ) 2 − 4a
uz= =
2 2
If both poles are real, then they must both be equal to unity, in which case,
(a − b ) 2 = 4a and a + b = 2
u a 2 − 3a + 1 = 0
3! 5 1" 5
ua= ; b=
2 2

If the poles are complex conjugate pairs, then their magnitude must be unity
(a + b ) 2 + (a − b ) 2 − 4a
=1
4
u a 2 + b 2 − 2a = 2

(5 marks)