1

ME 360 Control Systems

Armature Controlled DC Motor Transfer Functions
(Reference: Dorf and Bishop, Modern Control Systems, 9
th
Ed., Prentice-Hall, Inc. 2001)


o In a armature-current controlled DC motor, the field
current
f
i is held constant, and the armature current
is controlled through the armature voltage
a
V .
o The motor torque increases linearly with the
armature current.


m ma a
T K i =

o
ma
K is a constant that depends on a given motor.
The transfer function from the input armature
current to the resulting motor torque is


( )
( )
m
ma
a
T s
K
I s
= (1)

o The voltage/current relationship for the armature side of the motor is



( )
a R L b a a a a b
V V V V R i L di dt V = + + = + + (2)


o
b
V represents the back EMF induced by the rotation of the armature windings in a
magnetic field.
b
V is proportional to the speed

( ) ( )
b b
V s K s =

o Taking Laplace transforms of Equation (2) gives



( )
( ) ( ) ( )
a b a a a
V s V s R L s I s = + or
( )
( ) ( ) ( )
a b a a a
V s K s R L s I s = + (3)


o An equation describing the rotational motion of
the inertial load is found by summing moments


m
M T c J = =

(CCW positive)

or

m
J c T + = (4)
DC Motor
Free Body Diagram
of the Inertial Load

2
o The transfer function from the input motor torque to rotational speed changes is


( )
( )
1 ( )
( ) /
m
J s
T s s c J

=
+
(1
st
order system) (5)

o Equations (1), (3) and (5) together can be represented by the closed loop block diagram
shown below.








o Block diagram reduction gives the transfer function from the input armature voltage to
the resulting speed change.


( )
( )( ) ( )
( )
( )
ma a
a a a b ma a
K L J s
V s s R L s c J K K L J

=
+ + +
(2
nd
order system) (6)

o If we assume the time constant of the electrical circuit is much smaller than the time
constant of the load dynamics, the transfer function of Equation (6) may be reduced to
a first order transfer function

( )
/
( )/
ma a
a a b ma a
K R J
s
V s cR K K R J

=
+ +
(1
st
order system) (7)

o The transfer function from the input armature voltage to the resulting angular position
change is found by multiplying Equations (6) and (7) by 1s .

1
a
a a
L
s R L +

ma
K
1 J
s c J +

b
K
( )
a
V s
( ) s
( )
a
I s ( )
m
T s
+
_