Formal report

Frequency response

Name: Nishant Mangesh Jalgaonkar Matriculation Number: A0074538X Lab Group: 3D1 Date: 15th October 2012

Objectives The main objectives of this experiment are: To perform a frequency response test on an aircraft electro-hydraulic servo-actuator and to determine the phase and gain margins of the servo. To verify that increasing the gain causes instability Experiment flow We will use the Nichols chart to obtain the open loop phase and gain from our experimental closed loop data or frequency response. This open loop frequency response will be used to generate a Bode plot which will help us ascertain the form and also provide a quantitative definition of the open loop transfer function of the experimental system. Data tables and graphs TABLE ONE: CLOSED LOOP FREQUENCY RESPONSE
(Hz) 0.5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 3.142 6.283 12.566 18.850 25.133 31.416 37.699 43.982 50.265 56.549 62.832 69.115 75.398 81.681 87.965 94.248 Vi (V) 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 Vo (V) 4.880 4.480 3.200 2.160 1.620 1.220 0.980 0.800 0.640 0.544 0.456 0.392 0.312 0.268 0.224 0.188 -0.211 -0.954 -3.876 -7.290 -9.789 -12.252 -14.155 -15.918 -17.856 -19.267 -20.800 -22.114 -24.096 -25.417 -26.974 -28.496 ( ) time (s) 0.140 0.100 0.096 0.084 0.076 0.068 0.064 0.058 0.054 0.051 0.046 0.044 0.042 0.041 0.038 0.037 -25.20 -36.00 -69.12 -90.72 -109.44 -122.40 -138.24 -146.16 -155.52 -165.24 -164.16 -174.24 -181.44 -190.94 -193.54 -198.72

TABLE TWO: OPEN LOOP FREQUENCY RESPONSE (ONLY VALID DATA POINTS)
w (rads) 6.283 12.566 18.850 25.133 31.416 37.699 43.982 50.265 Open Loop Gain (dB) 4 -3 -7.5 -11 -13 -15.5 -17 -18 Open Loop Phase () -98 -108 -112.5 -125 -130 -142.5 -150 -155

Sample calculations

Vo Vi

Discussion
FREQUENCY RESPONSE OF THE SYSTEM AS INPUT FREQUENCY IS INCREASED It can be seen that as the input frequency of the system is increased, the gain decreases while the phase angle decrease. These changes could be caused by the friction of moving parts, as well as the time lag needed for the system to respond to the change in signal. As such, a smaller gain and a larger phase difference will be produced as the change in signal gets faster. From TABLE 1, it can be seen that gain decreases with increasing input signals frequency. This is because the output amplitude is decreasing, while the input amplitude is maintained at a steady value. The phase angles which the output waves lead the input waves also decrease as the frequency of the input wave increases. SYSTEM RESPONSE AS GAIN IS INCREASED. To see the system response to a gain increase, a square wave input is used. At low gain, the output curves to a steady state value. The output does not give clean, straight lines like the input signal because of time delay as well as friction in the moving parts of the electro hydraulic servo actuator. Increasing the gain reduces the time for the curved portion to reach steady state. However, fluctuations will start to occur before the output reaches a steady state value. As the gain is increased further, the fluctuations increase until no steady state is reached.

COMPARISON OF EXPERIMENTAL GAIN MARGIN AND GAIN MARGIN FROM NICHOLS CHART AND PHASE MARGIN The gain value that was obtained experimentally is 35.56 dB, while the one obtained from the Nichols chart is about 25 dB. Theoretically, we should be getting the same result from the experiment as well as form the Nichols chart. However, the difference could have been caused by a few factors. The knob controlling gain has marking with large divisions. Therefore, estimation is made when the reading is read off the knob, and thus inaccuracies may have arisen. The Nichols chart has gain limited to 25 dB and values are also hard to pinpoint due to the curved nature of the chart. Therefore, the plotting of points is largely done by an estimation of their position, and thus causing inaccuracies. The inaccuracies are as follows: 1. Human Error in reading values off graph 2. Error in extrapolation 3. Scale of graph

The phase margin obtained from the data is 77.5. This is done by calculating the X intercept of the line that is formed by the intersection of the trend curve and gain = 0 dB on the Nichols Chart and then subtracting -180 from it.

ESTIMATION OF THE TRANSFER FUNCTION AND ORDER OF THE SYSTEM The Bode gain plot starts off with a -20dB/decade line followed by a -40dB/decade line at the corner frequency of = 31 rad/s. This implies there is a
1 1 term and a term in the transfer function, where = 0.0363 s. Since the s 1 s

plot does not begin at 0 dB, there is a constant gain of K = 10 in the transfer function. Therefore, the transfer function is is a 2nd order system. and it

WHY IS THE OPEN LOOP TRANSFER FUNCTION IMPORTANT FOR CONTROL SYSTEM DESIGN The open loop transfer function is beneficial in the design of control systems because: 1. Open loop systems are easier to build and analyze as they are simpler than closed loop systems 2. Cheap to build open loop systems 3. We can use the open loop transfer function of a system to deduce the closed loop transfer function using Nichols chart

Conclusion From this experiment, Ive learned how to use perform a frequency response test using an aircraft electro-hydraulic servo actuator, connected to a controller and an oscilloscope. Ive learned to use the Nichols chart to determine gain and phase margins, and to convert close loop gain and phase to open loop ones. Ive learned how to plot a Bode gain diagram as well as a Bode phase diagram, and then using the plots to estimate the transfer function of the system. It has also been verified that increasing gain causes instability, since increasing gain results in fluctuations in the output which leads to an output that has no steady state. There were also errors identified in this experiment, which highlights the difficulty in measuring and controlling a system. However, these errors can be overcome by getting more readings at more intervals as well as using equipment that is more accurate. In this frequency response test on an aircraft electro-hydraulic servo-actuator, we have determined the phase and gain margins of the servo through the Nichols chart. From the Bode gain and phase plots, we can deduce the transfer function of the system and verified it to be of 2nd order. In addition, we observed that by further increasing the gain, the system response will become unstable and this value of the gain is verified against the theoretical value from the Nichols chart. The discrepancies involved have been discussed above.