II.

MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF THE SYSTEM

A. Mesones

Magnetic Levitation
Abstract In the present paper, a magnetic levitation
system (maglev) with a degree of freedom (vertical) is
designed and simulated. This article seeks to demonstrate
that is possible to model and control the magnetic
levitation systems from a mechanical model. To linearize
the obtained equation Taylors series is used, which
allows to get an open loop transfer function. Finally, an
unstable equation is obtained, that will be stabilized using
the PID controller in a closed loop circuit.
I.

A. Selecting a Template (Heading 2)

The objective is to obtain the control block and the
transfer function.

INTRODUCTION

The magnetic levitation is a physical phenomenon widely

studied due to its high efficiency, since it has a high
performance and low power consumption. So in the last years,
levitation systems have been used in several applications.
Like the suspension of high-speed trains, vibration isolation
systems among others.
In this paper, the control of the levitation of a steel ball is
simulated. The basic idea of the system is to make an object
(steel ball) float in the air (levitate) with an electromagnetic
force generated by an electromagnet which is fixed above it.
By passing a current trough the electromagnet, a magnetic
field is induced, which creates a magnetic force of attraction
between the steel ball and the electromagnet. This force tends
to compensate the gravity force. The magnetic force exerted
on the steel ball depends of the current that circulates through
the electromagnets coil. Other factors that are involved are
the mass and the shape of the object.
The mechanical system is used for modeling, in which the
magnetic force is already known. From this an equation is
obtained that needs to be linearized to get the transfer function
(of second order), for this linearization Taylors series is used.
The plant seeks to be controlled by a PID controller (Ziegler
and Nichols method).

Figure. 1 Free body diagram

The magnetic force generated by the electromagnet is

given by

Fm =c

i2
(1)
X2

D.L.C. for the steel ball

F R=m X =mg

c i2
(2)
2
X

For the equilibrium position

(3)

In this document, the mathematical model of the system,

the numeric simulation using Matlab, the domain analysis in
time and frequency, and the PID controller design are
exposed, besides of the findings of the work.
A nonlinear equation is obtained

=mgc
mX

i R +i 0 2
( 4)
XR+ X0

It is linearized by Taylors series and you get

2
X 2 c i 0 X = 2 c i 0 i (5)
R
m X 03 R
m X 02 R

From equation (5) the Space state is obtained

[ ][

0
Z 1
2
= 2 c i0
Z 2
m X 03

][ ][ ]

0
Z1

+ 2 c i 0 i (t ) (6)
0 Z2
m X 02

[]

y=[ 1 0 ]

Z1
+0i(t )
Z2

From equation (5) you can also get the transfer function

G s=

X R ( S)
=
iR ( S )

2 c i 0
2 c i 02
m X0 S
X0
2

(7)

From the transfer function, the block diagram is obtained

Is

Gs

Xs

Figure. 2 Block diagram of open loop transfer function

III. NUMERICAL SIMULATION USING MATLAB

Values taken for the simulation

m=20 gr .

Steel ball mass

Initial position

x 0=0.005 m .

Relative inductance

c=1.5105 .
i 0=0.4 A .

Initial current

Figure. 4 Bode of plant

IV. PID CONTROLLER DESIGN

It is no possible get the PID with the obtained values of the
margin of gain and phase of the plant (Figure. 4) through the
Ziegler and Nichols method.
In order to design the PID, not infinite values of margin
and phase are needed, so the plant becomes negative and the
following values are obtained
Margin of gain =- 46db
Margin of phase = 0

With the transfer function, through Matlab, the poles, the

damping constant and the resonance frequency are obtained.
Eigenvalue

Damping

Frequency

-9.80e+01

1.00e+00

9.80e+01

-1.00e+00

9.80e+01

9.80e+01

Figura. 5 Bode of negative plant

With these values is possible to calculate the margin of

gain and phase for the correct performance of the PID, since
the gain margin is zero, a value that tends to zero is used for
the rest of the calculations. However, one must consider that
the gain margin is negative therefore for the original plant we
will also use a negative value.
Figure. 3 Poles obtained with Matlab

The margin of gain and phase of the plant tends to infinity.

The calculated values are

Kp=-120
Kd= -9.4248e+08
Ki= -3.8197e-06

Figure. 8 Improved closed loop response time.

From the Figure. 8 the following values are achieved

Overshoot percentage: 8.9%
Settling time: 0.00277s
V. CONCLUSIONS

Figure. 6 PIDs poles and zeros

The closed loop of the plant with the system gives us a stabilized system.

The present paper shows that the modeling and the control
of magnetic levitation are possible. For the modeling, the
transfer function was obtained, with which sought to design a
PID controller; however, some mathematical artifices
(changing the sign of the plant) had to be done in order to use
the Ziegler and Nichols method, with which a correct PID
controller is achieved.
Furthermore, the PID controller was improved by
increasing the derivative constant. With this the setup time
and the overshoot were lower, achieving the objectives of
this work.

REFERENCES
Figure. 7 Closed loop response time

[1]

Kumar,R. Raina1, S.Bahadur, A. Verma2, S. Sarangi, modeling and

simulation of levitating ball by electromagnet using bond graph, IIT
Roorkee, India, Dec 18-20 2013.

[2]

N. Nise, Control system engineerin (6th Edition)

[3]

Katsuhiko Ogata. Modern Control Engineering (5th

Edition) . Prentice Hall. ISBN-10: 0-13-615673-8.
2010.

Nonetheless, it is possible to improve the response by decreasing the

derivative value.