Stability Control System for a Propeller Powered by a Brushless DC Motor Codey Lozier & Christian Thompson Advisor Dr. Mohammad Saadeh

Control Systems  Applications Cruise control Automation in factories

Stability Control System  Design a control system that stabilizes a horizontal beam

Project Deliverables  Research all components needed to design the control system  Understand how the signals of each component are transmitted and read  Gain knowledge of LabVIEW driven environment  Design a functioning prototype using components  Gain knowledge of control systems  Implement a control system that uses a PID controller  Research paper

Background: Electrical Components Primary Components Control System  Brushless DC motor Electronic Speed Controller  Carbon fiber propeller  Microcontroller  Rotary Encoder  Data Acquisition Device Secondary Components Testing  Wheatstone Bridge board  Micro load cell  Encoder Data Acquisition Device

Brushless DC Motor (BLDC)  High performance motor 27,000 – 30,000 RPM  Brushless characteristics Permanent magnet Electrically commutated Driven using PWM  Ideal for long term applications

Lift Force  Of the four forces of flight, we are only concerned with two:  Lift Force & Weight Force Opposing forces The airfoil of an airplane’s wing is just like a propeller blade

Schematic of Air Flow X Y

Pressure Variation Along Slipstream P 2 P 4 = P 1 = P atm

Lift Force (cont.)  Movement of air  Forces above and under the blade

Modifications to BLDC  Original propeller could not generate enough lift force  Replaced with 8 x 4.5 carbon fiber (10g) propeller

Brushless Speed Controller  Electronic speed controller (ESC)  Powers motor (17Vdc)  Used in high power RC systems  Receives PWM signals from Arduino Mega

Arduino Uno Microcontroller Board  Based on the Atmega 328P Microcontroller  Ideal for prototyping  Open source  Resources  Pulse Width Modulation  Commutation

YUMO Rotary Encoder  Sensor  Position  Speed  Direction  High resolution  Resources  Interfaced with DAQ device

Multifunction Data Acquisition Device  Plug and Play  Programmed using LabVIEW  All components are interfaced with this device

Secondary Components & Testing  Secondary components  Micro load cell  Wheatstone Bridge  Encoder DAQ device  Testing  Setup of components  Signal Processing

Micro Load Cell  Force sensing element  Strain gauges  Change in electrical resistance

Phidget Bridge: Wheatstone  Contains 4 Wheatstone Bridges  USB interface ( 2 )  Amplifies signal sent from micro load cell ( 1 )  Demo applications are provided  Users can develop own applications

Micro Load Cell Calibration  Calculate lift force  Methods used for calibration Demo Program Labview Instrumentation Amplifier

Calculating Lift Force  Several Trials  Flipped propeller  Data exported to Excel  Used to develop lift force equation

Encoder Data Acquisition Device  Interfaced with rotary encoder  Includes demo application  Libraries LabVIEW C/C++  Calculate RPM of BLDC

Rotary Encoder Setup  Shaft is stabilized with pillow block  Device is fixed to table  Interfaced with data acquisition device

Brushless DC Motor Setup

Experimental Setup

LabVIEW  System design platform and development environment  Graphical programming language  Virtual Instrument (VIs)  Applications  Data Acquisition  Instrument Control  Automation  Control System Design

LabVIEW Interface

Current Progress Spring 2014  Researched and acquired all components of project components of experimental prototype electrical components pros and cons understand how to transmit and read signals  Designed an experimental prototype of system  Integrated components into experimental system

Current Progress Summer 2014  Gained understanding of LabVIEW driven environment Designed applications for all components  Incorporated a Multifunction I/O Data Acquisition Device using LabVIEW Developed VIs for all components Integrated all components

Future Progression October 2014  Develop a control system using LabVIEW  Incorporate a PID controller into control system November 2014  Add a second BLDC motor on opposite end of beam  Modify control system using the second motor  Research Paper