Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon) 2019
Development of a Programmable Mechanical Motor
Loading Unit using a DC Motor
Karunadasa JP Nishan Withana
Department of Electrical Engineering Department of Electrical Engineering
University of Moratuwa University of Moratuwa
Moratuwa, Sri Lanka Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
karunadasaj@uom.lk nishanrandika@gmail.com
Janaka Wijayarathna
Department of Electrical Engineering
Univeristy of Moratuwa
Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
janakaindra@gmail.com
AbstractMotors are required to be tested for different
requirements such as after manufacturing, rewinding, new
environmental conditions etc. by using type tests. Motor should
have the ability to run for a long time under full load without
exceeding its thermal and mechanical limits. The loading unit
should have the same capacity as the motor. Currently, DC
generator with lamp load and eddy current brake are used but
these loading units are less controllable and inefficient. This
paper discusses about a suitable and efficient loading unit which
can be used to test motors. This unit consists of a DC motor load
coupled with the test motor in which the DC motor is driven by
a power electronic controller. The significance of this particular
scheme for loading is that it can serve most of the requirements
that arise in practice that other loading types cannot do. The
power electronic controller consists of an AC to DC
bidirectional converter to provide power back and forth
between the DC motor and the utility grid. Also, there is a
bidirectional DC to DC converter to maintain the required
voltage levels. The DC Motor has the ability to imitate different
loads and to act in both generating mode as well as motoring
mode.
KeywordsAC to DC Bidirectional Converter, DC to DC
converter, Motor Testing, DC Motor, Motor Control, Current
Controlled PWM
I. INTRODUCTION
Electrical machines are widely used at present for systems
which require mechanical operations. Continuous research
and development are being done to improve the performance
and efficiency of electrical machines since it will directly
affect for cost effective electricity savings around the world.
Motor test systems play a significant role in this situation. To
ensure that the motor is providing its function as required, tests
on the motor need to be done. The results of these tests will
determine the suitability of a particular motor for a given
application. Hence, performance of relevant tests on the motor
is required to be done with great care, efficiently and
accurately [1].
Most of the motors need to undergo some type tests.
These are done in the situations such as after manufacturing a
motor and when a motor has undergone a rewinding process
or when there is a change in the environmental conditions of
the motor etc. Type tests are required to be done on a motor to
check its thermal and mechanical suitability for delivering the
rated power for a longer duration. In order to test the
performance of the motor, the motor needs a suitable loading
unit and the motor should have the capability of working
under that load for a long time without exceeding any thermal
or mechanical limits. Also, to perform the tests, the settings of
978-1-7281-3632-5/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE
211
Kanchana Gallage
Department of Electrical Engineering
University of Moratuwa
Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
kanchana.rd925@gmail.com
Asha Wijethilake
Department of Electrical Engineering
Univeristy of Moratuwa
Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
slashawijethilake@gmail.com
the loading unit of the motor need to be varied from time to
time according to the test method.
A. Existing Motor Loading Units
Loading techniques which are being practiced in the
present industry to perform tests on motors are eddy current
braking system [2] and DC generator with lamp loading
system. These techniques have their own drawbacks which
the proposed system is capable of overcoming.
Eddy current braking system operates on the basis of
electromagnetics relating to Faradays and Lenzs Laws.
System applies brake on a moving conductor which is inside
of a magnetic field by generating circular current loops on the
conductor surface itself in a way it opposes the movement of
the conductor which results in converting mechanical energy
of the conductor in to heat loss by eddy currents. The
magnitude of the braking force depends on the speed of the
conductor and hence this method is not suitable for systems
with slower speeds [3].
The technique practiced with the use of a DC generator
with a lamp loading system alters the torque applied on the
test motor by altering the loading of lamps. Loading of the
lamps can only be implemented step wise. Hence the load
torque applied on the test motor cannot be altered
continuously. This system also consists of few significant
flaws such as less efficiency due to the lamps and less
controllability of the torque.
Most of the motors use DC generator with lamp load
systems or eddy current braking systems [2] as the loading
units of them. But it is known that these methods are less
efficient and less controllable. But with the development of
power electronics, active loads are used as loading systems in
commercially available motor test systems [1].
B. Proposed Motor Loading Unit
This paper discusses about a novel method of constructing
a loading unit to test a motor. This new method is a DC motor-
based loading unit where the DC motor is controlled by a
power electronic controller. This power electronic controller
should control the armature current and hence the torque of
DC motor in a way that the DC motor is imitating different
types of loads such as fans, pumps etc. The DC motor is
coupled with the test motor. And the DC motor will create the
load torque according the required load type. In this case, the
DC motor may be driven by the test motor where the DC

Fig. 1 Overview of the system
motor is acting as a generator converting the mechanical
energy in the system in to electrical energy. And sometimes
when there is an overhauling load torque (when the test motor
is lowering a load from a crane) the DC motor may act as the
motor and drive the test motor absorbing power from the grid
and converting it in to mechanical power.
Hence, it is obvious that in this case, the DC motor is
capable of working in two quadrants (i.e. motoring region and
regenerative region). Also, it can work in all four quadrants if
the direction of the rotation is altered. But during this
operation, it focuses on the first two quadrant operation of the
DC motor. In the first quadrant (motoring region) both the
direction of the speed of rotation and the torque of the motor
are considered as positive [4]. In the second quadrant
(regenerating), the direction of the rotation remains positive
while the torque of the motor acts in the opposite direction to
its rotation. This is also called as braking region and the
mechanical power of the system will be converted in to
electrical power as a result. Hence, in order to make changes
in the DC motor loading unit, the torque of the DC motor
should be altered. Here in this case, the torque is controlled by
controlling the current flowing through the armature since the
torque of a DC motor is directly proportional to its armature
current (a separately excited DC Motor is used). The power
electronic controllers are introduced to the system to supply
the required armature current to the DC motor which controls
the torque developed in the DC motor which acts as a load to
the test motor.
II. SYSTEM STRUCTURE
The overview of the system is interpreted in the Fig. 1. The
system consists of two power electronic converters. One
converter is an AC to DC Bidirectional converter which is
used to interface the DC Motor with the grid supply and to
maintain the required voltage level at the DC link. Since the
DC motor is acting in both motoring and generating regions,
the bidirectional converter will operate to supply power from
grid to the motor as well as to carry the generated power in
DC motor, back to the grid [5], [6]. There is a DC to DC
bidirectional converter in between the DC motor and the AC
to DC bidirectional converter to deliver the required
(demanded) armature current. There is a controller to control
the outputs of the two converters by providing signals to the
switching components in the two converters.
The DC voltage link in between the two converters will
aid to develop the required voltage level that facilitates the
operation of the two converters. Also, there are sensors to
measure armature current, motor speed, DC link voltage,
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Fig. 2 Power circuit diagram
current and voltage at the AC side of the bidirectional
converter. The corresponding power circuit diagram of the
system is depicted in Fig. 2.
III. SYSTEM CONTROL STRATEGY
Because of the linear proportionality between the torque
and the armature current of the DC motor, it is always easy to
alter the current to alter the torque developed in the motor. The
objective of the loading unit is to produce the required torque
at the given speed which should be in accordance with the
torque speed relationship of the load type.



  (1)
Where, k is the motor constant
Hence, it is the armature current that should be controlled
with the aid of power electronic converters. Switching signals
need to be generated for the operation of the two power
electronic converters. Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) is one
of the most popular switching techniques which allows
producing output voltages having high frequency pulses and
hence facilitates easier filtering to separate the fundamental
component [5].
Hysteresis current control PWM, which is one of the very
effective and yet easy to implement schemes of current
control PWM is chosen to control both converters in the
system. Current control PWM realizes the magnitude and
shape of output current, demanded through set input.
Therefore it is an ideal match for most of the servo drives
which require speedy dynamic responses.
Hysteresis current control allows controlling the top to
crest current swell within a pre-defined hysteresis current
band [6]. The actual current tracks the reference current within
the hysteresis band. This can be further described using the
Fig. 3 shown here.
When the actual current exceeds the upper limit of the
hysteresis band the switching state of the converter is changed
to one that makes current fall. Similarly when the actual
current falls below the lower limit of the hysteresis band, the
switching state is changed back to make the current rise In
that manner PWM signal can be generated considering the
pattern of turning IGBT switches ON and OFF to track the
reference current [7].
Hysteresis current control PWM technique is
comparatively faster and hence shows an excellent dynamic
performance. Also, the width of the hysteresis band can be
preset within the comparator. To achieve a close tracking of
 Fig. 4 DC motor armature current control block diagram

Fig. 3 Hysteresis current control technique [7]

reference current and to reduce ripple and harmonic content in

the current waveform the hysteresis band width should be
selected small but then the switching frequency will be higher.
Therefore a compromise between the switching frequency and
the current tracking is required. One of the issues of this
technique is non-uniformity of switching frequency and
picking up audible noise.
In addition to generating the required current at the DC
motor armature terminals, current controlled PWM strategies
are applied to maintain the voltage at the DC voltage link
Fig. 5 DC link voltage control block diagram
which is in between the two converters.
A. DC Motor Armature Current Control
When the user input is given, the motor should develop the
required torque at the given speed. Speed of the motor system
is measured, and the relevant torque can be found using the
torque speed characteristic of the specific loading type and the
required armature current to develop that torque is found using
the equation (1), and it is taken as the Iref. And a suitable
hysteresis band should be provided with a compromise
between current tracking and switching losses.
The hysteresis current comparator will compare the values
of the armature current and the (reference armature current ±
Fig. 6 Supply current control block diagram
hysteresis band/2). If the armature current exceeds the value
of (reference armature current + hysteresis band/2) the Hence it is necessary to maintain the required voltage at
switches of the DC to DC converter should start to act to the DC link. This is achieved by controlling the input current
reduce the armature current by changing the direction of rate of the AC to DC bidirectional converter in a way that the DC
of change of current (di/dt) by altering the voltage. Because of link voltage is maintaining at the required value.
that the switches S21 and S22 will be opened and the switches
S23 and S24 will be closed. If the armature current drops below At first, the reference current waveform should be
the value of (reference armature current  hysteresis band/2) obtained, and the relevant procedure is depicted in the Fig. 5.
then the direction of the di/dt should be changed and the A Proportional-Integral (PI) compensator is used to suppress
switches S21 and S22 will be closed and the switches S23 and noise of the error voltage (ie: VDC - VRef) and to appropriately
S24 will be opened. improve the dynamic response of voltage control action. The
output of the PI compensator is used as the amplitude of the
As a result, the armature current will lie within the three-phase reference current waveforms, which are generated
hysteresis band around the reference armature current. The to be in phase with the supply voltage.
reference current can be either positive or negative within
prescribed safe limits depending on whether the required The reference three-phase currents serve as inputs to three
torque is positive or negative. The control diagram block of individual hysteresis current controllers for the three-legs of
this process is depicted in Fig. 4. the AC-DC converter. Each current controller is preset with
the same width of hysteresis (
H). The procedure is shown in
B. DC Link Voltage Control Fig. 6 which is very much similar to the DC Motor Armature
To keep the controllability of AC to DC bidirectional Current Control mentioned earlier. Here, the currents of each
converter, the voltage of the DC link should be greater than phases are controlled, and the switching is done to change the
the maximum peak to peak line to line voltage of the supply. direction of di/dt as in the motor current controlling.

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 For phase a,
When Iin  IRef +
H/2 then S11 is closed and S14 is opened
When Iin  IRef -
H/2 then S11 is opened and S14 is closed
For phase b,
When Iin  IRef +
H/2 then S13 is closed and S16 is opened
When Iin  IRef -
H/2 then S13 is opened and S16 is closed
For phase c,
When Iin  IRef +
H/2 then S15 is closed and S12 is opened Fig. 8 Supply side phase voltage and current tracking waveforms (constant
load torque generation mode)
When Iin  IRef -
H/2 then S15 is opened and S16 is closed
IV. SIMULATION RESULTS
Computer simulations were carried out using the software
MATLAB Simulink. The power circuit is drawn using
Simulink block diagrams and the relevant control criteria is
developed for the operation of power electronic converters to
control the DC motor armature current to produce the torque
at the given speed according to the specific load. Simulations
on the system is done for various loading types which have
constant torque characteristics or speed dependent torque Fig. 9 Armature current tracking waveform (constant overhauling torque
characteristics. motoring mode)

A. Load with a Constant Torque

In this case, the DC motor produces a torque against the
speed of rotation to restrains the torque produced by the test-
motor. This means, the DC motor produces a negative torque.
Thus, the DC motor is acting in the generating mode and the
generated power is transferred back to the grid supply.
Corresponding waveform of armature current is shown in Fig.
7. It can be clearly seen how the current is tracked between
the hysteresis band. The waveforms of current and voltage at
the AC supply are shown in Fig. 8. It can be seen that the phase
current and voltage waveforms are negatively in phase with
each other. This happens because the power flow is in the Fig. 10 Supply side phase voltage and current tracking waveforms (constant
opposite direction. overhauling torque motoring mode)

B. Load with a Constant Overhauling Torque
In this case, the DC motor produces a torque in the
direction of speed as caused by the overhauling loads like
hoists travelling downward due to gravity, making the test-
motor being driven by the load. Here, the test-motor has to
return energy back to its source as the load is pouring energy
in to the test-motor. At this situation, the DC motor produces
a motoring torque with a positive armature current. The
relevant waveforms of armature current, phase voltage and
phase current are depicted in Fig.9 and Fig. 10. It can be seen
that the phase voltage and current waveforms are in phase with
each other. This is because the power flows from supply to the
DC motor system.
C. Load with a Speed Dependent Torque
In this scenario, the DC motor adjusts its torque with speed
according to a given torque-speed characteristic. The
controller, according to the speed, determines the required
torque and the corresponding armature current. The controller
can accommodate any torque-speed characteristic to imitate
real loads within limits. The simulations are done assuming
that the speed dependent torque load has a torque speed
characteristic which takes the form of Torque
2. The
relevant waveforms of armature current, phase current and
phase voltage of the supply side are depicted in Fig. 11 and
Fig. 12. The supply side phase current and voltage waveforms
are negatively in phase with each other since the DC motor is
acting in generation mode.

Fig. 7 Armature current tracking waveform (constant load torque generation Fig. 11 Armature current tracking waveform (speed dependent load torque
mode) generating mode)

214

Fig. 12 Supply side phase voltage and current tracking waveforms (speed
dependent load torque generating mode)
Similarly, the cases of load torque with speed dependent
overhauling torque can be simulated by providing the
corresponding torque-speed characteristics to the controller.
As before, in such cases the DC motor develops a motoring
torque with a positive armature current. However, the cases
of speed dependent overhauling load torque are rare in
practice.
Fig. 13 Armature Current Tracking Waveform (Speed Dependent
overhauling Torque motoring mode)
Fig. 14 Supply side Phase Voltage and Current tracking waveforms (Speed
Dependent Torque motoring mode)
Fig. 15 DC Link Voltage Waveform
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D. DC Link Voltage Controlling
Voltage of the DC link is maintained at a higher level in
order to avoid the uncontrolled diode rectification of the AC
to DC bidirectional converter (This voltage should be
greater than the peak line to line supply voltage). The supply
current of the AC to DC bididrectional converter is
controlled to develop a higher voltage at the DC link.
Response of the DC link voltage following a step demand,
that is response at the initial power-on of the system, is
shown in Fig. 15. It can be seen, that the DC link voltage
quickly reaches the set value and remains unchanged
afterward with negligible ripple. This set-voltage remains
at the DC link all the times irrespective of whether the
energy is flowing in or out to and from the DC motor due to
the action of the AC-DC converter controller.
V. CONCLUSION
This paper described a novel method of loading electrical
motors for testing purposes in an efficient manner than the
conventional methods by returning the entire bulk of load
energy back to the source without dissipating locally as heat.
Besides being efficient, the loading is made more controllable
to imitate real loads by way of specifying the desired torque-
speed characteristics to check if the test-motor is good for
driving the destination load. This system is very useful for
testing laboratories to carryout type testing of new motors or
renewed motors, especially when testing a large motor for
temperature-rise compliance where the motor has to deliver
full load for several hours, sometimes, The implementation of
the loading unit was based on power electronic control of a
DC motor that must be coupled to the shaft of test-motor
directly, or otherwise. The simulation results showed that the
loading unit is operating very successfully on all selected
cases of constant load torque, speed dependent load torque and
overhauling load torque.
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