MECH 370 – Modeling, Simulation and Control Systems, Final Examination, 09:00 – 12:00, April 15, 2010 - 1/4 -

CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL AND INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

MECH 370 – Modeling, Simulation and Control Systems

Final Exam Instructor: Youmin Zhang Date: April 15, 2010

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Answer all five (5) questions. Closed-book exam Total time: 3 hours
Please write both your name and ID number.
For all questions:
Justify clearly all your steps; Show clearly all equations and mathematical steps.
Answers without mathematical steps and/or justifications will be given a mark of zero.
Good Luck !

Problem 1 [20 marks]

For the mechanical system with a rotating wheel shown in Fig. 1, the input is the applied force f a (t )
applied to the mass M1, and the output is the displacement x1. The moment of inertia of the wheel is J
and the radius of the wheel is R. The cable is wrapped around the wheel and does not slip or stretch.
The springs are undeflected when θ  x1  x2  0.
1) Draw a set of free-body diagrams of the system and write a set of differential equations;
2) Select a set of state variables and write the corresponding state-variable model in a set of
state-variable equations form;
3) When all coefficients of the differential equations obtained in step 1) are equal to 2 and the
gravities of the masses are ignored, derive the transfer function model of the system.

Fig. 1: A combined translational and rotational system

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MECH 370 – Modeling, Simulation and Control Systems, Final Examination, 09:00 – 12:00, April 15, 2010 - 2/4 -

Problem 2 [20 marks]

For the following RLC circuit shown in Fig. 2:
1) Derive the differential equation for the output voltage eo as a function of the input voltage
ei(t);
2) Derive the transfer function model relating to the output voltage Eo(s) as a function of the
input voltage Ei(s);
3) For a step input voltage ei(t) = A, t > 0, find the steady-state response without solving the
time response.

eA eO
+ R1 A R2 O
ei(t) C1 L C2
-

Fig. 2: a RLC circuit

Problem 3 [20 marks]

The DC motor converts Direct Current (DC) electrical energy into rotational mechanical energy. The
motor can be controlled by armature or field current. Correspondingly, the motor is called as
armature-controlled or field-controlled DC motor, respectively. The simplified diagram of a DC
motor is shown in Fig. 3. Assume that the rotor has moment of inertia J m and viscous friction
coefficient Bm. The torque developed by the motor is assumed to be related linearly to the field
current by Tm  K m i f , where the motor torque constant K m  K 1 K f I a when the armature current ia
is assumed constant (i.e., ia  I a ) . The toque due to load and disturbance is represented by T L and
TD  0 , respectively. Find:
1) A set of ordinary differential equations for the field-controlled DC motor;
2) Transfer function of the field-controlled DC motor, i.e., transfer function for e f (or E f (s ) )
d
as input and angular rate   m (or m ( s)  sm ( s) ) as output;
dt
3) State-variable equation in the matrix-vector format based on your solution of 1);
4) Draw the functional block diagram and block diagram of the field-controlled DC motor.

Fig. 3: Diagram of a DC motor

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MECH 370 – Modeling, Simulation and Control Systems, Final Examination, 09:00 – 12:00, April 15, 2010 - 3/4 -

Problem 4 [20 marks]

Assume that the transfer function of the above field-controlled DC motor is given by:
 (s) 0.5
G (s)  m  2
E f ( s) s  4s  4
1) Calculate and show an approximate sketch of the system response m (t) when the system is
subject to a step input ef(t) = 2 for t > 0. Identify the transient and steady-state terms of the
response. Write and mark the five performance specifications on the sketched step response;
If a unit step input is used as system input, what changes will have in the above step
response?
2) Determine system poles and zeros and sketch the pole-zero plot. Judge the stability of the
system and give an explanation of your answer;
3) If a negative feedback controller Gc(s) = Kp + Kd s needs be designed for controlling the DC
motor, please draw the block diagram of the closed-loop system and determine the transfer
function of the closed-loop system.
4) If the system’s stability property will be changed by adding the above controller? Explain
your answer.

Problem 5 [20 marks]

The nonlinear mechanical system shown in Fig. 4 has a nonlinear spring characteristic f K ( x )  x 3 ,
where x denotes the total length of the spring. The gravitational constant g = 9.8 m/s2.
1) Draw the free-body diagrams for the system and write the differential equation describing
the system in terms of the displacement x;
2) When M  1.5kg, B  2.0N  s/m and the applied force is f a (t )  2  3sin(2t ), determine the
input-output differential equation and the operating point x ;
3) Derive the linearized differential equation of the system around the operating point x
represented by the incremental variable x (or xˆ ) ;
4) Derive the transfer function of the linearized model and indicate whether the linear model is
stable or unstable.

Fig. 4: A mechanical system with nonlinear spring

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MECH 370 – Modeling, Simulation and Control Systems, Final Examination, 09:00 – 12:00, April 15, 2010 - 4/4 -

Important Laplace Transform Pairs

f (t ) F (s)
 (t ) 1
1(t ) or U (t ) 1
s
tn n!
s n 1
e  at 1
sa
te  at 1
(s  a) 2
1 2 at 1
t e
2! (s  a) 3
sin(t ) 
s 2
2

cos(t ) s
s 2
2

Important Laplace Transform Properties

Time functions Transformed functions

f (t ) F (s)
af (t )  bg (t ) aF (s)  bG(s)
e  at f (t ) F ( s  a)
 sF (s)  f (0)
f (t )
.. 
f (t ) s 2 F ( s)  sf (0)  f (0)
dn f s n F ( s)  s n 1 f (0)  ...  sf ( n2)
(0)  f ( n 1) (0)
, for n  1,2,3,...
dt n
t
 f ( )d 1
0
F ( s)
s
f (0  ) lim sF (s)
s 

f () lim sF (s)

s0

Unit step responses of 2nd-odrer systems with complex poles

 2
1 
-1  1  
2 
Y ( s)
 n
y (t )  1  e   n t
sin( 1   2
t  ), where   tan 
U ( s) s 2  2 n s  2n 1  2
n
  
 
Y ( s) 1 1 1   2   2 t  
 2  y (t )  1  e sin (t  ),   tan 1
U ( s ) s  as  b ( s    j)( s    j)   2
2
   
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