Real time PID controlled speed regulation of a dc motorusing LabVIEW environment

In this study, a robust real-time PID controlled mechanism was developed to regulate the speed of a DC motor in real-time using a simple setup. A discrete PID control scheme that operates the system in real-time was created using LabVIEW software. A data acquisition (DAQ) card and a driver unit along with a DC motor that has an encoder was used to form the hardware of the system. PID parameters were initially obtained using LabVIEW PID Autotuning VI, which is based on Ziegler-Nichols method. A manual approach was implemented to obtain better gain parameters in order to form a stable real-time operated system. Previous studies indicate that real time control is done by using more complicated setups which include components that make the system complex. To overcome the complexity issue, LabVIEW software was used to eliminate most of the required components and create all necessary functions. The created algorithm was synchronized to communicate a National Instruments’ DAQ card and this device was both used to obtain the actual speed in real-time from an attached encoder and to send control signals to the driver unit. A real-time controlled system presenting good response to dynamic inputs was achieved through this approach. The results showed a very good step response, almost no overshoot (0.34 %), very decent rise time (3.5 s) and settling time (6.1 s) along with good transition behavior from one set point to another in real-time.