Spring ‘11 Lab 8 - DC Motors Lab 8-1

Lab 8 – DC Motors
Format
This lab will be conducted during your regularly scheduled lab time in a group format.

Report
A short, informal report is due from each lab group at 8:00 AM on the Friday of the week after
you complete this lab. This short report does NOT need to follow the formal report format
described in the ME 360 course manual. Provide all necessary sample calculations and answer
all questions asked in this lab handout.

Procedures
8.1 Brush-type DC Motor – Torque/Speed Curves
The first experiment (shown in Figure 1) involves the determination of the torque-speed curves
for a Groschopp 24VDC permanent magnet motor. A 24 VDC generator (actually just another
Groschopp DC motor) is used as the mechanical “load.” A large series resistance on the
generator will create a relatively small load on the motor, and vice-versa. The motor’s speed can
be adjusted over a wide range by the DC power supply.

24 VDC Test Motor

DC Power
Generator Supply

Load cell
amplification
and “zero”
adjustment Load Cell

Series resistances

Figure 1. Brush-type DC motor experimental setup (new setup looks different)

The motor/generator is “cradled” in bearings and is free to rotate. A lever arm presses against a
load cell, as shown in Figure 2.
Spring ‘11 Lab 8 - DC Motors Lab 8-2

Moment
Arm

Figure 2. Moment arm and load cell

The moment arm is measured from the centerline of the motor shaft to the center of the bolt on
the load cell that contacts the moment arm. The product of the lever arm length (measure this
length for your setup) and the force exerted on the load cell is the torque produced by the motor.
Read the load cell output with the data acquisition system. Calibrate the load cell to find its
sensitivity in units of lb/volt (sensitivity = slope of calibration curve). Make sure that you apply
the calibration loads in the same direction that the motor load will be applied.
The first lab group to use the dynamometer should calibrate their load cell after testing the
motor. The second lab group to use the dynamometer should calibrate their load cell before
testing the motor.
Record the make and model of the DC motor that you test. There are three different types/sizes
of motor, so it is important for your group to compare test data to the correct manufacturer’s
data.
Each dynamometer is equipped with a resistive load bank consisting of five nominally 4 power
resistors. These power resistors can be combined in series and/or parallel to create load
resistances of 20, 16, 12, 8, 4, 2, and 1
The basic process for testing the motor is as follows:
1. Turn off the DC power supply and remove any series resistance from the load generator.
2. “Null” or “zero” the voltage output from the load cell. Be sure to move the lever arm
away from the load cell before making this measurement. With no output from the load
cell with no input load, you can determine the force on the load cell by multiplying the
voltage output by the calibrated sensitivity.
3. Turn the DC power supply back on and slowly turn the voltage adjustment knob until the
motor armature voltage, Va, is approximately 6.0 volts. Measure and record this motor
armature voltage with your DMM. The motor armature voltage setting will remain
constant for steps #4 through #7.
DO NOT record the current or voltage displayed on the DC power supply.
4. Connect the 20 load resistance to the generator leads.
Spring ‘11 Lab 8 - DC Motors Lab 8-3

5. Record the motor speed from the handheld photo tachometer, including any fluctuations
(min / max) in the speed.
6. Read the load cell output with the data acquisition system. Select a sampling rate that
ensures that you do not have aliasing. Collect enough data points at each setting to get a
reasonable average for the load cell output voltage. Save and label the data for out-of-
class averaging and plotting.
7. Move the generator leads to the next smaller resistance (16, 12, 8, 4, 2, 1
Record the load cell voltage (with the data acquisition system) and motor speed (with the
handheld tachometer) at each load.
8. Repeat steps #1 through #7 for DC motor armature voltages of 12 and 18 volts DC.
Each lab group will test 3 different armature voltage settings (approximately 5, 12, and 18 VDC)
at 7 different load conditions for a total of 21 data points.
Out of Class:
9. Provide representative load cell output plots from the data collected with Signal Express
in your formal report, but do not give all 21 sets of data. Three plots with “low,”
“medium,” and “high” average torques will be sufficient. The precision uncertainty in the
load cell voltage can also be determined from the data collected with Signal Express.
10. Use the average load cell voltage, the load cell calibration sensitivity, and the moment
arm length to determine the motor torque for each motor voltage / load combination
(should be 21 total).
11. Plot the measured motor torque (vertical axis) vs. measured motor speed (horizontal axis)
data points. Note that there are 3 sets of data – one each at nominally 6VDC, 12VDC,
and 18VDC.
12. Use as many data points as possible from the plot in #10 to make the best possible
estimate of the armature resistance, torque constant, and back EMF constant for the
motor. Describe how you made this estimate in your report.
Note that there is only one ka, one kb, and one Ra for the motor – not one for each test!
13. Plot theoretical torque-speed lines for each of the 3 armature voltages based on your best
estimates of the armature resistance, torque constant, and back EMF constant. Plot your
experimental data points on this same plot. Provide error bars (based on uncertainty
calculations) for each of your experimental data points.
14. Plot theoretical torque-speed curves for each of the 3 armature voltages based on the
manufacturer’s data (see the ME 360 website) for the armature resistance, torque
constant, and back EMF constant. Plot your experimental data points on this same plot.
Provide error bars (based on uncertainty calculations) for each of your experimental data
points.
15. How close (expressed in percentages) are your best estimates and the manufacturer’s data
for armature resistance, torque constant, and back EMF constant? Which do you have
more confidence in and why?
Spring ‘11 Lab 8 - DC Motors Lab 8-4

8.2 DC Motor Speed vs Voltage

Each group will be provided with either two or three small DC motors. Some of the DC motors
have integral gearboxes (gearmotors) and some are attached to a variety of gears, belts, pulleys,
etc. Each lab station is also equipped with an Agilent E3630A triple output, variable DC power
supply. Connections to the Agilent E3630A power supply are shown in Figure 3.
The basic process for testing the motor is as follows:
1. Disconnect all leads, then turn the DC power supply on and adjust the voltage to
approximately 6.0V.
2. Turn off the DC power supply, then connect the red & black mini-grabbers to the motor
leads.
3. Turn the DC power supply on and adjust the voltage to approximately 6.0V.
4. Measure and record the motor / gearmotor output shaft speed. You may be able to
measure output speed directly with the phototach / reflective tape. Alternatively, you may
need to measure another gear with a stopwatch / timer and multiply gear ratios to get the
motor speed. Another possibility may be to use Signal Express with one of the
photoelectric proximity sensors (see lab instructors).
5. Increase the DC power supply to 9V, 12V, 15V, and 18V in turn while repeating #4.
6. Repeat the entire process for the other one or two motors.

Adjust VDC
here

Red “banana” plug

to mini-grabber in
Push In for +20V
0 to +20V

Black “banana” plug

to mini-grabber in Com
Figure 3. Agilent E3630A Power Supply and Connections
Out of Class:
7. Make a single plot of the motor speed (output) vs. motor voltage for all of your motors.
Connect the data points with straight lines for clarity. Clearly identify each set of data by the
motor manufacturer and model.
8. Is there a linear relationship between motor speed and voltage? Do you expect there to be
a linear relationship?