ME2142 1 Frequency Response

Formal Lab Report

OngZhejun A0086083B 3B1

OBJECTIVES To perform a frequency response test on an aircraft electro-hydraulic servo-actuator and to determine the phase and gain margins of the servo To verify that increasing the gain causes instability

SAMPLE CALCULATIONS (Graphs and tables are attached behind) For f = 0.5 Hz, = 2 x 0.5 = 3.142 rad/s

For Vi = 4.96V and Vo = 4.72 V, Gain = 20 log = 20 log ( = -0.4308 )

For time = -0.144s and f = 0.5Hz, Phase angle = time x f x 360o = -0.144 x 0.5 x 360 = -25.92o

From Nichols Chart, Theoretical Gain Margin = |0 (-25)| = 25 dB Theoretical Phase Margin = |-180 (-106)| = 74.0

Value of gain K for system to reach instability = 56 Experimental Gain Margin = 20 log K = 20 log 56 = 34.96 dB

DISCUSSION Increase the gain K until the system has reached instability. Compare this value of gain margin with that obtained from the Nichols chart.
The gain value obtained experimentally is 34.96dB, while the one obtained from the Nichols chart is 25 dB. Theoretically, similar results from both methods should be obtained. However, there is a high percentage error of around 40%. This deviation may be due to the following reasons: Estimations of values when reading off the knob could lead to huge inaccuracies. Values on the Nichols chart are difficult to be determined accurately due to its curved nature. The point of instability of the system is not clearly defined and is reliant on mostly one's own judgment.

Estimate the order of the system and its time constants.

From the bode gain plot, the graph is found to lie on shifted lines with gradients -20 dB/decade and -40 dB/decade. Therefore, it can be concluded that the transfer function is the superposition of and . Thus the transfer function is given by , which is a second order system.

y-intercept of the graph is 18.5 dB. Hence, the corresponding value of K (gain) =

For the corner frequency, log = 0.66 => = 4.571 To calculate time constant, , we use

Therefore, the transfer function in second order would be

Discuss your results including the response obtained with the increased gain. Frequency response of the system as input frequency is increased. From Table 1, it is observed that as the input frequency of the system increases, the gain decreases while the phase angle increases. This is an expected result since it is known that for a sinusoidal input, the steady state response of a system would give a sinusoidal output of the same frequency. The only difference between the input and output should be in amplitude and phase, which was observed in the experiment. System response as gain is increased A square wave input is used in this experiment as illustrated in figure 1 below.
Vi/V

t/s

Figure 1 At low gain, the output curves to a steady state value as shown below in figure 2. However, unlike in theory, the output does not give clean, straight lines like the input. There are some differences in shape between the input and output. This could be due to time delay as well as friction present in the moving parts of the electro hydraulic servo actuator.

Vo/V

t/s

Figure 2 When the gain is increased, the time needed for the output to reach steady state decreases. However, at a certain gain, overshoot is observed and the output will oscillate before it reaches

steady state. As the gain is increased further, the oscillations increase until a point where a steady state cannot be reached and the system will then be unstable as shown in Figure 3 below.
Vo/V

t/s

Figure 3

Conclusions
A frequency test has been performed using an electro-hydraulic servo-actuator. A Bode plot has been made using open-loop gain and phase values obtained using the Nichols chart. The system stability has also been noted to be decreasing as the gain is increased via the gain amplifier.