Real-time arduino based simulator enabled hardware-in-the-loop electric DC machine drive system

This paper presents Arduino microcontroller based real-time simulator enabled hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) electric DC machine drive setup for industrial and educational purposes. The electric drive systems used in many industrial applications require higher performance, reliability, variable speed due to make ease of controllability. The objective of this work is to create a platform for laboratory experiments to enhance drive control design and testing for educational and industrial purposes. In industry DC motor is widely used for speed control and load characteristics because of its easy controllability which provides efficient and precise output. The main purpose of a motor speed controller is to take a signal representing the required speed and to drive a motor at that speed. Microcontrollers can provide easy control of DC motor. Controlling the pulse width modulation (PWM) duty cycle is equivalent to controlling motor terminal voltage, which in turn adjusts directly the motor speed. In this paper, the hardware controlling process is done by MATLAB/Simulink environment which runs the hardware circuitry in real time interval. The Arduino microcontroller is programmed by MATLAB/Simulink and the motor controller is driven by Arduino. PWM signals are generated by Arduino and then fed to a power electronic board to drive a DC machine. All type of control signals and plots are observed on MATLAB/Simulink scope using real time HIL methodology.