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ME2142E Lab Report

Frequency Response
by

LIN SHAODUN A0066078X


Lab Group 6B
Date 1st Apr 2011
TABLE OF CONTENTS

O BJECTIVES 2

E XPERIMENT P ROCEDURE 2

T ABLE 1 3

N ICHOLS C HART 4

T ABLE 2 5

B ODE P LOT 6

S AMPLE C ALCULATION 8

D ISCUSSION 8

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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.
 Understand how to obtain open-loop gain and phase from Nichols Chart.
 Practice deriving transfer function from Bode plot.
 To verify that increasing the gain causes system instability.

EXPERIMENT PROCEDURE

1. Verify that the equipment is complete and familiarize the connections and the
layout.
2. Set the function generator output as follow:
 Sine wave frequency = 0.5 Hz,
 Amplitude of output = 5 VPP
Leave the amplitude setting unchanged throughout the experiment.
3. Open the hydraulic supply valve and note the supply pressure. The actuator
should now be moving in and out.
4. Measure the voltage output Vo and change in time time by oscilloscope. Derive
the gain and phase angle.
5. Repeat step 4 at increasing frequencies of 1Hz until reach 12Hz. Tabulate the
results in Table 1 and make a plot on the Nichols chart at each frequency.
6. Having completed the plot on the Nichols chart read off the gain and phase
margins.
7. Reset the function generator for 5V peak-to-peak square wave at about 0.5 Hz.
Gradually increase the loop gain by increasing the summing amplifier feedback
resistor. At each increase observe the system’s response to a step input.
8. Increase the gain K until the system has reached instability. Convert the gain K to
(dB) using Gain = 20 log10 K. Compare this value of gain margin with that
obtained from the Nichols chart.
9. From the Nichols chart, write down the values of the open loop transfer function
in Table 2.
10. Draw the Bode gain plot and Bode phase plot on the same graph. Estimate the
order of the system and its time constants.

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TABLE 1

 (Hz)  (rad/s) Vi (V) Vo (V) Gain (dB) time (s) Phase (deg)

=2f Vo =time x x360o


=20 log
Vi
0.5 3.142 5.0 4.641 -0.647 0.160 28.8

1. 6.283 5.0 4.20 -1.514 0.132 47.52

2. 12.566 5.0 3.081 -4.206 0.106 76.32

3. 18.850 5.0 2.241 -6.971 0.088 95.04

4. 25.133 5.0 1.701 -9.365 0.074 106.6

5. 31.416 5.0 1.321 -11.561 0.070 126.0

6. 37.699 5.0 1.121 -12.987 0.062 133.9

7. 43.982 5.0 0.904 -14.856 0.058 146.2

8. 50.265 5.0 0.792 -16.005 0.054 155.5

9. 56.549 5.0 0.720 -16.833 0.0472 152.9

10. 62.832 5.0 0.512 -19.794 0.0448 161.3

11. 69.115 5.0 0.448 -20.954 0.0432 171.1

12. 75.398 5.0 0.380 -22.384 0.0408 176.3

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NICHOLS CHART

Step 8:
System become unstable when K=28, Gain = 20log10K = 28.9.
From the Nichols Chart, the best fit line of Gain vs. Phase plot
meets 180° at Gain=25.0, the predicted result is close to the
actual K during experiment.

Phase margin

Gain margin

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TABLE 2

Take the readings of the Open Loop Gain and Open Loop Phase from the Nichols
Chart and then plot on the Bode plot. Bode Plot consists of 2 graphs; Gain against  and
Phase against .

 (rad/s) Open Loop Gain (dB) Open Loop Phase (Deg)

3.142 5.7 -95.0

6.283 1.0 -101.6

12.566 -4.4 -110.0

18.850 -7.7 -116.5

25.133 -10.2 -121.0

31.416 -12.7 -136.0

37.699 -14.0 -142.0

43.982 -15.8 -150.0

50.265 -16.4 -154.0

56.549 -17.2 -157.0

62.832 -19.5 -162.0

69.115 -21.0 -171.0

75.398 -23.1 -176.0

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BODE PLOT

20
Open Loop Gain vs. 
15

10
( )
5
Open Loop Gain (dB)

0
( )
-5

-10 ( )

-15

-20

-25
Frequency  ( Rad / s )
-30
1.0E+00 1.0E+01 1.0E+02

( )
( )

-80
Open Loop Phase vs. 
-90

-100

-110
Open Loop Phase (Deg)

-120

-130

-140

-150

-160

-170
Frequency  ( Rad / s )
-180
1.0E+00 1.0E+01 1.0E+02

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Matlab Bode Plot of Transfer Function

Bode Diagram
40

20

Magnitude (dB)
0

-20

-40

-60

-90
Phase (deg)

-135

-180
-1 0 1 2 3
10 10 10 10 10
Frequency (rad/sec)

Mathematica Bode Plot of Transfer Function

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SAMPLE CALCULATION

Note: The sample calculation is based on table 1, f=0.5Hz .

1. Frequency 

Rad/s

2. Gain ( )

3. Phase ( )

DISCUSSION

1. Discuss the results including the response obtained with the increased gain.
a) Result of Nichols chart show the gain margin of the system is about 25dB, which
is very close to experiment result (5VPP square wave @ 0.5Hz). When increase the
loop gain, the shape of output waveform become closer and closer to the input
square waveform, until the gain reach 28 system become oscillating which can be
observed from oscilloscope display.

b) The Bode plot using data obtained from Nichols chart shows this is a second order
system.
 The Gain plot consist two lines with -20dB/decade and -40dB/decade
slope.
 The intersection point of two lines is the time constant,
 The intersection point of first line and Y axis is the K value.
With this information, it’s easy to obtain the transfer function of this system.
Using Matlab to do the Bode plot of this transfer function, the shape fits with
experiment data, this shows the transfer function derived from the Bode plot is
correct.

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