Fractional Horsepower Dynamometer - A General Purpose Hardware-In-The-Loop Real-Time Simulation Platform for Nonlinear Control Research and Education

A fractional horsepower dynamometer was developed as a general purpose hardware-in-the-loop real-time simulation platform to emulate mechanical nonlinearities such as frictions, state-dependent disturbances, etc. This lab system can be used as a research platform to test various nonlinear control schemes. This platform can also be used as a laboratory experiment for ECE5320 "Mechatronics" and ECE7330 "Nonlinear and Adaptive Control" courses at Utah State University. The novelty of this platform lies in its ability to generate an arbitrary external torque load disturbance, using a controllable hysteresis brake, to a DC motor plant. Therefore, many nonlinear systems and controls can be emulated physically. In this paper, we include some sample experimental results to show the versatility of the dynamometer in emulating nonlinearities and the effectiveness in real-time testing of advanced nonlinear control schemes