Comparison of PSO and SA Optimization Algorithms on the Tuning of a PI Speed Regulator for Electric Drives

This paper presents the use of the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Simulated Annealing (SA) algorithms on the tuning of a simple PI speed regulator for a separately excited DC motor drive. The motor driver uses two control loops, the inner one for the armature current and the outer one for the speed. The proportional and integral gains of the speed controller are limited so, the rated armature voltage and current won't be exceeded then, the system remain linear. The PSO and SA algorithms are used to tune the speed controller and some basic parameters of each one is changed to investigate how fast and accurate they can be when compared to each other. The two algorithms run within MATLAB and the speed-controlled DC motor drive is developed within the SIMULINK environment. Simulation results are presented showing how accurate and fast each algorithm can be to find the optimal tunning for the PI speed regulator.