Servo Motor Testing, Hands on Application with Portland State University

2020 PSU Senior Capstone Team. Pictured from left to right; Kristy Getts, Miroslav Osipovich, Hung Nguyen, and Qassim Alhay,

Working with the Servo Motor Test Bed

For the past 4 years, Continuous Solutions has partnered with Portland State University’s Electrical Engineering Department, to offer senior capstone projects that involve hands-on, real world experience working for a start-up in their Power and Energy lab. 

This year the team made necessary system and design upgrades, for the purpose of servo motor testing; including winding resistance phase balance, voltage constant, feedback and alignment testing, including a computer-based software wired to the DAQ’s printed circuit board that allowed for machine characteristic analysis.

Continuous Solutions is one of a very few select labs on the west coast that has capabilities to test industrial servo motors, and was able to offer this working lab environment to bridge academia with commercial sectors.  

The team was motivated to work with CS and use the lab’s resources and power equipment. Several of the students had been involved in strictly research based projects, and sought the Servo Motor Project with Continuous Solutions Lab to get real world experience. 

The students noted that theoretically solving problems and doing simulations is a valuable skill, but working in the physical world, with military grade power equipment allowed them to apply the knowledge they’d gained through their years in the Electrical Engineering program at PSU. 

“I thought it was pretty cool that Continuous Solutions trusted us with the 132 Kw VFD for this project. I mean, thats a lot of power.” Says Miroslav Osipovich

Of course, everything changed during the Co-Vid19 quarantine. It meant the team had to reimagine their project. Focusing their efforts on providing rationales to their ideas, and coming up with possible ways to test their ideas without the lab. They worked on several theoretical designs including the lab indication system and ways in which the HMI would connect with the rest of the test bed system. 

The indication system on the PLC used by CS is similar to what is used across the industry in power and energy in order to gather and analyze data. The students noted they saw value in the practical application of this project.

Applying innovation; Going into the world

Now that the team are graduating, they’re each pursuing a different line of work.

Hung is pursuing a career in power systems protections. He’s interested in the power grid and circuit breaker design. 

Miroslav is interested in automation. He is intrigued by the communication systems between the PLC and VFD, and is motivated by building and programming systems. 

Kristty is heading into the power engineering graduate program at PSU and is personally interested in power grids and transition lines.

Qassim is headed home to Saudi Arabia, and plans to pursue a career as an electrical engineer at an oil company.