blockdiagramrepresentationisshowninFig.2.

FeedforwardControl
Whenthedisturbanceismeasurable,feedforward
controlisaneffectivemeansforcancellingthe
effectsofdisturbanceonthesystemoutput.Thisis
advantageous,sinceinasimplefeedbacksystem,
thecorrectiveactionstartsaftertheeffectof
disturbanceisreflectedattheoutput.Ontheother
hand,infeedforwardcontrolthechangein
disturbancesignalismeasuredandthecorrective
actiontakesplaceimmediately.Asaresult,the
speedandperformanceoftheoverallsystem
improves,iffeedforwardcontrol,togetherwith
feedbackactionisemployed.

Ingeneral,thestructureofthefeedforward
feedbackactionintermsoftheblockdiagramof
transferfunctionscanberepresentedasshownin
Fig.3.Where,

Inordertoillustratetheeffectoffeedforward
control,letusconsidertheheatexchange
processshowninFig.1.Thecoldwatercomes
fromatankandflowstotheheatexchanger.The
flowrateofcoldwatercanbeconsideredasa
disturbance.Thechangeininputflowlinemay
occurduetothechangeinwaterlevelinthe
tank.Thusfeedforwardaction,inadditiontothe
feedbackcontrolimprovestheperformanceofthe
system,butprovided,thedisturbanceis
measurable.

Sotherearetwocontrollers,oneisthe
conventionalfeedbackcontroller,whiletheother
isthefeedforwardcontrollerthatisintendedto
nullifytheeffectofdisturbanceattheoutput.From
Fig.3,theoveralloutputis:

Letusnowdrawtheblockdiagramoftheoverall
controloperationofthesystemshowninFig.1.The

Ifwewanttoselectthefeedforardtransfer
function,suchthat,theeffectofdisturbanceatthe
outputiszero,thenwerequirethecoefficientof
N(s)inaboveequationtobesettozero.Thus,

RatioControl
Ratio control is a special type of feedforward control
where the disturbance is measured and the ratio of the
process output and the disturbance is held constant. It
is mostly used to control the ratio of flow rates of two
streams. Flow rates of both the stream are measured,
but only one of them is controlled. There can be many
examples of application of ratio control. Few
examples are:
1. fuel-air ratio control in burners,
2. control of ratio of two reactants entering a
reactor at a desired ratio,
3. maintaining the ratio of two blended streams
constant in order to maintain the composition
of the blend at the desired value.
Therecanbetwoschemesforachievingratio
control.ThefirstschemeisshowninFig.5.Inthis
configurationtheratioofflowratesoftwostreams
ismeasuredandcomparedwiththedesiredratio.
Theerrorisfedtothecontrollerandthecontroller
outputisusedtocontroltheflowrateofstreamB.

Supposethattheabovescheme(Fig.6)isusedfor
controllingthefuelairratioinaburnerwhere
airflowrate(fluidB)iscontrolled.Butthedesired
ratioisalsodependentonthetemperatureofthe
air.Soanauxiliarymeasurementisneededto
measurethetemperatureofairandsetthedesired
ratio.

Thesecondpossibleschemeforratiocontrolis
showninFig.6.SupposetheflowrateoffluidBhas
tobemaintainedataconstantfractionofflowrate
offluidA,irrespectiveofvariationofflowrateofA
(q ).InthisschemetheflowrateoffluidAis
A

multipliedwiththedesiredratio(setexternally)
thatgivesthedesiredflowrateoffluidB.Thisis
comparedwiththeactualflowrateoffluidBand
fedtothecontrollerthatoperatesthecontrol
valve.

CascadeControl
ConsidertheheatexchangeprocessshowninFig.
1.Steamisusedtoheatthewaterintheheat
exchanger.Feedbacktemperaturecontrollerisused
tocomparethewateroutlettemperaturewiththe
setpointandcontrolthesteamflowrateby
openingorclosingthecontrolvalve.Howeverdue
tothechangeinupstreamsteampressure(P ),the
i

steamflowratemaychange,thoughthecontrol
valveisatthesameposition.Thiswillaffectthe
amountofheatexchangedandthetemperatureat
thewateroutlet.
There is an additional controller (flow controller)
whose set point is decided by the temperature
controller. The schematic arrangement of cascade
control is shown in Fig.2. its block diagram is shown
in Fig.3. Clearly, there are two control loops outer
and inner, and two controllers. The set point of the
inner loop controller is decided by the outer loop
primary controller.
Version

Broadlyspeaking,therearetwomajorfunctionsof
cascadecontrol:(1)toeliminatetheeffectofsome
disturbances,and(2)toimprovethedynamic
performanceofthecontrolloop.Itisevidentfrom
Fig.3,thattheeffectofdisturbancesarisingwithin
theinnerloop(orsecondaryloop,asitiscalled
sometimes)iscorrectedbythesecondary
controller,beforeitcaninfluencetheoutput,and
theprimarycontrollertakescareoftheother
disturbancesintheouterloop.
advantages of cascade control
1. A strong (high gain) inner loop reduces the
sensitivity and nonlinearity of the plant in the
closed loop. The outer loop therefore
experiences less parameter perturbations.
2. Cascade control often makes it possible to use
simpler control action than what could be
needed for a single controller. Though the
number of tunable parameters is more in
cascade control, a systematic tuning
procedure (inner to outer) is available.
disadvantagesofcascadecontrolare(i)more
sensorsandtransmittersand(ii)morenumberof
controllers.

PIDControl(concept)

IntegralControl

Thecontrollermayhavedifferentstructures.
Differentdesignmethodologiesaretherefor
designingthecontrollerinordertoachievedesired
performancelevel.Butthemostpopularamong
themisProportionalIntegralderivative(PID)type
controller.Infactmorethan95%oftheindustrial
controllersareofPIDtype.Asisevidentfromits
name,theoutputofthePIDcontrolleru(t)canbe
expressedintermsoftheinpute(t),as:

Ifweconsidertheintegralactionofthecontroller
only,theclosedloopsystemforthesameprocessis
representedbytheblockdiagramasshowninFig.
3.

Proceedinginthesamewayasineqn.(4),inthis
case,weobtain,

Fromthefirstobservation,itcanbeseenthatwith
integralcontroller,theorderoftheclosedloop
systemincreasesbyone.Thisincreaseinordermay
causeinstabilityoftheclosedloopsystem,ifthe
processisofhigherorderdynamics.

Proportionalcontrol
Withtheproportionalcontrolactiononly,the
closedloopsystemlookslike

Theoffset,oftentermedassteadystateerrorcan
alsobeobtainedfromtheerrortransferfunction
andtheerrorfunctione(t)canbeexpressedin
termsoftheLaplacetransformationform:

Sothemajoradvantageofthisintegralcontrol
actionisthatthesteadystateerrorduetostep
inputreducestozero.Butsimultaneously,the
systemresponseisgenerallyslow,oscillatoryand
unlessproperlydesigned,sometimeseven
unstable.

ProportionalPlusIntegral(PI)Control

ProportionalPlusDerivative(PD)Control

WithPIcontrollertheblockdiagramoftheclosed
loopsystemwiththesameprocessisgiveninFig.5.

ThetransferfunctionofaPDcontrollerisgivenby:

PDcontrolfortheprocesstransferfunction
apparentlyisnotveryuseful,sinceit
cannotreducethesteadystateerrortozero.But
forhigherorderprocesses,itcanbeshownthatthe
stabilityoftheclosedloopsystemcanbeimproved
usingPDcontroller.Forthis,letustakeupthe

ItisevidentfromtheabovediscussionsthatthePI
actionprovidesthedualadvantagesoffast
responseduetoPactionandthezerosteadystate
errorduetoIaction.Theerrortransferfunctionof
theabovesystemcanbeexpressedas

processtransferfunctionas
.Lookingat
Fig.7,wecaneasilyconcludethatwithproportional
control,theclosedlooptransferfunctionis

Inthesamewayasinintegralcontrol,wecan
concludethatthesteadystateerrorwouldbezero
forPIaction.Besides,theclosedloop
characteristicsequationforPIactionis:

andthecharacteristicsequationis20pJsK+=;giving
oscillatoryresponse.ButwithPDcontroller,the
closedlooptransferfunctionis:

whose
Comparingthesetwo,onecaneasilyobservethat,
byvaryingthetermK ,thedampingconstantcan
p

equation

is

that will give a stable closed

loop response.

beincreased.SowecanconcludethatbyusingPI
control,thesteadystateerrorcanbebroughtdown
tozero,andsimultaneously,thetransientresponse
canbeimproved.

characteristics

ProportionalIntegralDerivative(PID)
control
Itisclearfromabovediscussionsthatasuitable
combinationofproportional,integralandderivative
actionscanprovideallthedesiredperformancesof
aclosedloopsystem.ThetransferfunctionofaPI
Dcontrollerisgivenby:

The order of the controller is low, but this controller

has universal applicability; it can be used in any type
of SISO system, e.g. linear, nonlinear, time delay etc.
Many of the MIMO systems are first decoupled into
several SISO loops and PID controllers are designed
for each loop. PID controllers have also been found
to be robust, and that is the reason, it finds wide
acceptability for industrial processes. However, for
proper use, a controller has to be tuned for a particular
process; i.e. selection of P,I,D parameters are very
important and process dependent. Unless the
parameters are properly chosen, a controller may
cause instability to the closed loop system. The
method of tuning of P,I,D parameters would be taken
up in the next lesson.
Itisnotalwaysnecessarythatallthefeaturesof
proportional,derivativeandintegralactionsshould
beincorporatedinthecontroller.Infact,inmostof
thecases,asimplePIstructurewillsuffice.A
generalguidelineforselectionofControllermode,
assuggestedbyLiptak[1],isgivenbelow.

3. Proportional plus Integral (P-I) Control: It does

not cause offset associated with proportional control.
It also yields much faster response than integral
action alone. It is widely used for process industries
for controlling variables like level, flow, pressure,
etc., those do not have large time constants.
4. Proportional plus Derivative (P-D) Control: It is
effective for systems having large number of time
constants. It results in a more rapid response and less
offset than is possible by pure proportional control.
But one must be careful while using derivative action
in control of very fast processes, or if the
measurement is noisy (e.g. flow measurement).
5.ProportionalplusIntegralplusDerivative(PID)
Control:Itfindsuniversalapplication.Butproper
tuningofthecontrollerisdifficult.Itisparticularly
usefulforcontrollingslowvariables,likepH,
temperature,etc.inprocessindustries.
MostoftheindustrialcontrollersarePIDin
nature.Themajorreasonsbehindthepopularityof
PIDcontrollerareitssimplicityinstructureand
theappilicabilitytovarietyofprocesses.Moreover
thecontrollercanbetunedforaprocess,even
withoutdetailedmathematicalmodelofthe
process.However,propertuningofthecontroller
parametersrequiresextensiveexperimentation.

Guidelineforselectionofcontrollermode
1.ProportionalController:Itissimpleregulating
type;tuningiseasy.Butitnormallyintroduces
steadystateerror.Itisrecommendedforprocess
transferfunctionshavingapoleatorigin,orfor
transferfunctionshavingasingledominatingpole;
forexamplewith

2. Integral Control: It does not exhibit steady state

error, but is relatively slow responding. It is
particularly effective for:
(i) very fast process, with high noise level
(ii) process dominated by dead time
(iii) high order system with all time constants
of the same magnitude

ControlValves

HydraulicActuation

The control action in any control loop system, is

executed by the final control element. The most
common type of final control element used in
chemical and other process control is the control
valve. A control valve is normally driven by a
diaphragm type pneumatic actuator that throttles the
flow of the manipulating variable for obtaining the
desired control action. A control valve essentially
consists of a plug and a stem. The stem can be raised
or lowered by air pressure and the plug changes the
effective area of an orifice in the flow path.
Classifications
Control valves are available in different types and
shapes. They can be classified in different ways;
based on: (a) action, (b) number of plugs, and (c)
flow characteristics.

HydraulicActuators,asusedinindustrialprocess
control,employhydraulicpressuretodrivean
outputmember.Theseareusedwherehighspeed
andlargeforcesarerequired.

(a)Action:Controlvalvesoperatedthrough
pneumaticactuatorscanbeeither(i)airtoopen,or
(ii)airtoclose.Theyaredesignedsuchthatifthe
airsupplyfails,thecontrolvalvewillbeeitherfully
open,orfullyclosed
(b) Number of plugs: Control valves can also be
characterized in terms of the number of plugs present,
as single-seated valve and double-seated valve.
(c) Flow Characteristics: It describes how the flow
rate changes with the movement or lift of the stem.
The shape of the plug primarily decides the flow
characteristics.
Ideal Characteristics
The flow rate through an orifice can be expressed in
terms of the upstream and downstream static
pressure heads as

Principle Used in Hydraulic Actuator System

Pascals Law
Pressure applied to a confined fluid at any point is
transmitted undiminished and equally throughout the
fluid in all directions.
Amplification of Force
Since pressure P applied on an area A gives rise to a
force F, given as,
F = PA
Advantages
Variable Speed and Direction
Power-to-weight ratio
Stall Condition and Overload Protection
Components of Hydraulic Actuation Systems
- Hydraulic Fluid
Hydraulic fluid must be essentially noncompressible to be able to transmit power
instantaneously from one part of the system to
another
- The Fluid Delivery Subsystem
It consists of the components that hold and carry the
fluid from the pump to the actuator. It is made up of
the following components.
Reservoir
It holds the hydraulic fluid to be circulated and
allows air entrapped in the fluid to escape.
Filter
It removes minute particles from the fluid
Hydraulic Pumps
The pump converts the mechanical energy of its
prime-mover to hydraulic energy
Motors
In motors fluid is forced into the motor from pump
outlets at high pressure.
Accumulators
An accumulator in a hydraulic system provides a
means of storing these incompressible fluids under
pressure created either by a spring, compressed a gas.
Cylinders
Cylinders are linear actuators, that is, they produce
straight-line motion and/or force.

RealTimeOperatingSystems

Multitasking

- A Real-Time OS (RTOS) is an OS with special

features that make it suitable for building real-time
computing applications also referred to as Real-Time
Systems (RTS).
- An RTS is a (computing) system where correctness
of computing depends not only on the correctness of
the logical result of the computation, but also on the
result delivery time.
- An RTS is expected to respond in a timely,
predictable way to unpredictable external stimuli.

- A multitasking environment allows applications

to be constructed as a set of independent tasks, each
with a separate thread of execution and its own set
of system resources.
- The inter-task communication facilities allow
these tasks to synchronize and coordinate their
activity. - Multitasking provides the fundamental
mechanism for an application to control and react to
multiple, discrete real-world events and is therefore
essential for many real-time applications.
- Multitasking creates the appearance of many
threads of execution running concurrently when, in
fact, the kernel interleaves their execution on the
basis of a scheduling algorithm. This also leads to
efficient utilisation of the CPU time.- To realise
such a system, the following major functions are
to be carried out.
Process Management
Interprocess
Communication
and
Synchronization
Memory Management
Input/Output Management

The major features that distinguish it from the other

ones are:
1. The explicit implementation of a scheduling policy
in the form of a scheduler module. The scheduler is
itself a task which executes every time an internal or
external interrupt occurs and computes the decision
on making state transitions for every application task
2. Based on the decisions of the scheduler, the
dispatcher actually effects the state transition of the
tasks by
a. saving the computational state or context of
the currently executing task from the
hardware environment.
b. enabling the next task to run by loading the
process context into the hardware
environment.
3.The dispatcher/scheduler has two entry conditions:
1. The real-time clock interrupt and any interrupt
which signals the completion of an
input/output request
2. A task suspension due to a task delaying,
completing or requesting an input/output
transfer.
- In response to the first condition the scheduler
searches for work starting with the highest priority
task and checking each task in priority order.
- In response to the second condition a search for
work is started at the task with the next lowest
priority to the task which has just been running.

Handles request and release functions and read, write

functions for a variety of peripherals

TaskStates
Running: This is the task which has control of
the CPU. It will normally be the task which
has the highest current priority of the tasks
which are ready to run.
Ready: There may be several tasks in this state.
The attributes of the task and the resources
required to run it must be available for it to
be placed in the 'ready' state.
Waiting: The execution of tasks placed in this
state has been suspended because the task
requires some resources which is not
available or because the task is waiting for
some signal from the plant,
New: The operating system is aware of the
existence of this task, but the task has not
been allocated a priority
Terminated: The operating system has not as
yet been made aware of the existence of this
task