4/10/2019 Fundamentals of cascade control - Control Engineering

Fundamentals of cascade control

Sometimes two controllers can do a better job of keeping one process variable where
you want it.
BY VANCE VANDOREN, PHD, PE AUGUST 17, 2014

When multiple sensors are available for measuring conditions in a controlled process, a cascade control
system can often perform better than a traditional single-measurement controller. Consider, for example, the
steam-fed water heater shown in the sidebar Heating Water with Cascade Control. In Figure A, a traditional
controller is shown measuring the temperature inside the tank and manipulating the steam valve opening to
add more or less heat as in owing water disturbs the tank temperature. This arrangement works well
enough if the steam supply and the steam valve are su ciently consistent to produce another X% change in
tank temperature every time the controller calls for another Y% change in the valve opening.

However, several factors could alter the ratio of X to Y or the time required for the tank temperature to
change after a control effort. The pressure in the steam supply line could drop while other tanks are drawing
down the steam supply they share, in which case the controller would have to open the valve more than Y%
in order to achieve the same X% change in tank temperature.

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Or, the steam valve could start

sticking as friction takes its
mechanical toll over time. That
would lengthen the time
required for the valve to open to
the extent called for by the
controller and slow the rate at
which the tank temperature
changes in response to a given
control effort.

A better way

A cascade control system could

solve both of these problems as
shown in Figure B where a
second controller has taken
over responsibility for
manipulating the valve opening
based on measurements from
a second sensor monitoring the
steam ow rate. Instead of
dictating how widely the valve
should be opened, the rst
controller now tells the second
controller how much heat it
wants in terms of a desired
steam ow rate.

The second controller then

manipulates the valve opening
until the steam is owing at the
requested rate. If that rate turns
out to be insu cient to produce
the desired tank temperature,
the rst controller can call for a
higher ow rate, thereby inducing the second controller to provide more steam and more heat (or vice versa).

That may sound like a convoluted way to achieve the same result as the rst controller could achieve on its
own, but a cascade control system should be able to provide much faster compensation when the steam
ow is disturbed. In the original single-controller arrangement, a drop in the steam supply pressure would
rst have to lower the tank temperature before the temperature sensor could even notice the disturbance.
With the second controller and second sensor on the job, the steam ow rate can be measured and
maintained much more quickly and precisely, allowing the rst controller to work with the belief that
whatever steam ow rate it wants it will in fact get, no matter what happens to the steam pressure.

The second controller can also shield the rst controller from deteriorating valve performance. The valve
might still slow down as it wears out or gums up, and the second controller might have to work harder as a
result, but the rst controller would be unaffected as long as the second controller is able to maintain the
steam ow rate at the required level.

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Without the acceleration afforded by the second controller, the rst controller would see the process
becoming slower and slower. It might still be able to achieve the desired tank temperature on its own, but
unless a perceptive operator notices the effect and re-tunes it to be more aggressive about responding to
disturbances in the tank temperature, it too would become slower and slower.

Similarly, the second controller can smooth out any quirks or nonlinearities in the valve’s performance, such
as an ori ce that is harder to close than to open. The second controller might have to struggle a bit to
achieve the desired steam ow rate, but if it can do so quickly enough, the rst controller will never see the
effects of the valve’s quirky behavior.

Elements of cascade control

The Cascade Control Block Diagram shows a generic cascade control system with two controllers, two
sensors, and one actuator acting on two processes in series. A primary or master controller generates a
control effort that serves as the setpoint for a secondary or slave controller. That controller in turn uses the
actuator to apply its control effort directly to the secondary process. The secondary process then generates
a secondary process variable that serves as the control effort for the primary process.

The geometry of this block diagram de nes an inner loop involving the secondary controller and an outer
loop involving the primary controller. The inner loop functions like a traditional feedback control system with
a setpoint, a process variable, and a controller acting on a process by means of an actuator. The outer loop
does the same except that it uses the entire inner loop as its actuator.

In the water heater example, the tank temperature controller would be primary since it de nes the setpoint
that the steam ow controller is required to achieve. The water in the tank, the tank temperature, the steam,
and the steam ow rate would be the primary process, the primary process variable, the secondary process,
and the secondary process variable, respectively (refer to the Cascade Control Block Diagram). The valve
that the steam ow controller uses to maintain the steam ow rate serves as the actuator which acts directly
on the secondary process and indirectly on the primary process.

Requirements

Naturally, a cascade control system can’t solve every feedback control problem, but it can prove
advantageous if under the right circumstances:

The inner loop has in uence over the outer loop. The actions of the secondary controller must affect
the primary process variable in a predictable and repeatable way or else the primary controller will
have no mechanism for in uencing its own process.
The inner loop is faster than the outer loop. The secondary process must react to the secondary
controller’s efforts at least three or four times faster than the primary process reacts to the primary
controller. This allows the secondary controller enough time to compensate for inner loop
disturbances before they can affect the primary process.
The inner loop disturbances are less severe than the outer loop disturbances. Otherwise, the
secondary controller will be constantly correcting for disturbances to the secondary process and
unable to apply consistent corrective efforts to the primary process.

Steam-fed water heaters as in the example are particularly amenable to cascade control because raising or
lowering the steam ow rate raises or lowers the tank temperature without any additional actuators, a valve
can manipulate a steam ow rate almost instantaneously in comparison to the slow pace at which steam
can heat the water in a large tank, and disturbances to the steam supply pressure are relatively infrequent
and easily compensated by the steam ow controller.

Cascade control
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A cascade control system reacts to physical phenomena shown in blue and process data shown in green.

In the water heater example:

Setpoint – temperature desired for the water in the tank

Primary controller (master) – measures water temperature in the tank and asks the secondary
controller for more or less heat
Secondary controller (slave) – measures and maintains steam ow rate directly
Actuator – steam ow valve
Secondary process – steam in the supply line
Inner loop disturbances – uctuations in steam supply pressure
Primary process – water in the tank
Outer loop disturbances – uctuations in the tank temperature due to uncontrolled ambient conditions,
especially uctuations in the in ow temperature
Secondary process variable – steam ow rate
Primary process variable – tank water temperature

Challenges

Cascade control can also have its drawbacks. Most notably, the extra sensor and controller tend to increase
the overall equipment costs. Cascade control systems are also more complex than single-measurement
controllers, requiring twice as much tuning. Then again, the tuning procedure is fairly straightforward: tune
the secondary controller rst, then the primary controller using the same tuning tools applicable to single-
measurement controllers.

However, if the inner loop tuning is too aggressive and the two processes operate on similar time scales, the
two controllers might compete with each other to the point of driving the closed-loop system unstable.
Fortunately, this is unlikely if the inner loop is inherently faster than the outer loop or the tuning forces it to
be.

And it’s not always clear when cascade control will be worth the extra effort and expense. There are several
classic examples that typically bene t from cascade control-often involving a ow rate as the secondary
process variable-but it’s usually easier to predict when a cascade control system won’t help than to predict
when it will.

Vance VanDoren, PhD, PE, is a Control Engineering contributing content specialist. Reach him at
controleng@msn.com.

Key concepts:
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When more than one element can affect a single process variable, treating each separately can make
the process easier to control.
One process variable that depends on more than one measurement might need more than one
controller.

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