Chapter 3

3. Feedback controllers
3.1 Basic control modes
The heart of a feedback control system is the controller itself.

In the case of feedback control system ,the controlled variable (output variable)

Measured.

The measured output variable compared with the desired value and their difference used as the input of
a controller.

The controller output feed in to the final control element or process to get the desired output

The feedback control can be

1. on- off controller

2. PID controller
 Cont…

3.2 ON-OFF controller

On-off controllers are simple, inexpensive feedback controllers.

Commonly used as

1. in home heating systems and domestic refrigerators.

2. in noncritical industrial applications such as some level control loops and heating systems.

On-off controllers are less widely used than PID controllers, because they are not as versatile or
as effective.
For ideal on-off control, the controller output has only two possible values:

𝑃𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝑖𝑓 𝑒 > 0
P(t) =
𝑃𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑓 𝑒 < 0
 Cont…

For on/off control, the final control element is either completely open/on/maximum or
closed/off/minimum .

To protect the final control element from wear, a dead band or upper and a lower set point is
used. The measured variable remains between these limits, no changes in control action are
made.
 3.3 Proportional, Integral and Derivative controller and Features of PID control

A controller is basically reads the error between desired set point and the
measured output and then computes the corrective action for the
manipulated input that would steer process towards the desired set point.
There are three basic types of feedback control modes which are widely used in
the industry.
 Proportional (P) controller

Proportional Integral (PI) controller

Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller

 Proportional (P) Controller
In feedback control, the objective is to reduce the error signal to zero where
𝑒 𝑡 = 𝑦𝑠𝑝 𝑡 − 𝑦𝑚 (𝑡)
And 𝑒 𝑡 = error signal
𝑦𝑠𝑝 𝑡 = set point
𝑦𝑚 𝑡 = measured value of the controlled variable.
For proportional control, the controller output is proportional to the error signal.
𝑝 𝑡 = 𝑝+ 𝐾𝑐 𝑒 𝑡
where
𝑝 𝑡 = controller output
𝑝 = bias (steady-state) value
𝐾𝑐 = controller gain (usually dimensionless).
The controller gain Kc is adjustable and is usually tuned (i.e., adjusted).
 Cont…

𝑃(𝑡)
𝐾𝑐 =
𝑒(𝑇)
 Cont…
 Kc sets the activity of the controller to changes in error, e(t)
 if Kc is small, the controller is sluggish
 if Kc is large, the controller is aggressive
Examples
Assume the process is a first order dynamic system and controlling with proportional (P)
controller .
𝑌(𝑠) 1
=
𝑋(𝑠) 𝑠+1
Cont…
Cont…
 Cont..

Disadvantage of p-only control is that a steady-state error (or offset) occurs after a set-
point change or a sustained disturbance.

offset will occur for p-only control regardless of the value of Kc.

With the addition of the integral control mode facilitates offset elimination.

For control applications where offsets can be tolerated, proportional-only control is

attractive because of its simplicity .

Big advantage of P-Only control:

=> only one tuning parameter so it’s easy to find “best” tuning .
 Cont…

As Kc increases , offset decreases and oscillatory behaviour increases

 Integral Control

For integral control action, the controller output depends on the integral of the
error signal over time.
1 𝑡
𝑝 𝑡 =𝑝+ 𝑒 𝑡 𝑑𝑡
 0

where  an adjustable parameter referred to as the integral time or reset time.

In the past, integral control action has been referred to as reset or floating
control.

Integral control action provides an advantage, the elimination of offset.

Why/how offset is eliminated in integral control?
 Cont…

The integral controller is not often used by itself, because little control action
takes place until the error signal has persisted for some time.

Consequently, integral control action is normally used in conjunction with

proportional control as the proportional-integral (PI) controller.

One disadvantage of using integral action is that it tends to produce

oscillatory responses of the controlled variable and it reduces the stability of
the feedback control system.
 Cont…
Examples
consider a second order system as shown below

The response of this closed loop integral feed back control becomes oscillatory
response as shown below
Cont…
 Cont…
proportional-integral (PI) controller
1 𝑡
𝑝 𝑡 = 𝑝 + 𝐾𝑐 𝑒(𝑡) + 𝑒(𝑡) 𝑑𝑡
 0
The corresponding transfer function for the PI controller
𝑃(𝑡) 1
= 1+
𝐸(𝑠) 𝑠
The response of the PI controller to a unit step change in e(t) is shown below.

At time zero, the controller output changes instantaneously due to the proportional action.

 Integral action causes the ramp increase in p(t) for t> 0.

 When t =  the integral term has contributed the same amount to the controller output as the
proportional term. Thus, the integral action has repeated the proportional action once.
 Cont…

PI controller response for step change in error

Reset Windup
An inherent disadvantage of integral control action is reset windup.
 integral mode causes the controller output to change as long as e(t)≠ 0.

When a sustained error occurs, the integral term becomes quite large and the
controller output eventually saturates.
Further build up of the integral term while the controller is saturated is referred to as
reset windup or integral windup.
 Cont…

The large overshoot in fig below occurs because the integral term continues to
increase until the error signal changes sign at t = t1.
 cont…

 Reset windup occurs when a PI or PID controller encounters a sustained

error.
In this situation, a physical limitation (control valve fully open or completely
shut) prevents the controller from reducing the error signal to zero.

To avoid such disadvantages of a PI controller ,it is possible to use anti-reset

windup .

reset windup can be a voided by using a derivative controller.

 cont…

Disadvantages of PI controller
Integral action tends to increase the oscillatory or rolling behaviour of the PV.
 There are two tuning parameters (𝐾𝑐 and ) and they interact with each other.
 This interaction can make it challenging to arrive at “best” tuning values.
 Reset Windup
 Derivative Control
The function of derivative control action is to anticipate the future
behavior of the error signal by considering its rate of change.

for ideal derivative action,

𝑑𝑒(𝑡)
𝑝 𝑡 = 𝑝 + 𝐷
𝑑𝑡
Where 𝐷 , the derivative time.

 Derivative action is never used alone.

 It is always used in conjunction with proportional or proportional-integral

control.
 Cont..

 Derivative control action also tends to improve the dynamic response of the
controlled variable by the settling time.

 Settling time:- The time it takes to reach steady state.

 If the process measurement is noisy, then the derivative of the measured variable
will change wildly, and derivative action will amplify the noise unless the
measurement is filtered.

 The ideal proportional-derivative control algorithm is physically unrealizable

because it cannot be implemented exactly using either analog or digital
controllers.
 Cont…

For analog controllers, the transfer function of proportional-derivative controller can be

approximated by,

𝑃(𝑠) 𝐷 𝑠
= 𝐾𝑐 1 +
𝐸(𝑠) 𝐷 𝑠 + 1

Where the constant a has a value between 0.05 and 0.2.

The denominator term serves as a derivative filter that reduces the sensitivity of
the control calculations to noisy measurements.

Derivative filter used in PD and PID controller.

 Cont…
Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) Control
PI and PID control have been the dominant control techniques for process
control.

Many variations of PID control are used in practice.

The three most common forms are

 1. Parallel Form of PID Control .
 2. Series Form of PID Control and
 3. Expanded Form of PID Control .
 Cont…
Parallel Form of PID Control
The parallel form of the PID control algorithm (without a derivative filter) is given by ,

1 𝑡 𝑑𝑒(𝑡)
𝑝 𝑡 = 𝑝 + 𝐾𝑐 𝑒 𝑡 + 𝑒 𝑡 𝑑𝑡 + 𝐷
 0 𝑑𝑡

𝑃(𝑠) 1
The corresponding transfer function is, = 𝐾𝑐 1 + + 𝐷 𝑠
𝐸(𝑠) 𝑠
 Cont…
Series Form of PID Control
The series form of PID control without a derivative filter is shown in fig below,

 No difference whether the PD element or the PI element comes first.

 The series-form controller transfer function with a derivative filter is,

𝑃(𝑠) 𝑠+1 𝐷𝑠+1

= 𝐾𝑐
𝐸(𝑠) 𝑠 𝐷𝑠+1
 Cont…
Expanded Form of PID Control

The expanded form of PID control is,

𝑡 𝑑𝑒(𝑡)
𝑝 𝑡 = 𝑝 + 𝐾𝑐 𝑒 𝑡 + 𝐾𝑖 0 𝑒 𝑡 𝑑𝑡 + 𝐾𝐷
𝑑𝑡

The controller parameters for the expanded form are three "gains," 𝐾𝑐 , 𝐾𝐼
and 𝐾𝐷 , rather than the standard parameters, Kc, 𝑖 , and 𝐷 ·

 Mostly used in MATLAB.

 FEATURES OF PID CONTROLLERS

PID controllers that greatly enhance their performance by,

 Elimination of Derivative and Proportional Kick

One disadvantage of the PID controllers is that a sudden change in set point (the error, e)
will cause the derivative term momentarily to become very large and thus provide a
derivative kick to the final control element.

This sudden "spike" is undesirable and can be avoided by basing the derivative action on
the measurement, Ym, rather than on the error signal, e.

1 𝑡 𝑑 𝑦𝑚(𝑡)
𝑝 𝑡 = 𝑝 + 𝐾𝑐 𝑒 𝑡 + 𝑒 𝑡 𝑑𝑡 + 𝐷
 0 𝑑𝑡
 Cont…

Reverse or Direct Action

The controller gain can be either negative or positive.

 For proportional control, when Kc > 0, the controller output p(t) increases as its input signal
Ym(t) decreases.

𝑝 𝑡 = 𝐾𝑐 𝑌𝑠𝑝 𝑡 − 𝑌𝑚 (𝑡)

 If Kc > 0, the controller is called a reverse-acting controller.

 When Kc < 0, the controller is said to be direct acting, because p increases as Ym increases.

Reverse-acting (a) Direct- acting (d)

 Typical responses of feedback control system
The responses shown in fig below illustrate the typical behavior of a controlled process after
a step change in a disturbance variable occurs.

If feedback control is not used, the process slowly reaches a new steady state.
Proportional control speeds up the process response and reduces the offset.
 Cont…

The addition of integral control action eliminates offset but tends to make the
response more oscillatory.
Adding derivative action reduces both the degree of oscillation and the response
time.
The use of P, PI, and PID controllers does not always result in oscillatory process
responses.
 The nature of the response depends on the choice of the controller settings
(𝐾𝑐, 𝐼 , 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐷 ) and the process dynamics.
However, the responses in the above figure are representative of what occurs in
practice.
 Cont…

The qualitative effects of changing individual controller settings are shown in

figure below.

 Proportional-integral control: (a) effect of integral time, (b) effect of

controller gain
 Cont…

Increasing the controller gain tends to make the process response less sluggish.

However, if too large a value of Kc is used, the response may exhibit an

undesirable degree of oscillation or even become unstable.

Thus, an intermediate value of Kc usually results in the best control.

 Increasing the integral time, 𝐼 , usually makes PI and PID control more sluggish.

Theoretically, offset will be eliminated for all positive values of 𝐼 .

 But for very large values of 𝑰 , the controlled variable will return to the set point
very slowly after a disturbance or set-point change occurs.
 Cont…

It is more difficult to generalize about the effect of the derivative time 𝑫 .

increasing 𝑫 improve’s the response by reducing the maximum deviation,

response time, and degree of oscillation, as shown in fig below.

However, if 𝑫 is too large, measurement noise is amplified and the response

may become oscillatory. Thus, an intermediate value of 𝐷 is desirable.
PI Controller Tuning Guide