CONTROL ENGINEERING

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
Definitions:
 System: A system is a combination or an arrangement of
different physical components which act together as an entire
unit to achieve certain objective.
 Control System: To control means to regulate, to direct or to
command. Hence a control system is an arrangement of
different physical elements connected in such a manner so as
to regulate, direct or command itself or some other system.
 Plant: The portion of a system which is to be controlled or
regulated is called a plant or the process.
 Controller: The element of the system itself or external to the
system which controls the plant or the process is called
controller.
 Input: It is an applied signal or an excitation signal applied
to a control system from an external energy source in order to
produce specific output.
 Output: It is the particular signal of interest or the actual
response obtained from a control system when applied to it.
 Disturbances: It is a signal which tends to adversely affect
the value of the output of a system. If such a disturbance is
generated within the system itself, it is called an internal
disturbance. The disturbance generated outside the system
acting as an extra input to the system in addition to its
normal input, affecting the output adversely is called an
external disturbance.
Classification of control systems:

1. Natural control systems: The biological systems, systems

inside human being are of natural type.

2. Manmade control systems: The various systems, we are

using in our day to day life are designed and manufactured
by human beings.

3. Combinational control systems: Combinational control

system is one, having combination of natural and
manmade together i.e., driver driving a vehicle.
4. Time varying systems: Time varying control systems are
those in which parameters of the systems are varying with
time. It is not dependent on whether input and output are
functions of time or not. E.g. mass of space vehicle.
5. Time invariant systems: If the inputs and outputs are
functions of time but the parameters of the system are
independent of time, which are not varying with time and
are constants, then system is said to be time invariant. E.g.
resistance, inductance and capacitance of a electrical
network.
6. Linear systems: A control system is said to be linear if it
satisfies the following properties.
a. The principle of superposition is applicable to the system.
b. The differential equation describing the system is linear
having its coefficients as constants.
c. The output or response varies linearly with the input.
7. Nonlinear systems: A system is said to be nonlinear if,
a. It does not satisfy the principle of superposition.
b. The equations describing the system are nonlinear in
nature.
c. The output does not vary linearly.
8. Continuous time control systems: In this all system
variables are the functions of a continuous time variable ‘t’.
9. Discrete time control systems: In these systems one or
more system variables are known only at certain discrete
interval of time.
10. Deterministic and stochastic control systems: A control
system is said to be deterministic when its response to
input as well as behaviour to external disturbances are
predictable and repeatable. If such response is
unpredictable, system is said to be stochastic in nature.
11. Lumped parameter and distributed parameter control
systems: Control system that can be described by ordinary
differential equation is called lumped parameter control
system. Control systems that can be described by partial
differential equations are called distributed parameter
control systems.
12. Single input single output and Multiple input multiple
output systems:
13. Open loop and closed loop control systems:
Open Loop System:
A system in which output is dependent on input but controlling
action or input is totally independent of the output of the
system, is called an Open Loop System

Reference input CONTROLLER u PROCESS Controlled output

Advantages:
1. Simple in construction.

2. Very much convenient when output is difficult to measure.

3. Easy from maintenance point of view.

4. Not troubled with the problems of stability.

5. Simple to design and hence economical.

Disadvantages:
1. Inaccurate and unreliable because accuracy of such systems
are totally dependent on the accurate calibration of the
controller.
2. These give inaccurate results if there are variations in the
external environment i.e., such systems cannot sense
environmental changes.
3. They cannot sense internal disturbances in the system,
after the controller stage.
4. To maintain the quality and accuracy, recalibration of the
controller is necessary from time to time.
Applications of Open Loop System:
1. Automatic Toaster System:

P
o
w
e
r
i
n
p
u
t

Heating
Relay or
Desired time process of Actual toast
Controller
bread
2. Traffic Light controller:

P
o
w
e
r

Relay or Actual traffic

Desired time Light
Controller control
Closed Loop System:
A system in which the controlling action or input is somehow
dependent on the output or changes in output is called closed
loop system.
Feedback: Feedback is a property of the system by which it
permits the output to be compared with the reference input
to generate the error signal based on which the appropriate
controlling action can be decided.
Advantages:
1. Very high accuracy because controller modifies and
manipulates the actuating signal such that error in the
system will be zero.
2. They sense environmental changes, as well as internal
disturbances and accordingly modifies the error.
3. There is reduced effect of nonlinearities and distortions.

4. Bandwidth of such system i.e., operating frequency zone for

such system is very high.
Disadvantages:
1. These systems are complicated and time consuming from
design point of view and hence costlier.
2. Due to feedback, system tries to correct the error from time
to time. Tendency to overcorrect the error may cause
oscillations.
APPLICATIONS OF CLOSED LOOP SYSTEM:
1. HUMAN BEING
APPLICATIONS OF CLOSED LOOP SYSTEM:
2. HOME HEATING SYSTEM
APPLICATIONS OF CLOSED LOOP SYSTEM:
3. D.C. MOTOR SPEED CONTROL
APPLICATIONS OF CLOSED LOOP SYSTEM:
4. MISSILE LAUNCHING SYSTEM
Requirements of an Ideal Control Systems:
1. Accuracy

2. Sensitivity

3. External disturbance or noise

4. Stability

5. Bandwidth

6. Speed

7. Oscillations.
Controller:
 The controller is an element which accepts the error in some
form and decides the proper corrective action.

 The output of the controller is then applied to the process or

final control element. This brings output back to its desired
set point value.

 The controller is the heart of a control system.

 The accuracy of the entire system depends on how sensitive

is the controller to the error detected and how it is
manipulating such an error.
Properties of Controller:
Classification of controllers:
Proportional control mode: In this the output of the controller
is proportional to the error e(t). The relation between the
error e(t) and the controller output p is determined by the
constant called proportional gain constant denoted as Kp. The
output of the controller is a linear function of the error e(t).
The range of the error which covers 0% to 100% controller
output is called proportional band.
Though there exists linear relation between controller output
and the error, the controller output should not be zero,
otherwise the process will come to halt. Hence there exists
some controller output po for the zero error. Hence
mathematically proportional control mode is expressed as
p(t) = Kp e(t) + po
Where Kp = proportional gain constant
po = controller output with zero error
 The error can be positive or negative because error r-b
can be less or greater than reference setpoint r.
If the controlled variable i.e., input to the controller
increases, causing increase in the controller output, the
action is called direct action.
If the controlled variable decreases, causing increase in
the controller output or increase in the controller variable,
causing decrease in the controller output, the action is called
reverse action.
So if e(t) is –ve then Kp e(t) gets subtracted from po and if
e(t) is positive, then Kp e(t) gets added to po, this is reverse
action.
Characteristics of Proportional mode:
1. When the error is zero, the controller output is constant
equal to po.
2. If the error occurs, then for every 1% error the correction of
Kp% is achieved. If error is positive, Kp% correction gets
added to po and if error is negative, Kp% correction gets
subtracted from po.
3. The band of error exists for which the output of the
controller is between 0% to 100% without saturation.
4. The gain Kp and the error band PB are inversely
proportional to each other.
Offset:
The major disadvantage of proportional control mode is that it
produces an offset error in the output. When the load
changes, the output deviates from the setpoint. Such a
deviation is called offset error or steady state error. The
offset error depends on the reaction rate of the controller.
Slow reaction rate produces small offset error while fast
reaction rate produces large offset error.
Applications:
1. Manual reset of the operating point is possible.
2. Load changes are small.
3. The dead time exists in the system is small.
Integral control mode:
In this controller, the value of the controller output p(t) is
changed at a rate which is proportional to the actuating error
signal e(t). Mathematically it is expressed as,

Where, Ki = constant relating error and rate or integral

constant.
Integrating the above equation, actual controller output at any
time t can be obtained as,

Where, p(0) = controller output when integral action starts i.e.

at t = 0.
The output signal from the controller, at any instant is the area
under the actual error signal curve up to that instant. If the
value of the error is doubled, the value of p(t) varies twice as
fast i.e. rate of the controller output change also doubles.
Step response of integral mode:

It can be seen that when error is positive, the output p(t) ramps
up. For zero error, there is no change in the output. And
when error is negative, the output p(t) ramps down.
Characteristics of Integral mode:

1. If error is zero, the output remains at a fixed value equal to

what it was, when the error became zero.

2. If the error is not zero, then the output begins to increase or

decrease, at a rate Ki% per second for every +or-1% of
error.

The inverse of Ki is called integral time Ti.

Ti = 1/Ki
Proportional-Integral Mode (PI control mode):
This is composite control mode obtained by combining the
proportional mode and the integral mode.
The mathematical expression for such a composite control is,

Where p(0) = Initial value of the output at t = 0.

The important advantage of this control is that one to one
correspondence of proportional mode is available while the
offset gets eliminated due to integral mode, the integral part
of such composite control provides a reset of the zero error
output after a load change occurs.
Consider the load change occurring at t = t1 and due to which
error varies as shown in fig. The controller output changes
suddenly by amount Vp due to the proportional action. After
that controller output changes linearly with respect to time
at a rate Kp/Ti. The reset rate is defined as the reciprocal of
Ti.
The response of composite PI control mode for the reverse
action is shown in the fig.
Characteristic of PI mode:
1. When the error is zero, the controller output is fixed at the
value that integral mode had when the error went to zero.
This is nothing but p(0).
2. When the error is not zero, proportional mode adds the
correction while the integral term starts increasing or
decreasing from its initial value depending upon the
reverse or direct action.
3. It improves the steady state efficiency.
4. It increases the rise time so response becomes slow.
5. It decreases bandwidth of the system.
6. It filters out the high frequency noise.
7. It makes the response oscillatory.
Applications: PI mode completely removes the offset problems
of proportional mode. Such a mode can be used in the
systems with the frequent or large load changes. But the
process must have relatively slow changes in the load, to
prevent the oscillations.
Proportional – Derivative Mode (PD Control Mode):
The series combination of proportional and derivative control
modes gives proportional plus derivative control mode. The
mathematical expression for the PD composite control is,
The behaviour of such a PD control to a ramp type of the input
is shown in fig.
The ramp function of error occurs at t = t1. The derivative mode
causes a step Vd at t1 and proportional mode causes a rise of
Vp equal to Vd at t2. This is for direct action PD control.
Fig below shows the behaviour of PD control for the arbitrary
load changes for reverse action.
For the reverse action, the controller output is image of the
error for the proportional mode. While derivative mode
causes sudden increase or decrease in the output
corresponding to decrease or increase in the error. This mode
can not eliminate the offset of the proportional mode.
Characteristics of PD mode:
1. It improves the damping and reduces overshoot.

2. It reduces the rise time and makes response fast.

3. It makes the response stable very fast.

4. It improves the bandwidth of the system.

5. It cannot eliminate offset error.

6. It may make the noise dominant at high frequencies.

7. It is not very effective for lightly damped systems.

8. It may require a relatively large capacitor while the circuit

implementation.
Applications:
It can not eliminate offset error of proportional mode. But it
can be used to handle fast process load changes if offset
error is tolerable. It is used in many industrial process
control systems.
Three Mode Controller (PID control Mode):
The composite controller including the combination of the
proportional, integral and derivative control mode is called
PID control mode and the controller is called three mode
controller. It is very much complex to design but very
powerful in action.
mathematically such a control mode can be expressed as,

Where p(0) = Initial value of the output.

The integral mode eliminates the offset error of the
proportional mode and the response is also very fast due to
derivative mode. The sudden response is produced due to
derivative mode. Thus it can be used for any process
condition.
The fig shows the response of PID control for a particular error
signal, assuming direct action.
Fig shows the response of various control modes to unit step
load change.
 The proportional and PD control produces the offset error. It
requires significant time to attain the steady state.
 The PI control eliminates the offset but at the expense of the
higher maximum overshoot, a long period of oscillation and
more settling time.
 The PD control produces the steady state very quickly with
least oscillations and smallest maximum overshoot but offset
is significant.
 With PID control, there is no offset and system achieves the
steady state with less settling time.
 Therefore PID is the ultimate process composite controller.