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Control Systems
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Agenda
1. Introduction to control theory
2. An overview of classical control tools
Prerequisite
3. Basic knowledge of control system
4. Well equipped with basic mathematical concepts such
as laplace transform, linear and nonlinear systems.
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Why to learn control system…?
• It is the glue that stitches all other engineering fields together.
• Opens up the door to solve and understand many different engineering problems not just as a
control engineer but as any engineer.
For example:
- As an electrical engineer you need to design switching power regulators and rely on feedback and
they can be unstable if designed incorrectly
- As a mechanical engineer you might be concerned with vibrations in your structure and you may
have to design an isolation system in a motor mount.
- Civil engineer : damping system for tall buildings
• Control system theory is more than PID and inverted pendulum
Building models, simulating predictions, dynamic interactions, filtering and rejecting noise, selecting and
building hardware… It is understanding your system.
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Concepts and Definitions
• System: Any collection of interacting elements for which there are cause-and effect
relationships among the variables.
• Dynamical System: A system in which the variables are time-dependent.
• Mathematical Model: A description of a system in terms of mathematical equations.
• System Variables:
1. Input variables - Control input, noise input
2. Output variables - Sensor outputs, Performance output
3. State variables : Set of variables that describe the system completely.
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Simplified description of a control system
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Open loop vs Closed loop system
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Linear System
• Obey the “Principle of superposition”
- Multiplying the input(s) by any constant x must multiply the outputs by x.
- The response to several inputs applied simultaneously must be the sum of the individual responses
to each input applied separately.
- Question: Equation of a straight line y = mx+c is a linear system or not…?
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Comparison : Classical vs Modern control
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Laplace transform
Laplace transform of f(t) :
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Transfer function : Block diagram representation
Any physical system that can be represented by a linear, time-invariant constant coefficient differential
equation can be modeled as a Transfer function
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• Roots of numerator : ZEROS
• Roots of denominator : POLES
m<n : Proper transfer function
Example : R-L circuit (first order system)
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Second order system (R-L-C circuit)
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Some definitions
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Second order response as a function of damping ratio
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Stability
• A system is Stable if the natural response approaches zero as
time approaches infinity .
• A system is Unstable if the natural response approaches infinity as
time approaches infinity.
• A system is Marginally Stable if the natural response neither
decays nor grows but remains constant or oscillates within a bound.
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Stability analysis through transfer function
• Stable systems have closed-loop transfer functions with poles only in the left half-plane.
• Unstable systems have closed-loop transfer functions with at least one pole in the right half plane
and/or poles of multiplicity greater than one on the imaginary axis.
• Marginally Stable systems have closed-loop transfer functions with only imaginary axis poles of
multiplicity and poles in the left half-plane.
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Steady state error analysis
Steady-state error is the difference between the input and the output for a prescribed test input as t -> inf
Steady-State Error for Unity Feedback Systems
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PID Control design
The PID controller involves three components:
Proportional, Integral and derivative.
•The proportional component determines the
reaction to the current value of the output error.
It serves as a “all pass” block.
• The integral component determines the reaction
based on the integral (sum) of recent errors. In a way,
it accounts for the history of the error and serves as a
“low pass” block.
• The derivative component determines the reaction based
on the rate of change of the error. In a way, it accounts for
the future value of the error and serves as a “high pass”
block.
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PID Controller
The final form of the PID algorithm is :
The tuning parameters are:
- Proportional gain
- Integral gain
- Derivative gain
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Effect of proportional term
Proportional term :
• If the gain Kp is low, then control action may be too small when responding to system disturbances.
Hence, it need not lead to desirable performance.
• If the proportional gain Kp is too high, the system can become unstable. It may also lead to noise
amplification
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Effect of integral term
Integral term :
• The integral term (when added to the proportional term) accelerates the movement of the process
towards setpoint and eliminates the residual steady-state error that occurs with a proportional only
controller.
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Effect of derivativeterm
Derivative term :
• The derivative term speeds up the transient behaviour. In general, it has negligible effect on the
steady state performance.
• Differentiation of a signal amplifies noise. Hence, this term in the controller is highly sensitive to
noise in the error term! Because of this, the derivative compensation should be used with care.
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Effect of increasing gains on output performance
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Limitations of PID Control
• It is a SISO design approach and hence can effectively handle only such system.
• System should behave in a fairly linear manner. Hence, it is valid in close proximity of an operating
point (about which the linearized system is valid)
Techniques to overcome:
Gain scheduling, Cascading controllers, Filters in loop etc.
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