Design of Feedback Controllers

Chapter- 16 of Stephanopoulos
 Outlines of design Problems
Question 1:
What type of Feedback controller should be used to control a
given process?
It includes selection among P, PI and PID Controller
Question 2:
How do we select the best values for the adjustable parameters
of a feedback controller?
The adjustable parameters are KC, I, and D
This is known as Controller Tuning Problem
Question 3:
What performance criterion should we use for the selection and
tuning of controller?
Various performance criteria are:
Keep the maximum deviation as small as possible
Minimize the time integral of error etc etc
 Performance Criteria
Consider two different feedback systems which give different
responses:

If our criterion for the design of controller is Return to the desired

level of operation as soon as possible then clearly Control
configuration A is suitable
If our criterion is Keep the maximum deviation as small as
possible then control configuration B is more suitable
 Performance Criteria
The dynamic performance of a closed-loop system is
based on three types of criteria:
Criteria that uses only a few points of the response. They are
simpler but only approximate (Simple Performance Criteria)
Criteria that use entire closed-loop response from time t = 0 until
t = very large. These are more precise but more complicated
Empirical Performance Criteria
 Simple Performance Criteria
They are based on some characteristic of features of the
closed-loop response of the system
The most commonly used criteria are:
Overshoot
Rise time
Settling time
Decay ratio
Decay ratio has been the most commonly used by
engineers. Experience has shown that a decay ratio C/A =
is a reasonable trade-off between a fast response and a
reasonable settling time
This is known as ONE-QUEARTER DECAY RATIO CRITERION
 Time-Integral Performance Criteria
Time-integral performance criteria are based on the entire
response of the system
The most often used are:
 Time-Integral Performance Criteria
The problem of designing the Best controller can now
be formulated as follows:
Select the type of controller and the values of its adjusted
parameters in such a way as to minimize the ISE, IAE or ITAE of
the systems response
General Guidelines for the selection:
Time-Integral Performance Criteria
 Selection of the Type of Feedback
Controller
The systematic way is as follows:

But this is very tedious and relies on models of all

components of the control system, which may not be
known
Alternatively, we can select the Best controller using only
qualitative considerations of the controllers
 Selection of the Type of Feedback
Controller: Qualitative Characteristics
Proportional Control
Accelerates the response of the controlled process
Produces an Offset (Except for the processes having 1/s term in
their transfer function)
Integral Control
Eliminate any Offset
Elimination of offset comes at the expense of higher maximum
deviations
Produces sluggish, long oscillatory responses
Increasing KC to increase the speed of response makes the
system more oscillatory which results in large settling time and
may cause instability
 Selection of the Type of Feedback
Controller: Qualitative Characteristics
Derivative Control
Anticipates future errors and introduces appropriate action
Introduces a stabilizing effect on the closed-loop response of the
process i.e. minimizes the oscillations
 Selection of the Type of Feedback
Controller: Qualitative Characteristics
From the above observation, it is clear that PID is the Best
controller as it offers the highest flexibility to achieve the desired
controller response by adjusting three parameters
But it introduces more complex tuning problems because we have
to adjust three parameters
 Rule of Thumb: If Possible, Use Simple
Proportional Controller
P-Control can be used if
We can achieve acceptable offset with moderate values of KC or
The process has an integrating action ( a 1/s term in transfer
function) for which P-controller does not introduce an offset
Examples are:
Gas pressure control
Liquid-level control
 Rule of Thumb: If P-Controller is not
Acceptable, Use a PI-Controller
PI-controller should be used when P-controller produces a
large offset
PI-controller is not used for liquid level or gas pressure
control
PI-controller is most often (almost always) used for Flow
control
The response of a flow system is fast, hence the speed of
the closed-loop response remains satisfactory despite the
slowdown caused by the PI controller
Rule of Thumb:Use a PID-Controller to Increase
the Speed of Response and Retain Robustness
PI-controller eliminates offset but it reduces the speed of
response
For a multicapacity system, whose response is already
very sluggish, a PI-controller cannot be used because it
will make the response even more sluggish
In such systems, addition of derivative control action with
its stabilizing effect allows the use of higher KC which
produces faster response without excessive oscillations
PID-controller is recommended for Temperature and
Composition control where we have sluggish,
multicapacity processes
Practical Examples of Controller Selection:
Liquid Level Control
Our objective is to keep each level within a certain range
around the desired set point
Simple P-Controller is satisfactory
Practical Examples of Controller Selection:
Gas Pressure Control
Our objective is to regulate the pressure p in the tank
Disturbances are p1 and p3
Simple P-controller is satisfactory
Practical Examples of Controller Selection:
Vapor Pressure Control
We may have two types of loop ( Fast and Slow)
The objective is to control the vapor pressure in column
Loop a Loop b controls the vapor
measures p flowrate indirectly by the
and directly cooling water flowrate. Hence
affects the it has slow response. A PID
vapor controller is required
flowrate.
Hence it has
fast
response. A
PI controller
is required
Practical Examples of Controller Selection:
Flow Control
Both Loops have fast response,
hence a PI controller is
satisfactory as it eliminates
offset and retains acceptable
speed of response
Practical Examples of Controller Selection:
Temperature Control
Our objective is to control the temperature of reacting mixture at
the desired set point
Between the manipulated variable and measuring device, we have
two slow processes:
Heat transfer between reacting mixture and temperature sensor
Heat transfer from steam to the reacting mixture
Hence overall response is sluggish and a PI controller cannot be
used
A PID control will give
satisfactory
performance
Practical Examples of Controller Selection:
Composition Control
It is similar to that of Temperature control. Therefore a PID
controller is used due to slow speed of response of composition
analyzers
 Controller Tuning
The process of finding best values for the adjustable
parameters of the controller is known as Controller
Tuning
Three general approaches are:
Use simple criteria, such as one-quarter decay ratio,
minimum settling time etc.
This is simple but less accurate
Use time-integral performance criteria such as ISE, IAE,
ITAE
This approach is more accurate but it relies on mathematical
models and is complex
Use some empirical rules which have been proven in
practice
 Controller Tuning: Cohen and Coon
Method
This is the most popular of empirical tuning methods
Also known as PROCESS REACTION CURVE METHOD
This method assumes the first order behavior of the system and
introduces Dead Time which is the time elapsed until the system
responds
This method approximates the response graphically as the response
of a first order system
 Controller Tuning: Cohen and Coon
Method
The results of the analysis performed by Cohen and Coon are:
The gain of the PI
controller is less than
that of P controller
The gain the PID
controller is higher
than both P and PI
controller due to the
stabilizing effect of PID
controller
The Cohen and Coon
method is particularly
useful if the dynamics
of process, sensor,
final control element
are poorly known