1

Principles of Automatic
Control

Qingpu Hu (胡青璞）
Yellow River Conservancy Technical Institute (YRCTI)
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Welcome to contact me

l Instructor:
- Chinese name: Qingpu Hu (胡青璞）
- English name: Jaden
l Office: 5# Training building sy5530
l Email: [email protected]
l WeChat: qingpupu
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Course Description
Ø Lectures: 48 hours
Ø Grading:
- Attendance
- Homework
- Class participation
- Final examination
Ø Objectives:
- Basic understanding of control systems
- Engineering applications
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Course Materials
Ø Slides / Lecture notes
Ø References:
- 胡寿松主编，《自动控制原理》
- 李俨主编，Principles of Automatic Control
- Carlos A. Smith, Principles and Practice of
Automatic Process Control
- H. Bischoff, Process Control System
- Curtis D. Johnson, Process Control
Instrumentation Technology
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Principles of Automatic Control

CHAPTER 1
Introduction to Control Systems
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Outline
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Development of Automatic Control
1.3 Basic Concepts of Automatic Control
1.4 Control System Composition
1.5 Classification of Automatic Control Systems
1.6 General Requirements for Control Systems
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Introduction to control systems

Ø Requirements:
- Open-loop control vs. Closed-loop control
- Feedback control
- Block diagram
- Components distinguishment,
such as, System Input, Output,
Controller, Plant, Sensor
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Introduction to control systems

- What is “Control” ?
- Development of “ Control Theory”
- Why to study “Automatic Control” ?
- What is “ Automatic Control” ?
- Feedback control structure
- Types of control systems
- Basic requirements on control systems
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What is “Control” ?
Ø ”The philosophers have only interpreted
the world, in various ways; the point is,
however, to change it.”
- in 'Theses on Feuerbach', Karl Marx

Ø The capability of effective control is the

unique characteristic distinguishing
human beings and animals.
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What is “Control” ?
Ø Control: Action on the system (machine,
plant, process, ...) to modify (improve) its
behavior according to desired requirements.
Ø A Control system consisting of interconnected
components is designed to achieve a desired
purpose.
Imagine “control” around you!
Room temperature control
Car driving
Voice volume control
“Control” (move) the position of the pointer etc.
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Control ... everywhere!

• Energy generation and distribution
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Control ... everywhere!

• Process control
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Control ... everywhere!

• Manufacturing industry
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Control ... everywhere!

• Vehicle control
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Control ... everywhere!

• Consumer Electronics
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Control ... everywhere!

• Aeronautics
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Control ... everywhere!

• Medical applications
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Control ... everywhere!

• Robotics
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Ø Applications of automatic control

include, but not limited to, aircraft,
robots, civil engineering structures,
process control,..., etc.
Ø Automatic control has played a vital
role in the advance of engineering and
science.
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A VERY short control history

1. Kindergarten period
Ø Applied, but not aware or no theories appeared
Ø Famous example: A speed control system developed
by James Watt in 1769, to maintain the rotating
speed of a shaft in a steam engine
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A VERY short control history

1. Kindergarten period

Watt’s Flyball Governor

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A VERY short control history

2. Period in Classical control theories
Ø Examples
- In 1868, “On Regulators”, differential equation description
- In 1877, Routh’s Stability Criterion
- In 1892, Lyaounov Stability
- In 1932, Nyquist Stability Criterion
- In 1938, Frequency response method
- In 1948, Root Locus method
Ø Based on Laplace Transforms and Transfer function in
Frequency domain
Ø Mainly on SISO Linear Constant Systems
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A VERY short control history

3. Period in Modern control theories
Ø Branches
- Linear system theories
- Adaptive control
- Optimal control
- Predictive control
- Discrete Event Dynamic System (DEDS)
- H-infinite theories
ØBased on State Space in Time domain
ØOn MIMO Nonlinear Time-variable Systems
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A VERY short control history

4. Period in Intelligent control theories
Ø Branches
- Neural network control
- Fuzzy control
- Genetic algorithm
- Iterative learning control
- Adaptive inverse control
- Guidance, Navigation & Control (GNC) integrity system
ØBased on diverse mathematical foundations
ØImitate methodologies of human or other animals
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A VERY short control history

Current situation and perspectives
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A VERY short control history

Current situation and perspectives
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A VERY short control history

Current situation and perspectives
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A VERY short control history

Other areas of interest:
l Biomedical devices
l Biological systems
l Environment
l Socio-Economic systems
l Financial markets
l Management
l ……
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Why to study “Automatic Control” ?

Ø why do we need automatic control?
- Convenient (room temperature, laundry machine)
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Why to study “Automatic Control” ?

Ø why do we need automatic control?
- Dangerous (hot/cold places, space, bomb removal)
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Why to study “Automatic Control” ?

Ø why do we need automatic control?
- Impossible for human (nanometer scale precision
positioning, work inside the small space that human
cannot enter, huge antennas control, elevator)
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Why to study “Automatic Control” ?

Ø why do we need automatic control?
- High effeciency (engine control)

Ø Many examples of automatic control around us

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What is “Automatic Control” ?

Example 1: manual control
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What is “Automatic Control” ?

Ø Objective: To pick up book by hands

Ø Outputs: Actual position of hands
Ø Inputs: Actual position of book
Ø Plants: hands / Arms / Legs
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What is “Automatic Control” ?

Typical manual control
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What is “Automatic Control” ?

Ø Example 2: driving a car implies controlling the
vehicle to follow the desired path and arrive
safely at a planned destination.

Ø If you drive the car yourself, you are performing

a manual control of the car. If you design a
machine to do it then you build an automatic
control system.
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What is “Automatic Control” ?

Ø Objective: To control direction and speed of car

Ø Outputs: Actual direction and speed of car
Ø Inputs: Desired actual direction and speed of
car
Ø Disturbances: Road surface and obstacles
Ø Plants: Car
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What is “Automatic Control” ?

Example 3: Water level control

The objective is
to regulate the
level of water in
the tank
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What is “Automatic Control” ?

Example 3: Water level control - Manual control

A human can
regulate the
level using a
sight tube, S, to
compare the
level, h, to the
objective, H, and
adjust a valve to
change the level.
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What is “Automatic Control” ?

Example 3: Water level control - Automatic control

An automatic
level-control
system replaces
the human with a
controller and
uses a sensor
to measure the
level.
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What is “Automatic Control” ?

Ø Objective: Level of water in the bank

Ø Outputs: Actual water level or height
Ø Inputs: Desired water level
Ø Plants: Tank
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What is “Automatic Control” ?

Water level manual Water level automatic

control control
Sense organ: Measurement instrument:
Eye Sensor

Central decision organ: Decision-making instrument:

Brain Controller

Effector organ: Actuator:

Hand Valve

l Not manual!
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definitions

• SISO (single–input single–output) Control System

• MIMO (multi-input multi output) Multivariable Control

System
•
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Block diagram of automatic control system

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Basic elements of closed-loop system

Sensor
- Measures the output or controlled variable and provide
the signal fed back to the comparison element
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Basic elements of closed-loop system

Controller Make the output following the reference in a

“satisfactory” manner even under disturbances
Actuator Acts on the plant directly to adjust controlled
variables
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Basic elements of closed-loop system

Process / Plant
- Physical object or system to be controlled
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Basic elements of closed-loop system

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definitions
• Open-Loop Control Systems
Utilize a controller or control actuator to obtain
the desired response.
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Open Loop vs. Closed Loop

Example 5: Open-loop Control

A laundry machine
washes clothes, by
setting a program.
It does not measure
how clean the
clothes become.
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Open Loop vs. Closed Loop

Example 5: Open-loop Control – Laundry Machine
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Open Loop vs. Closed Loop

Example 6: Open-loop Control
Input: Desired room
temperature
Output: Actual room
temperature
Plants: heating furnace

Home heating
control system
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Open Loop vs. Closed Loop

Example 6: Open-loop Control

If the temperature of
furnace is not satisfactory,
it cannot automatically
alter the time.

Desired
temperature Heating Temperature
furnace (Output)
(Input)
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Open Loop vs. Closed Loop

Example 6: Open-loop Control – DC motor
Input: reference
voltage
Output: speed of
the shaft
Plants: DC motor
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Open Loop vs. Closed Loop

Example 6: Open-loop Control – DC motor

If a variation of the speed from the desired value

appears, due to a change of mechanical load on the
shaft, it is no way to change the value of input
quantity automatically.
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Open Loop vs. Closed Loop

Example 6: Open-loop Control – DC motor
slide rheostat
(generates reference voltage) speed
suppose 0 ~ 10V 0 ~ 1000r

disturbance

ur voltage power ua DC 
reference amplifier amplifier motor (controlled
variables)
(control device)
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Open-loop control systems

Example 6: Open Loop Control – DC motor
disturbance
Controlled
Reference Control variable
Control
Plant
(Input) device (Input) (Output)
Functional block diagram of a open-loop control system
l The output is not measured and compared with
the input, no feedback
l Control without measuring devices (sensors) are
called open-loop control
l The accuracy of the system depends on calibration
l In the presence of disturbance
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Open-loop control systems

Advantages:
l Simple construction and ease of maintenance.
l Convenient when output is hard to measure or
measuring the output precisely is economically
not feasible. (e.g. washer system)
Disadvantages:
l Disturbances and changes in calibration cause
errors, and the output may be different from what
is desired.
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Open Loop vs. Closed Loop

Closed-loop (feedback) control
Ø In this approach, the quantity to be controlled, say
C, is measured, compared with the desired value,
R, and the error between the two, E = R – C used
to adjust C. This means that the control action is
somehow dependent on the output.
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Closed Loop (feedback) control

Example 7: Closed-loop Control – Speed closed-
loop control of the DC motor
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Closed Loop (feedback) control

Example 7: Closed-loop Control – Speed closed-
loop control of the DC motor disturbance

ur ue voltage power ua DC 
_ amplifier amplifier motor
reference

tachometer

Its core idea: Negative feedback

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Open Loop vs. Closed Loop

Closed-loop (feedback) control

Generalized feedback control system

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Open Loop vs. Closed Loop

Closed-loop (feedback) control
Ø The closed-loop control system implies that the
action results from the comparison between the
output and input quantities in order to maintain
the output at the desired value
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Exercise
1. Consider an electric oven in a typical modern kitchen.
Identify the objective, plant, controlled variable, and
the disturbances.
2. Imagine you own a backyard swimming pool! Describe
a manual control system to measure pH and to add an
acidic solution to adjust pH. Define the plant,
controlled variable, and the disturbances.
3. Now automate the control of your swimming pool!
Assume you have a tank of acid solution to pump into
your pool to control pH.
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Open Loop vs. Closed Loop

Exercise: Closed-loop Control – Room
temperature control system
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Open Loop vs. Closed Loop

Exercise: Closed-loop Control – Room
temperature control system
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Closed Loop (feedback) control

Exercise: Liquid level control system-
Block diagram
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Closed Loop (feedback) control

Exercise: Liquid level control system-
Block diagram
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Principles of Automatic Control

More examples of feedback control

system
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Feedback control systems exist everywhere

Ø E.g. the human body is highly advanced feedback
control system.
Ø Body temperature and blood pressure are kept
constant by means of physiological feedback.
Ø Feedback makes the human body relatively
insensitive to external disturbance. Thus we can
survive in a changing environment.
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Feedback control systems exist everywhere

Ø E.g. Winter growing up in Kaifeng
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Feedback control systems exist everywhere

Ø E.g. autopilot mechanism
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Feedback control systems exist everywhere

Ø E.g. autopilot mechanism
Its purpose is to maintain a specified airplane heading,
despite atmospheric changes. It performs this task by
continuously measuring the actual airplane heading,
and automatically adjusting the airplane control
surfaces (rudder, ailerons, etc.) so as to bring the actual
airplane heading into correspondence with the
specified heading.
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Feedback control systems exist everywhere

Ø E.g. autopilot mechanism
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Feedback control systems exist everywhere

Ø E.g. autopilot mechanism
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Feedback control systems exist everywhere

Ø E.g. Plotter
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Feedback control systems exist everywhere

Ø E.g. Plotter
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Feedback control systems exist everywhere

Ø E.g. Plotter
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Composite control system

l Features of feedback

Ø Reactive / Error-driven
Ø Automatically compensates for disturbances
(controller acts on error)
Ø Automatically follows change in desired state (set
point can change)
Ø Can improve undesirable properties of system / plant
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Feedback vs. Feedforward control

Ø manual feedforward control
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Composite control system

l feedforward control
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Composite control system

l feedforward control concept
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Composite control system

l Feedforward control

Ø Control element responds to change in measured

disturbance in a pre-defined way
Ø Based on prediction of plant behavior (requires model)
Ø Can react before error actually occurs
- Overcome sluggish dynamics and delays
- Does not jeopardize stability
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Composite control system

l feedback manual control
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Composite control system

l feedforward manual control
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Composite control system

l Limitations of feedforward control

Ø Effects of disturbance or command input must

be predictable
Ø May not generalize to other conditions
Ø Will not be accurate if the system changes
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Composite control system

Feedforward and feedback are often used together
Ø Feedforward component provides rapid response
Ø Feedback component fills in the rest of the response
accurately, compensating for errors in the model
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Feedback control
Exercise: water heater control
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Feedforward control
Exercise: water heater control
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Feedforward + Feedback control

Exercise: water heater control
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Exercise
1. Consider an electric oven in a typical modern kitchen.
Identify the objective, plant, controlled variable, and
the disturbances.
2. Imagine you own a backyard swimming pool! Describe
a manual control system to measure pH and to add an
acidic solution to adjust pH. Define the plant,
controlled variable, and the disturbances.
3. Now automate the control of your swimming pool!
Assume you have a tank of acid solution to pump into
your pool to control pH.
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Closed Loop (feedback) control

Exercise 1: Closed-loop Control – Electric oven
Ø If temperature of oven is below
(or above ) the desired value,
oven turns on (turns off) until
the temperature inside the
output is slightly higher (lower)
than the desired temperature.
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Closed Loop (feedback) control

Exercise 1: Closed-loop Control – electric oven

Controller Relay switch

signal
Desired Error
temp + signal heat
On/ Off oven
T
_ Decision

“Measured” temp temp

Negative sensors Actual temp

feedback
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Closed Loop (feedback) control

Exercise 3: Automatic Control – Swimming pool
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Classification of control systems

According to structure
• Open-loop control systems
• Closed-loop control systems
• Composite control systems
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Open-loop / Closed-loop
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Classification of control systems

According to type of reference input
• Constant-value control system
(e.g. Water level control, DC motor speed control)
• Servo/tracking control system
(e.g. Aircraft-autopilot, Guided missile)
• Programming control system
(e.g. Numerically controlled machine)
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Classification of control systems

According to type of reference input
• Servo/tracking control system

Guided missile
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Classification of control systems

According to type of reference input
• Programming control system

Numerically
controlled
machine
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Classification of control systems

According to system character with respect to
time
• Time-invariant system
- The parameters of a control system are
stationary with respect to time
• Time-varying system
- System contain elements that drift or vary
with time
(e.g. guided-missile control system)
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Classification of control systems

According to system character
• Linear system
- principle of homogeneity and superposition
- described by linear differential equation
• Nonlinear system
- described by nonlinear differential equation
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Classification of control systems

According to form of the signals
• Continuous-data control system
- The signals are all functions of continuous time
variable
• Discrete-data control system
- The signals are in the form of either a pulse
train or a digital code
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Classification of control systems

• This direct digital control system lets the
computer perform the error detection and
controller functions
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Classification of control systems

• Distributed Control System (DCS)
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Basic requirements for control systems

• The system is expected to be affected Only by
control input, NOT by disturbance.

• Two-fold tasks:
(1) how the system responses to the external
input?
(2) how the system resists disturbances?
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Basic requirements for control systems

• The variable used to measure the
performance of the control system is the
error, e(t), which is the difference
between the input or reference value, r (t),
and the controlled variable, c(t).

e(t )  r (t )  c(t )
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Basic requirements for control systems

• Ensure stability
- System maintains desired operating
point (hold steady speed)
• Improve performance
- System responds
rapidly to changes
(accelerate
to 6 m/sec)
• Guarantee robustness
- System tolerates perturbations in dynamics
(mass, drag, etc.)
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Basic requirements for control systems

A suitable control system should have
some of the following properties:
1. Stability
2. Accuracy
3. Swiftness
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Basic requirements for control systems

l Regulation process: From initial equilibrium

state to a new equilibrium.
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Basic requirements for control systems

l The whole regulation process can be
divided into two stages:
- Transient process in which the controlled
variable goes from the initial state to the final
state.
- steady-state process in which the system
output stay at a new equilibrium state and
maintain at a constant value.
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Basic requirements for control systems

Definitions
1. Stability (Basic requirement): refers to ability
of a system to recover equilibrium, i.e.,
convergence of transient process (converge)
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Basic requirements for control systems

1. Stability (Basic requirement): refers to ability
of a system to recover equilibrium, (i.e.,
convergence of transient process)
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Basic requirements for control systems

1. Stability
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Basic requirements for control systems

1. Stability ---(converge)
2. Accuracy : refers to size of a steady-state
error when the transient process ends.
(small)
(Steady-state error = desired output – actual output)
3. Swiftness: refers to duration of transient
process (quick)
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Basic requirements for control systems

Note
For a control system, the above three
performance indices (stability, accuracy,
swiftness) are sometimes contradictory.

In design of a practical control system, we

always need to make compromise.
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Engineering Control Problem

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Summary
Ø Chapter 1:
Control essentiality
Examples of control systems
Open-loop versus closed-loop control
Component block diagram
Ø Next lecture:
Time Response of Linear System
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Assignment – Chapter 1
1. Consider an automatic gas-fired, home hot-water
tank. Identify the controlled variable, the
manipulated variable, and the disturbances.
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Assignment – Chapter 1
2. Figure 1.2 shows the grain humidity control system.
There is an optimal grinding humidity on which we can
acquire the most flour. So, we need to add some water
to grain to achieve the optimal grain humidity. Grain is
conveyed with a constant flow under an auto valve
which controls the water quantity. In this process, grain
flow, initial grain humidity and water pressure consists
of the disturbance of the grain humidity control system.
In order to get better precision, feed forward control is
adapted. Please draw the block diagram of the system.
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Assignment – Chapter 1
Figure 1.2