CONTROL SYSTEMS

517/15/S07

FEEDBACK AND CONTROL SYSTEMS

J M MATINA
November 2021
 CONTROL SYSTEM DEFINED
• A system is an arrangement, set or collection of things connected or related in
such a manner as to form an entirety or whole
• A system is an arrangement of physical components connected or related in such
a manner as to form and/or act as an entire unit
• The word control is usually taken to mean regulate, direct, or command.
• Thus, a control system is an arrangement of physical components connected or
related in such a manner as to command, direct or regulate itself or another
system
• Control systems are used in many applications, for example systems for the
control of position, velocity, acceleration, temperature, pressure, voltage and
current, etc.
 Examples of control systems
• Input is the stimulus or excitation applied to a control system from an external
energy source, usually in order to produce a specified response from the control
system.
• Output is the actual response obtained from a control system. It may or may not
be equal to the specified response implied by the input.
• Control systems may have more than one input or output. Spurious inputs (eg
lightning affecting radio signals) producing undesirable outputs are part of the
output as defined above and must be considered when the system is analysed
• Three basic types of control systems:
I. Man-made control systems
II. Natural, including biological control systems
III. Control systems whose components are both man-made and natural
 CLASSIFICATION OF CONTROL SYSTEMS
• Two general categories: open loop and closed loop system.
• In order to classify a system as open or closed loop, the components of the system must be
clearly distinguished from components that interact with, but are not part of the system. (an
operator may or may not be part of the system!)
• Open-loop control system is one in which the control action is independent of the output
• In open-loop control:
I. The output is neither measured nor fed back for comparison with the input
II. Faithfulness of the system depends on the accuracy of the input calibration
• Closed-loop control system is one in which the control action is somehow dependent on the
output
• More commonly referred to as Feedback control systems. Systems that do not involve human
intervention for normal operation are Automatic Control Systems
• A closed-loop control system using a power amplifying device prior to a controller and the
output of such a device being mechanical, i.e. position, velocity, acceleration is called a
servomechanism
COMPARISON OF OPEN LOOP AND CLOSED LOOP CONTROL
SYSTEMS
ITEM OPEN-LOOP CONTROL SYSTEM CLOSED-LOOP CONTROL SYSTEM
1 Accuracy depends on calibration of the As the error between the reference input
input. Any departure from predetermined and the output is continuously measured
calibration affects the output (To calibrate is through feedback, the closed loop system
to establish or re-establish the input/output works more accurately
relation to obtain a desired system
accuracy)

2 Simple to construct and cheap Complicated to construct and costly

3 Open-loop control systems are not generally Becomes unstable under certain
troubled with problems of instability conditions

4 Operation is affected due to the presence of Adjusts to the effects of non-linearities

non-linearities in its elements present in its elements
 FEEDBACK
• That property of closed-loop control systems that permits the output (or some
other controlled variable of the system) to be compared with the input to the
system (or an input to some other internally situated component or subsystem of
the system) so that the appropriate control action may be formed as some
function of the output and input
• Is said to exist in a system when a closed sequence of cause-and-effect relations
exists between system variables
• In essence, every passive system (one containing no energy sources) may be
viewed as a feedback system
 CHARACTERISTICS OF FEEDBACK
1. Increases accuracy, ability to faithfully reproduce the input
2. Reduces sensitivity of the ratio of output to input to variations in system
characteristics
3. Reduces effects of non-linearities and distortion
4. Increases bandwidth. The bandwidth of a system is that range of frequencies
(of the input) over which the system will respond satisfactorily
5. Tendency towards oscillation or instability.
THE CONTROL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING
PROBLEM
• Two problems: the analysis and the design of a control system configuration
• Analysis is the investigation of the properties of an existing system
• Design problem is the choice and arrangement of control system components to
perform a specific task
1. Design by analysis: is accomplished by modifying the characteristics of an
existing or standard system configuration
2. Design by synthesis: defining the form of the system directly from its
specifications
 REPRESENTATION OF THE PROBLEM: THE MODEL
• In order to solve a systems problem, the specifications or description of the
system configuration and its components must be put into a form amenable to
analysis, design and evaluation
• Three basic representations (models) are used in control systems:
1. Differential equations and other mathematical relations
2. Block diagrams
3. Signal flow graphs
• Block diagrams and signal flow graphs are shorthand graphical representations of
either the schematic diagram of a physical system or the set of mathematical
equations characterising its parts
• Mathematical models, in the form of system equations are employed when
detailed relationships are required. The solution to these equations represents
system behaviour.
USE OF LAPLACE TRANSFORMATION IN CONTROL SYSTEMS
• The control action of a dynamic system (electrical, mechanical, thermal,
hydraulic, etc) can be represented by a differential equation
• Output response of the system to a specified input can be obtained by solving the
differential equations
• The equation describing the control system is transformed into algebraic form by
the use of the Laplace Transformation technique.
• Laplace transform transforms a time-domain equation into a frequency-domain
algebraic equation