Chapter two

Review of fundamentals of process control

At the end of this chapter students will be able to:

 explain the necessity of controller

explain the advantage of feedback controller for industrial processes.

 identify and explain the predominant type of feedback controller.

Identify the different form of PID controllers

 Understand feature of PID controller.

 Introduction to feedback controller
 We introduce feedback control systems by again considering the stirred-
tank blending process.
 The control objective of the figure bellow is to keep the tank exit
composition x at the desired value/set point by adjusting , the flow rate
of pure species A, via the control valve.

Fig: schematic diagram for stirred-tank blending system

 Conti…
 This example illustrates the basic components in a feedback control
loop which are:
• Process being controlled (blending system)

• Sensor-transmitter combination(AT): which measure the exit

composition and transmits it as an electronic signal to the electronic
feedback controller(AC).
• Current to pressure transducer(I/P):

• Feedback controller(AC)

• Final control element (control valve)

• Transmission line between the various instruments(electrical cables

and pneumatic tubes)
 Conti…

 The controller output signal p is an electronic signal that is sent to

a current to pressure transducer(I/P), where it is converted to an

equivalent pneumatic signal that is compatible with the control

valve.

 The current to pressure (or voltage to pressure) transducer is

required if the control loop contains both electronic instrument

and pneumatic control valve.

• Most new control systems utilize digital technology with the control
algorithm implemented via digital computers with the digital signal path
ways(networks) used for data transmission.

Historical perspective

 we tend to regard automatic control devices as a modern development.

However, ingenious(the first) feedback control systems for water level
control were used by the Greeks. With their mode of operation being
very similar to that of the level regulation in the modern flush toilet.

Fig: flow control system

 Conti…
Block diagram of feedback control loop of above flow control system is
shown bellow;

Fig: schematic diagram of a feedback

controller
Basic control modes
In feedback control system the objective is to reduce the error signal to
zero.
error expressed as:

And
 Conti…
• setpoint can be time varying,

• but in many process control problems it is kept constant for a long

periods of time.

On/Off Control
The On/Off controller is the simplest imaginable controller. Its control
signal u is given by:
Where: e is the control error

 A drawback with this controller is that it gives rise to oscillations in

the control loop.
 Conti…
The function of the On/Off controller can also be described graphically,
as shown:

In order for the controller to maintain a small difference between

measurement signal and setpoint, it must constantly switch the control
signal between the two levels umax and umin.

The On/Off controller performs well for large errors.

Conti…
proportional control
It is the simplest mode of control.
For proportional control, the controller output is proportional to the
error signal.
Where: u0 is the control signal at zero
control error and
K is the gain of the controller.

Fig: The control signal of the P controller

 Conti…
 For small control errors, the P controller works within its proportional
band. The control error is then given by

In stationarity the control error becomes zero if and only if at least one of
the following criteria are fulfilled:

The key concept behind proportional controller are:

1) the controller gain can be adjusted to make the controller output
changes as sensitive as desired to deviations between setpoint and
controlled variable.
2) the sign of kc can be chosen to make the controller output
increase(or decrease).
 P controller removes the oscillations, which were present during
on/ off control.
 Conti…

• For proportional controllers, bias can be adjusted, a procedure referred to

as manual reset.

• The general purpose controllers Kc is dimensionless.

• Some controllers have a proportional band setting instead of controller gain.

• The proportional band PB (in %) is defined as:

this definition applies only if Kc is dimension less.

 An inherent disadvantage of proportional-only controller is that steady

state error (offset) occurs after a set point change or a sustained
disturbance.
 Integral control
• For integral control action, the controller output depends on the
integral of the error signal over time.

Where: refers to integral time or reset

time. Has unit of time.

• Integral control is widely used because it provides an important

practical advantage, the elimination of offset(steady state error).
• One disadvantage of integral action is that it tends to produce
oscillatory responses of the controlled variable. This reduces the
stability of the feedback control system.
Reset windup
An inherent disadvantage of integral control action is a phenomena
known as reset windup.
 Conti…
Reset windup occurs when PI or PID controller encounters a sustained
error. For example during:
 start up of the batch process or
 after a large setpoint change
Derivative control
• In the past, derivative action was also referred to as rate action,
pre-act, or anticipatory control.

• The controller output proportional to the rate of change of the error

signal. Thus, for ideal derivative action,

• The derivative mode tends to stabilize the controlled process.

Proportional- integral-derivative control
• Here we consider the combination of proportional, integral and
derivative control modes as a PID controller.

the three most common form of PID are:

1. Parallel form of PID control

• Derivative action can be combined with proportional and integral

action having each of the modes of operate in parallel.
2. Series form of PID control
Her, PI element and PD element operate in series.
The series form of PID control with out derivative filter is shown bellow.
 Derivative filter have ability to improve stability and performance of
the controller
3. Expanded form of PID control

In addition to the series and parallel forms, the expanded form of

PID control is sometimes used:

Feature of PID controllers

1. Elimination of derivative and proportional kick
2. Revers or direct action
3. Automatic/ manual control modes
 y?
Typical response of feedback control systems h
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ate
s be
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n
co
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Example:
Each type of controller has advantages and disadvantages and will meet
the needs of different applications
Controller Design and Tuning
Performance Criteria For Closed-Loop Systems

• The function of a feedback control system is to insure that the closed loop system has
desirable dynamics and steady state response characteristics.

• Ideally, we like the closed loop system satisfies the following performance criteria.

 The closed-loop system must be stable.

 The effects of disturbances are minimized, providing good disturbance rejection.

 Rapid, smooth responses to set point changes are obtained, that is good setpoint

tracking.

 Steady state error (offset) eliminated.

 Excessive control action is avoided.

 The control system is robust, that is insensitive to changes in process conditions

and to inaccuracies in the process model.

• The important objectives of control system is tradeoffs, tradeoffs must
balance two important objectives, performance and robustness.

• A control system exhibits a high degree of performance, if it provides

rapid and smooth responses to disturbance and set-point with little, if
any, oscillation.

• A control system is robust if it provides satisfactory performance for a

wide range of process conditions. It can be achieved by choosing
conservative controller settings (typically small value of Kc and large )
but this tend to poor performance.

• Tradeoff can be avoided by using a controller with two degree of

freedom.
• PID controller settings can be determined by a number of alternative
techniques:
1. Direct synthesis (DS) method
2. Internal model control(IMC) method
3. Controller tuning relations
4. Frequency relation techniques
5. Computer simulation
6. Online-tuning after the control system is installed

• Methods 1-5 are based on process models, they can be used to specify
controller settings before the control system is installed.

• Consequently, the objective for methods 1-5 are to provide good initial
controller settings that can subsequently be fine tuned online, if necessary.

• Methods 1 and 2 are based on simple transfer function models.

 Model based design
• Model-based design (MBD) is a mathematical modeling-based method for
designing, analyzing, and validating dynamic systems.

• A wide variety of model based design strategies are available for designing PID
controllers.

• But, in this section, we consider two important MBD methods that are specially
useful in process control.

• Model based techniques can also be used to design feedforward controller.

• In model-based design of control systems, development is manifested in these four

steps:
1. modeling a plant,

2. analyzing and synthesizing a controller for the plant,

3. simulating the plant and controller,

4. integrating all these phases by deploying the controller.

 Conti…
Direct synthesis (DS) method

• In direct synthesis (DS) method, the controller design is based on a

process model and a desired closed loop transfer function.

• The DS approach provides valuable insight into the relationship between

the process model and the resulting controller.

• From block diagram, the closed loop transfer function for set point changes
derived as:
 Conti…

• The above figure can also indicates the following input output relations
for the individual blocks.
 Conti…

(1)

• This last equation can not be used for controller design because the
closed loop transfer function is not known a priori
 Conti…
Provides an approximation of process behavior. A practical design
equation can be derived by replacing the unknown

(2)

Desired closed loop transfer function

 The performance of the DS controller above, strongly depends on:

1. the specification of the desired closed loop transfer function
2.
• For processes without time delays, the first order model in eq.3 is a
more reasonable choice,
(3)
 Conti…

(4)

 If the process transfer function contains a known time delay a

reasonable choice for the desired closed loop transfer function is:

(5)

o If the time delay is unknown, theta must be replaced by an estimate.

combining eq. 5 with eq. 2 gives.

(6)

Also this controller is not in a standard PID form, it is physically realizable.

 Conti…
• Eq. 6 can be used to drive PID controllers for simple process models.

• This derivation is based on approximating the time-delay term in the

denominator of eq. 6 with truncated Taylor series expansion:

(7)

Substitute eq. 7 in to denominator of eq. 6 and rearranging gives:

(8)

This controller also contains integral control action.

Time delay approximations are less accurate when the time delay is
relatively large compared to the dominant time constant of the process.

Approximate the time delay term in the numerator is not necessary because
it is canceled by the identical term in
 First order plus time delay(FOPTD) model:

• Consider the standard first order-plus-time-delay model,

(9)
Substitute eq.9 into eq.8. after rearrangement it gives a PI controller,
(10)
with the following settings;

Second order plus time delay(SOPTD) model

• Consider the standard first order-plus-time-delay model,
(10)

• Substitute eq.10 into eq.8. after rearrangement it gives a PID controller

in parallel forms, (11)
 (12)

The tuning relations in eq. 12 indicates that for large values of 𝜃 , 𝐾𝑐

decreased but does not change
Example 3.1
Use the DS design method to calculate PID controller settings for the
process: s
2e
G
10s  15s  1

Consider three values of the desired closed-loop time constant:  c  1, 3, and 10

Evaluate the controllers for unit step changes in both the set point and the
disturbance, assuming that Gd = G. Repeat the evaluation for two cases:
 a. The process model is perfect (G = G).

b.The model gain is K = 0.9, instead of the actual value, K = 2.

Thus, s
0.9 e
G 
10s  15s  1
The controller settings for this example are:
 Internal model control (IMC) method
• Is a more comprehensive model based design method.
• Like DS, IMC is based on the assumed process model.
• IMC and DS design methods are closely related and produce identical
controllers if the design parameters are specified in a consistent
manner.
• However, IMC have the advantage that it allows model uncertainty
and tradeoff between performance and robustness to be considered in
more systematic fashion.
• The IMC method is based on the simplified block diagram b below.

DISCRIPTION:
P and process model used to calculate model response the model response is
subtracted from the actual response Y and the difference Y is used as the input signal to
the IMC controller In general Y due to modeling errors (G ) and unknown disturbances
(D 0) that are not accounted for in the model.
• The two block diagrams are identical if controllers and satisfay the
relation:
(13)

thus any IMC controller is equivalent to standard feedback controller, and

vice versa.

• Using block diagram algebra, response of figure b is:

(14)

• For the special case of a perfect model G eq.14 reduces to:

(15)
• There are two steps to design IMC controller.
Step1: the process model is factored as:

(16)
DISCRIPTION:

Where: contains any time delays and right-half plane zeros. In addition, is
required to have a steady state gain equal to one in order to insure that the
two factors above are unique.
Step2: the controller is specified as:
(17)

Where: f is a low-pass filter with a steady state gain of one.

(18)

In analogy with DS method, is the desired closed loop time constant,

Parameter r is a positive integer. The usual choice is r = 1.
• For the ideal situation where the process model is perfect G , substituting
Eq. 17 into eq.15 gives the closed-loop expression
(19)

Thus, the closed-loop transfer function for set-point changes is

(20)
guidelines to chose that are applicable to both DS and IMC methods
 The choice of design parameter τ c is a key decision in both the DS and
IMC design methods.
 In general, increasing τ c produces a more conservative controller because
Kc decreases while τ I increases.
•Several IMC guidelines for τ c have been published for the model :
 Controller Tuning Relations
• In the previous section, we have seen that model-based design
methods such as DS and IMC produce PI or PID controllers for certain
classes of process models.
• System with those designed PI or PID controller may not have good
performance.
IMC Tuning Relations
 The IMC method can be used to derive PID controller settings for a
variety of transfer function models.
 The table below shows the IMC-based PID controller settings for Gc(s)
(Chien and Fruehauf, 1990).
See the text for the rest of this table.
• Equivalent PID controller settings for the parallel and series forms
are shown by table below:

N.B: this conversation equations are only valid if

 Tuning Relations Based on Integral Error Criteria
Q: Why we need controller tuning?

• Controller tuning relations have been developed to optimize the closed-

loop response of a simple process model and a specified disturbance or
set-point change.
• The optimum settings minimize an integral error criterion.
• Three popular integral error criteria are:

1. Integral of the absolute value of the error (IAE)

(21)

Where: the error signal e(t) is the difference between the set point and the
measurement.
 Fig: Graphical interpretation of IAE. The shaded area is the IAE value.

2. Integral of the squared error (ISE)

(22)
3. Integral of the time-weighted absolute error (ITAE)

(23)

 The ISE criteria penalizes large errors, while,

 The ITAE criteria penalizes errors that persist for long period of time.
 ITAE is the preferred criterion because it is usually results in the most
conservative controller settings.
 By contrast, the ISE criterion provides most aggressive settings while, IAE
criterion tends to produce controller settings that are between ITAE & ISE
criterion.

See text for ITAE controller tuning relations.

Comparison of Controller Design and Tuning Relations

• Although the design and tuning relations of the previous sections are
based on different performance criteria, several general conclusions can
be drawn:
1. The controller gain Kc should be inversely proportional to the product of the
other gains in the feedback loop (i.e., Kc 1/K where K = KvKpKm).
2. Kc should decrease as θ / τ , the ratio of the time delay to the dominant time
constant, increases. In general, the quality of control decreases as
increases owing to longer settling times and larger maximum deviations from
the set point.
3. Both τ I and τ D should increase as θ / τ increases. For many controller tuning
relations, the ratio,τ D / τ I, is between 0.1 and 0.3. As a rule of thumb,
use τ D / τ I = 0.25 as a first guess.
4. When integral control action is added to a proportional-only controller, Kc
should be reduced. The further addition of derivative action allows Kc to be
increased to a value greater than that for proportional-only control.
 Controllers With Two Degrees of Freedom

• The specification of controller settings for a standard PID controller

typically requires a tradeoff between set-point tracking and disturbance
rejection.

• These strategies are referred to as controllers with two-degrees-of-freedom.

• The first strategy is very simple.

• Set-point changes are introduced gradually rather than as abrupt step

changes.

• For example, the set point can be ramped as shown in Fig. below or
“filtered” by passing it through a first-order transfer function,
(24)
 *
where Ysp : denotes the filtered set point that is used in the control
calculations.

• The filter time constant, τ f determines how quickly the filtered set point
will attain the new value, as shown in Fig. below.

Fig. Implementation of set-point changes.

• A second strategy for independently adjusting the set-point response is
based on a simple modification of the PID control law,

(25)

Where: ym is the measured value of y and e is the error signal.

(26)

• The control law modification consists of multiplying the set point in the
proportional term by a set-point weighting factor, β :

(27)
• The set-point weighting factor is bounded, 0 < ß < 1,and serves as a
convenient tuning factor.

Fig: Influence of set-point weighting on closed-loop responses for Example 12.6

in the text
 On-Line Controller Tuning

• During control system design, primary controller settings are specified based on:

 Process knowledge
 Control objectives and
 Prior experience

• After a controller is installed, the preliminary settings often prove to be

satisfactory. But, for critical control loops, the preliminary settings may
have to be adjusted in order to achieve satisfactory control. This onsite
adjustment is referred to: online tuning or controller tuning or field
tuning.

• Online controller tuning involves plant testing, often on a trial and error
basis.
 Few general observations related to controller tuning:
1. Controller tuning inevitably involves a tradeoff between performance
and robustness.

2. Controller settings do not have to be precisely determined.

3. For most plants, it is not feasible to manually tune each controller.

4. Diagnostic techniques for monitoring control system performance are

available.
 We consider three important online tuning methods
1. Continuous Cycling Method

Over 60 years ago, Ziegler and Nichols (1942) published a classic paper
that introduced the continuous cycling method for controller tuning.

It is based on the following trial-and-error procedure:

Step 1. After the process has reached steady state (at least approximately),
eliminate the integral and derivative control action by setting τ D to zero
and τ I to the largest possible value.
Step 2. Set Kc equal to a small value (e.g., 0.5) and place the controller in
the automatic mode.
Step 3. Introduce a small, momentary set-point change so that the
controlled variable moves away from the set point. Gradually increase Kc
in small increments until continuous cycling occurs. The term continuous
cycling refers to a sustained oscillation with a constant amplitude. The
numerical value of Kc that produces
Step 4. Calculate the PID controller settings using the Ziegler-Nichols (Z-
N) tuning relations in Table 12.6.

Step 5. Evaluate the Z-N controller settings by introducing a small set-

point change and observing the closed-loop response. Fine-tune the
settings, if necessary.
Example: For the model

Compute the PID controllers and Compare the system response with the
following settings.
a) Ziegler Nichols(Z-N) settings (use table 12.6)
b) Tyreus Luyben (T-L) settings (use table 12.6)
c) Direct synthesis method with τc =3 (use following equation)
 Fig: comparison of PID controller for different method
2. Relay auto tuning
• The operation of relay auto tuner includes a dead band as shown in the
figure below.
• This dead band is used to avoid frequent switching caused by
measurement noise.
 Fig: autotuning using a relay controller
• Approximate expression for the ultimate gain is:

Where d= relay amplitude (set by user)

a= the measured amplitude of the process oscillation

• Ultimate period is equal to the period of oscillation for the process output.

After obtaining the ultimate parameter, PID controller settings can the be
calculated from Z-N settings given in the table.
 Advantage of relay auto-tuning method compared to the continuous
cycling method:
1. Only a single experiment test is required instead of a trial-and-error
procedure.

2. The amplitude of the process output a can be restricted by adjusting

relay amplitude d.

3. The process is not forced to a stability limit.

4. The experimental test is easily automated using commercial products

3. Step Test Method

• In this method, only single experimental test is necessary. But have

several disadvantages. (see the text)
 Troubleshooting control loop
• The starting point for troubleshooting is to obtain enough background
information to clearly define the problem.

• Questions need to be answered..

1.What is the process being controlled?

2.What is the controlled variable?
3.What are the control objectives?
4.Are closed-loop response data available?
5.Is the controller in the manual or automatic mode? Is it reverse or direct acting?
6.If the process is cycling, what is the cycling frequency?
7.What control algorithm is used? What are the controller settings?
8.Is the process open-loop stable?

9.What additional documentation is available, such as control loop summary sheets,

piping and instrumentation diagrams, etc.?
 ! !!
E nd