ADVANCED CONTROL STRATEGIES

Dr. Meera Balachandran

Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
 Control Architectures
• Feedback
• Feed Forward
• Ratio
• Cascade
 An Example

Control Objective - maintain LC1 at LC1set

 Feedback Control

Philosophy: Adjust for errors as they take place.

 Feedback Control
Advantages Disadvantages
• Simple to design • Only corrects for errors after they
• No process model happen. Perfect control is impossible
required • Generally only takes input from one
sensor
• Corrective action
• Problematic for processes with large
taken regardless of
time constants and/or long time
disturbance source
delaysNothing can be done about
• Can effectively known process disturbance
eliminate • If disturbances occur at a frequency
disturbances for fast comparable to the settling time of the
responding process. Then process may never
processes settle down.
• Versatile and robust • Can become unstable due to
nonlinearity and disturbance upsets.
 Feed Forward Control

Control Objective - maintain LC1 at LC1set

Philosophy: Anticipate and correct for errors before they
happen
 Feed Forward Control

Philosophy: Anticipate and correct for errors before they happen

Advantages Disadvantages
• Corrects for deviations before they • Requires infinitely accurate
happen! models
• In ideal cases can produce perfect •Disturbance must be explicitly
control measured
• Requires infinitely accurate
measurements
 Feed Forward Control

https://www.wisc-online.com/learn/career-clusters/stem/iau3406/the-feed-
forward-control-system
 Feed Forward Control
Advantages Disadvantages
• Corrects for deviations before they • Requires infinitely accurate
happen! models.
• In ideal cases can produce perfect • Errors in modeling can
control. result in poor control
• Controlled variable need not be
• Disturbance must be
measured.
• Does not affect the stability of the explicitly measured
processes • Since it is a linear
• Most effective for slow processes controller, its performance
and for processes with significant will deteriorate with
deadtime. nonlinearity
• Can improve reliability of the
feedback controller by reducing the
deviation from setpoint.
 Ratio Control

Control Objective - maintain LC1 at LC1set

Philosophy:
Connect two flows to maintain a constant ratio
 Ratio Control

Advantages Disadvantages
• Links two streams to produce a • Never measures FC2, thus
defined ratio assumes the flows are matched
• Simple--does not require a • Assumes pressure from B is
complex model constant
 Ratio Control
Advantages Disadvantages
• Useful when the • Dynamic compensation is
manipulated variable scales required when the
directly with the feed rate controlled variable responds
to the process. dynamically different to
feed rate changes than it
does to a changes in the
manipulated variable.
 Typical Performance
Improvements using Ratio Control

w/o ratio control

Impurity Concentration

w/ ratio control

Time
 Cascade Control

Control Objective - maintain LC1 at LC1set

Philosophy: Sensors can control the set points
of other sensors to integrate information
 Cascade Control

Logic: The inner loop is something that changes quickly, here possibly due to pressure
changes from the A storage. Outer loop changes slowly, and influences the inner loop
by controlling the set point of FC1.
Advantages Disadvantages
• Controller responds quickly to • Controller is more complex
high frequency changes • Tuning cascade controllers is more
• can provide improved difficult as the set point changes + more
performance for unmeasured parameters
disturbances
• Controller integrates multiple
sensor readings together
 Cascade Control - Advantages
• Better control of the primary variable
• Primary variable less affected by disturbances
• Faster recovery from disturbances
• Increase the natural frequency of the system
• Improve dynamic performance
• Provide limits on the secondary variable
• Disturbances in the secondary loop are corrected by
secondary controllers
• Response of the secondary loop is improved, thus increasing
the speed of response of the primary loop
• Gain variations in secondary loop are compensated by
secondary loop
• Effectively accounts for external disturbances
• Reduces dead time in variable response
• Compatible with other Control Systems, such as Feed-Back
and Feed-Forward Control Architectures
 Cascade Control - Disadvantages
• Increased cost of instrumentation
• Need to tune two loops instead of one
• Secondary variable must be measured
• Multiple control loops make physical and
computational architecture more complex
 Mixed Architecture
Most real systems have combinations of feedback,
feed forward, ratio, and cascade control.
• Example #1: Control LC1 using FC1 cascaded to v1
and feedback control on v3
• Example #2: Maintain ratio of B using FC1 cascaded
to FC2 to control v2
Advantages Disadvantages
• Pick and choose features to • Controllers can be complex
fit the problem (Each I controller adds an ODE, eigenvalue, and
• Incorporate in any number new dimension to the problem.)
of sensors in a rational way • Tuning is difficult
- Routh stability really helps define appropriate
ranges
- Optimization based tuning
 Combined FF and FB Control

D(s)
C ff (s)
G ff (s)

G d (s)

Y sp (s) +
++
C fb (s) Y(s)
+- G c (s) G p (s) +
Combined FF and FB for the CSTR

TC

+ FF
RSP
FC TT
Feed
FT

Steam TT

Product
 Results for CSTR

6
FB-only
3
T' (K)

-3 FF-only
FF+FB
-6
0 10 20 30 40 50
Time (seconds)
 When Should Cascade Control be Used?
• Cascade control should always be used if you have a
process with relatively slow dynamics (like level,
temperature, composition, humidity) and a liquid or
gas flow, or some other relatively-fast process, has to
be manipulated to control the slow process.
• Example: changing cooling water flow rate to control
condenser pressure (vacuum), or changing steam
flow rate to control heat exchanger outlet
temperature. In both cases, flow control loops should
be used as inner loops in cascade arrangements.
Single-loop control of a jacketed kettle
• satisfactory for controlling
the kettle temperature
• if the temperature of the
oil-supply drop, the kettle
temperature can undergo
a large deviation from the
set point before control is
again established.
Single-loop control of a jacketed kettle

The controller does not take corrective action until the

effect of the drop in oil-supply temperature has worked
itself through the system of several resistances to teach
the measuring element
 Cascade Systems
• Cascade Control Systems contain integrated
sets of control loops
Primary Loop: Monitors the control variable and
uses deviation from its setpoint to provide an
output to the secondary loop.
Secondary Loop: Receives its setpoint from the
primary loop and controls the reference variable
accordingly.
 Cascade Control
• 2 controllers and 2 measuring
elements
• the output of the primary
controller is used to adjust the set
point of a secondary controller,
which is used to control the jacket
temperature.
• the primary controller adjusts
indirectly the jacket temperature.
• If the oil temperature drops, the
secondary control loop will act
quickly to maintain the jacket
The primary controller - master controller
secondary controller - slave controller. temperature close to the value
determined by the set point that is
adjusted by the primary controller.
Cascade Control
Analysis of Cascade Control
 Cascade Control - Generalizations
• useful in reducing the effect of a load
disturbance that moves through the control
system slowly.
• The inner loop has the effect of reducing the
lag in the outer loop, with the result that the
cascade system responds more quickly with a
higher frequency of oscillation.
Responses to step change in set point for
single-loop control and cascade control
Responses to step change in load
 Key Features for Cascade Control
to be Successful
• Secondary loop should reduce the effect of
one or more disturbances.
• Secondary loop must be at least 3 times
faster than master loop.
• The CV for the secondary loop should have a
direct effect on the CV for the primary loop.
• The secondary loop should be tuned tightly.
 Design Considerations – Inner Loop
• Secondary loop must be fast responding otherwise system
will not settle - Time constant in the secondary loop must
be smaller than primary loop
• Since secondary loop is fast, proportional action alone is
sufficient. Any offset associated with proportional control
of the inner loop can be handled by the presence of
integral action in the primary controller.
• Only disturbances within the secondary loop are
compensated by the secondary loop. Hence, cascading
improves the response to these disturbances
 Design Considerations – Inner Loop
• The gain of the secondary controller should be set to a
high value to give a tight inner loop that responds quickly
to load disturbance; however, the gain should not be so
high that the inner loop is unstable.
• Tuned first with outer controller in manual, Tuned to
provide fast response to set point changes
 Design Considerations – Outer Loop
• The action for the primary controller is
generally PI or PID. The integral action is
needed to reduce offset when sustained
changes in load or set point occur.
• The problem of adjusting a primary controller
is essentially the same as for a single-loop
control system.
 Design Considerations – Outer Loop

• Since the addition of the inner loop can change

the dynamics of the outer loop significantly, the
primary controller must be retuned when the
inner loop is closed or when the secondary
controller settings are changed.
• Tuned second with inner controller in automatic,
Tuned to provide acceptable responses to setpoint
changes and/or disturbances
 Disadvantages of Cascade Control
1. It requires an additional measurement
(usually flow rate) to work
2. There is an additional controller that has to
be tuned.
3. The control strategy is more complex – for
engineers and operators alike.
These disadvantages have to be weighed up against the
benefits of the expected improvement in control to
decide if cascade control should be implemented.
 When Should Cascade Control Not be Used?
• Cascade control is beneficial only if the dynamics of
the inner loop are fast compared to those of the
outer loop. Cascade control should generally not be
used if the inner loop is not at least three times
faster than the outer loop, because the improved
performance may not justify the added complexity.
• In addition to the diminished benefits of cascade
control when the inner loop is not significantly faster
than the outer loop, there is also a risk of interaction
between the two loops that could result in instability
– especially if the inner loop is tuned very
aggressively.
 Example : Fired heater process

Fired heater process with simplified control

Fired heater process with simplified control

The furnace coil outlet temperature is to be controlled. Determine whether the
cascade control is possible as designed. If not, make appropriate changes to achieve
cascade control.
 The cascade design criteria
1. Control without cascade is not N/A for determining if cascade is
acceptable. possible. But, it is important to
determine when cascade is
recommended!

2. Secondary variable is measured See next slides

3. Indicates a key disturbance
4. Influenced by the manipulated Yes
valve

5. Secondary dynamics faster Yes

 Example : Fired heater process

Fired heater process with simplified control

Fired heater process with simplified control

For each of the following disturbances, determine whether the cascade design,
after modifications in part a (if needed), will perform better, the same, or worse
than single loop feedback (TC→ valve).
Disturbance Suggested Control Explanation

fuel supply pressure Cascade is better The flow controller will

compensate for the
disturbance. Whether the
secondary corrects for the
complete disturbance
depends on the flow
sensor.

fuel density (composition): Cascade is better The improvement possible

using cascade control
depends on the sensor
used and the change in
heating value
for changes in density.
Disturbance Suggested Control Explanation

fuel control valve sticking Cascade is better The fuel flow meter will
immediately sense the
deviation in flow and correct
the flow.

feed temperature: Cascade is neither better The performance is the

nor worse same. The secondary
measured variable is not
affected by the feed
temperature.
Therefore, cascade provides
no compensation
 Feedforward Control

Feedforward Disturbance
Controller Disturbance

Output
Output
Process
Manipulated
Manipulated
Variable
Variable
 When to use Feedforward ?
• Feedback control is unsatisfactory
• If a particular load disturbance occurs frequently in
a control process
• Disturbance can be measured and compensated
for
• Frequency of disturbance variations are
comparable to frequency of oscillation of the
system
• Output variable cannot be measured.
• There are large time delays in the system
Composition Control System
 Responses to a step change in set point for PI control.

• response is oscillatory and has a long tail.

• feedback control system does not begin to respond until the
load disturbance has worked its way through the forward
loop and reaches the measuring element
• the composition can move far from the set point during the
transient
Composition Control – Feed Forward System

If the change in load disturbance (Ci) can be detected as soon as it occurs

in the inlet stream, this information can be fed forward to a second controller
that adjusts the control valve in such a way as to prevent any change in the
outlet composition from the set point.
A controller that uses information fed forward from the source of the load
disturbance is called a feedforward controller.
Composition Control – Feed Forward System
Design Procedures (Block diagram Method)
 Derivation
C ( s )  GL ( s ) L ( s )  GP ( s ) M ( s )
 GL ( s ) L( s )  GP ( s )GF ( s ) L( s )
 GL s   GP s GF ( s )L( s )
We want C ( s )  0 for all L( s ). Hence
GL s   GP s GF ( s )  0
or
GL s 
GF s   
GP s 
need : (1)GL ( s ), load transfer function
(2)GP s , process transfer function
 Tuning feedforward controllers
 1s  1
• Let GF ( s )  K
 2s 1
• This has three adjustable constants, K, τ1, τ2
• Tuning K, K is selected so that for a persistent
disturbance, there is no steady state error in output.
• Adjusting τ1, τ2 can be obtained from transfer
functions. Fine tune τ1, τ2 such that for a step
disturbance, the response is somewhat symmetrical
about the set point.
 Overview
• Cascade can effectively remove certain
disturbances if the slave loop is at least 3
times faster than the master loop.
• Ratio control is effective for processes that
scale with the feed rate.
• Feedforward can be effective for measured
disturbances for slow responding processes
as long as the process nonlinearity is not
too great.
 Guidelines
1. Keep the control system as simple as possible.
2. Avoid large lags and dead time in the feedback
loop.
3. Avoid saturation of a manipulated variable.
Remarks:
Guidelines 2 & 3 imply: select the input-output
pairing such that: (1) the SS gain should be as
large as possible and (2) the dead time and
time constant should be as small as possible.
 Guidelines
4. Use feedforward to compensate large, frequent
and measurable disturbances.
5. Eliminate minor disturbances using cascade
control.
6. Avoid control loop interaction if possible.
7. Use P-only level control when the absolute level
is not important.
8. Do not easily put the level on manual
 Take Home Messages
• Using a combination of feedback, feed forward, ratio,
and cascade control you can design flexible control
systems
• More complex control systems are harder to tune
and model, but if done right outperform simpler
architectures
• When designing your control system, be aware of the
control objective and possible conflicts
END