Proportional control

Proportional control, in engineering and process control, is a type of linear

feedback control system in which a correction is applied to the controlled variable
which is proportional to the difference between the desired value (set point, SP) and
the measured value (process value, PV). Two classic mechanical examples are the
toilet bowl float proportioning valveand the fly-ball governor.

The proportional control concept is more complex than anon–off control system like
a bi-metallic domestic thermostat, but simpler than a proportional–integral–
derivative (PID) control system used in something like an automobile cruise control.
On–off control will work where the overall system has a relatively long response
time, but can result in instability if the system being controlled has a rapid response The fly-ball governor is an early
classic example of proportional
time. Proportional control overcomes this by modulating the output to the
control. The balls rise as speed
controlling device, such as a control valve at a level which avoids instability, but
increases, which closes the valve,
applies correction as fast as practicable by applying the optimum quantity of until a balance is achieved between
proportional gain. demand and the proportional gain of
the linkage and valve.
A drawback of proportional control is that it cannot eliminate the residual SP − PV
error in processes with compensation e.g. temperature control, as it requires an error
to generate a proportional output. To overcome this the PI controller was devised, which uses a proportional term (P) to remove the
gross error, and an integral term (I) to eliminate the residual offset error by integrating the error over time to produce an "I"
component for the controller output.

Contents
Theory
Development of control block diagrams
Offset error
Proportional band
Advantages
References
External links

Theory
In the proportional control algorithm, the controller output is proportional to the error signal, which is the difference between the
setpoint and the process variable. In other words, the output of a proportional controller is the multiplication product of the error
signal and the proportional gain.

This can be mathematically expressed as,

where

: Controller output with zero error.

 : Output of the proportional controller
: Proportional gain
: Instantaneous process error at timet.
SP: Set point
PV: Process variable
Constraints: In a real plant, actuators have physical limitations that can be expressed as constraints on . For example, may
be bounded between −1 and +1 if those are the maximum output limits.

Qualifications: It is preferable to express as a unitless number. To do this, we can express as a ratio with the span of the
instrument. This span is in the same units as error (e.g. C degrees) so the ratio has no units.

Development of control block diagrams

Proportional control dictates . From the block diagram shown, assume that
r, the setpoint, is the flowrate into a tank and e is error, which is the difference
between setpoint and measured process output. is process transfer function; the
input into the block is flow rate and output is tank level.
Simple feedback control loop2
The output as a function of the setpoint, r, is known as the closed-loop transfer
function. If the poles of are stable, then the closed-loop

system is stable.

Offset error
Proportional control cannot eliminate the offset error, which is the
difference between the desired value and the actual value, SP − PV
error, as it requires an error to generate an output. When a
disturbance (deviation from existing state) occurs in the process
value being controlled, any corrective control action, based purely on
Proportional Control, will always leave out the error between the
next steady state and the desired setpoint, and result in a residual
error called the offset error. This error will increase as greater process
demand is put on the system, or by increasing the set point.

Consider an object suspended by a spring as a simple proportional

control. The spring will attempt to maintain the object in a certain
location despite disturbances which may temporarily displace it. Flow control loop. If only a proportional controller
,
then there's always an offset between SP and PV.
Hooke's law tells us that the spring applies a corrective force that is
proportional to the object's displacement. While this will tend to hold
the object in a particular location, the absolute resting location of the object will vary if its mass is changed. This difference in resting
location is the offset error.

Imagine the same spring and object in a weightless environment. In this case, the spring will tend to hold the object in the same
location regardless of its mass. There is no offset error in this case because the proportional action is not working against anything in
the steady state.

Proportional band
The proportional band is the band of controller output over which the final control element (a control valve, for instance) will move
from one extreme to another. Mathematically, it can be expressed as:
So if , the proportional gain, is very high, the proportional band is very small, which means that the band of controller output over
which the final control element will go from minimum to maximum (or vice versa) is very small. This is the case with on–off
controllers, where is very high and hence, for even a small error,the controller output is driven from one extreme to naother.

Advantages
The clear advantage of proportional over on–off control can be demonstrated by car speed control. An analogy to on–off control is
driving a car by applying either full power or no power and varying the duty cycle, to control speed. The power would be on until the
target speed is reached, and then the power wouldbe removed, so the car reduces speed. When the speed falls below the tar
get, with a
certain hysteresis, full power would again be applied. It can be seen that this would obviously result in poor control and large
variations in speed. The more powerful the engine; the greater the instability, the heavier the car; the greater the stability. Stability
may be expressed as correlating to thepower-to-weight ratio of the vehicle.

In proportional control, the power output is always proportional to the (actual versus target speed) error. If the car is at target speed
and the speed increases slightly due to a falling gradient, the power is reduced slightly, or in proportion to the change in error, so that
the car reduces speed gradually and reaches the new target point with very little, if any, "overshoot", which is much smoother control
than on–off control. In practice, PID controllers are used for this and the large number of control processes that require more response
control than proportional alone.

References
Bequette, B. Wayne. Process Control: Modeling, Design, and Simulation.Prentice Hall PTR, 2010.[1]

External links
Proportional control compared to on–off or bang–bang control

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This page was last edited on 29 September 2018, at 15:35(UTC).

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