Feedback Control System

Lesson 1: Introduction to
Control Systems and
Terminologies
INTRODUCTION TO CONTROL ADVANTAGES OF CONTROL SYSTEM
SYSTEMS
• Can move large equipment with
SYSTEM precision
• Can point huge antennas toward the
• An arrangement, set, or collection of farthest reaches of the universe to pick
things connected or related in such a up faint radio signals
manner as to form an entirety or whole. • Elevators carry us quickly to our
CONTROL destination, automatically stopping at
the right floor
• Usually taken to mean regulate, direct,
or command. PRIMARY REASONS IN BUILDING
CONTROL SYSTEMS
CONTROL SYSTEM
• Power amplification (ex. Radar antenna
• An arrangement of physical output rotation)
components connected or related in • Remote control (ex. Remote-controlled
such a manner as to command, direct, robot arm in radioactive environment)
or regulate itself or another system. • Convenience of input form (ex.
CONTROL SYSTEM DEFINITION Temperature control system;
thermostat as input)
• Consists of subsystems and processes • Compensation for disturbances (ex.
(or plants) assembled for the purpose of Repositioned antenna due to wind
controlling the outputs of the processes. forces)
• An interconnection of components
forming a system configuration that will BRIEF HISTORY OF CONTROL SYSTEM
provide desired system response. Liquid-Level Control
• Note that control systems of interest for
analysis or design purposes include not • Greeks began engineering feedback
only those manufactured by humans, systems (300 BC)
but those that normally exist in nature, • Water clock by Ktesibios
and control systems with both - Water trickle into a measuring
manufactured and natural components. container at a constant rate.
- The level of water in the
measuring container could be
used to tell time.

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• Oil lamp by Philon (250 BC) • Sperry Gyroscope Company (1922)
- Used a float regulator in an oil - Installed automatic steering
lamp for maintaining a constant system that used the elements of
level of fuel oil. compensation and adaptive
• Heron of Alexandria (Fist century AD) control to improve performance.
- Published a book entitled • Nicholas Minorsky
Pneumatica, which outlined - His theoretical development
several forms of water-level applied to the automatic steering
mechanisms using float of ships that led to proportional-
regulators. plus-integral-plus-derivative
(PID).
Steam Pressure and Temperature Controls • H.W. Bode and H. Nyquist at Bell
• Temperature Regulator of Cornelis Telephone Laboratories (late 1920s –
Drebbel (1572-1633) early 1930s)
- First feedback system to be - Develop the analysis of feedback
invented in modern Europe amplifiers.
• Pressure Regulator of Dennis Papin • Walter R. Evans (1948)
(1647-1712) - Working in the aircraft industry,
- First pressure regulator for steam developed aa graphical
boilers in 1681. technique to plot the roots of a
- A form of safety regulator similar characteristic equation of a
to a pressure-cooker valve. feedback system whose
parameter changed over a
Speed Control particular range of valves – root
• Flyball Speed Governor of James Watt locus technique.
(1769) Contemporary Applications
- First automatic feedback
controller used in an industrial • Widespread application in the guidance,
process for controlling the speed navigation, and control of missiles and
of a steam engine. spacecraft, as well as planes and ships
• Stability, Stabilization, and Steering as sea.
• James Clerk Maxwell (1868) • Modern ships use a combination of
- Published the stability criterion electrical, mechanical, and hydraulic
for a third-order system based on components to develop rudder
the coefficients of the differential commands in response to desired
equation. heading commands.
• Edward John Routh (1874) • Home heating system is a simple
- Able to extend the stability control system consisting of a
criterion to fifth-order systems thermostat containing a bimetallic
using suggestion from William material that expands or contracts with
Kingdon Clifford (ignored by changing temperature.
Maxwell). • Home entertainment systems have
built-in control systems. Microscopic
pits
Twentieth-Century Developments • representing the information are cut
into the disc by a laser during the

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System
 recording process. During playback, • The input to this system may be
a reflected laser beam focused on “normal” or comfortable skin
the pits that changes intensity. temperature, a “setpoint,” or the air
temperature, a physical variable.
BASIC PARTS OF CONTROL SYSTEM • The output is the actual skin
• Input – the stimulus, excitation or temperature.
command applied to a control OPEN-LOOP AND CLOSED-LOOP
system, typically from an external CONTROL SYSTEMS
energy source, usually in order to
produce a specified response from • Open-loop Control System – is one
the control system. in which the control action is
• This may be physical variables or independent of the output.
more abstract quantities such as • Closed-loop Control System – is one
reference, setpoint, or desired which the control action is somehow
values for the output of the control dependent on the output.
system.
• Output – the actual response *Control action does not always directly
obtained from a control system. It imply change, motion, or activity.
may or may not be equal to the Two outstanding features of open-loop
specified response implied by the control systems are:
output.
• Control systems may have more 1. Their ability to perform accurately is
than one input or output. determined by their calibration. To
calibrate means to establish or
EXAMPLES OF CONTROL SYSTEM reestablish the input-output relation
Example 1: An electric switch is a to obtain a desired system accuracy.
manufactured control system, controlling 2. They are not usually troubled with
the flow of electricity. By definition, the problems of instability. Closed-loop
apparatus or person flipping the switch is control systems are more commonly
not a part of this control system. called feedback control systems.

• Flipping the switch on or off may be FEEDBACK

considered as the input. • Feedback is that property of a closed-loop
• The output is the flow or nonflow of system which permits the output (or some
electricity. other controlled variable) to be compared
Example 2: A part of the human with the input to the system (or an input to
temperature control system is the some other internally situated component
perspiration system. When the temperature or subsystem) so that the appropriate
of the air exterior to the skin becomes too control action may be formed as some
high the sweat glands secrete heavily, function of the output and input.
including cooling of the skin by evaporation. • Feedback is said to exist in a system when
Secretion are reduced when the desired a closed sequence of cause-and-effect
cooling effect is achieved, or when the air relations exists between system variables.
temperature falls sufficiently.
CHARACTERISTICS OF FEEDBACK

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The presence of feedback typically imparts • The arrows represent the direction of
the ff. properties to a system. information or signal flow.
1. Increased accuracy. For example,
the ability to faithfully reproduce the
input.
2. Tendency toward oscillation or
instability. • The operations of addition and
3. Reduced sensitivity of the ratio of subtraction have a special
output to input to variations in representation.
system parameters and other • The block becomes a small circle, called
characteristics. a summing point, with the appropriate
4. Reduced effects of nonlinearities. plus or minus sign associated with the
5. Reduced effects of external arrows entering the circle.
disturbances or noise. • The output is the algebraic sum of the
6. Increased bandwidth. The inputs. Any number of inputs may enter
bandwidth of a system is a a summing point.
frequency response measure of how
well the system responds to (or
filters) variations (or frequencies) in
the input signal.
BLOCK DIAGRAM
• It is a shorthand, pictorial representation
of the cause-and-effect relationship Additive Input
between the input and output of a
physical system.
• It provides a convenient and useful
method for characterizing the functional
relationships among the various
components of a control system.
• System components are alternatively Subtractive Input
called elements of the system.
• The simplest form of the block diagram
is the single block, with one input and
one output.

• The interior of the rectangle

representing the block usually contains Summing points having 3 inputs
a description of or the name of the
element, or the symbol for the • Some authors put a cross in the circle.
mathematical operation to be performed
on the input to yield the output.

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• This notation is avoided because it is Takeoff Point used as Feedback
sometimes confused with the
multiplication operation. BLOCK DIAGRAMS OF CONTINUOUS/
• In order to have the same signal or ANALOG FEEDBACK CONTROL
variable be an input to more than one SYSTEMS
block or summing point, a takeoff point • The blocks representing the various
is used. components of a control system are
• This permits the signal to proceed connected in a fashion which
unaltered along several different paths characterizes their functional
to several destinations. relationships within the system.
• The basic configuration of a simple
closed-loop (feedback) control system
with a single input and a single output
(abbreviated SISO) is illustrated for a
system with continuous signals only.

Takeoff Point used as Branching

TERMINOLOGY OF THE CLOSED-LOOP BLOCK DIAGRAM

Sample Representation of a Closed-loop Block Diagram

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System
• Lowercase letters are used to represent • The primary feedback signal b is a
the input and output variables of each function of the controlled output c,
element as well as the symbols for the algebraically summed with the
blocks g1, g2 and h. reference input r to obtain the actuating
• These quantities represent functions of (error) signal e, that is, r ± b = e. Note:
time, unless otherwise specified. An open-loop system has no primary
• The plant (or process, or controlled feedback signal.
system) g2 is the system, subsystem, • The actuating (or error) signal is the
process, or object controlled by the reference input signal r plus or minus
feedback control system the primary feedback signal b. The
• The controlled output c is the output control action is generated by the
variable of the plant, under the control of actuating (error) signal in a feedback
the feedback control system. control system. Note: In an open-loop
• The forward path is the transmission system, which has no feedback, the
path from the summing point to the actuating signal is equal to r.
controlled output c. • Negative feedback means the summing
• The feedforward (control) elements g1 point is a subtractor, that is, e = r — b.
are the components of the forward path Positive feedback means the summing
that generate the control signal u or m point is an adder, that is, e = r + b.
applied to the plant. • A transducer is a device that converts
Note: Feedforward elements typically one energy form into another.
include controller(s), compensator(s) • A stimulus, or test input, is any
(or equalization elements), and/or externally (exogenously) introduced
amplifiers. input signal affecting the controlled
• The control signal u (or manipulated output c. Note: The reference input r is
variable m) is the output signal of the an example of a stimulus, but it is not
feedforward elements g1 applied as the only kind of stimulus.
input to the plant g2 . • A disturbance n (or noise input) is an
• The feedback path is the transmission undesired stimulus or input signal
path from the controlled output c back to affecting the value of the controlled
the summing point. output c. It may enter the plant with u or
• The feedback elements h establish the m or at the first summing point, or via
functional relationship between the another intermediate point.
controlled output c and the primary • The time response of a system,
feedback signal b. subsystem, or element is the output as
Note: Feedback elements typically a function of time, usually following
include sensors of the controlled output application of a prescribed input under
c, compensators, and/or controller specified operating conditions.
elements.
• The reference input r is an external
signal applied to the feedback control
system, usually at the first summing
point, in order to command a specified
action of the plant. It usually represents TERMINOLOGY OF THE CLOSED-LOOP
ideal (or desired) plant output behavior. BLOCK DIAGRAM
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System
• The term controller in a feedback control • Dial
system is often associated with the • Speed Setting
elements of the forward path, between the • Rotating Speed
actuating (error) signal e and the control • Type of Material
variable u. But it also sometimes includes
the summing point, the feedback elements, SET 3: Electric Heater
or both, and some authors use the term • Thermostat
controller and compensator synonymously. • Furnace
The context should eliminate ambiguity. • Outside Temperature
• A servomechanism is a power-amplifying • Hot air Temperature
feedback control system in which the • Room Temperature
controlled variable c is mechanical position, • Desired Temperature
or a time derivative of position such as SET 4: Government Plan
velocity or acceleration.
• President
• A regulator or regulating system is a • Electorate
feedback control system in which the • Economy
reference input or command is constant for • Desired Performance
long periods of time, often for the entire time • Decision
interval during which the system is • Evaluation
operational. Such an input is often called a
setpoint. Seatwork #1:

Boardwork: 1. Identify the Input, Controller, and

Output of the following control
From the set of words given, determine system. Determine also if it is an
which part of control system (Input, Output, open loop or closed loop system.
Controller, Plant, Disturbance, • Heater with thermostat
Measurement) the following parts are • Toaster
placed based on the block diagram. Also, • A person reaching an object
determine if it is an open or closed loop 2. Draw sample representation of a
system. An example is given for you block diagram of one of the 4 given
SET 1: Hair Dryer (Open) examples in our boardwork. Include
all necessary labelling.
• Heat Setting (Input) 3. [To be announced during class]
• Dial (Controller)
• Hair Dryer (Plant) Scoring: Total of 25 points
• Hair Dampness (Disturbance) 1. 1 point each + 1 point for perfect
• Hot Air Temperature (Output) answer
2. 5 points
3. 5 points total

SET 2: Hand Drill

• Drill

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