Lecture 1

Introduction (cont.)

02/24/2021
 Advantages of Control Systems

We build control systems for four primary reasons:

Power amplification

Remote control

02/24/2021
 Convenience of input form

 Compensation for disturbances

02/24/2021
 Some human-designed control systems

1. Liquid-Level Control
2. Steam Pressure and Temperature Controls
3. Speed Control
4. Stability
5. Stabilization
6. Steering

02/24/2021
 Computer-Controlled Systems

In many modern systems, the controller (or

compensator) is a digital computer.
The advantage of using a computer is that many loops
can be controlled or compensated by the same
computer through time sharing.
Furthermore, any adjustments of the compensator
parameters required to yield a desired response can be
made by changes in software rather than hardware.
The computer can also perform supervisory
functions, such as scheduling many required
applications.
02/24/2021
 Analysis and Design Objectives

 Analysis is the process by which a system's performance is

determined.

For example, we evaluate its transient response and steady-state

error to determine if they meet the desired specifications.

 Design is the process by which a system's performance is created

or changed.

For example, if a system's transient response and steady-state

error are analyzed and found not to meet the specifications, then
we change parameters or add additional components to meet the
specifications.
02/24/2021
 Transient Response

Transient response is important. In the case of an elevator, a slow

transient response makes passengers impatient, whereas an
excessively rapid response makes them uncomfortable.

If the elevator oscillates about the arrival floor for more than a
second, a disconcerting feeling can result.

Transient response is also important for structural reasons: Too

fast a transient response could cause permanent
physical damage.

In a computer, transient response contributes to the time required

to read from or write to the computer's disk storage
02/24/2021
 Steady-State Response

 Another analysis and design goal focuses on the steady-state response. As we

have seen, this response resembles the input and is usually what remains after
the transients have decayed to zero.

 For example, this response may be an elevator stopped near the fourth floor or
the head of a disk drive finally stopped at the correct track. We are concerned
about the accuracy of the steady-state response.

 An elevator must be level enough with the floor for the passengers to exit, and a
read/write head not positioned over the commanded track results in computer
errors.

 An antenna tracking a satellite must keep the satellite well within its
beamwidth in order not to lose track.

 The design corrective action is to reduce the steady-state error of a system

02/24/2021
 Stability

Discussion of transient response and steady-state error is moot if the

system does not have stability.

 In order to explain stability, we start from the fact that the total response
of a system is the sum of the natural response and the forced response.

In linear differential equations, we mostly refer to these responses as the

homogeneous and the particular solutions, respectively.

 Natural response describes the way the system dissipates or acquires

energy. The form or nature of this response is dependent only on the
system, not the input.

On the other hand, the form or nature of the forced response is dependent
on the input.
02/24/2021
 Stability

Total response = Natural response + Forced response.

For a control system to be useful, the natural response must:

(1) Eventually approach zero, thus leaving only the forced response, or
(2) oscillate.

In some systems, however, the natural response grows without bound

rather than diminish to zero or oscillate. Eventually, the natural response
is so much greater than the forced response that the system is no longer
controlled.

This condition, called instability, could lead to self-destruction of the

physical device if limit stops are not part of the design. For example, the
elevator would crash through the floor or exit through the ceiling
02/24/2021
 The Design Process

The design process establishes an orderly sequence

for the design of feedback control systems.

02/24/2021
 Step 1: Transform Requirements Into a Physical
System

We begin by transforming the requirements into a

physical system.

For example, in the antenna azimuth position control

system, the requirements would state the desire to
position the antenna from a remote location and describe
such features as weight and physical dimensions.

Using the requirements, design specifications, such as

desired transient response and steady-state accuracy, are
determined.

02/24/2021
 Step 2: Draw a Functional Block Diagram

The designer now translates a qualitative description of the

system into a functional block diagram that describes the
component parts of the system (that is, function and/or
hardware) and shows their interconnection.

 The functional block diagram indicates functions such as

input transducer and controller, as well as possible hardware
descriptions such as amplifiers and motors.

At this point the designer may produce a detailed layout of the
system, from which the next phase of the analysis and design
sequence, developing a schematic diagram, can be launched.

02/24/2021
 Step 3: Create a Schematic

Position control systems consist of electrical, mechanical, and

electromechanical components. After producing the description of a
physical system, the control systems engineer transforms the physical
system into a schematic diagram.

The control system designer can begin with the physical description,
to derive a schematic. The engineer must make approximations about
the system and neglect certain phenomena, or else the schematic will
be unwieldy, making it difficult to extract a useful mathematical
model during the next phase of the analysis and design sequence.

If the schematic is too simple and does not adequately account for
observed behavior, the control systems engineer adds phenomena to
the schematic that were previously assumed negligible.
02/24/2021
 Step 4: Develop a Mathematical Model (Block Diagram)

Once the schematic is drawn, the designer uses physical laws, such as
Kirchhoff's laws for electrical networks and Newton's law for mechanical
systems, along with simplifying assumptions, to model the system
mathematically.

Kirchhoffs and Newton's laws lead to mathematical models that describe

the relationship between the input and output of dynamic systems. One
such model is the linear, time-invariant differential equation.
d mc (t ) d m 1c(t ) d m r (t ) m 1 d
m 1
r (t )
 d n 1  ......  d 0 c (t )  bm  b  .....  b0 r (t )
dt n dt n 1 dt m dt m 1

Many systems can be approximately described by this equation, which

relates the output, c(t), to the input, r(t), by way of the system
parameters, ai, and bj.

02/24/2021
In addition to the differential equation, the transfer function is another way of
mathematically modeling a system. The model is derived from the linear, time-
invariant differential equation using what we call the Laplace transform.

 Although the transfer function can be used only for linear systems, it yields
more intuitive information than the differential equation. We will be able to
change system parameters and rapidly sense the effect of these changes on the
system response. The transfer function is also useful in modeling the
interconnection of subsystems by forming a block diagram but with a
mathematical function inside each block.

Still another model is the state-space representation. One advantage of state-

space methods is that they can also be used for systems that cannot be
described by linear differential equations. Further, state-space methods are
used to model systems for simulation on the digital computer.
02/24/2021
Basically, this representation turns an nth order
differential equation into n simultaneous first-order
differential equations.

Finally, we should mention that to produce the

mathematical model for a system, we require
knowledge of the parameter values, such as equivalent
resistance, inductance, mass, and damping, which is
often not easy to obtain. Analysis, measurements, or
specifications from vendors are sources that the control
systems engineer may use to obtain the parameters.
02/24/2021
 Step 5: Reduce the Block Diagram

 Subsystem models are interconnected to form block diagrams of larger systems, where each block has
a mathematical description. Notice that many signals, such as proportional voltages and error, are
internal to the system.

 There are also two signals—angular input and angular output—that are external to the system. In
order to evaluate system response in this example, we need to reduce this large system's block
diagram to a single block with a mathematical description that represents the system from its input to
its output.

 Once the block diagram is reduced, we are ready to analyze and design the system.

02/24/2021
 Step 6: Analyze and Design

The next phase of the process, following block diagram reduction, is analysis
and design. If you are interested only in the performance of an individual
subsystem, you can skip the block diagram reduction and move immediately
into analysis and design.

 In this phase, the engineer analyzes the system to see if the response
specifications and performance requirements can be met by simple
adjustments of system parameters. If specifications cannot be met, the
designer then designs additional hardware in order to effect a desired
performance.

Test input signals are used, both analytically and during testing, to verify the
design. It is neither necessarily practical nor illuminating to choose
complicated input signals to analyze a system's performance. Thus, the
engineer usually selects standard test inputs. These inputs are impulses,
steps, ramps, parabolas, and sinusoids.
02/24/2021
 Review Questions

1. Name three applications for feedback control systems.

2. Name three reasons for using feedback control systems and at
least one reason for not using them.
3. Give three examples of open-loop systems.
4. Functionally, how do closed-loop systems differ from open-loop
systems?
5. State one condition under which the error signal of a feedback
control system would not be the difference between the input
and the output.
6. Physically, what happens to a system that is unstable?
7. Instability is attributable to what part of the total response?
8. Describe a typical control system analysis task.
9. Describe a typical control system design task.
02/24/2021