AUTOMATIC CONTROLLERS

An automatic controller compares the actual value of the plant output with the
desired value, determines the deviation, and produces a control signal that will
reduce the deviation to zero or a small value. The way in which the automatic controller produces
the control signal is called the control action.
Here, we describe the fundamental control actions commonly used in industrial automatic
controllers. We then briefly discuss an electronic controller.

Control actions. The control actions normally found in industrial automatic controllers consist of
the following: two-position, or on-off: proportional; integral;
derivative; and combinations of proportional, integral, and derivative. A good understanding of the
basic properties of various control actions is necessary for the engineer to select the one best suited
to his or her particular application.

Classifications of industrial automatic controllers. Industrial automatic controllers can be

classified according to their control action as follows:
1. Two-position, or on-off, controllers
2. Proportional controllers
3. Integral controllers
4. Proportional-plus-integral controllers
5. Proportional-plus-derivative controllers
6. Proportional-plus-integral-plus-derivative controllers

Automatic controller, actuator, and sensor (measuring element).

Figure 1 is a block diagram of an industrial control system consisting of an automatic controller, an
actuator, a plant, and a sensor or measuring element. The controller detects the actuating error
signal, which is usually at a very low power level, and amplifies it to a sufficiently high level. (Thus,
the automatic controller comprises an error detector and an amplifier.) Quite often, a suitable
feedback circuit, together with an amplifier, is used to alter the actuating error signal to produce a
better control signal.

Figure 1: Block Diagram of an Industrial Control System consisting of an automatic controller, an actuator,
plant and a sensor (measuring element).
The actuator is an element that produces the input to the plant according to the control signal, so
that the feedback signal will correspond to the reference input signal.
The sensor or measuring element is a device that converts the output variable into another suitable
variable, such as a displacement, pressure, or voltage, which can be used to compare the output
with the reference input signal. This element is in the feedback path of the closed-loop system. The
set point of the controller must be converted to a reference input of the same units as the feedback
signal from the sensor or measuring element.

Complex conjugate poles on an s-

plane. Changing values of ζ cause the
poles to move in an arc.
Basic Concepts of State Space Model
The classical control theory and methods (such as root locus) are based
on a simple input-output description of the plant, usually expressed as a
transfer function. These methods do not use any knowledge of the
interior structure of the plant, and limit us to single-input single-output
(SISO) systems, and as we have seen allows only limited control of the
closed-loop behavior when feedback control is used. Modern control
theory solves many of the limitations by using a much “richer” description
of the plant dynamics. The so-called state-space description provide the
dynamics as a setoff coupled first-order differential equations in a set of
internal variables known as state variables, together with a set of
algebraic equations that combine the state variables into physical output
variables.

State

It is a group of variables, which summarizes the history of the system in order to predict the
future values (outputs).

State Variable

The number of the state variables required is equal to the number of the storage elements
present in the system.

Examples − current flowing through inductor, voltage across capacitor

State Vector

It is a vector, which contains the state variables as elements.

State space control is often referred to as a “modern” control method because it takes the
differential equations that describe the time domain of the system and analyzes them in vector
form using state variables. This makes it possible to evaluate the system via simple matrix
algebra, which also allows multiple-input, multiple-output systems to be evaluated. This is in
contrast to “classical” control methods, such as PID, which rely on complex Laplace
transforms and Fourier transforms to convert the system’s time domain representation – given
as a complex set of differential equations – into the frequency domain – given as algebraic
equations.

The major benefit of state space control over transfer function methods is its applicability to a
wide range of systems: linear and non-linear; time-varying and time-invariant; single-input,
single-output (SISO) and multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO).

Reference article for PID:

https://www.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/tb/features/articles/20013