P.G.

Kamble

Proportional Controllers:

The proportional control concept is more complex than an on–off control system. The On–off control
system will work where the overall system has a relatively long response time, This results in instability if
the system being controlled has a rapid response time. Proportional control overcomes this by
modulating the output to the controlling device, such as a control valve which avoids instability, but
applies correction as fast as practicable by applying the optimum quantity of proportional gain.
Proportional controller 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,MV). 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,Error=Set point(r)-Measured value(c)

i.e. m=Kpe+mo

where

• mo= Controller output with zero error in percent.

• m=Output of the proportional controller

• Kp= Proportional gain(constant)

Figure below shows the block diagram of Proportional Controller.

The proportional control mode changes the controller output in proportion to the error .If the error
gets larger, the control action gets larger. Hence more control action is needed to correct large errors.

The adjustable setting for proportional control is called the Controller Gain (Kp). A higher controller gain
will increase the amount of proportional control action for a given error. If the controller gain is set too
high the control loop will begin oscillating and become unstable. If the controller gain is set too low, it
will not respond adequately to disturbances or set point changes.

P=Kp x e
The controller output is simply the output of the proportional control mode, plus a bias. The bias is
needed so that the controller can maintain an output (say at 50%) while there is no error (set point =
process variable).

Co=(Kp x e)+ bias

The use of proportional control alone has a large drawback called offset. Offset is a sustained error that
cannot be eliminated by proportional control alone. The use of proportional control alone has a large
drawback called offset. Offset is a sustained error that cannot be eliminated by proportional control
alone.Proportional control cannot eliminate the offset error, which is the difference between the
desired value and the actual value, SP − MV error, as it requires an error to generate an output. When a
disturbance (deviation from existing state) occurs in the process value being controlled, 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. The proportional band is the band of controller output over which the final
control element ( say a control valve) will move from one extreme to another. Mathematically, it can be
expressed as,

PB=100/Kp or Kp=100/proportional band(PB).

Figure below shows the graph of output against error which is a straight line with a slope of
Kp.Therefore the output is given by, m=(100/PB)(r-c)+bias

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. Hence, for even a small error, the controller output is driven from one extreme to
another.

The two important characteristics of proportional controller are:

1.As the gain increases,the time response becomes smaller and the speed increases.

2.As the gain increases,the offset error decreases.

If the error is zero,the output is constant and will be equal to the bias.if there is an error,a correction Kp
is added or subtracted from the bias.if the input to the controller is an error in the form of step,then the
output is also a step as shown.
Proportional controllers can be implemented using operational amplifiers as shown below.In this case

Vout=(R2/R2)V0+(R2/R1)Ve

Vout=KpVe+V0

where Kp=proportional gain(R2/R1)

Ve=error voltage,V0=output with zero error .

Here a summing opamp and a inverter is used.It is recommended that Kp should be kept greater than
unity. If the value of Kp is greater than unity (>1), then it will amplify the error signal and thus the
amplified error signal can be detected easily.

Advantages of Proportional Controller:

1. Proportional controller helps in reducing the steady state error, thus makes the system more
stable.

2. Slow response of the over damped system can be made faster with the help of these controllers.

Disadvantages of Proportional Controller:

1. Due to presence of these controllers we get some offsets in the system.

2. Proportional controllers also increases the maximum overshoot of the system.

Integral Controller:

We know that ,in a proportional controller,the major drawback is the residual error or offset.Hence to
overcome this Integral controller is used when controller action to correct the offset is required.Integral
controller is a type of controller whose output is directly proportional to the integral of the error signal
with some constant. Mathematically it is written as,
where, Ki is integral constant also known as controller gain. Integral controller is also known as reset
controller,e(t) is the error signal.The transfer function of such a integral is obtained by taking Laplase
transform given as, G(s)=output(s)/E(s)=Ki/s.

Figure below shows the block diagram of Integral Controller.Here the gain of the controller is Ki/s and
Gp(s) is the gain of the plant.It is a negative unity feedback system.

In this case R(s) is the input applied to the control system,E(s) is the error signal applied to the
controller,U(s) is the output of the controller,G(s) is the gain of the plant and c(s) is the output.

Integral action is provided by summing the error over time,multiplying that sum by a gain and adding
result to present controller output.Figure shows the response of integral controller for step input of
error signal.From the response,it is very clear that the output from the controller increases at a regular
rate after the start of error.The output is proportional to the accumulation of effects of past errors and
present errors.If error is zero,the output stays at a fixed value to what it was.If error is not equal to
zero,the output will begin to increase or decrease at rate of Ki% for every 1% error.

The above integral controller can be implemented using opamp as shown.The first part is an integrator
and the next part is an inverter.Here a capacitor is placed in the feedback path instead of a
resistor.Therfore ,Vout=1/RC Vedt+Vout(0)

Vout=Gi Vedt+Vout(0),where Gi=1/RC,Ve=error voltage,Vout(0)=initial output voltage

Advantages of Integral Controller:

Due to their unique ability they can return the controlled variable back to the exact set point following a
disturbance that’s why these are known as reset controllers.

Disadvantages of Integral Controller:

It tends to make the system unstable because it responds slowly towards the produced error.
Derivative Controllers:

Derivative controller is used when rate of change of error signal in control action is required.In this case
the output is directly proportional to the rate of change of error with respect to time. Mathematically ,it
is written as,

Where Kd=derivative gain in seconds,de/dt is the rate of change of error signal.

The output of derivative controller does not depend on past and present errors but on the rate at which
error is changing.Derivative controllers are never used alone.It should be used in combinations with
other modes of controllers because of its few disadvantages .

1. It never improves the steady state error.

2. It produces saturation effects and also amplifies the noise signals produced in the system.

In a derivative controller output is directly proportional to the derivative of the error signal. Where, Kd is
proportional constant also known as controller gain. Derivative controller is also known as rate
controller.Figure shows the block diagram of Derivative controller.

The graph explains the response of derivative controller for step input error signal as shown.As soon as
the error signal begins,the derivative action differentiates the change and maintains the level as long as
measurement continues to change at the given rate.If error is constant,there is no corrective action

The two important characteristics of derivative controller are:

1.The output of controller is zero if error is zero or constant.

2.The controller gives output if there is an error changing in time.

The above controller can be implemented using opamp as shown.Here the output voltage is

Vout+R1C(dVout/dt)=R2C(dVe/dt).

The transfer function is given by,Vo(s)/Ve(s)=R2C(s)/1+R1C(s)

Advantages and disadvantages of Derivative Controller:

The major advantage of derivative controller is that it improves the transient response of the system.

However the disadvantage is that it causes overshoot.

Proportional –Integral Controller:

This control mode results from combination of proportional and integral mode as shown in the block
diagram. The analytical expression for the PI mode is given by:

The main advantage of this composite control mode is that one-to-one correspondence of the
proportional control mode is available and integral mode eliminates the inherent offset. It can be
observed from the equation that the proportional gain also changes the net integration mode gain, but
the integration gain, through Ki , can be independently adjusted. The proportional mode when used
alone produces offset error whenever load change occurs and nominal controller output will not provide
zero error. But in PI mode, integral function provides the required new controller output, thereby
allowing the error to be zero after a load change. It can be observed that the controller output is
provided through a sum of proportional plus integral action that finally brings the error back to zero
value.

Figure shows the block diagram of PI controller.

The response shows that the Integral control has removed the steady-state error and improved the
transient response, but it has also increased the system settling time.

The summary of characteristics of PI mode are as follows:

1. When the error is zero, the controller output is fixed at the value that the integral term had when the
error went to zero, i.e. output will be pI (0) when ep=0 at t = 0.

2. If the error is not zero, the proportional term contributes a correction, and the integral term begins to
increase or decrease the accumulated value [i.e. initial value pI (0)], depending on the sign or the error
and direct or reverse action. The integral term cannot become negative. Thus, it will saturate at zero if
the error and action try to drive the area to a net negative value.PI controller can be implemented using
op-amp as shown below.

The output voltage Vo= GpVe+GpGi Vedt+V(0)

Where Gp=R2/R1 and Gi=1/R2C

Proportional-Derivative Controller(PD):

The PD mode involves the serial (cascaded) use of proportional and derivative modes and

this mode has many industrial applications. The analytical expression for PD mode is

given by X(s)=Kpe(s)+KpKDdes/dt+P(0)

Figure shows the block diagram of PD controller.

Proportional-derivative (PD) control considers both the magnitude of the system error and the
derivative of this error. Derivative control has the effect of adding damping to a system, and, thus, has a
stabilizing influence on the system response.This system will not eliminate the offset of proportional
controller, however, handle fast process load changes as long as the load change offset error is
acceptable. Figure
shows a typical PD response for load changes. It can be observed that the derivative action moves the
controller output in relation to the error rate change.

It can also be implemented using op-amp as shown.

The output voltage is given by Vout=GpVe+GpGDdVe/dt+V(0) where Gp=R2/(R1+R2),GD=R3C

PID Comtroller:

Figure below shows the three composite controller mode block diagram . Three mode controllers is the
combination of proportional, integral and derivative mode of controllers. For PID control, the actuating
signal u(t),consists of proportional error signal added with derivative and integral of error signal e(t) .

A PID controller has removed steady-state error and decreased system settling times while maintaining
a reasonable transient response .While designing a PID controller, the general rule is to add
proportional control to get the desired rise time, add derivative control to get the desired overshoot,
and then add integral control (if needed) to eliminate the steady-state error.This can also be
implemented using op-amp as shown.

The output voltage is given by

Pneumatic Controllers: Pneumatic Controllers find wide applications in all controlling devices in process
plant.In this case the conversion of pressure into mechanical motion is utilized by pneumatic system
which consists of nozzle and flapper system as shown.In this case air pressure is fed through the
orifice(small hole) and ejected out through nozzle towards fapper.Nozzle back pressure can be adjusted
with gap x between nozzle and flapper.
 Flapper and Nozzle assembly

The same principle can be applied to Proportional controller,PI,PD and PID controller resulting as
pneumatic controller as explained below.Figure below shows the proportional pneumatic controller.

When the input pressure Pin increases,the input bellows forces the feedback lever to close the
nozzle,thus increasing the output power.The feedback bellows exerts a force because of pressure to
counteract the offset introduced by input bellows.The torque about pivot due to force exerted by
feedback bellows and input bellows must be equal.In this case, we have

(Pout-Po)A2b=(Pin-Ps)A1a

Therefore Pout=aA1/bA2(Pin-Ps)+Po

Where Po=Pressure with no error(bias),A1 & A2 are effective areas of input and feedback bellows

And Kp=aA1/bA2

The same operation for PI controller is as follows.If an extra bellow with variable restriction is added
with proportional controller as shown ,it will work as PI controller.The restriction provides time delay to
respond to changes due to an increase in input pressure and feedback bellows.If pressure increases on
the output side the integral bellows slowly moves the flapper close to nozzle thereby causing a steady
increase in output pressure.

Similarly the operation of PID controller can be explained if an additional restriction is used to the
proportional bellows.restriction will not be able to respond to quick changes in pressure.If flapper
moves as a result of pressure difference between input pressure and set pressure,the change to output
pressure is rapid as restriction prevents the proportional bellows to act upon quickly.

PID Tuning:

Before the working of PID controller takes place, it must be tuned to suit with dynamics of the process
to be controlled. Designers give the default values for P, I and D terms and these values couldn’t give the
desired performance and sometimes leads to instability and slow control performances. Different types
of tuning methods are developed to tune the PID controllers and require much attention from the
operator to select best values of proportional, integral and derivative gains. Some of these are given
below. There are different methods of tuning PID controllers.The most important are
1.Process reaction curve method

2.Ultimate cycle method.

Process reaction Curve method:

It is an open loop tuning technique. It produces response when a step input is applied to the system.
Initially, we have to apply some control output to the system manually and have to record response
curve.After that we need to calculate slope, dead time, rise time of the curve and finally substitute these
values in P, I and D equations to get the gain values of PID terms.

This is basically an open loop technique of tuning. Here the process is assumed to be a stable first order
system with time delay. The closed loop system is broken as shown in above Fig.A step input is applied
at a, output is measured at b. In fact, a bias input may be necessary so that the plant output initially
becomes close to the nominal value. The step input is superimposed on this bias value. The input and
the output response are plotted by suitable means as shown in Fig

In this case first M,L and K are measured. Let us define the following terms corresponding to Fig. 2:

Slope = N,

Time Constant T=K/N

Lag Ratio R=L/T

Then, the recommended optimum settings, for P, P-I and P-I-D controllercan be calculated..

2,Ultimate cycle method(Ziegler–Nichols tuning method):

This method was introduced by John G. Ziegler and Nathaniel B. Nichols in the 1940s. The Ziegler-
Nichols’ closed loop method is based on experiments executed on an established control loop (a real
system or a simulated system). The tuning procedure is as follows: I. Bring the process to (or as close to
as possible) the specified operating point of the control system to ensure that the controller during the
tuning is “feeling” representative process dynamic and to minimize the chance that variables during the
tuning reach limits. Process is brought to the operating point by manually adjusting the control variable,
with the controller in manual mode, until the process variable is approximately equal to the set-point. II.
Turn the PID controller into a P controller by setting set Ti = ∞ and Td = 0. Initially, gain Kp is set to “0”.
Close the control loop by setting the controller in automatic mode. Zeigler-Nichols proposed closed loop
methods for tuning the PID controller. Those are continuous cycling method and damped oscillation
method. Procedures for both methods are same but oscillation behavior is different. In this, first we
have to set the p-controller constant, Kp to a particular value while Ki and Kd values are zero.
Proportional gain is increased till system oscillates at constant amplitude.Gain at which system produces
constant oscillations is called ultimate gain (Ku) and period of oscillations is called ultimate period (Pc).
Once it is reached, we can enter the values of P, I and D in PID controller by Zeigler-Nichols table
depends on the controller used like P, PI or PID, as shown below.