EC 221:

CLASSICAL CONTROL
SYSTEMS ENGINEERING
Instructor: Mr. Mwalongo M, R
Assistant Lecturer
Office No. AB 15 (Admin Block)
E-mail: mwalongomarko@gmail.com
 LECTURE # 1

INTRODUCTION TO CONTROL
SYSTEMS
OUTLINE

 What is a Control System?

 Why Control System?

 Open loop and Feedback control

system
 Application areas of control system

 New application areas of control

system
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Control and Control System
o Control is the process of causing a system
variable to conform to some desired variable.
• Example: driving a car implies controlling the vehicle to
follow the desired path and arrive safely at planned
destination.

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Manual vs. Automatic Control
 Manual Control involving man and machines.
 Automatic Control involving machines only.
 If you drive the car yourself, you are performing manual control
of the car. If you design a machine or use a computer to do it,
then you built an automatic control system.

 Automatic control has played a vital role in the advance of

engineering and science.
 In addition to its extreme importance in
 space-vehicle systems,
 missile-guidance systems,
 robotic systems, and the likes 5
Manual vs. Automatic Control
 Automatic control has become an important and integral part of
modern manufacturing and industrial processes.
 For example, automatic control is essential
 in the numerical control of machine tools
 in the manufacturing industries,
 in the design of autopilot systems
 in the aerospace industries, and
 in the design of cars and trucks in the automobile industries.
 It is also essential in such industrial operations as controlling
pressure, humidity, viscosity, and flow in the processing industries.

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Manual vs. Automatic Control

 A craft capable of
traveling in outer
space is able to
travel in outer
space to fulfill
different tasks.

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Manual vs. Automatic Control

 A missile guidance
system
 Refers to a system
that is capable to
guide a missile to its
intended target

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A missile-guidance system
Manual vs. Automatic Control

An autopilot system
 Is a mechanical, electrical
or hydraulic system used to
guide an aircraft without
assistance of a human
being.

Control panel of an autopilot system 9

Manual vs. Automatic Control

 UAVs
 An unmanned aerial
vehicle (UAV),
commonly known as a
drone, is an aircraft
without a human pilot
aboard.

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Classical vs. Modern Control

 There are two major divisions in control theory,

namely, classical and modern, which have direct

implications over the control engineering applications.

 Classical Control
 Limited to Single-Input and Single-Output (SISO)
system design.
 System analysis is carried out in time domain using
differential equations.
 Laplace transform or in frequency domain is used in
complex system.
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Classical vs. Modern Control

 Classical Control
 Systems are assumed to be second order and single variable,

and higher-order system responses and multivariable effects

are ignored

 Controllers design using classical control theory are preferred

in most industrial applications.

 The most common controllers designed using classical control

theory are PID controllers

 Controller designed using classical theory usually requires on-

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site tuning due to design approximations.
Classical vs. Modern Control

 Modern Control
 Overcomes the limitations of classical control theory in more

sophisticated design problems,

 such as fighter aircraft control.

 In modern design, a system is represented as a set of first

order differential equations defined using state variables.

 Analysis is carried out strictly in the complex-s or the

frequency domain.

 Works for SISO and Multi-Input, Multi-Output (MIMO)

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systems.
Control Systems
 System – An interconnection of elements and devices for a

desired purpose.

 Control is the process of causing a system variable to conform to

some desired value.

 Control System – An interconnection of components forming a

system configuration that will provide a desired response.

 Process – The device, plant, or system under control.

 The input and output relationship represents the cause-and-

effect relationship of the process. 14

Control Systems

 Simplified description

Input; stimulus
Control System Output; response

Desired response Actual response

Simplified description of a control system

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Control Systems components
 General structure of a control system

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Control Systems Components

 System, Plant or Component (to be controlled).

 Actuators (converts the control signal to a power signal)

 Sensors (provides measurement of the system output)

 Reference input (represents the desired output)

 Error detector (forms the control error)

 Controller (operates on the control error to form the control

signal, sometimes called the compensators or manipulating

variable)
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Control Systems

 Examples of Control Systems

 Controlling high level signal on collector side by low level

signal on base side in a transistor amplifier

 Lowering the temperature by turning a knob on the air-

conditioner

 Temperature control in a furnace.

 Elevator position control.

 Antenna positioning system.

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 Robotic manipulator control. Controlling robotic arm
Types of Control Systems

 Control systems are of two types:

1) Open loop control system

2) Closed loop control system

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Types of Control Systems

1) Open loop control system

 Any physical system which does not automatically correct the

variation in its output is called an open loop system.

 Its output quantity has no effect upon the input quantity.

 This means that the output is not feed back to the input for

correction.

 An open-loop control system utilises an actuating device to

control the process directly without using feedback. 20

Types of Control Systems

1) Open loop control system

General block diagram of a open loop control system

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Types of Control Systems
 Examples of open loop control systems:

1. Automatic washing
machine

2. Room temperature regulation via

electric fan

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Types of Control Systems
 Examples of open loop control systems:

3. Traffic lights system

The traffic lights turn on (off) on a time basis.

For example, every 30s, it switches from red (green) light to the green (red)
light.

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Types of Control Systems
Traffic light system

Output
input
Computer Switch Lights
被控对象
Controller Plant

 Controlled plant: Traffic lights

 Controlled variable: The time interval on which the red,

yellow and green lights turn on or turn off.

 Reference signal: Desired timing sequence generated by a

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computer in advance.
Types of Control Systems

 Advantages of Open Loop Control System

 Simple in construction and design.

 Economical

 Easy to maintain

 Convenient to use as output is difficult to measure.

 Disadvantages of Open Loop Control System

 They are inaccurate and unreliable.

 Any change in output cannot be corrected automatically. 25

Types of Control Systems
2) Closed loop control system(feedback control system)

 A closed loop control system is a system where the output has an

effect upon the input quantity in such a manner as to maintain
the desired output value.

 A closed-loop system uses a measurement of the output and

feedback of this signal to compare it with the desired input
(reference value).

 Feedback Systems are very useful and widely used in

amplifier circuits, oscillators, process control systems as well as
other types of electronic systems. 26
Types of Control Systems

2) Closed loop control system (feedback)

General block diagram of a feedback control system

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Types of Control Systems

 Examples of Closed loop (feedback) control system

 Automatic Electric Iron – Heating elements are controlled by output

temperature of the iron.

 Servo Voltage Stabilizer – Voltage controller operates depending

upon output voltage of the system.

 Water Level Controller– Input water is controlled by water level of

the reservoir.

 Missile Launched & Auto Tracked by Radar – The direction of missile

is controlled by comparing the target and position of the missile.

 An Air Conditioner – An air conditioner functions depending upon

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the temperature of the room
Types of Control Systems
 Advantages of Closed loop (feedback) control system

 Increased Accuracy: Increased ability to reproduce output

with varied input.

 Reduced Sensitivity to Disturbance: By self correcting it

minimizes effects of system changes.

 The closed loop systems are less affected by noise:

System induced noise and distortion are reduced.

 Increased Bandwidth: The Bandwidth of a system is a

frequency response measure of how well the system responds
to (or filters) variations (or frequencies) in the input signal. 29
Types of Control Systems

 Disadvantages of Open Loop Control System

 The closed loop systems are complex and costly.

 The feedback in closed loop system may lead to an

oscillatory response.

 The feedback reduces the overall gain of the system.

 Stability is a major problem in closed loop system and

more care is needed to design a stable system.

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Types of Control Systems

 Comparison between OL and CL Control System

 Open Loop  Closed Loop

 Less expensive  More expensive
 Less accurate  More accurate
 Sensitive to  Insensitive to
disturbance disturbance
 Stability is not a  Stability is a major
problem problem
 Less maintenance  More maintenance

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WHY Control Systems?

 Modern society have sophisticated control systems

which are crucial to their successful operation.

 Reasons for Control systems;

 Power Amplification: e.g. satellite dish requiring large power
to rotate can be positioned using low power knob at input.
Power gain is a good reason for building control systems.

 Dangerous Applications: remote control of robot arm for

handling nuclear material.

 Compensation for Human Deficiencies: e.g. help handicapped

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people.
WHY Control Systems?

 Modern society have sophisticated control systems

which are crucial to their successful operation

 Reasons for Control systems;

 Convenience by change of form of Input: Temperature control
by position of a dial on a thermostat, output is heat

 Compensation of Disturbances: Output of Controlled

variables of a control system e.g. temperature, position,
voltage, current or frequency must be correct even in the
presence of disturbances.
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Modern Application of Control Systems

 Flight control systems: Modern commercial and military

aircraft are “fly by wire”, Autoland and UAVs.

 Robotics: High accuracy positioning for flexible manufacturing,

Remote environment: space, sea, no-invasive surgery etc.

 Chemical processes: Regulation of flow rates, temperature,

concentrations etc

 Communications and networks: Amplifiers and repeaters,

power management of wireless communication.

 Automobiles: Engine control, transmission control climate 34

control.
Emerging application areas
 Materials Processing: Rapid thermal processing for
increased throughput, Control of vapor deposition for
special purpose materials

 Intelligent highway vehicle systems: platooning of cars for

high speed, high density travel on free ways, PATH
project.

 Smart Engines: Compression system: stall, surge, flatter

control for increased operationability, Combustion
systems: operation at liner air/fuel ratios for low
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emissions.
Technological trend affecting control

 Computation/microprocessors

• Development of microprocessors in the early

1970s opened the door to control applications.

• Virtually all modern control loops use

microprocessors→ rapid progress.

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Technological trend affecting control

 Sensors and Actuators

• Sensors getting cheaper, faster and smaller

• Micro-scale actuators evolves slowly; power electronics

getting cheaper

• Micro-level actuation changing rapidly

 Communication and networking

• Increased use of sensing and actuation across networks

• Example, UAVs
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 END

Reading Assignment
 Chapter 1: Book: Richard C. Dorf and Robert H. Bishop,
Modern Control Systems, 12th Ed

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