9

PID Control Theory

Kambiz Arab Tehrani1 and Augustin Mpanda2,3
1University

of Nancy, Teaching and Research at the University of Picardie, INSSET,

Saint-Quentin, Director of Power Electronic Society IPDRP,
2Tshwane University of Technology/FSATI
3ESIEE-Amiens
1,3France
2South Africa

1. Introduction
Feedback control is a control mechanism that uses information from measurements. In a
feedback control system, the output is sensed. There are two main types of feedback control
systems: 1) positive feedback 2) negative feedback. The positive feedback is used to increase
the size of the input but in a negative feedback, the feedback is used to decrease the size of
the input. The negative systems are usually stable. A PID is widely used in feedback control
of industrial processes on the market in 1939 and has remained the most widely used
controller in process control until today. Thus, the PID controller can be understood as a
controller that takes the present, the past, and the future of the error into consideration.
After digital implementation was introduced, a certain change of the structure of the control
system was proposed and has been adopted in many applications. But that change does not
influence the essential part of the analysis and design of PID controllers. A proportional
integralderivative controller (PID controller) is a method of the control loop feedback. This
method is composing of three controllers [1]:
1. Proportional controller (PC)
2. Integral controller (IC)
3. Derivative controller (DC)
1.1 Role of a Proportional Controller (PC)
The role of a proportional depends on the present error, I on the accumulation of past error
and D on prediction of future error. The weighted sum of these three actions is used to adjust
Proportional control is a simple and widely used method of control for many kinds of
systems. In a proportional controller, steady state error tends to depend inversely upon the
proportional gain (ie: if the gain is made larger the error goes down). The proportional
response can be adjusted by multiplying the error by a constant Kp, called the proportional
gain. The proportional term is given by:
P K P .error (t )

(1)

A high proportional gain results in a large change in the output for a given change in the
error. If the proportional gain is very high, the system can become unstable. In contrast, a

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small gain results in a small output response to a large input error. If the proportional gain
is very low, the control action may be too small when responding to system disturbances.
Consequently, a proportional controller (Kp) will have the effect of reducing the rise time
and will reduce, but never eliminate, the steady-state error.
In practice the proportional band (PB) is expressed as a percentage so:
PB%

100
KP

(2)

Thus a PB of 10% Kp=10

1.2 Role of an Integral Controller (IC)

An Integral controller (IC) is proportional to both the magnitude of the error and the
duration of the error. The integral in in a PID controller is the sum of the instantaneous error
over time and gives the accumulated offset that should have been corrected previously.
Consequently, an integral control (Ki) will have the effect of eliminating the steady-state
error, but it may make the transient response worse.
The integral term is given by:
I K I error(t )dt
t

(3)

1.3 Role of a Derivative Controller (DC)

The derivative of the process error is calculated by determining the slope of the error over
time and multiplying this rate of change by the derivative gain Kd. The derivative term
slows the rate of change of the controller output.A derivative control (Kd) will have the
effect of increasing the stability of the system, reducing the overshoot, and improving the
transient response. The derivative term is given by:
D KD .

derror (t )
dt

(4)

Effects of each of controllers Kp, Kd, and Ki on a closed-loop system are summarized in the
table shown below in tableau 1.

2. PID controller (PIDC)

A typical structure of a PID control system is shown in Fig.1. Fig.2 shows a structure of a
PID control system. The error signal e(t) is used to generate the proportional, integral, and

Table 1. A PID controller in a closed-loop system

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derivative actions, with the resulting signals weighted and summed to form the control
signal u(t) applied to the plant model.

Fig. 1. A PID control system

Fig. 2. A structure of a PID control system

where u(t) is the input signal to the multivariable processes, the error signal e(t) is defined as
e(t) =r(t) y(t), and r(t) is the reference input signal.
A standard PID controller structure is also known as the three-term controller. This
principle mode of action of the PID controller can be explained by the parallel connection of
the P, I and D elements shown in Figure 3.
Block diagram of the PID controller
G( s ) K P (1

1 TI .TD .S 2
1
TDs )
) = K P (1
TI .S
Ti s

(5)

where KP is the proportional gain, TI is the integral time constant, TD is the derivative time
constant, KI =KP /TI is the integral gain and KD =KPTD is the derivative gain. The threeterm functionalities are highlighted below. The terms KP , TI and TD definitions are:

The proportional term: providing an overall control action proportional to the error
signal through the all pass gain factor.

The integral term: reducing steady state errors through low frequency compensation by
an integrator.

The derivative term: improving transient response through high frequency

compensation by a differentiator.

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OR

Fig. 3. Parallel Form of the PID Compensator

These three variables K P , TI and TD are usually tuned within given ranges. Therefore, they
are often called the tuning parameters of the controller. By proper choice of these tuning
parameters a controller can be adapted for a specific plant to obtain a good behaviour of the
controlled system.
The time response of the controller output is

e(t )dt
t

U (t ) K P ( e(t )

Ti

Td

de(t )
)
dt

(6)

Using this relationship for a step input of e(t ) , i.e. e(t ) (t ) , the step response r(t) of the PID
controller can be easily determined. The result is shown in below. One has to observe that
the length of the arrow K PTD of the D action is only a measure of the weight of the

impulse.

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PID Control Theory

Fig. 4. a) Step response of PID ideal formb) Step response of PID real form
2.1 The transfer function of the PID controller
The transfer function of the PID controller is
G( s )
G(s ) K P

KI
S

U(s)
E(s )

K DS =

(7)

K DS 2 K PS K I
S

(8)

2.2 PID pole zero cancellation

The PID equation can be written in this form:

G( s )

K d (s2

Kp
Kd
s

Ki
)
Kd

(9)

When this form is used it is easy to determine the closed loop transfer function.
H (s )

s 20 s 2 0

(10)

Ki
20
Kd

(11)

If

Kp
Kd

20

(12)

Then

G( s )H (s )

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Kd
s

(13)

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This can be very useful to remove unstable poles.

There are several prescriptive rules used in PID tuning. The most effective methods
generally involve the development of some form of process model, and then choosing P, I,
and D based on the dynamic model parameters.
2.3 Tuning methods
We present here four tuning methods for a PID controller [2,3].

Method
Manual
Ziegler-Nichols

Advantages
Online method
No math expression
Online method
Proven method

Cohen-Coon

Good process models

Software tools

Online or offline method,

consistent tuning, Support
Non-Steady State tuning
Online or offline method,
Consistent tuning, Support
Non-Steady State tuning,
Very precise

Algorithmic

Disadvantages
Requires experienced
personnel
Some trial and error, process
upset and very aggressive
tuning
Offline method
Some math
Good only for first order
processes
Some cost and training
involved

Very slow

2.3.1 The ZieglerNichols tuning method

The ZieglerNichols tuning method is a heuristic method of tuning a PID controller. It was
proposed by John G. Ziegler and Nichols in the 1940's. It is performed by setting I (integral)
and D (derivative) gains to zero. The P (proportional) gain, Kp is then increased (from zero)
until it reaches the ultimate gain Ku, at which the output of the control loop oscillates with a
constant amplitude. Ku and the oscillation period Tu are used to set the P, I, and D gains
depending on the type of controller used [3,4]:

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We can realise a PID controller by two methods:

First, an analog PID controller
Second, a digital PID controller
1. Circuit diagram below (figure.5) shows an analog PID controller. In this figure, we
present an analog PID controller with three simple op amp amplifier, integrator and
differentiator circuits.

Fig. 5. Electronic circuit implementation of an analog PID controller

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Finally, we need to add the three PID terms together. Again the summing amplifier OP4
serves us well. Because the error amp, PID and summing circuits are inverting types, we
need to add a final op amp inverter OP5 to make the final output positive.
2. Today, digital controllers are being used in many large and small-scale control systems,
replacing the analog controllers. It is now a common practice to implement PID
controllers in its digital version, which means that they operate in discrete time domain
and deal with analog signals quantized in a limited number of levels. Moreover, in such
controller we do not need much space and they are not expensive. A digital version of
the PID controller is shown in figure 6 [5,6].

Fig. 6. Digital PID Controller

In its digital version, the integral becomes a sum and the deferential a difference. The
continuous time signal e(t) is sampled in fixed time intervals equals a determined sample
period, here called Tc (in figure 6 Tc = 1). An A/D (analog to digital) converter interfaces the
input and a D/A (digital to analog) converter interfaces the output. This sampled and
digitalized input, called eD[j], exists only in time instants t kTC for all k 0 Z . A lower
bound for the sample period is the computing time of a whole cycle of the digital PID
(which includes the A/D and D/A conversion).

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While PID controllers are applicable to many control problems, and often perform
satisfactorily without any improvements or even tuning, they can perform poorly in some
applications, and do not in general provide optimal control.

3. Fractional systems
Fractional order systems are characterized by fractional-order differential equations.
Fractional calculus considers any real number for derivatives and integrals. The FOPID
controller is the expansion of the conventional integer-order PID controller based on
fractional calculus [7,8].
3.1 Fractional-order PID (FOPID) controller
The PIDs are linear and in particular symmetric and they have difficulties in the presence of
non-linearities. We can solve this problem by using a fractional-order PID (FOPID)
controller. A FOPID controller is presented below [7-9]:

G( s ) K P

KI

K DS

K PS K I K DS S
S

(14)

Figure.7 describes the possibilities a FOPID for the different controllers.

Fig. 7. Generalization of the FOPID controller: from point to plane.

There are several methods to calculate the fractional order derivative and integrator of a
fractional order PID controller. For this purpose we present a real order calculus according
to the Riemann-Liouville definition.

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3.2 Fractional calculus

Fractional calculus is a branch of mathematics dealing with real number powers of
differential or integral operators. It generalizes the common concepts of derivative and
integral. Among all the different definitions, the definition which has been proposed by
Riemann and Liouville is the most usual one [9,10]. The definition is as follows:
c Dx

f (x)

( x t )n 1
f (t )dt ,
(n 1)!
c

(15)

The general definition of D is given by (2):

x ( x t ) v 1
f (t )dt , ifv 0

c ( )

v
ifv 0
c Dx f ( x ) f ( x )
n
n
f ( x )]
ifv 0
D [c Dx

(16)

n min K , K v

Where () is the well-known Euler's gamma function.

F(s ) s

Function

(17)

Function (17) is not only the simplest fractional order transfer function hat may appear but
is also very important for applications, as shall be seen subsequently. For that reason, we
analyse its time and frequency responses.
Time responses of (17)
The derivatives of the exponential function are given by
0

D t e at Et ( , a ), t 0

(18)

For negative orders, from definition (16) we have:

0 Dt

at

( ) 0
1

(t ) 1 e a d ,

(19)

By means of the substitution x = t , in the first place, and of the substitution ax = y,

in the second place, we obtain
0 Dt

at

e at t 1 ax
1 0 1 a( t x )
x e
dx
x e dx

t
( )
( ) 0

e at at y 1 y dy
e at

( ) e

0
a
a ( )a
( )

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at 1 y
y e dy
0

Et ( , a)

(20)

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PID Control Theory

For positive orders, the same definition gives

n
at
n at
e
0 Dt e D 0 Dt

dn
dt n

Et (n , a) Et ( , a), n min k N : k

If v = 0 , we have:
Et (0, a)

( k 1)

k 0

( at )k

(21)

which is the series development of eat.

Finally, the Laplace transform of Et is:
[Et ( , a)]

The Convolution theorem:

s (s a)

(22)

[ f (t ) g( )d ] [ f (t )][ g(t )]
t

(23)

For negative orders, applying the convolution theorem (23) and (19) we obtain

[Et ( , a]

( )
1

[t 1 ][ e at ]

s (s a)

(24)

For positive orders, applying the Laplace transform and we have:

[Et ( , a)] [

dn
dt

Et (n , a]

sn

(s a)

s (s a)

(25)

And when = 0 , we find:

[Et (0, a)] [ e at ]

1
sa

(26)

3.3 Approximation of fractional order

Approximation of Fractional Order Derivative and Integral There are many different ways
of finding such approximations but unfortunately it is not possible to say that one of them is
the best, because even though some are better than others in regard to certain characteristics,
the relative merits of each approximation depend on the differentiation order, on whether
one is more interested in an accurate frequency behaviour or in accurate time responses, on
how large admissible transfer functions may be, and other factors such like these. For that
reason this section shall present several alternatives and conclude with a comparison of
them.

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Approximations are available both in the s-domain and in the z-domain. The former shall
henceforth be called continuous approximations or approximations in the frequency
domain; the latter, discrete approximations, or approximations in the time domain.
There are 32 approximation methods for fractional order derivative and integral, we present
here Crone approximation method [10, 11].
3.3.1 Crone approximation method
The Crone methodology provides a continuous approximation, based on a recursive
distribution of zeros and poles. Such a distribution, alternating zeros and poles at wellchosen intervals, allows building a transfer function with a gain nearly linear on the
logarithm of the frequency and a phase nearly constant being possible for the values of the
slope of the gain and of the phase for any value of [12-14].
The functions we are dealing with in this section provide integer-order frequency-domain
approximation of transfer functions involving fractional powers of s.
For the frequency-domain transfer function C(s) which is given by:

C (s) Ks v

(27)

One of the well-known continuous approximation approaches is called Crone. Crone is a

French acronym which means 'robust fractional order control'. This approximation
implements a recursive distribution of N zeros and N poles leading to a transfer function
as (28).
C (s) K
'

n1 1

zn
s

pn
s

(28)

Where K' is an adjusted gain so that both (26) and (27) have unit gain at 1 rad/s. Zeros and
poles have to be found over a frequency domain [ l , h ] where the approximation is valid,
they are given for a positive v, by (29), (30) and (31).

z1 l
pn z ,n 1
zn p ,n 1

(29)
n 1...N

(30)

n 2...N

(31)

Where and can be calculated thanks to (32) and (33).

N
h
l

(32)

h
l

(33)

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N

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PID Control Theory

For negative values of , the role of the zeros and the poles is swapped. The number of
poles and zeros is selected at first and the desired performance of this approximation
depends on the order N. Simple approximation can be provided with lower order N, but it
can cause ripples in both gain and phase characteristics. When | |>1, the approximation is
not satisfactory. The fractional order usually is separated as (34) and only the first term
s needs to be approximated.

s v s sn , v n , n , [0,1]

(34)

3.4 Bode and Nichols plots of s for real orders

The frequency response of s is:

F( j ) ( j )

F( j ) j

arg F( j ) arg( j ) arg( j )

(35)

Now there are several complex numbers z with different arguments such that z = j; by
choosing the one with a lower argument in interval [0; 2[ , we will obtain:

arg F( j ) / 2

(36)

The gain in decibel shall be

F( j ) 20 log 20 log

( dB)

Thus the Bode and Nichols plots of F(s) = s are those shown in Figure 8 and Figure 9:

Fig. 8. Bode diagrams

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Fig. 9. Nichols diagrams

4. Conclusions
Manny industrial processes are nonlinear and thus complicate to describe mathematically.
However, it is known that a good many nonlinear processes can satisfactory controlled
using PID controllers providing that controller parameters are tuned well. PID controller
and its different types such as P, PI and PD controllers are today basic building blocks in
control of various processes. In spite their simplicity; they can be used to solve even a very
complex control problems, especially when combined with different functional blocks,
filters (compensators or correction blocks), selectors etc. One of the ways to improve the
traditional PID controllers is to use fractional order controllers with non integer derivation
and integration parts. However, the difficulties of designing Fractional Order PID (FOPID)
is relatively higher because these controllers include derivative order and integer order in
comparison with traditional PID controllers. As for a linear system, if the dynamic
characteristics are basically the same using either integer-order PID controller or FOPID
controller, the result of using FOPID controller may provide a better robustness. We get the
optimal control with a FOPID than a conventional PID controller.

5. Annex

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227

Table 2. Approximation of 1/ Sv for different v values

6. References
[1] K. Astrom, K. and T.Hagglund, PID Controllers: Theory, Design, and Tuning,
Instrument Society of America, ISBN 1-55617-516-7, 1995
[2] Barbosa, Ramiro S.; Machado, J. A. Tenreiro; FERREIRA, Isabel M, A fractional calculus
perspective of PID tuning. In Proceedings of ASME 2003 design engineering
technical conferences and Computers and information in engineering conference.
Chicago: ASME, 2003.
[3] Barbosa, Ramiro S.; Machado, J. A. Tenreiro; Ferreira, Isabel M, Tuning of PID
controllers based on Bodes ideal transfer function. Nonlinear dynamics. 38 (2004a)
305-321.
[4] D. Maiti, A. Acharya M. Chakraborty, A. Konar, R. Janarthanan, Tuning PID and
Fractional PID Controllers using the Integral Time Absolute Error Criterion 4th
International Conference on Information and Automation for Sustainability, 2008 ,
pp. 457-462
[5] Z. Yongpeng , Sh. Leang-San , M. A.Cajetan , and A. Warsame, Digital PID controller
design for delayed multivariable systems, Asian Journal of Control, Vol. 6, No. 4,
Dec 2004, pp. 483-495.
[6] Pierre, D.A. and J.W. Pierre, Digital Controller Design-Alternative Emulation
Approaches, ISA Trans.Vol. 34, No. 3, (1995), pp. 219-228.
[7] D. Xue, C. N. Zhao and Y. Q. Chen, Fractional order PID control of a DC-motor with an
elastic shaft: a case study, Proceedings of American Control Conference, pp. 31823187, June 2006.

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Introduction to PID Controllers Theory, Tuning and Application to Frontier Areas

[8] L. Debnath, A brief historical introduction to fractional calculus, Int. J. Math. Educ. Sci.
Technol., vol. 35, no. 4,pp. 487-501, 2004.
[9] Y. Q. Chen, D. Xue and H. Dou, Fractional Calculus and Biomimetic Control, Proc. of
the First IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Biomimet- ics (RoBio04), pp. robio2004347, August 2004.
[10] D. Valrio, Fractional Robust System Control, PhD thesis, Instituto Superior Tcnico,
Universidade Tcnica de Lisboa, 2005.
[11] TSENG, Chien-Cheng ,Design of fractional order digital FIR differentiators. IEEE
signal processing letters. 8:3 (2001) 77-79.
[12] Concepcion Alicia Monje Micharet. Design Methods of Fractional Order Controllers
for Industrial Applications. Ph.D. thesis, University of Extremadura, Spain,
2006.
[13] Youxin Luo, Jianying Li, The Controlling Parameters Tuning and its Application of
Fractional Order PID Bacterial Foraging-based Oriented by Particle Swarm
Optimization IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Computing and
Intelligent Systems, 2009, pp. 4-7.
[14] Tehrani, K.A. Amirahmadi, A. Rafiei, S.M.R. Griva, G. Barrandon, L. Hamzaoui, M.
Rasoanarivo, I. Sargos, F.M., Design of fractional order PID controller for boost
converter based on Multi-Objective optimization, Power Electronics and Motion
Control Conference (EPE/PEMC), 2010 14th International, Ohrid 6-8 Sept. 2010,pp:
179-185.

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Introduction to PID Controllers - Theory, Tuning and Application to

Frontier Areas

Edited by Prof. Rames C. Panda

ISBN 978-953-307-927-1
Hard cover, 258 pages
Publisher InTech

Published online 29, February, 2012

Published in print edition February, 2012

This book discusses the theory, application, and practice of PID control technology. It is designed for
engineers, researchers, students of process control, and industry professionals. It will also be of interest for
those seeking an overview of the subject of green automation who need to procure single loop and multi-loop
PID controllers and who aim for an exceptional, stable, and robust closed-loop performance through process
automation. Process modeling, controller design, and analyses using conventional and heuristic schemes are
explained through different applications here. The readers should have primary knowledge of transfer
functions, poles, zeros, regulation concepts, and background. The following sections are covered: The Theory
of PID Controllers and their Design Methods, Tuning Criteria, Multivariable Systems: Automatic Tuning and
Adaptation, Intelligent PID Control, Discrete, Intelligent PID Controller, Fractional Order PID Controllers,
Extended Applications of PID, and Practical Applications. A wide variety of researchers and engineers seeking
methods of designing and analyzing controllers will create a heavy demand for this book: interdisciplinary
researchers, real time process developers, control engineers, instrument technicians, and many more entities
that are recognizing the value of shifting to PID controller procurement.

How to reference

In order to correctly reference this scholarly work, feel free to copy and paste the following:
Kambiz Arab Tehrani and Augustin Mpanda (2012). PID Control Theory, Introduction to PID Controllers Theory, Tuning and Application to Frontier Areas, Prof. Rames C. Panda (Ed.), ISBN: 978-953-307-927-1,
InTech, Available from: http://www.intechopen.com/books/introduction-to-pid-controllers-theory-tuning-andapplication-to-frontier-areas/theory-of-pid-and-fractional-order-pid-fopid-controllers

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