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Variations On Basic Feedback Control

Feedforward control uses a sensor to directly measure disturbances as they enter the process. The feedforward controller determines how to adjust the manipulated variable to counteract the disturbance so that the controlled variable remains at the setpoint without being affected by disturbances. However, feedforward control requires complex computation to accurately determine adjustments, knowledge of predictable and measurable disturbances, and a specifically designed controller for each application. As a result, it sees limited use in industrial processes.

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71 views2 pages

Variations On Basic Feedback Control

Feedforward control uses a sensor to directly measure disturbances as they enter the process. The feedforward controller determines how to adjust the manipulated variable to counteract the disturbance so that the controlled variable remains at the setpoint without being affected by disturbances. However, feedforward control requires complex computation to accurately determine adjustments, knowledge of predictable and measurable disturbances, and a specifically designed controller for each application. As a result, it sees limited use in industrial processes.

Uploaded by

emmkays123
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Variations on Basic Feedback Control

Feedforward Control

In this configuration, a sensor or measuring device is used to directly measure the disturbance as it enters
the process and the sensor transmits this information to the feedforward controller. The feedforward
controller determines the needed change in the manipulated variable, so that, when the effect of the
disturbance is combined with the effect of the change in the manipulated variable, there will be no change
in the controlled variable at all. The controlled variable is always kept at its setpoint and hence disturbances
have no effect on the process. This perfect compensation is a difficult goal to obtain. It is , however, the
objective for which feedforward control is structural. A typical feedforward control loop is shown in the
figure below.

Another name for feedforward control is open loop control. The reason is that the measured signal goes to
the controller parallely to the process. This can be seen in the next figure. This is in contrast to feedback or
closed loop control.

As mentioned previously the main advantage of feedforward control is that it works to prevent errors from
occuring and disturbances have no effect on the process at all. However, there are some significant
difficulties.
Complex Computation

The feedforward control computation involves determining exactly how much change in
manipulated variable is required for a specific change in disturbance. To be able to make this
computation accurately requires significant quantitative understanding of the process and its
operation. There is also a tremendous escalation of the theoretical know-how required in the
feedforward controller's computation activities.

Knowledge of Process

The structure of feed forward control assumes that

1. The disturbances are known in advance.


2. The disturbance will have sensors associated with them (measurable).
3. There will not be significant unmeasured disturbances.

These limitations on the disturbances constrain the application of feedforward control, simply as
most disturbances in the industrial processes are unpredictable and immeasurable.

Limitations

In pure feedforward control, there is no monitoring on the controlled variable. If the controlled
variable strays from its setpoint there is no corrective action to eliminate the error. This makes
pure feedforward control somewhat impractical and a rarity in typical process application.

Specific Controller Required

The feedforward controller must be specifically and uniquely designed for the one particular
control application involved, because of the necessity of accurate and quantitative calculations.

It can be seen that feedforward control requires a significant increase in technical skills and capabilities. As
a result, feedforward control of specific variables is limited to the most economically significant cases. In
practical industrial application, only few cases are handle with feedforward control. While the number of
application is small, their importance is quite significant.

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