Industrial Control

(EEPC45)

Lecture Note 3

(Unit-I of Syllabus)
 Study of the System
Disturbances

Input Output
System

Initial Conditions
Fig.1. System

Given Obtain Study

I, M O Analysis

I, O M Synthesis/ Identification/ Estimation

M, O I Design
 System

Systems are described by:

• Pictorial representation (pictures)

• Drawing/ sketch

• Schematic drawing/ Block diagram

• Iconic representation/ Model

• Mathematical model
The fundamental control problem:

• The central problem in control is to find a technically

feasible way to act on a given system so that the system
behaves, as closely as possible, to some desired
behavior.
• Furthermore, this approximate behavior should be
achieved in the face of uncertainty of the process and in
the presence of uncontrollable external disturbances
acting on the system.
The above definition introduces several ideas given
below:

• Desired behavior: This needs to be specified as part of the design

problem.
• Feasibility: This means that the solution must satisfy various
constraints, which can be of technical, environmental, economic
or other nature.
• Uncertainty: The available knowledge about a system will usually
be limited and of limited accuracy.
• Action: The solution requires that action be somehow applied to the
system typically via one or more manipulated variables which
command the actuators.

• Disturbances: The system to be controlled will typically have

inputs other than those that are manipulated by the controller. These
other inputs are called disturbances.

• Approximate behavior: A feasible solution will rarely be perfect.

There will invariably be a degree of approximation in achieving the
specified goal.
 Modeling
 A model is a set of mathematical equations that are intended to
capture the effect of certain system variables on certain other
system variables.
 The italicized expressions above should be understood as follows:
• Certain system variables: It is usually neither possible nor
necessary to model the effect of every variable on every other
variable; one therefore limits oneself to certain subsets.
• Typical examples include the effect of input on output, the effect of
disturbances on output, the effect of a reference signal change on
the control signal, or the effect of various unmeasured internal
system variables on each other.
• Capture: A model is never perfect and it is therefore always
associated with a modeling error. The word capture highlights the
existence of errors, but does not yet concern itself with the precise
definition of their type and effect.
• Intended: This word is a reminder that one does not always
succeed in finding a model with the desired accuracy and hence
some iterative refinement may be needed.
• Set of mathematical equations: There are numerous ways of
describing the system behavior, such as linear or nonlinear
differential or difference equations.
 Types of Mathematical Modelling

Three kinds of models are used in the process control:

 Theoretical Models (based on physiochemical law):

• Equations are derived from basic conservation laws.
• It is useful for extrapolation, scaling etc.
 Empirical model (based on process data analysis):
• Mathematical equations are too complex, but experimental data
(such as reaction rate, heat transfer coefficient etc.) can be fitted
into some relationship.
• It is useful in control design, simplified prediction model
 Semi-empirical model (combined approach):
 Uses of Mathematical Modelling

Mathematical modelling is used in the process control for

analysis, design, and training & Education purpose such as:

 To improve understanding of the process:

• Investigate the process behavior without the expense and
unexpected hazards of operation of real processes.

 To optimize process design and operating conditions:

• Steady-state model of the process can be used to determine the
most profitable operating conditions.
 To design a control strategy for the process:
• Alternative control strategies like model-based control and model-
predictive control can be evaluated to select the best process
model.

 To train operating personnel:

• Plant operators can be trained to operate a complex process and
deal with emergency situations by working on process simulators.
• Example: Flight simulators are used to train pilots before they
board a real plane.
Models are classified according to properties of the
equation they are based on.
Model Contrasting
Asserts whether or not
attribute attribute
Single input Multiple input the model equations have one input and one output
single output multiple output only
the model equations are linear in the system
Linear Nonlinear
variables
Time varying Time invariant the model parameters are constant

model equations describe the behavior at every

Continuous Sampled
instant of time or only in discrete samples of time

the models equations rely on functions of input and

Input-output State space output variables only, or also include the so called
state variables
Lumped Distributed the model equations are ordinary or partial
parameter parameter differential equations
The aim of this lecture is to give a brief introduction to
modeling specific topics to be covered include:

• How to select the appropriate model complexity?

• How to build models for a given plant?

• How to describe model errors?

• How to linearize nonlinear models?

• Brief introduction to state space models and high order
differential and high order difference equation models
 Model Complexity

 In building a model, it is important to bear in mind that all real

processes are complex and hence any attempt to build an exact
description of the plant is usually an impossible goal.

 All real systems are arbitrarily complex, then all models must
necessarily be approximate descriptions of the process. We
introduce several terms to make this clear:
• Nominal model. This is an approximate description of the plant
used for control system design.
• Calibration model. This is a more comprehensive description of
the plant. It includes other features not used for control system
design but which have a direct bearing on the achieved
performance.

• Model error. This is the difference between the nominal model and
the calibration model. Details of this error may be unknown but
various bounds may be available for it.
 Building Models

 A first possible approach to building a plant model is to postulate a

specific model structure and to use what is known as a black box
approach to modeling. In this approach one varies, either by trial
and error or by an algorithm, the model parameters until the
dynamic behavior of model and plant match sufficiently well.
 An alternative approach for dealing with the modeling problem is
to use physical laws (such as conservation of mass, energy and
momentum) to construct the model. In this approach one uses the
fact that, in any real system, there are basic phenomenological laws
which determine the relationships between all the signals in the
system.
• These laws relate to the nature of the system and may include
physics, chemistry, and economic theory and so on.
• In practice, it is common to combine both black box and
phenomenological ideas to build a model.
• Phenomenological insights are often crucial to understanding the
key dynamics (including dominant features), nonlinearities and
significant time variations in a given system.
• It will thus help to make an initial choice regarding the complexity
of the model.
• On the other hand, the black–box approach often allows one to fit
models to sections of the plant where the underlying physics is too
complex to derive a suitable phenomenological model.
 Model Structures

 Given the dynamic nature of real processes, the standard

mathematical description of process models includes, apart from
algebraic relations:

• dependencies on the accumulated (or integrated) effect of process

variables,
and
• dependencies on the rate of change (or differential) of variables.
 These two features determine what is generally called the plant
dynamics and point to the fact that the behavior of a real process
cannot be satisfactorily described without including its past history
and the way it deals with changes.

 Models can usually be reduced to the form of differential equations

(continuous time), difference equations (discrete time) or
combinations of these (hybrid or sampled data systems).

 These models relate plant inputs to selected plant outputs, and they
deal with a limited description of the system under study.
 State Space Models

For continuous time systems

dx dx
 f  x t  , u t  , t   Ax  t   Bu  t 
dt dt
y t   h  x t  , u t  , t  y  t   Cx  t   Du  t 

For discrete time systems

x  k  1  f d  x  k  , u  k  , k  x  k  1  Ad x  k   Bd u  k 
y k   h  x  k ,u k , k  y  k   Cd x  k   Dd u  k 
 Nominal Sensitivity Functions

Fig. 2. Two degree of freedom closed loop

 The closed loop response is governed by four transfer functions

which are collectively known as the sensitivity functions.
 These sensitivity functions are seen to be given by:

G0  s  C  s 
• Nominal complementary sensitivity To  s  
1  G0  s  C  s 

1
• Nominal sensitivity So  s  
1  G0  s  C  s 

G0  s 
• Nominal input disturbance sensitivity Sio  s  
1  G0  s  C  s 

C s
• Nominal control sensitivity Suo  s  
1  G0  s  C  s 