Topic 5.

0 Feedforward and Ratio Control (TCE 2207)

5.1 Introduction
5.2 Concept of Feedforwad Control
5.3 Logic of Feedforward Control
5.4 Design and Practical Aspects of Feedforward controller
5.5 Feedforward – feedback control
5.6 Ratio control
Lecture Notes: Engineer Stanford Mudono

5.1 Introduction

Feedforward (FF) control can be used very successfully to improve a control

loop’s response to disturbances.
FF control reacts the moment a disturbance occurs, without having to wait for a
deviation in process variable.
Feedback (FB) control reacts only after it has detected a deviation in the value of
the output from the desired set point.
FF control configuration measures the disturbance (load) directly and takes control
action to eliminate its impact on the process output.
Therefore, a FF controller has the theoretical potential for perfect control.

5.2 Concept of Feedforward control

Feedforward control is used to detect and correct disturbances before they have a
chance to enter and upset the closed or feedback loop characteristics.
It must be remembered that feedforward control does not take the process variable
into account; it reacts to sensed or measurement of known or suspected process
disturbances, making it a compensating and matching control to make the impact
of the disturbance and feedback control equal.
The difference between FF and FB control can be considered as:
 FF is primarily designed and used to prevent errors (process disturbances)
entering or disturbing a control loop within a process system.
 FB is used to correct errors, caused by process disturbances that are detected
within a closed loop control.

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5.3 Logic of Feedforward Control

Fig 5.1 Structure of (a) FF control scheme (b) FB control scheme

Feedforward control measures the disturbance directly and then it anticipates the
effect that it will have on the process output.
 It changes the manipulated variable by such an amount as to eliminate
completely the impact of the disturbance on the process output (controlled
variable).
 Control action starts immediately after a change in the disturbance(s) has
been detected.
Feedback acts after the fact in compensatory manner, whereas Feedforward acts
beforehand in an anticipatory manner.

Some common Feedforward control systems used in Chemical Processes:

1. FF control of a heat exchanger (Fig 5.2a); objective is to keep the exit
temperature of the liquid constant by manipulating the steam pressure. There
are 2 principal disturbances (loads) that are measured for feedforward
control:
 liquid flow rate and
 liquid inlet temperature
2. FF control of drum boiler (Fig 5.2b)
 Objective is to keep the liquid level in the drum constant.
The 2 disturbances are:
 the steam flow from the boiler and
 flow of the feedwater (also manipulated variable)
3. FF control of a distillation column (fig 5.2c)
 Objective is to keep the composition of overhead or bottom product.
The 2 disturbances are:

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  the feed flow rate ,F and
 composition, c
The available manipulated variables are:
 the steam pressure in the boiler and
 the reflux ratio
FF control is particularly useful for distillation column.
4. FF control for a CSTR (fig 5.2d)
 The 2 objectives are:
 to maintain the temperature and
 composition constant within the CSTR
 The 2 disturbances are :
 the inlet concentration and
 temperature
 the 2 manipulations are:
 the product withdrawal flow rate and
 coolant flow rate

Fig 5.2 Examples of Feedforward Controls: (a) Heat Exchanger, (b) Drum Boiler,
(c) Distillation Column, (d) CSTR

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5.4 Design and Practical Aspects on Feedforward Controllers

How do we design Feedforward Controllers?

5.4.1 Designing FF controllers for a Stirred Tank Heater
Dynamic mass and energy balances for the STH:
𝑑ℎ 𝑑𝑇 𝑄
𝐴 = 𝐹𝑖 − 𝐹; 𝐴ℎ = 𝐹𝑖 (𝑇𝑖 − 𝑇)
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝜌𝑐𝑝

Fig 5.3 STH

If we assume that Fi does not change and Fi = F, then dh/dt = 0, thus we have only
the heat balance.
The inlet temperature Ti is the disturbance and the amount of heat Q supplied by
steam is the manipulated variable.
The control objective is to keep the liquid temperature, T at the desired set point
value, TSP.
1. Steady-state feedforward controller:
Considering steady-state heat balance:
𝑄 𝑄
0 = 𝐹𝑖 (𝑇𝑖 − 𝑇) 𝑜𝑟 𝑇 = 𝑇𝑖 + −−−1
𝜌𝐶𝑝 𝐹𝑖 𝜌𝐶𝑝
In order to keep T = TSP, the manipulated variable Q (eqn. 1) should change
according the following equation:
𝑄 = 𝐹𝑖 𝜌𝐶𝑝 (𝑇𝑆𝑃 − 𝑇𝑖 ) − − − 2
Eqn. 2 is the design eqn for the steady-state feedforward controller, and
shows how Q should change in the presence of disturbance or set point
changes.

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 The steady –state feedforward controller will always achieve the desired
steady-state performance of the heater (i.e., T = TSP at steady-state), not true
in general during transient response.

Fig 5.4 Block diagram for Feedforward Temperature Control of a STH:

(a) Steady – state; (b) Dynamic

2. Dynamic feedforward controller:

𝑉 𝑑𝑇 𝑄
+ 𝑇 = 𝑇𝑖 + −−−3
𝐹𝑖 𝑑𝑡 𝐹𝑖 𝜌𝐶𝑝
where V =Ah = liquid volume in the tank.

𝑉 𝑑𝑇 ′ ′ ′
𝑄′
+𝑇 =𝑇 𝑖+ − − − 3𝑎(𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑣𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑠)
𝐹𝑖 𝑑𝑡 𝐹𝑖 𝜌𝐶𝑝
Taking the Lapalce transforms of eqn 3a:

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 𝑇̅ ′ 𝑖 (𝑠) 1 1
̅′
𝑇 (𝑠) = + 𝑄̅ ′ (𝑠) − − − 4
𝜏𝑠 + 1 𝐹𝑖 𝜌𝐶𝑝 𝜏𝑠 + 1
̅ ′ (s) =𝑇̅'SP(s) = set
where τ=V/Fi = retention time of liquid in the tank. (𝑇
̅ i or set point 𝑇′
point, despite any changes in the disturbance 𝑇′ ̅ SP

𝑄̅ ′ (𝑠) = Fi ρCp [(τs + 1)𝑇̅ ′ SP (s) − 𝑇̅ ′ i (s)] − − − 5

eqn 5 is the design eqn for the dynamic feedforward controller and fig 5.4b
shows the resulting control mechanism.

The design of a feedforward controller arises directly from the model of a process.
The better a model represents the behavior of a process, the better the resulting
feedforward controller will be.

Fig 5.5 Comparison of Static and Dynamic Feedforward Control

Dynamic feedforward control will be better for set point changes.

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 Fig 5.6 Block diagrams for: (a) Process, (b) Feedforward Loop, (c)
Feedforward Loop with measuring device and final control element.

Considering the block diagram of an uncontrolled process (Fig 5.6a), the process
output is given by:
̅ (s) + Gd (s)d̅(s) − − − 6
y̅(𝑠) = Gp (s)m
Let ӯSP(s) be the desired set point for the process output, then eqn. 6 for ӯ(s) =
ӯSP(s) yields:
̅ (s) + Gd (s)d̅(s) − − − 7
y̅SP (𝑠) = Gp (s)m
We can solve eqn. 7 with respect to 𝑚̅(s) and find the value that the manipulated
variable should have in order to keep ӯ(s) = ӯSP(s) in the presence of disturbance or
set point changes.
1 𝐺𝑑 (𝑠)
̅ (s) = [
𝑚 ӯSP (s) − d̅(s)] −−−8
Gd (s) 𝐺𝑝 (𝑠)
Eqn 8 determines the form that the feedforward control system should have, which
is shown in fig 5b.
It also determines the 2 transfer functions, Gc and GSP, which complete the design
of the control mechanism:

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 𝐺𝑑 (𝑠)
Gc (s) = ≡ 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑓𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛
𝐺𝑝 (𝑠)
𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑟 − −9
1
GSP (s) = ≡ 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑓𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 − −9
𝐺𝑑 (𝑠)

5.5 Feedforward - Feedback Control

Feedforward control has the potential for perfect control but also suffers from
several inherent weaknesses.
 it requires the identification of all possible disturbances and their direct
measurement, something which may not be possible for many processes;
 any changes in the parameters of a process (e.g. deactivation of a catalyst
with time, reduction of a heat transfer coefficient due to fouling, etc.) cannot
be compensated by a feedforward controller because their impact cannot be
detected;
 feedforward control requires a very good model for the process which for
many systems in chemical industry is not possible.
On the other hand, feedback control is rather insensitive to all three of the above
drawbacks but it has poor performance for a number of systems (multicapacity,
dead time, etc.), and raises questions of closed-loop stability.
Table 5.1 summarizes the relative advantages and disadvantages of the two control
systems.

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The combined feedforward – feedback control system will retain the superior
performance.
Any deviations caused by the various weaknesses of the feedforward control will
be corrected by the feedback controller.
Fig 5.7 shows the configuration of a combined feedforward – feedback control
system.

Fig 5.7 Generalized block diagram for feedforward-feedback control

Developing an equation for the closed-loop response of the feedforward – feedback

system of fig 5.7.

̅ + 𝐺𝑑 𝑑̅— 6 , dropping argument s

y̅ = 𝐺𝑝 𝑚
The value of the manipulated variable is given by:
̅ = 𝐺𝑓 𝑐̅ = 𝐺𝑓 (𝑐̅1 + 𝑐̅2 ) = 𝐺𝑓 𝐺𝑐1 ⋶1 + 𝐺𝑓 𝐺𝑐2 ⋶2
m
or
̅ = 𝐺𝑓 𝐺𝑐1 (ӯ𝑆𝑃 − 𝐺𝑚1 𝑦̅) + 𝐺𝑓 𝐺𝑐2 (𝐺𝑆𝑃 𝑦̅𝑆𝑃 − 𝐺𝑚2 𝑑̅) − −10
𝑚
Replacing 𝑚
̅ in eqn 6 by its equal from eqn 10 and rearrangement:

𝐺𝑝 𝐺𝑓 (𝐺𝑐1 + 𝐺𝑐2 𝐺𝑆𝑃 ) 𝐺𝑑 − 𝐺𝑝 𝐺𝑓 𝐺𝑐2 𝐺𝑚2

𝑦̅ = 𝑦̅𝑆𝑃 + 𝑑̅ − −11
1 + 𝐺𝑝 𝐺𝑓 𝐺𝑐1 𝐺𝑚1 1 + 𝐺𝑝 𝐺𝑓 𝐺𝑐1 𝐺𝑚1

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Eqn 11 reveals the following characteristics for the closed-loop process output
under feedforward – feedback control:
1. The stability of the closed-loop response is determined by the roots of the
characteristic eqn: 1 + GpGfGc1Gm1 = 0, which depends on the transfer
functions of the feedback loop only.
The stability characteristics of a feedback system will not change with the
addition of a feedforward loop.
2. The transfer functions of the feedforward loop Gc2 and GSP will be given by
the design rqns: Gc2 = Gd/(GpGfGm2) and GSP = Gm2/Gd
If Gp, Gd, Gf and Gm2 are known exactly, the feedforward loop compensates
completely, for disturbance or set point changes and the feedback controller
remains idle since є1 stays continuously zero.
3. If Gp, Gd, Gf and Gm2 are known only approximately,
then Gd – GpGfGc2Gm2 ≠ 0 and/or GpGfGc2GSP ≠ 1. In such case
feedforward does not provide perfect control (ӯ ≠ӯSP). Then ⋶1 ≠ 0 and the
feedback loop is activated and offers the necessary compensation.

5.6 Ratio Control (make notes)

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