THEORY

A control loop mechanism that uses feedback and is widely used in industry is a proportional-
integral-derivative controller (PID controller, also known as a three-term controller) [3]. PID
controllers’ popularity can be partly attributed to their reliable performance under a variety of
operating conditions and partially to their functional simplicity, which enables engineers to use them
in an easy-to-understand manner [4]. A PID controller’s basic operation is to read a sensor, calculate
the proportional, integral, and derivative responses, and then add the three components to
determine the desired actuator output. The proportional component only depends on the difference
between the set point and the process variable in a proportional response. The Error term refers to
this distinction. The ratio of the output response to the error signal is determined by the
proportional gain (Kc). The error term is cumulatively added by the integral component. As a result,
the integral component will gradually increase even with a small error term. The result is to drive the
steady-state error to zero because the integral response will keep growing over time unless the error
is zero. The final discrepancy between the process variable and set point is the steady-state error [4].
If the process variable is increasing quickly, the derivative component causes the output to decrease.
The derivative response is proportional to how quickly the process variable changes. The speed of
the overall control system response will increase as the derivative time (Td) parameter is increased
[4], making the control system more sensitive to changes in the error term. Tuning is the process of
determining the best gains for P, I, and D to obtain the best response possible from a control system.
The “guess and check” method and the Ziegler Nichols method are two tuning techniques that will
be covered [5].

Figure 1. Block diagram of a process control using PID [6]

[3] Charig, 2020. PID Controller - Definition and explanations.

[4] Goodwin et. al., 2020. Classical PID Control. Control System Design. Prentice Hall PTR.
https://www.ni.com/en-ph/innovations/white-papers/06/pid-theory-explained.

[5] Webb et. al., 2020. PID Control of Continuous Processes. Programmable Logic Controllers, Fourth
Edition, Prentice Hall PTR. https://www.ni.com/en-ph/innovations/white-papers/06/pid-theory-
explained.

[6] Daraz et. al., 2020. Modified PID controller for automatic generation control of multi-source
interconnected power system using fitness dependent optimizer algorithm. PLoS ONE 15(11):
e0242428. Doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0242428

A PID controller's structure typically consists of three controls: proportional, integral, and
derivative control. These three PID controller controllers work together to produce an output that is
integrated to construct a control strategy that further governs the operation of a device and
modifies physical characteristics like temperature, pressure, etc. Typically, the proportional, integral,
or derivative terms are adjusted or tuned in a PID controller. A portion of the input signal is used to
evaluate the difference between these variables and is then sent back to the device as a feedback
control signal. The correction factor is the name given to this variable in most cases [2]. A feedback
control system is part of a closed-loop system like a PID controller. To provide an error signal, this
system assesses the feedback variable using a fixed point. It modifies the system output in response
to that. If the error does not reach zero, this process is repeated until the feedback variable's value is
comparable to a fixed point. By using closed-loop actions, a PID controller keeps the output in such a
way that there is no error between the process variable and the setpoint or desired output [3].
 [1] [2]

References

[1] "What is a PID Controller : Working & Its Applications," ElProCus – Electronic Projects for
Engineering Students, 2014. [Online]. Available: https://www.elprocus.com/the-working-of-a-
pid-controller/.

[2] "PID Controller : Working & Its Applications," Studious Guy, 2022. [Online]. Available:
https://studiousguy.com/pid-controller-working/.