CONTROL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING Control systems are an integral part of modern society. Numerous applications are all around us: The rockets fire, and the space shuttle lifts off to carth orbit; in splashing cooling water, a metallic part is automatically machined; a self-guided vehicle delivering material to workstations in an aerospace assembly plant glides along the floor sceking its destination. These are just a few examples of the automatically controlled systems that we can create. ‘We are not the only creators of automatically controlled systems; these systems also exist in nature. Within our own bodies are numerous control systems, such as the pancreas, which regulates our blood sugar. In time of “fight or light,” our adrenaline increases along with our heart rate, causing more oxygen to be red to our cells. Our eyes follow a moving object to keep it in view; our hands grasp the object and place it precisely at a predetermined location. Even the nonphysical world appears to be automatically regulated. Models have been suggested showing automatic control of student performance. The input to the model is the student's available study time, and the output is the grade. The model can be used to predict the time required for the grade to rise if a sudden increase in study time is available. Using this model, you can determine whether increased study is worth the effort during the last week of the term.CONTROL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING Acontrol system consists of subsystems and processes (or plants) assembled for the purpose of obtaining a desired output with desired performance, given a specified input. Figure 1.1 shows a control system in its simplest form, where the input represents a desired output. For example, consider an elevator. When the fourth-floor button is pressed on the first floor, the elevator rises to the fourth floor with a speed and floor-leveling accuracy designed for passenger comfort. The push of the fourth-floor button is an input that represents our desired output, shown as a step function in Figure 1.2. Input; stimulus [ Control | system Desired response FIGURE 1.1 Simplified description of a control systemCONTROL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING Steady-state Steady-state response error é 3 levator response FIGURE 1.2 Elevatorresponse | Time The performance of the elevator can be seen from the elevator response curve in the figure. Two major measures of performance are apparent: (1) the transient response and (2) the steady-state error. In our example, passenger comfort and passenger patience are dependent upon the transient response. If this response is too fast, passenger comfort is sacrificed; if too slow, passenger patience is sacrificed. The steady-state error is another important performance specification since passenger safety and convenience would be sacrificed if the elevator did not properly levelCONTROL SYSTEM DEFINITION FIGURE1.3 a Early elevators were controled by hand ropes ‘oran elevator operator, Here a rope iscut to demonstrat the safety brake, an innovation in early elevators (© Bettman’ Corbis) h. One of two modern Duoliftelevatorsmakesitsway up the Grande Arche in Paris ‘woekevatorsare driven by one rotor, with each car acting as a counterbalance tothe other. Today, elevators ae fully auto matic using control ystems to regulate position and velocity ryCONTROL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING With control systems we can move large equipment with precision that would otherwise be impossible. We can point huge antennas toward the farthest reaches of the universe to pick up faint radio signals; controlling these antennas by hand would be impossible. Because of control systems, elevators carry us quickly to our destination, automatically stopping at the right floor (Figure 1.3). We alone could not provide the power required for the load and the speed; motors provide the power, and control systems regulate the position and speed. We build control systems for four primary reasons: 1. Power amplification 2. Remote control 3. Convenience of input form 4. Compensation for disturbancesCONTROL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING * Liquid-Level Control The Greeks began engineering feedback systems around 300 B.C. A water clock invented by Ktesibios operated by having water trickle into a measuring container at a constant rate. The level of water in the measuring container could be used to tell time. For water to trickle at a constant rate, the supply tank had to be kept at a constant level. This was accomplished using a float valve similar to the water-level control in today’s flush toilets.CONTROL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING * Steam Pressure and Temperature Controls Also in the seventeenth century, Cornelis Drebbel in Holland invented a purely mechanical temperature control system for hatching eggs. The device used a vial of alcohol and mercury with a floater inserted in it. The floater was connected to a damper that controlled a flame. A portion of the vial was inserted into the incubator to sense the heat generated by the fire. As the heat increased, the alcohol and mercury expanded, raising the floater, closing the damper, and reducing the flame. Lower temperature caused the float to descend, opening the damper and increasing the flame.CONTROL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING * Speed Control In 1745, speed control was applied to a windmill by Edmund Lee. Increasing winds pitched the blades farther back, so that less area was available. As the wind decreased, more blade area was available. William Cubitt improved on the idea in 1809 by dividing the windmill sail into movable louvers. Also in the eighteenth century, JamesWatt invented the flyball speed governor to control the speed of steam engines. In this device, two spinning flyballs rise as rotational speed increases. A steam valve connected to the flyball mechanism closes with the ascending flyballs and opens with the descending flyballs, thus regulating the speed.CONTROL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING * Stability, Stabilization, and Steering Control systems theory as we know it today began to crystallize in the latter half of the nineteenth century. In 1868, James Clerk Maxwell published the stability criterion for a third-order system based on the coefficients of the differential equation. In 1874, Edward John Routh, using a suggestion from William Kingdon Clifford that was ignored earlier by Maxwell, was able to extend the stability criterion to fifth-order systems. In 1877, the topic for the Adams Prize was “The Criterion of Dynamical Stability.”CONTROL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING * Twentieth-Century Developments It was not until the early 1900s that automatic steering of ships was achieved. In 1922, the Sperry Gyroscope Company installed an automatic steering system that used the elements of compensation and adaptive control to improve performance. However, much of the general theory used today to improve the performance of automatic control systems is attributed to Nicholas Minorsky, a Russian born in 1885. It was his theoretical development applied to the automatic steering of ships that led to what we call today proportional-plus-integral-plus-derivative (PID), or three- mode, controllers, which we will study in Chapters 9 and 11.CONTROL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING * Open-Loop Systems Ageneric open-loop system is shown in Figure 1.6(a). It starts with a subsystem called an input transducer, which converts the form of the input to that used by the controller. The controller drives a process or a plant. The input is sometimes called the reference, while the output can be called the controlled variable. Other signals, such as disturbances, are shown added to the controller and process outputs via summing junctions, which yield the algebraic sum of their input signals using associated signs. For example, the plant can be a furnace or air conditioning system, where the output variable is temperature. The controller in a heating system consists of fuel valves and the electrical system that operates the valves. ~~ Summing ‘Summing vanableCONTROL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING * Open-Loop Systems The distinguishing characteristic of an open-loop system is that it cannot compensate for any disturbances that add to the controller’s driving signal (Disturbance 1 in Figure 1.6(a)). For example, if the controller is an electronic amplifier and Disturbance 1 is noise, then any additive amplifier noise at the first summing junction will also drive the process, corrupting the output with the effect of the noise. The output of an open- loop system is corrupted not only by signals that add to the controller’s commands but also by disturbances at the output (Disturbance 2 in Figure 1.6(a)). The system cannot correct for these disturbances, either.CONTROL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING * Open-Loop Systems Open-loop systems, then, do not correct for disturbances and are simply commanded by the input. For example, toasters are open-loop systems, as anyone with burnt toast can attest. The controlled variable (output) of a toaster is the color of the toast. The device is designed with the assumption that the toast will be darker the longer it is subjected to heat. The toaster does not measure the color of the toast; it does not correct for the fact that the toast is rye, white, or sourdough, nor does it correct for the fact that toast comes in different thicknesses.Disntnae 1 Distance 2 4 apa wed tort LL coer 2 ee a {action Figure 1.6 Block diagram of Control System ~ Open-loop system CONTROL SYSTEMS ENGINEERINGCONTROL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING * Close-loop (Feedback Control) System The disadvantages of open-loop systems, namely sensitivity to disturbances and inability to correct for these disturbances, may be overcome in closed-loop systems. The generic architecture of a closed-loop system is shown in Figure 1.6(b). The input transducer converts the form of the input to the form used by the controller. An output transducer, or sensor, measures the output response and converts it into the form used by the controller. For example, if the controller uses electrical signals to operate the valves of a temperature control system, the input position and the output temperature are converted to electrical signals. The input position can be converted to a voltage by a potentiometer, a variable resistor, and the output temperature can be converted to a voltage by a thermistor, a device whose electrical resistance changes with temperature.CONTROL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING Disturbance 2 4 ovspat or alte Controller bia Mis Reference — i Semnieg Summing | ‘varable Summing junction ‘pct uncon Oupat vrarader ‘Senor » Figure 1.6 Block diagram of Control System — Close-loop systemCONTROL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING * Close-loop (Feedback Control) System The closed-loop system compensates for disturbances by measuring the output response, feeding that measurement back through a feedback path, and comparing that response to the input at the summing junction. If there is any difference between the two responses, the system drives the plant, via the actuating signal, to make a correction. If there is no difference, the system does not drive the plant, since the plant’s response is already the desired response. In summary, systems that perform the previously described measurement and correction are called closed-loop, or feedback control, systems. Systems that do not have this property of measurement and correction are called open-loop systems.CONTROL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING Analysis is the process by which a system’s performance is determined. For example, we evaluate its transient response and steady-state error to determine if they meet the desired specifications. Design is the process by which a system’s performance is created or changed. For example, if a system’s transient response and steady-state error are analyzed and found not to meet the specifications, then we change parameters or add additional components to meet the specifications. Acontrol system is dynamic: It responds to an input by undergoing a transient response before reaching a steady-state response that generally resembles the input. We have already identified these two responses and cited a position control system (an elevator) as an example.u fu. & CONTROL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING * Transient Response Transient response is important. In the case of an elevator, a slow transient response makes passengers impatient, whereas an excessively rapid response makes them uncomfortable. If the elevator oscillates about the arrival floor for more than a second, a disconcerting feeling can result. Transient response is also important for structural reasons: Too fast a transient response could cause permanent physical damage.CONTROL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING * Steady-State Response Another analysis and design goal focuses on the steady-state response. As we have seen, this response resembles the input and is usually what remains after the transients have decayed to zero. For example, this response may be an elevator stopped near the fourth floor. We are concerned about the accuracy of the steady- state response. An elevator must be level enough with the floor for the passengers to exit, and a read/write head not positioned over the commanded track results in computer errors.