Control Engineering Agnes

Modelling of dynamic systems

One of the most important tasks in the analysis and design of control systems is mathematical
modeling of the systems. The two most common methods of modelling linear systems are the
transfer function method and the state-variable method. The transfer function is valid only for
linear time-invariant systems, whereas the state equations can be applied to linear as well as
nonlinear systems. Although the analysis and design of linear control systems have been well
developed, their counterparts for nonlinear systems are usually quite complex. Therefore, the
control systems engineer often has the task of determining not only how to accurately describe
a system mathematically but, more importantly, how to make proper assumptions and
approximations, whenever necessary, so that the system may be realistically characterized by
a linear mathematical model. A control system may be composed of various components
including mechanical, thermal, fluid, pneumatic, and electrical; sensors and actuators; and
computers. We review basic properties of these systems, otherwise known as dynamic
systems. Using the basic modeling principles such as Newton's second law of motion or
Kirchoff's law, the models of these dynamic systems are represented by differential equations.
It is not difficult to understand that the analytical and computer simulation of any system
is only as good as the model used to describe it. It should also be emphasized that the modern
control engineer should place special emphasis on the mathematical modeling of systems so
that analysis and design problems can be conveniently solved by computers.

Modelling of simple mechanical systems

Mechanical systems may be modeled as systems of lumped masses (rigid bodies) or as

distributed mass (continuous) systems. The latter are modeled by partial differential equations,
whereas the former are represented by ordinary differential equations. Of course, in reality all
systems are continuous, but, in most cases, it is easier and therefore preferred to approximate
them with lumped mass models and ordinary differential equations.

Definition: Mass is considered a property of an element that stores the kinetic energy of
translational motion. Mass is analogous to the inductance of electric networks, W denotes the
weight of a body, then M is given

M=w/g

where g is the acceleration of free fall of the body due to gravity (g = 9.8066 m/sec2 in SI
units).
The equations of a linear mechanical system are written by first constructing a model of the
system containing interconnected linear elements and then by applying Newton's law of motion
to the free-body diagram (FBD). For translational motion, the equation of motion and for
rotational motion, is used. The motion of mechanical elements can be described in various
dimensions as translational, rotational, or a combination of both. The equations governing the
motion of mechanical systems are often directly or indirectly formulated from Newton's law of
motion.

Translational Motion
The motion of translation is defined as a motion that takes place along a straight or curved path.
The variables that are used to describe translational motion are acceleration, velocity, and
displacement. Newton’s law of motion states that the algebraic sum of extemal forces acting

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on a rigid body in a given direction is equal to the product of the mass of the body and its
acceleration in the same direction. The law can be expressed as

Figure 1 Force-mass system

where M denotes the mass, and a is the acceleration in the direction considered. Figure
illustrates the situation where a force is acting on a body with mass M. The force equation is
written as

where a(t) is the acceleration~ v(t) denotes linear velocity, and y(t) is the displacement of mass
M, respectively.
For linear translational motion, in addition to the mass, the following system elements are also
involved.

Linear spring. In practice, a linear spring may be a model of an actual spring or a compliance
of a cable or a belt. In general, a spring is considered to be an element that stores potential
energy.

where K is the spring constant, or simply stiffness. It implies that the force acting on the spring
is directly proportional to the displacement (deformation) of the spring. The model representing
a linear spring element is shown in Fig. If the spring is preloaded with a preload tension of T,
then Eq. should be modified to

• Friction for translation motion. Whenever there is motion or tendency of motion between two
physical elements, frictional forces exist. The frictional forces encountered in physical systems
are usually of a nonlinear nature. The characteristics of the frictional forces between two
contacting surfaces often depend on such factors as the composition of the surfaces, the
pressure between the surfaces, and their relative velocity among others, so an exact
mathematical description of the frictiona] force is difficult.
• Viscous friction. Viscous friction represents a retarding force that is a linear relationship
between the applied force and velocity. The schematic diagram element for viscous friction is
often represented by a dashpot, such as that shown in Fig.below 4-3. The mathematical
expression of viscous friction is

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Figure 2. Force spring system

Rotational Motion
The rotational motion of a body can be defined as motion about a fixed axis. The extension of
Newton’s law of motion for rotational motion states that the algebraic sum of moments or
torque about a fixed axis is equal to the product of the inertia and the angular acceleration
about the axis. Or

where J denotes the inertia and a is the angular acceleration. The other variables generally used
to describe the motion of rotation are torque T, angular velocity w, and angular displacement
ѳ. The elements involved with the rotational motion are as follows:
• Inertia. Inertia. J, is considered a property of an element that stores the kinetic energy of
rotational motion. The inertia of a given dement depends on the geometric composition about
the axis of rotation and its density. For instance, the inertia of a circular disk or shaft, of radius
r and mass M. About its geometric axis is given by

When a torque is applied to a body with inertia J, as shown in Fig. below, the torque equation
is written

where e(t) is the angular displacement; w(t), the angular velocity; and a(t), the angular
acceleration.

Figure 3. Torque-inertia system.

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Figure 4. Torque torsional spring system

Torsional spring. As with the linear spring for trans1ational motion, a torsional spring constant
K, in torque-per-unit angular displacement, can be devised to represent the compliance of a rod
or a shaft when it is subject to an applied torque. Fig. illustrates a simple torque-spring system
that can be represented by the equation

If the torsional spring is preloaded by a preload torque of TP, Eq. is modified to

• Friction for rotational motion.

• Viscous friction.

Modelling of simple electrical systems

Modelling of passive electrical elements

Resistors: Ohm’s law states that the voltage drop, eR(t), across a resistor R is proportional to
the current i(t) going through the resistor. Or

Inductors: The voltage drop, eL(t), across an inductor Lis proportional to the time rate of change
of current i(t) going through the inductor. Thus,

Capacitor: The voltage drop, ec(t), across a capacitor C is proportional to the integral current
i{t) going through the capacitor with respect to time. Therefore.

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Modeling of Electrical Networks

The classical way of writing equations of electric networks is based on the loop method or the
node method, both of which are formulated from the two laws of Kirchhoff, which state:
Current Law or Loop Method: The algebraic summation of all currents entering a node is zero.
Voltage Law or Node Method: The algebraic sum of all voltage drops around a complete closed
loop is zero.

Current source electrical system:

If i is the current through a resistor and v is the voltage drop in it, then

𝑉
𝑖=
𝑅

If i is the current through an inductor and v is the voltage developed in it, then

1
𝑖= 𝑣𝑑𝑡
𝐿

If i is the current through a capacitor and v is the voltage developed in it, then

𝑑𝑣
𝑖=𝐶
𝑑𝑡

Mathematical model of armature controlled DC motor:

A common actuator in control systems is the DC motor. It directly provides rotary motion and,
coupled with wheels or drums and cables, can provide translational motion. The electric
equivalent circuit of the armature and the free-body diagram of the rotor are shown in the
following figure.

Figure 5.
System equations

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In general, the torque generated by a DC motor is proportional to the armature current and the
strength of the magnetic field. In this example we will assume that the magnetic field is constsnt
and therefore that the motor torque is proportional to only the armature current I by a constant
factor Kt as shown in the equation below. This is referred to as an armature controlled motor.

The back emf e is proportional to the angular velocity of the shaft by a constant factor Kc

In SI units, the motor torque and back emf constants are equal, that is, Kt=Ke, therefore we use
K to represent both the motor torque and the back emf constant

From the figure we can derive the following governing equations based on Newtons 2nd law
and Kirchoff’s voltage law

INTRODUCTION TO DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

A wide range of systems in engineering are modeled mathematically by differential equations.

These equations generally involve derivatives and integrals of the dependent variables with
respect to the independent variable-usually time. For instance, a series electric RLC (resistance-
inductance-capacitance) network can be represented by the
differential equation:

where R is the resistance; L, the inductance; C, the capacitance; i(t), the current in the network;
and e(t), the applied voltage. In this case, e(t) is the forcing function; t, the independent variable;
and i(t), the dependent variable or unknown that is to be determined by solving the differential
equation.

This eqn is referred to as a second-order differential equation, and we refer to the system as a
second-order system. Strictly speaking, the eqn should be referred to as an integroditlerential
equation, because an integral is involved.

Linear Ordinary Differential Equations

In general, the differential equation of an nth-order system is written

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which is also known as a linear ordinary differential equation if the coefficients ao,a1,….an-1
are not functions of y(t).
A first-order linear ordinary differential equation is therefore in the general form:

and the second-order general form of a linear ordinary differential equation is

Nonlinear Differential Equations

Many physical systems are nonlinear and must be described by nonlinear differential equations.
For instance, the following differential equation that describes the motion of a pendulum of
mass m and length l, (later discussed later)

Because ѳ(t) appears as a sine function, the eqn is nonlinear, and the system is called a nonlinear
system

LAPLACE TRANSFORM
The Laplace transform is one of the mathematical tools used to solve linear ordinary differential
equations. In contrast with the classical method of solving linear differential equations, the
Laplace transform method has the following two features:

1. The homogeneous equation and the particular integral of the solution of the differential
equation are obtained in one operation.
2. The Laplace transform converts the differential equation into an algebraic equation in s-
domain. It is then possible to manipulate the algebraic equation by simple algebraic rules to
obtain the solution in the s-domain. The final solutions obtained by taking the inverse Laplace
transform.
Definition of the Laplace Transform
Given the real function f{t) that satisfies the condition

for some finite, real σ, the Laplace transform of flt) is defined as

Or F(s)=Laplace transform f(t)=L[f(t)]

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The variables s is referred to as the Laplace operator, which is a complex variable; that is s =
α + jw, where σ is the real component and w is the imaginary component. The defining equation
in Eq. above is also known as the one-sided Laplace transform, as the integration is evaluated
from t = 0 to ꝏ. This simply means that all information contained
In f(t) prior to t= 0 is ignored or considered to be zero. This assumption does not impose any
limitation on the applications of the Laplace transform to linear systems. since in the usual
time-domain studies, time reference is often chosen at t=0. Furthermore, for a physical system
when an input is applied at t=0, the response of the system does not start sooner than t = 0; that
is, response does not precede excitation. Such a system is also
known as being causal or simply physically realizable.

Inverse Laplace Transformation

Given the Laplace transform F(s), the operation of obtaining f(t) is termed the inverse Laplace
transformation and is denoted by
f(t) = Inverse Laplace transfonn of F(s) = L-1[F(s)]

The inverse Laplace transform integral is given as

where c is a real constant that is greater than the real parts of all the singularities of F(s).Eq.
above represents a line integral that is to be evaluated in the s-plane. For simple functions, the
inverse Laplace Laplace transform operation can be carried out simply by referring to the
Laplace transform table, such as the one given below.

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Important Theorems of the Laplace transform

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Transfer Function (single input, single output)

The transfer function of a linear time-invariant system is defined as the Laplace transform of
the impulse response, with all the initial conditions set to zero.
Let G(s) denote the transfer function of a single-input. single-output (SISO) system, with input
u(t), output y{t). and impulse response ,q(t). The transfer function G(s) is defined as

The transfer function G(s) is related to the Laplace transform of the input and the output through
the following relation:

with all the initial conditions set to zero, and Y(s) and U(s) are the Laplace transforms of y(t)
and u(t)t respectively. Although the transfer function of a linear system is defined in terms of
the impulse response, in practice, the input-output relation of a linear time-invariant system
with continuous-data input is often described by a differential equation. so it is more convenient
to derive the transfer function directly from the differential equation. Let us consider that the
input-output relation of a linear time-invariant system is described by the following nth order

The coefficients ao, a1, ... , an-1 and bo, b1, ... , bm are real constants. Once the input u(t) for t≥
to and the initial conditions of y(t) and the derivatives of y(t) are specified at the initial time t=
to, the output response y(t) for t≥ to is determined by solving Eq. above. However, from the
standpoint of linear-system analysis and design. the method of using differential equations
exclusively is quite cumbersome. Thus. differential equations of the form of Eq. above are
seldom used in their original form for the analysis and design of control systems. Although
efficient subroutines are available on digital computers for the solution of high-order
differential equations. the basic philosophy of linear control theory is that of developing
analysis and design tools that will avoid the exact solution of the system differential equations.
except when computer-simulation solutions are desired for final presentation or verification. In
classical control theory. even computer simulations often start with transfer functions. rather
than with differential equations. To obtain the transfer function of the linear system that is
represented by Eq. above, we simply take the Laplace transform on both sides of the equation
and assume zero initial conditions. The result is

The transfer function u(t) and y(t) is given by

The properties of the transfer function are summarized as follows:

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➢ The transfer function is defined only for a linear time-invariant system. It is not defined
for nonlinear systems.
➢ The transfer function between an input variable and an output variable of a system is
defined as the Laplace transform of the impulse response. Alternately, the transfer
function between a pair of input and output variables is the ratio of the Laplace
transform of the output to the Laplace transform of the input.
➢ All initial conditions of the system are set to zero.
➢ The transfer function is independent of the input of the system.
➢ The transfer function of a continuous-data system is expressed only as a function of the
complex variable s. It is not a function of the real variable, time, or any other variable
that is used as the independent variable. (For discrete-data systems modelled by
difference equations, the transfer function is a function of z when the z-transform is
used)
Proper transfer functions
The transfer function is said to be strictly proper if the order of the denominator polynomial is
greater than that of the numerator polynomial (i.e., n > m). If n = m, the transfer function is
called proper. The transfer function is improper if m > n.

Characteristic Equation
The characteristic equation of a linear system is defined as the equation obtained by setting the
denominator polynomial of the transfer function to zero. Thus, from Eq. above, the
characteristic equation of the system described is

Later we shall show that the stability of linear, single-input, single-output systems is completely
governed by the roots of the characteristic equation.

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