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Lecture 3 Stability

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19 views4 pages

Lecture 3 Stability

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waqasiqbal.cc
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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What is Stability?

A system is said to be stable, if its output is under control. Otherwise, it is said to be unstable. A stable
system produces a bounded output for a given bounded input.
The following figure shows the response of a stable system.

This is the response of first order control system for unit step input. This response has the values
between 0 and 1. So, it is bounded output. We know that the unit step signal has the value of one for all
positive values of t including zero. So, it is bounded input. Therefore, the first order control system is
stable since both the input and the output are bounded.

Types of Systems based on Stability


We can classify the systems based on stability as follows.

• Absolutely stable system


• Conditionally stable system
• Marginally stable system
Absolutely Stable System
If the system is stable for all the range of system component values, then it is known as the absolutely
stable system. The open loop control system is absolutely stable if all the poles of the open loop transfer
function present in left half of ‘s’ plane. Similarly, the closed loop control system is absolutely stable if
all the poles of the closed loop transfer function present in the left half of the ‘s’ plane.

Conditionally Stable System


If the system is stable for a certain range of system component values, then it is known as conditionally
stable system.

Marginally Stable System


If the system is stable by producing an output signal with constant amplitude and constant frequency of
oscillations for bounded input, then it is known as marginally stable system. The open loop control
system is marginally stable if any two poles of the open loop transfer function is present on the
imaginary axis. Similarly, the closed loop control system is marginally stable if any two poles of the
closed loop transfer function is present on the imaginary axis.
Routh-Hurwitz Stability Criterion
Routh-Hurwitz stability criterion is having one necessary condition and one sufficient condition for
stability. If any control system doesn’t satisfy the necessary condition, then we can say that the control
system is unstable. But, if the control system satisfies the necessary condition, then it may or may not be
stable. So, the sufficient condition is helpful for knowing whether the control system is stable or not.

Necessary Condition for Routh-Hurwitz Stability


The necessary condition is that the coefficients of the characteristic polynomial should be positive. This
implies that all the roots of the characteristic equation should have negative real parts.
Consider the characteristic equation of the order ‘n’ is –

Note that, there should not be any term missing in the nth order characteristic equation. This means that
the nth order characteristic equation should not have any coefficient that is of zero value.

Sufficient Condition for Routh-Hurwitz Stability


The sufficient condition is that all the elements of the first column of the Routh array should have the
same sign. This means that all the elements of the first column of the Routh array should be either
positive or negative.

Routh Array Method


If all the roots of the characteristic equation exist to the left half of the ‘s’ plane, then the control system
is stable. If at least one root of the characteristic equation exists to the right half of the ‘s’ plane, then the
control system is unstable. So, we have to find the roots of the characteristic equation to know whether
the control system is stable or unstable. But, it is difficult to find the roots of the characteristic equation
as order increases.
So, to overcome this problem there we have the Routh array method. In this method, there is no need to
calculate the roots of the characteristic equation. First formulate the Routh table and find the number of
the sign changes in the first column of the Routh table. The number of sign changes in the first column of
the Routh table gives the number of roots of characteristic equation that exist in the right half of the ‘s’
plane and the control system is unstable.
Follow this procedure for forming the Routh table.
• Fill the first two rows of the Routh array with the coefficients of the characteristic polynomial as
mentioned in the table below. Start with the coefficient of and continue up to the coefficient

of

• Fill the remaining rows of the Routh array with the elements as mentioned in the table below.

Continue this process till you get the first column element of row is . Here, is

the coefficient of in the characteristic polynomial.


Note − If any row elements of the Routh table have some common factor, then you can divide the row
elements with that factor for the simplification will be easy.
The following table shows the Routh array of the nth order characteristic polynomial.

Example
Let us find the stability of the control system having characteristic equation,

Step 1 − Verify the necessary condition for the Routh-Hurwitz stability.

All the coefficients of the characteristic polynomial, are positive. So,


the control system satisfies the necessary condition.
Step 2 − Form the Routh array for the given characteristic polynomial.

Step 3 − Verify the sufficient condition for the Routh-Hurwitz stability.


All the elements of the first column of the Routh array are positive. There is no sign change in the first
column of the Routh array. So, the control system is stable.

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