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Lecture 14

The document discusses closed loop stability in control systems, emphasizing the importance of stability in controller design. It introduces Routh's Stability Test for determining stability through the characteristic equation and provides methods for analyzing stability limits using direct substitution and root locus plots. Illustrative examples demonstrate how to apply these methods to assess system stability based on controller gain parameters.

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Nitesh Sardar
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17 views5 pages

Lecture 14

The document discusses closed loop stability in control systems, emphasizing the importance of stability in controller design. It introduces Routh's Stability Test for determining stability through the characteristic equation and provides methods for analyzing stability limits using direct substitution and root locus plots. Illustrative examples demonstrate how to apply these methods to assess system stability based on controller gain parameters.

Uploaded by

Nitesh Sardar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Department of Chemical Engineering I.I.T.

Bombay, India

Lectures 14 : Stability with Feedback


and Controller Design

Department of Chemical Engineering I.I.T. Bombay, India

Closed Loop Stability

Characteristic Equation 1 + g c (s) g p (s) = 0

Analysis of the roots of this equation tells us about the stability of the
closed loop system.
But this is really a function of the controller parameters through the
term gc(s) and therefore design methods need to include stability as a
first criterion.
The stable region is first determined before the controller design task
is taken up.

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Department of Chemical Engineering I.I.T. Bombay, India

Methods for determining stability

Routh’s Stability Test: tells us how many roots are in the RHP which
would thus lead to instability. The test is applicable to polynomials only.

Steps 1. Write the characteristic equation in standard form


a0sn+ a1sn-1 + a2sn-2 + ….. + an-1s + an = 0
Leading coefficient a0 must be positive.
If even one of the coefficient is negative, then at least one root
lies in the RHP and the system is unstable. Else,
2. Generate the Routh array: This array will have n+1 rows for an nth order
polynomial. The first two rows can be generated from the characteristic
equation. The next (n+1-2) rows are generated algebraically.

Department of Chemical Engineering I.I.T. Bombay, India

Routh’s stability test


Routh array

Row 1 a0 a2 a4 … …..

Row 2 a1 a3 a5 … …..
a1a2 − a0 a3 a a −a a
Row 3 b1 b2 b3 … ….. b1 = and b2 = 1 4 0 5
a1 a1
Row 4 c1 c2 c3 … ….. b1a3 − a1b2 ba −ab
c1 = and c2 = 1 5 1 3
b1 b1

Row n+1 z1

The first column must contain all elements that are positive, for stability.

2
Department of Chemical Engineering I.I.T. Bombay, India

Illustrative examples
Consider the polynomial s4+ 5s3 + 3s2 +1 = 0. What can you say
about its stability ?

Consider the polynomial 10s3 +17s2 + 8s +1 + Kc =0. What can


you say about its stability as a function of Kc?

Construct the routh array

Row 1 10 8
System will be stable for –1 <
Row 2 17 1+Kc Kc < 12.6
Row 3 7.41-0.588Kc 0
Row 4 1+Kc 0

Department of Chemical Engineering I.I.T. Bombay, India

Routh Stability limits


If one of the rows (say n) becomes zero, this means that a pair of
purely imaginary roots exist. These can be evaluated from the n-1th
row.
Limits on the controller gain can therefore be calculated by requiring
all the first column elements to be zero.

An alternate way of calculating the stability limits is to simply set s=jw


and check at what values of K, the roots have positive real parts.

For, the polynomial 10s3 +17s2 + 8s +1 + Kc =0, it can be shown


that the same limits are obtained.

3
Department of Chemical Engineering I.I.T. Bombay, India

Stability limits by direct substitution

For, the polynomial 10s3 +17s2 + 8s +1 + Kc =0, set s=jw and solve
for the real and imaginary parts.

So, -10jw3 +17w2 + 8jw +1 + Kc =0, which yields


(1+Kc-17w2) + j(8w-10w3) =0.

Setting the real and imaginary components to zero gives

1+Kcm-17w2 =0 and 8w-10w3 = 0 so w2=0.8 or w = ±0.894 and Kc =


12.6

Thus a sustained oscillation of frequency w=0.894 rad/min occurs for


Kc=12.6.

Department of Chemical Engineering I.I.T. Bombay, India

Stability Limits by Root Locus

The root locus is a plot of the roots of the characteristic equation as


the controller gain varies from 0 to infinity.

The root locus begins at the open loop poles and ends either at the open
loop zeros or at infinity. Thus it has as many branches as the number of
open loop poles. Also, it is symmetric about the real axis (why ?!).

On the root locus, the magnitude of the gp(s)gc(s) is always unity.


The closed loop system is non-oscillatory, when the root locus lies on the
real axis and becomes oscillatory as it departs from the real axis. Also,
as it becomes unstable, when the locus crosses the imaginary axis.

4
Department of Chemical Engineering I.I.T. Bombay, India

Root Locus: Illustration

Consider that the process is described by


2
G ( s) =
( s + 1)( s + 2)( s + 3)
and is under proportional control. Therefore the characteristic equation
would be
( s + 1)( s + 2)( s + 3) + 2 K c = 0

The root locus plot shows that any value of Kc beyond 30 takes the locus
into the RHP and therefore results in closed loop instability. For values of
Kc=0.2, the closed loop shows non-oscillatory behaviour beyond which the
closed loop would becomes oscillatory.

Department of Chemical Engineering I.I.T. Bombay, India

Root Locus: Illustration

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