LECTURE TWO

Laplace Transforms

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 Lecture Outline
• Actuators
• Sensors
• Linearization
• Laplace transforms

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 Actuators
• An actuator is a mechanism for turning
energy into motion.
• It is a component of a machine that is
responsible for moving or controlling a
mechanism or system, for example by
opening or closing a valve; it is a "mover". 
• Actuators are categorized by the energy
source that they require to generate motion.
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• For example: Pneumatic actuators use
compressed gas or air to generate motion.
• Hydraulic actuators use compressed
liquid to generate motion.
• Electric actuators use an external power
source, such as a battery, to generate
motion. 
• Thermal actuators use a heat source to
generate motion. 

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• The data from energy source is generated
and provided by sensors.
• An actuator requires a control signal and a
source of energy.
• The control signal is relatively low energy
and may be electric voltage or current,
pneumatic or hydraulic pressure, or even
human power.

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 • When the control signal is received, the
actuator responds by converting the
energy into mechanical motion.
• The control system can be simple (a
fixed mechanical or electronic system)
or software-based (e.g., a printer driver,
robot control system)

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 Sensors
• A sensor is a device that detects and
responds to some type of input or
disturbance from the surrounding physical
environment.
• The specific input could be light, heat,
motion, moisture, pressure, or any one of a
great number of other environmental
phenomena.
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• The output is generally a signal that is
converted to readable display at the sensor
location or transmitted electronically over a
network for reading or further processing. 
• In a mercury-based glass thermometer, the
input is temperature.
• The liquid mercury expands and contracts in
response, causing the level to move high or
low on the calibrated scale, which is human-
readable. 
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Study question
• Describe the different types of sensor?
• Motion sensors in various systems
including home security lights and
automatic doors usually send out some
type of energy, such as microwaves or light
beams and detect when the flow of energy
is interrupted by something moving in
their paths.  

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• A photo sensor detects the presence of
visible light, infrared and/or ultraviolet
energy.
• Applications of photo-sensors include: fiber
optic systems; optical scanners; wireless
LANs; automatic lighting controls; optical
disk drives; optical memory chips and
remote control devices

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 Characteristics of sensors
A good sensor has the following
characteristics:
• It is sensitive to the measured property
• It is insensitive to any other property likely
to be encountered in its application, and
• It does not influence the measured
property.
• Most sensors have a linear transfer function
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• The sensitivity is the ratio between the
output signal and measured property.
• For example, if a sensor measures
temperature and has a voltage output, the
sensitivity is a constant with the units [V/K].
• The sensitivity is the slope of the transfer
function.

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• Converting the sensor's electrical output
(for example V) to the measured units (for
example K) requires dividing the electrical
output by the slope (or multiplying by its
reciprocal).
• In addition, an offset is frequently added or
subtracted.

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 Linearization
• A method for assessing the local stability of an
equilibrium point of a system of nonlinear
differential equations or discrete dynamical systems.
• Linearization is an effective method of
approximating the response of a function, y = f(x), at
any point, p where x = a, based on the value of ‘a’
and slope of the function at x = b,
• Given that f(x) is differentiable on [a, b] or [b, a] and
that ‘a’ is close to ‘b’, i.e., linearization approximates
the output of a function near x = a.
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• For any given function, y = f(x), f(x) can be
approximated if it is near a known differentiable
point.
• The basic requirement is that if a function La(x) is
a linearization of f(x) at x = a, then La(a) = f(a).
• The point-slope form of an equation forms an
equation of a line, given a point q is has
coordinates (h, k) and slope of the tangent at q
is m, then:

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• But h = b;

• Using point p, where x = a;

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• The concept of local linearity applies most to
points arbitrarily close to x = a, those relatively
very close work relatively very well for linear
approximations.
• The slope m should be, most accurately, the
slope of the tangent at x = a.
• The diagram shows tangent line of f(x) at point q.
• At point p, f(x+∆x), where ∆x = a –b, is any small
positive or negative value, the slope is very
nearly of the same magnitude as the tangent line
at the point q.
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• The final equation for the linearization of a
function at x = a, is:
.
• The derivative of  is  and the slope
of  at ‘a’ is .
• Linearization makes it possible to
study nonlinear systems and to analyze the
behavior or response of a nonlinear
function near a given point.

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• The linearization of a function is the first order
term of its Taylor expansion around the point
of interest.
• For a system defined by the equation y = f(x);
the Taylor expansion at x = a, is:

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• The series is truncated to the first order
term, i.e.,

• This is the content of linearization

theorem.
• For time-varying systems, the linearization
requires additional justification.

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 Laplace Transform
• Ordinary and partial differential equations
describe the way certain quantities vary
with time, such as the reaction rate;
temperature in heat exchanger; current in
an electrical circuit, etc.
• These equations are generally attached to
initial conditions that describe the state of
the system at time, t = 0.

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• A very powerful technique for solving these
equations is use of the Laplace transform,
which transforms the original differential
equation to an elementary algebraic
expression.
• The latter is then inverse-transformed back
to give the solution of the original problem.

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• The Laplace transform of a function, f, is
defined as:

• F is a complex-valued function of complex

numbers; s is the frequency (complex)
variable, with units per second; t is the
time variable (in sec); st is unit-less.

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• The parameter s belongs to some domain
on the real line or in the complex plane.
• The value of s is chosen appropriately so as
to ensure the convergence of the Laplace
integral (1).
• When s is complex number, the notation s
= x + iy is used.

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• The lower case letter denotes signal while
capital denotes its Laplace transform, e.g.,
U denotes L(u), V denotes L(vin), etc.
• The symbol L is the Laplace transformation
symbol, which acts on function f = f (t) and
generates a new function, F(s) = L (f(t)).

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 Example-1
1- If f(t) = a, constant, for t ≥ 0; then:

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2- Find Laplace transform for f(t) = eat:
Solution:

Provided that: , which is true for s > a

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3- Compute the Laplace Transforms for the
following functions:

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 Extracts from Laplace Transform Table

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 Example-2
• Solve:

Solution
• Take Laplace Transform:
• Taking inverse Laplace Transforms:

• The Laplace transform turned a differential

equation into an algebraic equation
 Example-3
• Use Laplace Transform to solve the differential equation:

Solution:
• Laplace Transform:
• Inverse Laplace Transforming:
 Patterns
• The time domain is for signals while the
frequency domain is their Laplace
transforms
• Differentiation in one domain correspond to
multiplication by the variable in the other
domain
• Multiplication by an exponential in one
domain corresponds to a shift (or delay) in
the other
 Matlab code
• Consider general form of first order
dynamic system:

• The basic Matlab command is:

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 Example-1

• The Matlab command is:

>> x=dsolve(‘3*Dx+2*x=1,x(0)=0')

Ans:
x=
1/2 - 1/(2*exp((2*t)/3))

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 Example-2

• The Matlab command is:

>> x=dsolve(‘1.5*Dx+x=0.5,x(0)=1')

Ans:
x=
1/(2*exp((2*t)/3)) + 1/2

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 Example-3

• The Matlab command is:

>> x=dsolve('4*Dx+3*x=t^2+cost,x(0)=3')

Ans:
x=
cost/3 - (8*t)/9 - (cost/3 -
49/27)/exp((3*t)/4) + t^2/3 + 32/27
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 Example-4

• The Matlab command is:

>> x=dsolve(‘T*Dx+K*x=1,x(0)=0')

Ans:
x=
-(1/exp((K*t)/T) - 1)/K

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 Example-5

• The Matlab command is:

>>
x=dsolve(‘2*D2x+6*Dx+4*x=1,x(0)=1,Dx(0)=0')

Ans:
x=
3/(2*exp(t)) - 3/(4*exp(2*t)) + 1/4

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 Example-6

• The Matlab command is:

>> y=dsolve(‘D2y+6*Dy+8*y=2,y(0)=1,Dx(0)=-2')

Ans:
y=
1/(2*exp(2*t)) + 1/(4*exp(4*t)) + 1/4

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 Example-7

• The Matlab command is:

>> y=dsolve(‘A*D2y+B*Dy+C*y=K,y(0)=0,Dx(0)=0')

Ans:
y=
K/C - (K*(B + (B^2 - 4*A*C)^(1/2)))/(2*C*exp((t*(B - (B^2 -
4*A*C)^(1/2)))/(2*A))*(B^2 - 4*A*C)^(1/2)) + (K*(B - (B^2 -
4*A*C)^(1/2)))/(2*C*exp((t*(B + (B^2 -
4*A*C)^(1/2)))/(2*A))*(B^2 - 4*A*C)^(1/2))

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