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ATutorialonFeedforwardControl

ATutorialonFeedforwardControl
January17,2011
Feedforwardcontrolcanbeusedverysuccessfullytoimproveacontrolloopsresponseto
disturbances.Feedforwardcontrolreactsthemomentadisturbanceoccurs,withouthavingtowaitfor
adeviationinprocessvariable.Ifanyprocesscontrolloopissubjecttolarge,measurable
disturbances,itcanbenefitgreatlyfromfeedforwardcontrol.

Feedforwardcontrolreducingeffectsofadisturbance

Tounderstandfeedforwardcontrol,letsfirstreviewfeedbackcontrol.

FeedbackControl
FeedbackcontrolistypicallydonewithPID(proportional+integral+derivative)controllers.The
processvariableofinterestismeasuredandthecontrollersoutputiscalculatedbasedonthe
processvariableanditssetpoint.Althoughexternaldisturbancesoftenaffecttheprocessvariable,
theyarenotuseddirectlyforcontrol.Instead,ifadisturbanceaffectstheprocessvariable,thecontrol
actionisbasedontheprocessvariableandnotthedisturbance.
Asanexample,theoutlettemperatureofaheatexchangercanbemeasuredandusedforfeedback
control.Thefeedbackcontrollerwillmanipulatethesteamflowtotheheatexchangerandkeepthe
outlettemperatureasclosetosetpointaspossible.

FeedbackControl

FeedbackControlandDisturbances
Manyprocesscontrolloopsareaffectedbylargedisturbances.Feedbackcontrolcanactonlyonthe
resultofadisturbance,whichmeansfeedbackcontrolcannotdoanythinguntiltheprocessvariable
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hasbeenaffectedbythedisturbance.
Intheexampleoftheheatexchangerabove,changesinprocessflowratewillbeamajorsourceof
disturbancestotheoutlettemperature.Iftheprocessflowratethroughtheheaterisincreased,the
originalsteamflowratewillnotbeenoughtoheatuptheincreasedamountofprocessliquidandthe
outlettemperaturewilldecrease.Feedbackcontrolwilleventuallyincreasethesteamflowrateand
bringtheoutlettemperaturebacktoitssetpoint,butnotuntiltherehasbeenasignificantdeviationin
temperature.

FeedforwardControl
Incontrasttofeedbackcontrol,feedforwardcontrolactsthemomentadisturbanceoccurs,without
havingtowaitforadeviationinprocessvariable.Thisenablesafeedforwardcontrollertoquicklyand
directlycancelouttheeffectofadisturbance.Todothis,afeedforwardcontrollerproducesitscontrol
actionbasedonameasurementofthedisturbance.
Whenused,feedforwardcontrolisalmostalwaysimplementedasanaddontofeedbackcontrol.
Thefeedforwardcontrollertakescareofthemajordisturbance,andthefeedbackcontrollertakes
careofeverythingelsethatmightcausetheprocessvariabletodeviatefromitssetpoint.

Feedforward+FeedbackControl

Inourexampleoftheheatexchanger,inwhichthemajordisturbancescomefromchangesin
processflowrate,thelattercanbemeasuredandusedforadjustingthesteamflowrate
proportionally.Thisisdonebythefeedforwardcontroller.

ImplementingFeedforwardControl
ManyPIDcontrollershaveanexternalconnectionforaddinganinputfromafeedforwardcontroller.
Otherwisetheoutputofthefeedforwardcontrollercanbeexternallyaddedtotheoutputofthe
feedbackcontroller.Reviewyourcontrollerdocumentationandtakespecialcarewithscalingthe
feedforwardsignal.ManyPIDcontrollersexpectthefeedforwardsignaltobescaledbetween100%
and+100%.
Feedforwardandfeedbackcontrolisoftencombinedwithcascadecontrol,toensurethattheir
controlactionsmanipulatethephysicalprocesslinearly,eliminatingcontrolvalvenonlinearitiesand
mechanicalproblems.
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Ifseveralmajordisturbancesexist,afeedforwardcontrollercanbeimplementedforeachofthem.
Theoutputsofallthefeedforwardcontrollerscanbeaddedtogethertoproduceonefinal
feedforwardsignal.Onlyconsiderdisturbancesthatmeetthesecriteria:
Measurableifitcantbemeasuredyoucantcontrolfromit
Predictableeffectontheprocessvariablemostdisturbanceswillfallinthisclass
Occursorapidlythatthefeedbackcontrolcannotdealwiththemastheyhappen.

FeedforwardControllerDesignandTuning
Afeedforwardcontrolleressentiallyconsistsofaleadlagfunctionwithanadjustablegain.Adead
timefunction(Ttd)canbeaddediftheeffectofthedisturbancehasalongtimedelaywhilethe
controlactionismuchmoreimmediate.

Feedforwardcontrollerdesign

Thefeedforwardgain(Kff)issettoobtaintherequiredcontrolactionforagivendisturbance.For
example,itcontrolstheratioofsteamflowtoprocessflowintheexampleusedpreviously.Thelead
andlagtimeconstantsaresettogettherighttimingforthecontrolaction.Thefeedforwardslead
(Tld)willspeedupcontrolactionshouldbesetequaltotheprocesslagbetweenthecontrolleroutput
andtheprocessvariable.Thefeedforwardslag(Tlg)willslowdownthecontrolactionandshouldbe
setequaltotheprocesslagbetweenthedisturbanceandtheprocessvariable.
Youcanuseanalternativedesignforafeedforwardcontrollerthatmakestuningeasy.Thisisto
simplyuseafunctiongeneratorasthefeedforwardcontroller.Beforeimplementingthefeedforward
controller,takenoteofthefeedbackcontrollersoutputandthedisturbancemeasurementatvarious
levelsofthedisturbance.Usethisrelationshiptosetupthecurveinthefunctiongenerator.

Simplifiedfeedforwardcontrollerdesign

Fortheheatexchangerexample,weshouldtabulatethetemperaturecontrollersoutputandprocess
flowratesundervarioussteadystateproductionrates.Thenweprogramacurveinthefunction
generatortoproducethedesiredcontrolleroutputateachoftheprocessflowrateswemeasured.
Staytuned!
JacquesSmutsAuthorofthebookProcessControlforPractitioners
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