Control ENGD3113 2022/2023

Tutorial 1 – Solution
Dr. Yunda Yan

Problem 1
1. Components of temperature control system:

• house
• central heating: boiler, pipes, radiators, etc
• thermostat

2. Closed-loop control:

3. Temperature profile: The sawtooth shape is a result of delay of the house heating
system when crossing the setpoint temperature.

Problem 2
1. The left side of the circuit is at low temperature and low pressure. The right side
of the circuit is at high temperature and high pressure. The circuit contains liquid
and vapour in phase equilibrium.

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The compressor takes in fluid, compresses it adiabatically, and delivers it to the

condenser coil at high pressure. The fluid temperature is higher than that of the
surrounding air so the refrigerant gives heat away. The fluid expands adiabati-
cally into the evaporator at a rate controlled by the expansion valve. The fluid in
the evaporator is colder than the air in the fridge compartment and absorbs the
heat from the compartment.
The refrigeration cycle works like a heat pump by taking the heat from the colder
place (the fridge compartment) and transferring the heat to the hotter place (the
surrounding air).

2. Closed-loop system:

3. Temperature profile:
The sawtooth shape is a result of delay of the fridge cooling system when cross-
ing the setpoint temperature.

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Problem 3

1. Components of the controlled system:

• tank level is an output

• valve opening is an input
• valve opening is an input
• inflow is a disturbance
• outflow is an internal variable

2. Closed-loop system:

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The controller measures the reservoir level and then opens the valve according
to the current reservoir level.
The simplest controller could work using the following algorithm
(
fully open forx > 10m
u= (1)
fully closed forx < 10m

3. To keep the reservoir level constant the outflow should be equal to the inflow

• for the minimum inflow the valve opening should be

qin,min 5
u= √ = √ = 0.446 (2)
0.8 2gx 0.8 2 × 9.81 × 10

• and similarly for the maximum inflow

qin,min 5
u= √ = √ = 0.446 (3)
0.8 2gx 0.8 2 × 9.81 × 10

Problem 4
1. Input-output model:
input: force F [N]
output: position x [m]
disturbance: uncontrolled friction, external vibrations

2. Variables/parameters:
F – force expressed in [N]
x – position expressed in [m]
k - stiffness of the spring in [ Nm ]
m – mass on [kg]
N
c – friction coefficient in [ m/s ]

Mathematical model: From second law of Newton, we get:

∑ Forces = mass × acceleration ⇒ F − k x − c ẋ = m ẍ ⇒ m ẍ + c ẋ + k x − F = 0.

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Problem 5

Figure 1: Block diagram of the digital closed-loop control system for 1DOF rectilinear
system

1. Function of each block:

• 1DoF is the controlled plant.
• Pulley – transforms linear motion of the cart into angular movement which is
subsequently measured by Encoder 1.
• Encoder 1 – is an incremental encoder which measures angular position of the
pulley which in turn represents the position of the cart.
• Counter – counts the pulses generated by Encoder 1 which represents position
of the cart.
• Computer – plays a role of a controller, it collects the measurements from the
counter, calculates control action and sends it to DAC.
• DAC – digital to analogue converter transform binary signal into an analogue
voltage signal.
• Power amplifier – converts control signal (v) into power signal (A).
• BLDC motor – generates torque from electrical current
• Rack and pinion mechanism – converts rotational movement of the BLDCmo-
tor into linear movement.

2. Working principle of the BLDC motor:

A brushless DC electric motor (BLDC motor or BL motor), also known as an
electronically commutated motor (ECM or EC motor) or synchronous DC mo-
tor, is a synchronous motor using a direct current (DC) electric power supply.
It uses an electronic closed loop controller to switch DC currents to the motor
windings producing magnetic fields which effectively rotate in space and which
the permanent magnet rotor follows. The controller adjusts the phase and ampli-
tude of the DC current pulses to control the speed and torque of the motor. This

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control system is an alternative to the mechanical commutator (brushes) used in

many conventional electric motors.
The current flows through the coils in the stator and generate magnetic field.
The direction of the current is being switched by an electronic circuit in such a
way that the generated magnetic field rotates in the required direction. The ro-
tor which is made of permanent magnet is pulled by the rotating magnetic field
generated by the stator. The load is attached to the rotor. The generated torque
is proportional to the current in the coils.

Calculation of the torque:

τ = kt I = 0.1 × 4.81 = 0.481 (4)

3. Rack and pinion mechanism: Rack and pinion is presented in the figure below
The rack and pinion is a mechanical component which transforms angular mo-

tion into linear motion. On one hand from the definition of the gain of the rack

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and pinion mechanism

F = kmp τ (5)

and on other hand from the definition of the torque

τ =FR (6)

From equations (5), (7) we get

τ 1 1 1
R= = = = 0.038 m (7)
F kmp 26.25 m1

4. Pulley mechanism: The pulley transforms linear motion of the cart into the
rotational movement, which is subsequently measured by Encoder 1.

The linear displacement x of the string causes angular displacement θ of the shaft
as follows
x = Rθ (8)

On the other hand the relation between the linear and angular displacements is
given by the pulley gain,
θ = kep , x (9)

Comparing the relationships (8) and (9) yields

l 1 1
R= = = = 0.0112 (10)
θ kep 0.89

5. Incremental encoder mechanism:

A basic optical incremental encoder has a form of a disk with a track along the
circumference divided into transparent and opaque segments. The front and side
view of the encoder is shown in the figure above. A light source (LED) is on one
side of the track and a photo sensor at the opposite side. When the transparent
segment crosses the path of the light an impulse is generated by the photo sensor,

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when the opaque segment crosses the path of the light the output signal from the
photo sensor is zero. During the rotation of the disk the output signal has a form
of a train of pulses, their number over a selected period of time is a measure of
angular displacement and their frequency is the measure of the angular speed.
In the laboratory equipment the disk has two tracks A and B shifted by half-
length of the segment. The signals from the two tracks for different rotation
directions are shown in the figure below. “The gate array uses the A and B
channel phasing to decode direction and detects the rising and falling edge of
each to generate 4x resolution.”

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Problem 6
1. Variables and parameters:
T - torque [N m]
θ - angular displacement [rad]
J – moment of inertia [kgm2 ]
Nm
c – friction coefficient [ rad/s ]

Mathematical model: Newton’s second law for rotation gives

∑ torques = rotational inertia × angular acceleration

⇒ T − c θ̇ = J θ̈ ⇒ J θ̈ + c θ̇ − T = 0

2. Digital control loop for torsional system:

Problem 7
1. The term “fly by wire” refers to using electronic equipment, i.e., computer con-
trolled servomechanisms, rather than direct mechanical linkage to control ma-
noeuvres of the plane. A pilot uses control panel to select desired angle of a
manoeuvre and the electronic feedback system executes this command.

2. Input-output representation: The input-output representation is given in Fig-

ure 2.

3. Block diagram of the pitch feedback system:

A pilot is generating the reference angle.

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Figure 2: Input-Output block diagram for pitch control

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