EFD011U1M : Course on

Control Engineering

Introduction – Lecture – 01: Introductory Concepts

by

P. K. Vijayan
Visiting Professor, Dept. of Chemical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Jammu, Jagti, Jammu 181221, J&K

Institute Core, August 8, 2023

IIT Jammu, Jagti, Jammu 181221 J&K India
 CONTENTS
• Why Process Control?
• Control Systems?
– Feedback control, open and closed loop controls
• Types of Controllers?
• Some Complexities
• Block diagram
• Summary
 Why Process Control?
• Product quality of chemical & metallurgical plants often requires
certain process conditions to be maintained. Typical examples are
– Pressure, temperature, composition, pH, level, flow rate, power, etc.
• Often safety demands certain parameters shall not exceed the
design value
– Pressure, temperature, pH
• Consistency of product quality
– Switching from manual to automatic control
• Environmental constraints
– Sea water temperature rise limited to 7.5 0C for coastal power plants
• Efficient use of raw materials and energy
• Increased profitability
• Obviously study of process control is essential for all engineers
 What is a Control System?
• Control systems are used to maintain process
conditions at the desired values.
• Common examples are cruise control in cars
– Maintain the speed at the desired value irrespective of the
variation in the terrain
– Temperature control in domestic water heater, thermostat,
chemical reactor, etc.
• Common attributes of control systems are
– Ability to maintain the process variable at the desired
value in spite of disturbances
• Disturbance rejection
– The ability to move the process variable set point
• Set point tracking
 Schematic of a Control System
• Fig. 1-1 Shows a schematic of a control system

Fig. 1-1: Control

system schematic

• The process was operating at steady state and suddenly a

disturbance occurs.
• Error = Set point value – Measured value
• Depending on the magnitude and sign of error , the controller
sends a signal to the final control element (FCE)
• FCE provides an input to the process to return to the set point
value
 Concepts in Control System
• The process of utilizing the deviation of the controlled variable from
its set point to the controller to bring it back to the original set
value is called feedback control.
• Closed-loop feedback control system is shown in Fig 1-1.
• Closed-loop means that the controller automatically acts to bring
back controlled variable to its desired value.
• In an Open-loop system, the measurement signal is disconnected
from the controller and the controller output is manually adjusted
to the desired value
– An open-loop system is in manual mode as opposed to automatic
mode for closed loop.
• Negative feedback is the most common type of signal feedback
– Negative means that the error signal is computed from the difference
between the set point and the measured signal.
• Positive feedback is undesirable and leads to instability
– Measured variable is added to the set point
 Example 1.1 – Water Heater Control
System
• Consider the hot water heater control Exhaust
gases
system shown in Fig. 1-2.
• Let 50 0C be the set point.
• Temperature is measured by a TC.
• Error= Tset point – Tmeasured
• If error is positive, the measured
temperature is lower than the set point
and the thermostat opens the fuel valve
to the burner adding heat.
• If the error is zero or negative, the
thermostat closes the valve and no heat
is added.
• Disturbances like heat losses or hot
water withdrawal and its replacement by
cold water. Fig. 1-2: Schematic of a hot
water heater control system
 Types of Controllers
• On/off controller: The thermostat on the water heater is an example. In
this case, the output of the controller is either ‘full on’ or ‘full off’ and
there is nothing in between.
• Proportional control: In this case, the controller output is proportional to
the error.
– The proportionality constant can be varied to reduce the steady state error.
– It is impossible to completely eliminate the error through the use of
proportional controller
• The residual steady state error is called offset.
• Proportional Integral Control: The controller is instructed to change the
heat input by an additional amount proportional to the time integral of
the error. This control system has two adjustable parameters
– A multiplier for the error and a multiplier for the integral of the error
– The steady state error will be zero and is superior to only proportional control
• But it can be oscillatory, i.e. the system will tend to overshoot its final steady state value
before settling out at the set point.
• So what is the best control system for a particular application?
 Some Complexities
• The issues associated with process control is not yet fully
explained.
• Complications arise because the controller does not receive
instantaneous information on the tank temperature due to
– A delay time associated with the measuring devices
• For example, while measuring our body temperature with a mercury
thermometer, we wait for some time
– Similarly, the thermocouple instantaneously does not show the tank temp.
– Besides there is some error associated with measuring devices
• The controller will receive the measured value which is different from
the actual value involving an apparent error which is different from
actual error
– The effect of the thermocouple delay in transmission of the
temperature to the controller is to make the system response
somewhat more oscillatory than the case with instantaneous
response.
 Some Complexities – Contd.
• If we increase the controller gain (i.e. the
proportionality constant), the tank temperature will
eventually oscillate with increasing amplitude and
– This will continue until the physical limitations of the
heating system are reached. This means that
– The control system has actually caused a deterioration in
performance
• This type of oscillatory response is referred to as an unstable
response and is a major concern
– This means stability of control system is an issue
• It is important to develop prediction methods and to
suggest techniques to eliminate instability in control
systems
 Block Diagram of the Control System
• A good overall picture of the relationships among the variables in the hot
water heater control system can be obtained by preparing the block
diagram shown in Fig. 1-3 (same as Fig. 1-1).
– It indicates the flow of information and function of each part within the
control system.
– It also gives a good physical description of the process.

Fig. 1-3: Block diagram of the hot water heater control system
 Block Diagram – Contd.
• Each component of the control system is
represented by a block with little regard to the
actual physical characteristics of the component.
– Tank, controller, valve, etc.
• The major interest is in
– The relationship between the signals entering and
leaving the block and
– The manner in which the information flows around
the system
 Problems
• Draw a block diagram for the control system generated
when a human being steers an automobile.
• Draw a block diagram for the control system that
maintains the water level in an overhead water tank.
• Draw a block diagram for a street lighting system that
activates at dusk and turns off at dawn.
• Draw a block diagram for the control system for a
home oven.
• Draw a block diagram for an automobile cruise control
system.
 Summary
• An overview of a typical control system and some of its
associated problems
• As an example, the hot water heater control system
was introduced along with a description of its transient
behavior
– Control system response can be unstable.
– There is a need to predict the stability of the control
systems so that one can design stable control systems
– Device techniques to avoid instability
• As we progress, we propose to
– Develop tools for determining the transient response of
control systems
– Learn techniques for stability analysis.
 Definitions
• Block diagram – Diagram that indicates the flow of information
around the control system and the function of each part of the
system
• Closed loop – In closed loop, the measured value of the controlled
variable is fed back to the controller.
• Controlled variable – The process variable that is to be maintained
at a specified value.
• Controller – A device that produces an output signal to the process
based on the magnitude of the error signal. A proportional
controller outputs a signal proportional to the error.
• Disturbance rejection – One goal of the control system is to reject
the effect of disturbances and maintain the controlled variable at
the set point.
• Disturbances – Any process variable that can cause the controlled
variable to change. In general disturbances are variables that we
have no control over.
 Definitions – Contd.
• Error – The difference between the values of the set point and the
measured variable.
• Manipulated variable – Process variable that is adjusted to bring the
controlled variable back to the set point.
• Negative feedback – In negative feedback, the error is the difference
between the set point and the measured variable (desirable situation).
• Offset – The steady state value of the error.
• Open loop – In open loop, the measured value of the controlled variable is
not fed back to the controller.
• Positive feedback – In positive feedback, the measured value is added to
the set point. (undesirable situation and leads to instability).
• Set point – The desired value of the controlled variable.
• Set point tracking – One goal of a control system, which is to force the
system to follow or ‘track’ the requested set point changes.
Thank you for your Attention