Mekelle University

Ethiopian Institute of Technology-Mekelle

School of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

Regulations and Control Engineering

(MEng 4162)

Chapter -3
Feed Back and Its Properties

Prepared by : Zina G.
(M.Sc. in Mechanical System Design)
 3. Feed Back and its Properties
Feed back Control Systems
• Have the possibilities of being adopted to perform their
assigned tasks automatically.
Input + e Process Output
a) Block Diagram E(s)
R(s) - G(s) C(s)

Sensor
Feed back H(s)

R(s) E(s) G(s) C(s) 1 C(s)

1
b) Signal Flow Graph

-1
H(s)
The system is driven by two signals
1. Input Signal
2. Feed back Signal (Derived from the output and helps the system
for self correcting mechanism)
Feedback (FB) system is a self correcting mechanism. 2
3.1. Types of feedback
i. -ve feedback (Degenerative Feedback): when the signal
which is feedback is going to be subtracted from the
reference value at the comparison element. (Necessary
for control to be achieved)
ii. +ve feedback (Regenerative Feedback): when the signal
feedback is going to be added to the reference value at
the comparison element.

3.2. Importance of Feedback

3.2.1. –ve (Degenerative Feedback)
 Reduction of effects of Parameter Variations
 Control of the effects of disturbance signals(Disturbance
rejection)
 Control Over system Dynamics(To be discussed in time
response)
3
1. Reduction of effects of Parameter Variations
 Feedback reduces the sensitivity of the system to
parameter variations. These parameters of a system
may vary with age (e.g. Wear of mechanical
components), with environmental change, and soon.
 Sensitivity: is a measure of the effectiveness of a control
system in reducing the influence of parameter variation.
 It is the relative variation in the overall transfer function,
T(s) due to variation in G(s) or in H(s).
 Sensitivity due to variation in G is calculated by:

 Sensitivity due to variation in H is calculated by:

4
• Sensitivity due to variation in G is calculated by:
T / T % change in T(s)
S T
 
G / G
G
% change in G(s)

i) Sensitivity of closed loop:

T G   G  G
T
SG  .   .
G T G  1  GH  T
 ( 1  GH )  G.H  G ( 1  GH ) 1
  . 
 ( 1  GH ) 2
 G 1  GH

ii) Sensitivity of an open loop:

T G  G
S T
 .  G  .  1
G T G
G
G
Conclusion:
The sensitivity of a closed-loop system w.r.t variation in G is
reduced by a factor 1+GH as compared to that of an open-
loop system. 5
• Sensitivity w.r.t H(s) of a closed-loop system is given as:
T H   G  H
S T
 .   .
H T H  1  GH
H
 T
 G.G  H ( 1  GH ) GH
 2 
. 
 ( 1  GH )  G 1  GH

• For large value of GH: S HT  1

• This shows that, the changes in H directly affects the system output.
• Therefore, it is important to use feedback elements which do not
vary with environmental changes or elements that can be
maintained constant.
i.e. closed-loop system requires careful selection of the components
of the feedback sensor H(s).
Note: G(s) is made of power elements and H(s) is made of measuring
elements which operate at low power levels, therefore the selection
of accurate H(S) is far less costly than that of G(s) to meet the exact
specification. 6
 2. Control of the effects of disturbance signals
(Disturbance rejection)
Case i) TD(s)

R(s) -1
1 E(s) G1(s) G2(s) C(s) 1 C(s)

-1
H(s)

The ratio of the output C(s) to the disturbance signal TD(s),

when R(s)=0, is given by:
C( s ) CD ( s ) G2
 
TD ( s ) R( s )0 TD ( s ) 1  G1G2 H

If G1G2 H( s ) >>1 over the working range of s

CD ( s ) 1
 
TD ( s ) G1 H
• If G1(s) is made sufficiently large, the effect of disturbance
can be decreased by feedback. 7
Case ii)
• Measurement sensor H may itself generate some noise
(disturbance) R(s)
1 E(s) G1(s) G2(s) C(s) 1 C(s)

-H2(s) H1(s)
1
N(s)

Thus, for optimum performance of the system, the measurement

sensor should be designed such that H1(s) is maximum. 8
 3.2.2. +ve (Regenerative feedback)
R(s) E(s) G(s) C(s) 1 C(s)
1

H(s)
C( s ) G( s )
T( s )  
R( s ) 1  GH( s )

• -ve sign in the denominator includes the possibility of

denominator becoming equal to zero thereby giving an
infinite output for a finite input which is the condition of
instability.

9
Importance
Regenerative feedback is sometimes used for increasing
the loop gain of feedback system as follows.
G( s )
R(s) E(s) 1 G(s)
C(s) C(s) R(s) E(s) 1  G f ( s )C(s) C(s)
=
1 1
Gf(s) -1 H(s)
-1 H(s)
Inner loop- regenerative feedback

• If Gf(s) is selected to be nearly unity, the closed loop

transfer function becomes
C( s ) G( s ) 1
 
R( s ) 1  G f ( s )  G H( s ) H( s )

• Thus due to high loop gain provided by the inner regenerative

feedback loop, the closed loop transfer function becomes
insensitive to G(s). 10