Stability : Frequency Response Method

For a system to be stable the roots of its characteristic equation should lie only in L.H.S. of s-plane. The Routh-Hurwitz method of determining stability has following limitations 1. It gives absolute stability and does not indicate about the strength of stability. 2. The characteristic equation must be available in polynomial form. The graphical methods based on frequency response give relative stability of a closed-loop control system by using open-loop transfer function G(s)H(s).

System Frequency Response:

The frequency response of a control system is defined as the steady state response of the system when a sinusoidal input is applied at the input terminals. The sinusoidal input signal when applied to a linear system results in an output signal which is sinusoidal in steady state and differs from the input waveform only in amplitude and phase angle. Frequency response method determines experimentally the properties of complicated control systems without any difficulty as the sinusoidal test signals for various ranges of frequencies and amplitudes are easily available. (a) It is possible with this method to obtain experimentally the transfer function of the system without complicated and long calculations. (b) The transfer function describing the sinusoidal steady state behaviour of the system can be obtained by replacing s with j in the transfer function G(s), of the system, i.e. |G(j) H(j)| and <G(j) H(j)
1

The function G(j) representing the sinusoidal steady state behaviour of the system is a function of complex variable having magnitude and phase angle and is known as frequency function of the system. The magnitude and phase angle of function G(j) for various frequencies are represented by various graphical plots in different co-ordinates which give better insight for analysis and design of control systems. The graphical plots generally used are : (i) Polar plot :- This is the plot of the magnitude |G(j) H(j)| versus phase angle <G(j)H(j) in polar co-ordinates for various values of frequencies from 0 to . Nyquist plot :- This is the plot of magnitude |G(j) H(j)| and phase angle <G(j) H(j) in polar coordinates for various values of frequency from 0 - 0. (ii) Bode plot :- This is the plot of magnitude | G(j) H(j) | in decibels versus log and phase angle <G(j) H(j) versus log in rectangular co-ordinates. (iii) Magnitude versus phase angle plot :- This is the plot of magnitude |G(j) H(j)| in decibels versus phase angle <G(j) H(j) in rectangular co-ordinates with frequency as varying parameter. These are also known as gain phase plots of the system. Polar Plot :1. In practice the frequency functions of the system are so complex and long that the characteristic of the system cannot be determined at the desired frequency only by inspection of the system frequency function.

2. Therefore the frequency functions of systems are plotted in graphical forms which indicate the system characteristics. Any curve giving information regarding the gain or phase shift of the frequency function is known as the frequency response curve of the system. 3. In polar plots the amplitude of G(j) is plotted as the distance from the origin while the phase angle is plotted as angular displacement from the right hand horizontal axis on the polar graph as shown in Fig. 7.4.

4.

For negative values of () the phase angle lags while for positive values of () the phase angle leads. Lagging phase shift is represented by a counter-clockwise angular displacement of the vector while leading phase shift is represented by the clockwise angular displacement of the vector.

5. These plots are simple to construct and easily provide the information regarding the magnitude and phase angle of G( j) at any desired frequency as compared to other methods. Polar plots are preferred as compared to rectangular plots because polar plot contains the ready information of both the parameters, amplitude and phase angle. 6. For sketching the polar plot of an open loop transfer function G(s) the following criteria are used to determine the important position of the complete plot. (a) From the transfer function G(s) in general the frequency function G(j) is obtained by substituting s = j i.e.,

From (7.8) the magnitude and phase angle at > 0 is obtained by taking the limit of (7.8) at > 0 . Depending upon the type of system i.e. the value of N in (7.8) the magnitude may be zero or infinity and phase angle 90 N degrees at > 0. (b) At higher frequencies i.e. the magnitude and phase angle are obtained by taking the limit of magnitude and phase angle of (7.8) at The procedure used for sketching the polar plot of a system is as described below :

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23