ADU ECEg 4333

College of
Engineering and
Technology

Chapter – 2
Controllers used in process control

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Basic control modes
 Proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control and on-off control
are the predominant types of feedback controllers used in the
process industries.
 The operation of the controller may be
vDiscontinuous (e.g. ON/OFF) Modes
vContinuous Modes (Smooth variation)
 Proportional Control Mode
 Integral Control Mode
 Derivative Control Mode

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vComposite Control Modes
 Proportional-Integral Mode (PI)
 Proportional-Derivative Mode (PD)
 Proportional- Integral-Derivative Mode (PID)
vON/OFF controller
Ø Is the simplest and cheapest control mode.
Ø on-off controllers are less widely used than PID
Ø it can be said that the output is either 0% or 100% for errors
less than zero or more than zero.

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Continuous modes
 The output of the controller changes smoothly in response to the
error or rate of change of error.
Ø Proportional Control Mode
Ø Integral control Mode
Ø Derivative control mode
Ø A combination of one or more of the above modes.
vProportional control mode
 In feedback control, the objective is to reduce the error signal
to zero where
e (t ) = Ysp ( t) -Ym (t )

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Cont..
For proportional control, the controller output is proportional
to the error signal. This mode can be expressed by the equation

Where
P = Controller output
Kp = Proportional gain between error & controller output
e(t) = process error
Po = controller output with no error(%)

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Cont.…
q The key concepts behind proportional control are that
Ø The controller gain can be adjusted to make the controller output
changes as sensitive as desired to deviations between set point and
controlled variable.
Ø The sign of Kp can be chosen to make the controller output increase
(or decrease) as the error signal increases
An inherent disadvantage of proportional-only control is that a
steady-state error (or offset) occurs after a set-point change or a
sustained disturbance.

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Cont.…
 As the gain of the proportional gain is increased the system
responds faster to changes in set-point but becomes progressively
under damped and eventually unstable.
v Integral control mode
 The offset error of the proportional mode occurs because the
controller cannot adapt to process load changes.
 In other words, the zero-error output is a fixed value.
 The integral mode eliminates this problem by allowing the
controller to adapt to changing external conditions by changing
the zero-error output.

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 For integral control action, the controller output depends on the

integral of the error signal over time.
 If the error makes random oscillations above and below zero, the
net sum will be zero.
v Integral mode has the following characteristics
 The rate of change of controller output depends error and the size
of the gain.
 If the error is zero, the output stays fixed at a value equal to what it
was when the error went to zero.
 If the error is not zero, the output will begin to increase or
decrease at a rate of KI
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Cont.…
Ø the integral controller is seldom used by itself, because little
control action takes place until the error signal has persisted for
some time.
Ø In contrast, proportional control action takes immediate corrective
action as soon as an error is detected.
Ø Consequently, integral control action is normally used in
conjunction with proportional control as the proportional-integral
(PI) controller:

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v Derivative control mode
Ø The function of derivative control action is to anticipate the future
behavior of the error signal by considering its rate of change.

Ø Derivative controller action responds to the rate at which the error

is changing.
Ø Derivative action is not used alone because it provides no output
when the error is constant.

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Cont..
q Derivative mode has the following characteristics
Ø If the error is zero & constant in time, the mode provides no output.
Ø If the error is changing in time, the mode contributes an output of
“Kd” percent for every 1%-per-second rate of change of error.
Ø By providing anticipatory control action, the derivative mode tends to
stabilize the controlled process.
Ø Thus, it is often used to counteract the destabilizing tendency of the
integral mode
Ø Derivative control action also tends to improve the dynamic response
of the controlled variable by the settling time, reducing the time it
takes to reach steady state.

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v Composite control modes
 In industrial processes it is expedient to combine several basic
modes of control to gain the advantages of the modes and eliminate
the limitations of the modes.
q The various composite modes are:
 Proportional-Integral Mode (PI)
 Proportional-Derivative Mode (PD)
 Three-Mode controller (PID)

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v PI controller

 The lack of derivative action may make the system steadier in the
steady state in the case of noisy data.
 This is because derivative action is more sensitive to higher-
frequency terms in the inputs.

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v PI controller mode has the following characteristics
 one-to-one correspondence of the proportional mode is available
 The integral mode eliminates the inherent offset.
 If the error is not zero, the proportional term contributes a
correction, and the integral term begins to increase or decrease the
accumulated value
 This mode can be used in systems with frequent or large load
changes.
 During the start of a batch process, the integral action causes
considerable overshoot of the error and output before settling to
the operation point.

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v PD controller
Ø The stability and overshoot problems that arise when a
proportional controller is used at high gain can be mitigated.

qPD controller mode has the following characteristics

 The system cannot eliminate the offset of proportional controllers.
 It can, however, handle fast process load changes as long as the
offset error is acceptable.

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v PID controller
Ø PD control deals neatly with the overshoot and ringing problems
associated with proportional control it does not cure the problem
with the steady-state error.

Ø P depends on the present error, I on the accumulation of past errors,

and D is a prediction of future errors, based on current rate of
change.

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Cont..

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q Features of PID controllers
Reset Windup
Ø An inherent disadvantage of integral control action is a
phenomenon known as reset windup.
Ø When a sustained error occurs, the integral term becomes quite
large and the controller output eventually saturates.
Ø Further buildup of the integral term while the controller is
saturated is referred to as reset windup or integral windup.

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q Derivative Kick
 One disadvantage of the previous derivative controller is that a
sudden change in set point (and hence the error) will cause the
derivative term momentarily to become very large and thus
provide a derivative kick to the final control element.
q Reverse or Direct Action
Ø A controller operates with direct action when an increasing value
of the controlled variable causes an increasing value of the
controller output.
Ø A controller operates with reverse action when an increase in
controlled variable causes a decrease in controller output.

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Importance of manual controller mode
Ø Controllers are designed to operate in automatic mode, however,
in certain situations, the plant operator may decide to override the
automatic mode and adjust the controller output manually.
Ø This manual mode of controller operation is very useful during a
plant start-up, shutdown, or emergency situation.
Ø A manual/automatic switch

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q 2.2 PID controller design, tuning and troubleshooting
2.2.1 PID controller design
Performance criteria for Closed-loop systems
Ø The function of a feedback control system is to ensure that the
closed-loop system has desirable dynamic and Steady-state
response characteristics.

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q closed-loop system to satisfy the following performance criteria:
 The closed-loop system must be stable
 The effects of disturbances are minimized, providing good
disturbance rejection
 Rapid, smooth responses to set-point changes are obtained, that is,
good set-point tracking
 Steady-state error (offset) is eliminated
 Excessive control action is avoided

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q Model Based controller design
 If it is possible to design a satisfactory mathematical model of a
process, then it is possible to design a controller based on the
model.
q Direct Synthesis Method
 The controller design is based on a process model and a desired
closed loop transfer function.

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q 2.2.2 PID controller tuning
v PID tuning is the process of finding the values of proportional,
integral, and derivative gains of a PID controller to achieve desired
performance and meet design requirements.
 During control system design, the initial controller settings are
calculated based on process knowledge and control objectives.
on-site adjustment is referred
Ø on-line tuning
Ø field tuning
Ø controller tuning.

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q Continuous Cycling Method (Ziegler and Nichols)

The tuning technique is based on the following trial-and-error procedures:
I. After the process has reached steady state, eliminate the I & D control
action
II. Set Kc equal to a small value (e.g 0.5) and place the controller in the
automatic mode.
III. Introduce a small, momentary set-point change so that the controlled
variable moves away from the set point.
IV. Then Calculate the PID controller settings using the Ziegler-Nichols
(Z-N) tuning relations using the relations as shown in the table below.
V. Evaluate the Z-N controller settings by introducing a small set-point
change and observing the closed-loop response.

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Cont.

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qcontinuous cycling method has several major disadvantages:
 It can be quite time-consuming . The long experimental tests
may result in reduced production or poor product quality.
 In many applications, continuous cycling is objectionable,
because the process is pushed to the stability limits.
 This tuning procedure is not applicable to integrating or open-
loop unstable processes, because their control loops typically
are unstable at both high and low values of Kc, while being
stable for intermediate values.

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 Control System Components

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