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Control Engineering Background

Control engineering focuses on modeling dynamic systems and designing controllers to achieve desired system behavior. It is closely related to electrical and computer engineering, as electronic circuits can be modeled and controlled using these techniques. Historically, mechanical engineers designed pneumatic and hydraulic controllers for process control. Control engineering applies to any system that can be modeled mathematically and has diverse applications from aircraft to automobiles. It involves techniques like feedback and control theory to achieve stability.

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167 views

Control Engineering Background

Control engineering focuses on modeling dynamic systems and designing controllers to achieve desired system behavior. It is closely related to electrical and computer engineering, as electronic circuits can be modeled and controlled using these techniques. Historically, mechanical engineers designed pneumatic and hydraulic controllers for process control. Control engineering applies to any system that can be modeled mathematically and has diverse applications from aircraft to automobiles. It involves techniques like feedback and control theory to achieve stability.

Uploaded by

funfrancis
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as RTF, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Control Engineering--

Background
Modern control engineering is closely related to electrical and computer engineering, as
electronic circuits can often be easily described using control theory techniques. At many
universities, control engineering courses are primarily taught by electrical and computer
engineering faculty members.
Previous to modern electronics, process control devices were devised by mechanical engineers
using mechanical feedback along with pneumatic and hydraulic control devices, some of which
are still in use today.
The field of control within chemical engineering is often known as process control. It deals
primarily with the control of variables in a chemical process in a plant. It is taught as part of the
undergraduate curriculum of any chemical engineering program, and employs many of the same
principles in control engineering.
Other engineering disciplines also overlap with control engineering, as it can be applied to any
system for which a suitable model can be derived.
Control engineering has diversified applications that include science, finance management, and
even human behaviour. Students of control engineering may start with a linear control system
course which requires elementary mathematics and Laplace transforms (called classical control
theory). In linear control, the student does frequency and time domain analysis. Digital control
and nonlinear control courses require Z Transformations and algebra respectively, and could be
said to complete a basic control education. From here onwards there are several sub branches.

Control systems

Control Engineering--

Control engineering is the engineering discipline that focuses on the modelling of a diverse range
of dynamic systems (e.g. mechanical systems) and the design of controllers that will cause these
systems to behave in the desired manner. Although such controllers need not be electrical many
are and hence control engineering is often viewed as a subfield of electrical engineering.
However, the falling price of microprocessors is making the actual implementation of a control
system essentially trivial[citation needed]. As a result, focus is shifting back to the mechanical
engineering discipline, as intimate knowledge of the physical system being controlled is often
desired.
Electrical circuits, digital signal processors and microcontrollers can all be used to implement
Control systems. Control engineering has a wide range of applications from the flight and
propulsion systems of commercial airliners to the cruise control present in many modern
automobiles.
Control engineers often utilize feedback when designing control systems. For example, in an
automobile with cruise control the vehicle's speed is continuously monitored and fed back to the
system which adjusts the motor's torque accordingly. Where there is regular feedback, control
theory can be used to determine how the system responds to such feedback. In practically all
such systems stability is important and control theory can help ensure stability is achieved.
Although feedback is an important aspect of control engineering, control engineers may also
work on the control of systems without feedback. This is known as open loop control. A classic
example of open loop control is a washing machine that runs through a pre-determined cycle
without the use of sensors.

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