School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Department of control system Engineering

Introduction to control system

Prepared by: Urgo H. $ Belsty D.

March 2021, Addis Ababa
Chapter one
Introduction to control system
Introduction

● Automatic control has played a vital roll in the advanced of engineering and science. In
addition to the extreme importance in space-vehicle system, missile guidance system,
robotics and so on..
● Advance in the theory and practice of automatic control provide the means for attaining
 Optimum performance of dynamic systems
 Improving productivity
 To Avoid many routine repetitive manual operations
Todays control Engineering has application in almost every area of technology.
 Industrial process control
Industrial process control covers the control of temperature, pressure, flow-level
and any other industrial applications
 Drive control (speed control)
This group includes speed control of motors on different machines such as in plastic
manufacturing, paper production or textile machines. specially designed controllers
are normally used for these application since they have to remain stable during fast
disturbance in the range of tenths of seconds
 Control of electrical variable
This refers to stabilization of electrical parameters, e.g. . voltage, current, power or
even frequency
 Position control
Involves the position of tools, work pieces or complete assemblies either in two or
three dimensions. e.g. antenna, positioning of guns and tanks, CNC machines
 Course control
Refers the control of the course of ship or plane (Autopilots) here the controller has to
satisfy special demands, such as high processing speed and operational safety,
combined with weight.
The most important tasks of control Engineers
 Determine the process variable
 Checking whether automatic control offers significant advantages
 Determining the measurement site
 Selecting the manipulator
 Selecting disturbance
 Selecting a suitable controller
 Installation of the controller in accordance with applicable regulation
 Starting up adjusting parameters, optimizing an unsatisfactory control loop
What is Control system
● A control system is an interconnection of components forming a system configuration that

will provide a desired system response. i.e. a control system is by which any quantity of

interest is measured or altered in accordance with a desired manner.

● The basis for analysis of a system is the foundation provided by linear system theory, which

assumes a cause-effect relationship for the component of a system.

● Therefore a component or process to be controlled can be represented by block showing input-
output relationships. Cause and effect of relationship of the process

Input Output
process
Cause Effect

● Is a system where the output of the system is controlled to be at some specific value or to

change in some prescribed way as determined by the input to the system.

● A control System is a device, or set of devices to manage, command, direct or regulate the

behavior of other device(s) or system(s)

● Every controller has (at least) a controller and an actuator(also called a final control

element )

Input Actuators( Output

Controller correction process
element )
Set point
Controlled variables

Motors, manipulative
Electronic intelligent element Physical system

A block diagram for a control system

Basic Components
● Any Control System consists of a number of basic subsystems or elements
● Those elements could appear separate or integrated as a single entity
The basic elements are:
 Comparison Element
 Control Element
 Correction Element
 Process Element (plant)
 Measurement Element (Transducers)
1. Comparison Element: compares the reference value of the variable being controlled with
the measured value of the actual output and produces an error signal.
2. Control Element: decides what action to be taken after it gets an error signal.
3. Correction Element (actuator): used to produce a change in the process in order to avoid the
error.
4. Process Element (Plant): is the system of which a variable is being controlled
5. Measurement Element: Produces a Signal related to the actual output and provides a
feedback signal to the comparison element.
Classifications of control systems
Universe Vehicles
Human Body Airplanes

Electric Fan Room Temperature

Water Level Control Human Body Temperature
Control
Types of control system
● There are two major configuration of control systems (internal architecture of the total
system)
 Open loop control system
 Closed loop (feedback system)
Open loop
● System which doesn’t automatically correct for variations in its output
● No information is feedback to the system to adjust itself and maintain a constant output
● An input is chosen on the basis of experience of such a system to give the value of the
required output.
Examples
 An electric heater with a selection switch
 Systems which operate by preset timing mechanisms like Traffic Lights, Washing
Machine
Advantages
 Relatively simple hence low cost with generally good reliability
 Inherently Stable
 Easy maintenance
Disadvantages
 Often inaccurate since there is no error correction
 More sensitive to changes in component characteristics
 More sensitive to disturbances
 Limitation on applications
Closed loop control system
● In contrast to an open loop control system utilizes an additional measure of the actual
output to compare the actual output with the desired output responses.
● The measure of the output is called the feedback signal.
● A feedback control system is a control system that tends to maintain a prescribed
relationship of one system variables to another by comparing function of these variables
and using the deference as a means of control.
● A feedback signal to the input from the output will be sent and used to modify the input so
that the output is maintained constant regardless of any changes in conditions

feedback control system

Advantages
 Ability to match the actual to the required value since there is continuous error
correction
 Less sensitivity to disturbances
 Increased speed of response and hence increased band width
 Increase accuracy
 Reduce the effect of non linearity
Disadvantages
 More complex than open-loop and so more costly with a greater chance of break
down as a result of greater number of components
 Instability because of time delays when transferring corrective action
Examples
A manual control system for regulating the level of fluid in a tank by adjusting the output valve. The operator

views the level of fluid through a port in the side of the tank
The driver uses the difference between the actual and the desired direction of travel to
generate a controlled adjustment of the steering wheel.
Main control strategies

Every control system must guarantee first the stability of the closed-loop behavior. The possibility
to fulfill different specifications varies model considered and the control system chosen.
Classical controls
 Control methods where the ODE that describe a system are transformed using Laplace,
Fourier, or Z-transforms and manipulated in the transform domain.
Modern control
 Methods where high-order differential equations are broken into a system of first-order
equations. The input, output and internal states of the system are described by vector
called “state variables”
Adaptive control
 Adaptive control uses on-line identification of the process parameters, or
modification of controller gain, there by obtaining strong robustness properties. The
controller changes it is response characteristics over time to better control the
system
Robust control
 Robust control deals explicitly with uncertainty in its approach to controller design.
Optimal control
 In a system, performance matrices are identified and arranged into a cost function.
The cost function is minimized to create an operational system with the lowest cost .
Nonlinear controls
 The youngest branch of control engineering it is used for the system that can not be
described by linear equations or ODE
Intelligent control
 Intelligent control uses varies AI (artificial intelligent) computing techniques like
Neural network, fuzzy logic, machine learning, evolutionary computation and genetic
algorithms to control a dynamic system.
Stochastic control
 Deals with uncertainty in the model like random noise and disturbance must take
into account.