On-Off Control: Bang-Bang Control Thermostat Negative Feedback
Simple on-off control systems like thermostats and pressure switches provide negative feedback by switching devices like heaters or pumps on when a process variable like temperature or pressure drops below a setpoint, and off when it rises above. These systems are cheap and effective for some applications. However, they can cause excessive wear from frequent starting and stopping, so practical systems include an adjustable hysteresis or deadband around the setpoint where the device remains unchanged to reduce cycling.
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On-Off Control: Bang-Bang Control Thermostat Negative Feedback
Simple on-off control systems like thermostats and pressure switches provide negative feedback by switching devices like heaters or pumps on when a process variable like temperature or pressure drops below a setpoint, and off when it rises above. These systems are cheap and effective for some applications. However, they can cause excessive wear from frequent starting and stopping, so practical systems include an adjustable hysteresis or deadband around the setpoint where the device remains unchanged to reduce cycling.
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Onoff control
For more details on this topic, see Bangbang control.
A thermostat is a simple negative feedback controller: when the temperature (the "process variable" or PV) goes below a set point (SP), the heater is switched on. Another example could be a pressure switch on an air compressor. When the pressure (PV) drops below the threshold (SP), the pump is powered. Refrigerators and vacuum pumps contain similar mechanisms operating in reverse, but still providing negative feedback to correct errors. Simple onoff feedback control systems like these are cheap and effective. In some cases, like the simple compressor example, they may represent a good design choice. In most applications of onoff feedback control, some consideration needs to be given to other costs, such as wear and tear of control valves and perhaps other start-up costs when power is reapplied each time the PV drops. Therefore, practical onoff control systems are designed to include hysteresis which acts as a deadband, a region around the setpoint value in which no control action occurs. The width of deadband may be adjustable or programmable.