Lecture 1

Overview of Control
Systems

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 Outline

 Overview of Control Systems

 Open-loop and Closed-loop Control Systems

 Analogue vs. Digital Systems

 Control System Design

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A System can be thought of as a box or block diagram which has
an input and output where we are concerned not with what goes on
inside the box but with only the relationship between the output and
the input.

Examples of systems: (a) spring, (b) motor, (c) thermometer.

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 Modelling Systems
The response of any system to an input is not instantaneous. The response of systems are
functions of time.
In order to know how a system behaves when there are inputs to it, we need to devise a model
which relate the output to the input, so that we can work out, for a given point, how the output will
vary with time and what it will settle down to.
For example, for the spring system, only describes the force ()–extension () relationship when steady-state
conditions occur. When the force is applied, oscillations will occur before the spring settles down to its steady-state
extension value.

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An instrumentation / measurement system can be thought of as a box which
is used for making measurements. Generally, it is made of three basic
elements:
1. A sensor responds to the quantity being measured by giving as its output a
signal which is related to the quantity;
2. A signal conditioner takes the signal from the sensor and manipulates it in to
a condition which is suitable either for display, record, transmission or use of
control;
3. A display system displays the output from the signal conditioner.

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 Other concepts

 Measurand
the physical quantity being measured, e.g. temperature, strain, displacement, air
flow etc.

 Transmission Path
the medium used to transmit data, e.g. optical fiber, radio, electrical cables,
pneumatic pipes etc.
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Dynamic Characteristics of System Performance

(a) Zero order system

(c) Second order system

(b) First order system

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 Response time:
- is the time which elapses after the input to
a system element is abruptly increased
from zero to a constant value up to the
point at which the system or element gives
an output corresponding to some specified
percentage, e.g. 95% of the value of the
input.

Rise time:
- is the time take for the output to rise to
Settling time: some specified percentage of the steady-
state output.
- is the time taken for the output to
settle to within some percentage,
2% of the steady-state value.

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 System Design
When designing an instrumentation system, it is necessary to:
1. Choose the most appropriate measurement technique
- Should it be contact-less?
- What signal processing is available?
- What power sources are available?
2. Choose the transducer, e.g.
- Is reliability important?
- How accurate does it need to be?
- Is weight important?
- Is it to operate in a harsh environment?
3. Design the signal conditioning as required
4. Whilst balancing overall cost against performance

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Reading Materials

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 Control Systems
A Control system is an interconnection of components forming a
system configuration that will provide a desired system response.

• The component to be controlled is called process.

• The input-output relationship represents the cause-and-effect relationship of the process,
which in turn represents a processing of the input signal to provide a desired output signal.
• The basis for analyzing a system is linear system theory. Control system is designed based
on mathematical background, there are various methodology to solve a given problem.

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 Where Control Systems are Used?
 Generation and transmission of energy
 Communication
- In mobile the power adjustment of the handset according to the received
power
 Transportation
• Aeroplanes
• Cars
• Traffic control
 Industrial process
 Medical applications (automatic drug administer)
 Social, economic and political system modelling etc.

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 Open-loop Control System
• An open-loop control system utilizes an actuating device (actuator) to control the
process directly without using feedback to obtain the desired response.
• An open-loop control system is a control system without feedback.

Open-loop Control System

Plant*

*The plant is the to-be-controlled system.

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 Closed-loop Control System
• In contrast to open-loop control system, a closed-loop control system uses a
measurement of the output and feedback of this signal for compare it with the desired
output (reference or command).
• The measure of the output is called the feedback signal.
• When the output is subtracted from input and the difference is used as the input signal
to the controller, it is called a negative feedback control system.
Closed-loop Control System

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 Example – Toaster
❓: Is it OPEN-loop or CLOSED-loop system ?

To adjust the desired toast

colour, the user adjusts the
input time or the preset
temperature for toasting.

• Input: toast desired color  user adjusts input time.

• Output: toasted bread

• What will happen if the components (consequently the system characteristics)
changes with time ?
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 Advantages of Closed-loop Control System
As we will discuss in later lectures, closed-loop control system has many advantages
over open-loop control systems, including the ability to reject external disturbance and
attenuate measurement noise, which are inevitable in real-world applications and must
be addressed in practical control system designs.

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Multi-loop Feedback Control System

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Multivariable Control System

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Example – Automated Vehicles
Typical direction-of-travel response.

Automobile steering control

system

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 Automobile steering control system

• Input: desired course of travel

• Output: actual course of travel
• Sensor: visual and tactile
• Actuator: steering wheel mechanism

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 Example – Room Temperature Controller
Room Temperature Controller

Thermostat measures the

actual temperature

The feedback system reaches different steady state depending on environment:

- Rate of heat dissipation through the walls, etc.

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 Control System Design
Engineering design is the central task of the engineer.
Design is the process of conceiving or inventing the forms, parts, and details
of a system to achieve a specified purpose.

The design process consists of seven main building blocks, which we arrange into
three groups:

1. Establishment of goals and variables to be controlled, and definition of specifications

against which to measure performance

2. System definition and modeling

3. Control system design and integrated system simulation and analysis

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Control System Design Process

Iterative and
Nonlinear
Process

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 Example – Design of Insulin Delivery Control System
The blood glucose and insulin levels for a healthy person.

 Control goal: Design a system to regulate the blood sugar concentration of a diabetic by
controlled dispensing of insulin
 Variable to be controlled: Blood glucose concentration
 Control design specifications: Provide a blood glucose level for the diabetic that closely
approximates (tracks) the glucose level of a healthy person.
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Example (cont’d)

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Example – Coordinated Control System For A Boiler-Generator

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 Example (cont’d)

• The modern, large-capacity plants, which exceed several hundred megawatts, require
automatic control systems that account for the interrelationship of the process variables and
optimum power production;

• It is common to have 90 or more manipulated variables under coordinated control. A

simplified model showing several of the important control variables of a large boiler-
generator system. This is an example of the importance of measuring many variables, such
as pressure and oxygen, to provide information to the computer for control calculations.

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 Analogue and Digital Control System

 Analogue systems are systems where all the signals are continuous functions of time;
 Digital systems are ones where all the signals can be considered to be a sequence of
on/off signals.

Continuous signal

Digitalized signal

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Basic Elements of a Digital Closed-loop Control System

ADC: analogue-to-digital converter; DAC: digital-to-analogue converter.

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 Features of Digital Control Systems

• Most of the situations being controlled are analogue in nature, it involves ADCs and DACs for
digital control systems, it might seem to be adding a degree of complexity;
• However, there are some very important advantages: digital operations can be controlled by a
program, i.e., a set of stored instructions; information storage is easier, accuracy can be
greater, digital circuits are less affected by noise and also are generally easier to design.

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Future Evolution of Control System and Robotics

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