Technical Paper January 2016/2

Technical Paper December 2015

An effective loop tuning strategy

Authors:

TIM OLSEN
NORMAN ITO
Emerson Process Management

PID stands for Proportional, Integral, Derivative. Controllers are designed to

eliminate the need for continuous operator attention. The set-point is where you
would like the measurement to be. Error is defined as the difference between setpoint and measurement.
(error) = (set-point) - (measurement) The variable being adjusted is called the
manipulated variable which usually is equal to the output of the controller. The output
of PID controllers will change in response to a change in measurement or set-point.
Manufacturers of PID controllers use different names to identify the three modes.
These equations show the relationships:
P
I
D

Proportional Band
Integral
Derivative

= 100/gain
= 1/reset
(units of time)
= rate = pre-act (units of time)

In the following paper you will see how to tune a PID loop and see its relation in the
other loops.