ME344: Control Systems I

5 TRANSFER FUNCTIONS

One of the most powerful tools in control systems design is the “Transfer Function”. The transfer function
describes how a system input affects its output. For a single-input/single-output system, the transfer function
is the ratio of the output to the input in the frequency domain (s-domain).
In the control science, the interest is in how a system would react to an external input used to perform a
certain control action. Therefore, initial conditions are ignored in the transfer function determination.
The transfer function is described as
Y (s)
T (s) = (5.1)
R(s)
where T (s) is the transfer function, Y (s) is the system output, and R(s) is the system input.
Example 5.1
For the mass-spring-damper system in Fig. 5.1, the equation of motion is

mẍ + cẋ + kx = r(t)

For zero initial conditions, the Laplace transform of the equation of motion is

ms2 X(s) + csX(s) + kX(s) = R(s)

Figure 5.1: Mass-spring-damper system

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ME344: Control Systems I

Hence, the transfer function of the system is

X(s) 1
T (s) = = 2
R(s) ms + cs + k

Example 5.2
Consider a system with the following equation of motion of a system subject to an external input r(t)

ÿ + 6ẏ + 8y = ṙ + 5r

For zero initial conditions, the Laplace transform of the equation of motion is

s2Y (s) + 6sY (s) + 8Y (s) = sR(s) + 5R(s)

Therefore, the transfer function of the system is

Y (s) s+5
T (s) = = 2
R(s) s + 6s + 8

Important Note:
For a system to be stable, the order of the numerator of the transfer function MUST BE less than the order
of the denominator. For example, consider the transfer function
a2 s2 + a1 s + a0
T (s) = (5.2)
b2 s2 + b1 s + b0

Using partial fractions, the transfer function can be represented as

N(s)
T (s) = A + (5.3)
D(s)

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ME344: Control Systems I

where A is a constant. The inverse Laplace of the A is Aδ (t). The function δ (t) has a value of infinity at
time t = 0.

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