Introduction to the key terms associated with

PID Temperature Control

ON / OFF Control
On / Off control is the simplest means of control but gives rise to fluctuations in the process
variable (Fig 1). A degree of hysteresis or deadband must be set in On / Off control if the
operation of the switching device is to be reduced and relay chatter is to be avoided (Fig 2).

On / Off control is a very simple form of control, which leads to oscillation of the process
variable. This oscillation can affect the quality of the final product and is undesirable. The
alternative is to use three term control, known as PID control.

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Three Term Control

A ' closed loop ' consists of :
 A process in the plant to be controlled; G(s)
 A sensor to detect the Process Value (PV) such as a thermocouple or pressure sensing device.
 A controller to provide control of that process, referred to in the overhead as the term PID.
 An output to an actuator or device to control the input stimulus to that process, such as heat.

To understand the PID terms, the comparison to

driving a car can be used
Simple On/Off control could be thought of as starting the engine (G(s)) of the car (Plant),
pressing the accelerator (Output) to the floor until the desired speed (SP) of 80 kph is
reached as indicated on the speedometer (PV), then taking your foot completely off the
accelerator. When the speed drops below 80 kph the accelerator is again depressed to the
floor until 80 kph is again reached.

Comparison to the Proportional Term

If we wish to drive from a standstill to 80 kph we can consider the procedure we adopt to
achieve this to explain the Proportional term.

From a standstill we depress the accelerator pedal. The speed of the vehicle will increase
and at a certain speed below our target speed of 80 kph we begin to ease off the
accelerator pedal in order to prevent cruising past the desired speed. This easing off the
accelerator pedal can be directly compared to entering the Proportional Band or the band
relative to the required speed. If we do not look at the speedometer we will certainly drive at
a speed that is not our desired speed and an error will result.

Comparison to the Integral Term

If we now look at the speedometer we see that we are low of our desired speed and using
this visual feedback we correct for the error and begin to slowly depress the accelerator
pedal. As a result our speed slowly increases to achieve the desired speed of 80 kph.

This procedure can be compared to the Integral Time of a PID controller.

Comparison to the Derivative Term

We are now cruising at our Setpoint of 80 kph and we continue to maintain this speed
through visual feedback of the speedometer.

If we encounter a sudden change in slope of the road such as a hill we correct for the
reduction in speed which would result by depressing the accelerator pedal more than would
otherwise be the case for the slight reduction in speed we initially encounter. As the slope of
the road levels off again we ease off the accelerator pedal more than would otherwise be
the case for the slight increase in speed to avoid raising our speed too far beyond our target
speed.

The amount of correction and time to reduce this correction to zero can be compared to the
Derivative Time.

When we have driven a car for some time these procedures become second nature to us
and we do not think about the technique we use to drive. Consider, however, the process of
someone learning to drive and you will observe these descriptions in action.

Different process variables such as temperature, speed, pressure etc. all have different
characteristics. For example a temperature on an extruder barrel responds very slowly
whereas the speed responds much more quickly and the pressure can respond more
quickly still.
 Th
e information given above may make it appear easy to generate a PID controller using
simple mathematical terms. In reality, industrial control manufacturers develop sophisticated
control algorithms, containing many other features than those described above. In this way
they are able to provide the industry with controllers which give excellent performance in a
wide range of control applications.

Additional techniques are also included to prevent the Integral term from saturating during
open loop conditions and to prevent overshoot of the Setpoint value. The two conditions of
start-up or changed setpoint and normal running conditions generally require different
responses. Advanced control algorithms are developed by control companies to
compensate for both conditions.

Loop Response
The combination of the three terms can provide a stabilizing effect on a process only if the
terms are correctly set. This is referred to as ' tuning the loop '. If we ignore the situation of
loop oscillation, there are three categories of loop performance :

Under Damped
In this situation the terms are set to prevent oscillation but do lead to an overshoot of the
Process Value followed by decaying oscillation to finally settle at the Setpoint. This type of
response does give a minimum time to Setpoint but overshoot may cause problems in
certain situations and the loop may be sensitive to sudden changes in Process Value. This
will result in further decaying oscillations before settling once again.

Critically Damped
This represents and ideal situation where overshoot does not occur and the process
responds to changes in a controlled, non oscillatory manner.
Over Damped
In this situation the loop responds in a controlled but sluggish manner which will result in a
loop performance which is non ideal and unnecessarily slow. The balancing of the P, I and
D terms depends totally upon the nature of the process to be controlled.

In a plastics extrusion example, a barrel zone will have a different response to a casting roll,
drive loop, thickness control loop or pressure loop. In order to achieve the best performance
from an extrusion line all loop tuning parameters must be set to their optimum values.
Needless to say, many extrusion lines and industrial equipment are not set up to give their
best performance.

Loop Tuning

Ther
e are many documented methods of tuning a loop with the most common methods being
the following:

Ziegler Nicholls: This method involves putting the loop into oscillation and measuring the
oscillation period T. The oscillation is caused by setting the I and D terms to off and
reducing the Proportional Band until the loop just oscillates. The setting of the P term at the
onset of oscillation (Px) is used to determine the desired Proportional Band.
Cohen & Coon: In this method power is applied from a low Process Value and a note is
made of the time before any response is observed ( dead time ) and the maximum rate of
change of the Process Value. By combining this information with the final settling of the
Process Value resulting from the power applied, the P, I and D values are calculated.
Popular Method (Rule of Thumb)
An easier method of manually determining the P, I and D values is to set the Integral and
Derivative terms to off and to set the Proportional Band to a minimum. The resulting
oscillation width Xosc and the oscillation period tosc can be used to determine the PID
settings shown below.
P = 2.0 * Xosc
I = 1.5 * tosc
D=I/5

These values result in a slightly over damped response and consequently all values can be
reduced slightly to give a more responsive loop.

Auto Tuning: (Standard with all Eurotherm PID Controllers)

The standard initial method of tuning a process loop is to use the advanced adaptive tuning
algorithms inbuilt in today’s controllers, to automatically test the loop and implement the
optimum PID control parameters.

Care should be taken to ensure that the oscillations of the Process Value will not damage
the process being tuned. It is recommended to set the Setpoint for tuning purposes below
the normal running Setpoint value.

Avoiding Overshoot
Various techniques are used to avoid overshoot. The aim is to prevent the process value
from exceeding the desired value or setpoint. In the example shown the proportional band is
brought down to meet the approaching process value in order to reduce the output power
and to smoothly bring the process value to the desired setting.

PLC (Programmable logic controller) vs PID - what are the

differences?
Many years ago people implemented PIDs via analog hardware, but nowadays most PID control
loops are implemented as software algorithms in digital devices. A PLC is only a special case of
such devices. That is, you can have one (or more) PID running in a PLC box, or in an industrial PC,
or in a SOC system-on-chip like ARM microcontrollers, or in very cheap microcontrollers like Arduino
or PIC 8-bit processors, or on a CompactRIO box with sophisticated real-time operating systems,
etc... It is up to you. But if you need a very simple control, that does not need high bandwidth, my
suggestion is that you buy a cheap PLC and implement the PID loop on it - depending on the brand
of the PLC you'll find many programming examples.

Now you can make a PID algorithms in PLC . In addition , you can use PID controller card in your
PLC racks. I am agree that PID was analog controller . Now it is fully digital. 
if I need to use PID controller in the system , I will use it in PLC program.
But sometimes, if your process is very important means dangerous,you need extra safety logics. In
this case you will need to use safety PLC s. In this focus , you can think to use PID controller which
is independent from PLC systems.

PID is not a controller.....

It is actually a mathematical equation that is implemented through a PLC.
Copied from:
http://www.omega.com/prodinfo/temperaturecontrollers.html
PID Control:
The third controller type provides proportional with integral and derivative control, or PID. This
controller combines proportional control with two additional adjustments, which helps the unit
automatically compensate for changes in the system. These adjustments, integral and derivative,
are expressed in time-based units; they are also referred to by their reciprocals, RESET and RATE,
respectively. The proportional, integral and derivative terms must be individually adjusted or "tuned"
to a particular system using trial and error. It provides the most accurate and stable control of the
three controller types, and is best used in systems which have a relatively small mass, those which
react quickly to changes in the energy added to the process. It is recommended in systems where
the load changes often and the controller is expected to compensate automatically due to frequent
changes in setpoint, the amount of energy available, or the mass to be controlled.
OMEGA offers a number of controllers that automatically tune themselves. These are known as
autotune controllers.

PID is one type of controller, which can be implemented using several techniques. PLC is a general
term for a controller which is programmable. PID can be implemented on PLC. Several controllers
can be implemented in PLC.
I think it is just like windows installed in your PC. So, PID is like windows and PLC is like your PC.
PLC somehow relates to hardware. PID is one of the simplest example of controller for feedback
loop, based on 3 different kind of action on the error (proportional, integral and derivative). One can
implement PID using a PLC, or with it's favourite hardware. That's all.

Dario is correct!
You will program a PID control into the PLC.
The hardware is the PLC, and the software is the PID.