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PROF. BAWAGE A.S.

Introduction of Process Control:

the term process indicating a set up or a plant that we want to control. Thus by a
process we may mean a unit of chemical plant (say, a distillation column), or a
manufacturing system (say, an assembly shop), or a food processing industry and so
on. We may want to automate the process; we may also like to control certain
parameters of the system output (say, level of a tank, pressure of steam etc.)

Characteristics of a Process
Different processes have different characteristics. But, broadly speaking, there are
certain characteristics features those are more or less common to most of the
processes. They are:
(i) The mathematical model of the process is nonlinear in nature.
(ii) The process model contains the disturbance input
(iii) The process model contains the time delay term.
In general a process may have several input variables and several output variables.
But only one or two (at most few) of the input variables are used to control the
process. These inputs, used for manipulating the process are called manipulating
variables. The other inputs those are left uncontrolled are called disturbances. Few
outputs are measured and fed back for comparison with the desired set values. The
controller operates based on the error values and gives the command for controlling
the manipulating variables. The block diagram of such a closed loop process can be
drawn as shown in Fig. 1

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Proportional, P Action
It is the most common of all industrial process control action. It calculates the
difference between the process variable signal and the set point signal, which is
called as an error.
It is the measure of how far a process variable is deviating from a set point and it can
be calculated either as SP – PV or PV – SP depending on whether controller will be
direct acting or reverse action.

This direction of action is determined by the process, sensing device and final control
element. The output of the proportional controller is the multiplication of error signal
by a constant (also called as gain).
In some cases, bias is also added to the p-control output as shown in figure below.

If the error is greater, the greater will be the controller output and as long as the
error remains, it continues to generate corrective effort. As the error is zero, it
produces zero output (if no bias is added at output).
If the controller gain is increased, it moves the output so rapidly for any given change
in PV or SP.
However, too much control gain can result unstable control system. As a result,
there exists a steady state error between the set point and the process variable.

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Integral, I Action
• It is the process of accumulating the process variable value as the time
progress. Integral action decides how fast to move the output. This is mainly
used to eliminate steady state error of the system.
• In this, controller output depends on the integral of error signal over time. It
doesn’t be used alone, but mostly it is used along with proportional control. If
the integral term is added to the control equation, then the equation becomes

• Here the integration symbol indicates that the controller will accumulate
multiple products of error over a small time dt.
• When an error signal appears, the controller acts such that the proportional
control signal returns the process to the desired control point and it is fast
acting and immediate.

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• If there is any deviation between set point and process variable, an addition
corrective signal is supplied by the integral control mode function till steady
state error becomes zero.
• At this situation, controller holds the previous value to maintain final control
device such that zero steady state error is achieved. The steady state
performance is improved by decreasing the integral gain Ki.
• Often the above proportional plus integral equation is written without bias
term b, because the presence of integral action makes it unnecessary.
• Most of the industrial process controllers are designed to operate proportional
plus integral control to achieve an improved steady state response.

Derivative, D Action
• This action senses the rate of change of process variable and then applies the
corrective action at a proportional rate of change.
• It looks at how fast the process variable changes per unit time and takes
action proportional to its rate of change.
• This is also called as anticipatory action because it moves the control valve in
such a direction as to counteract the rapid change of process variable.
• The output of derivative action is the product of derivative constant and the
rate of change of error with respect to time.
• It must not be used alone because of rapid start of control output that can
result extremely large rate of change of output, even for a small error change.

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PID Controller
• Most of the cases, it is used along with proportional plus integral control or
with only proportional control. If this term is added to PI controller then the
equation becomes

• In order to avoid the extreme increase of control output for sudden change of
set points, many PID controllers offer derivative response based on the rate of
change process variable only, rather than error (SP-PV or PV-SP).

• By combining all three actions describe above, a PID action is obtained. It is

the most often used controller in many industrial applications.

• This type of controller gets the set point from the user, and gets the process
variable from various sensing devices or transmitters.

• Depending on the parameter setting in PID equation (i.e., Kp, Ki and Kd), it
produces the control output to make the correction promptly and accurately to
the set point value. The response curve for the PID controller is shown in
figure.

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Controller Tuning Method

The determination of corresponding PID parameter values for getting the optimum
performance from the process is called tuning. This is obviously a crucial part in
case of all closed loop control systems.

There are number of tuning methods have been introduced to obtain fast and
acceptable performance.

The steps involved in these methods include experimental determination of the

dynamic characteristics of the control loop and estimating the controller tuning
parameters that produce a desired performance for the dynamic characteristics
determined.
Some of these PID tuning methods are given below.

Trial and Error Method

• This is the simple method of tuning a PID controller. Once we get the clear
understanding of PID parameters, the trial and error method become relatively
easy.

• Set integral and derivative terms to zero first and then increase the
proportional gain until the output of the control loop oscillates at a constant
rate.
• This increase of proportional gain should be in such that response the system
becomes faster provided it should not make system unstable.

• Once the P-response is fast enough, set the integral term, so that the
oscillations will be gradually reduced. Change this I-value until the steady
state error is reduced, but it may increase overshoot.

• Once P and I parameters have been set to a desired values with minimal
steady state error, increase the derivative gain until the system reacts quickly
to its set point. Increasing derivative term decreases the overshoot of the
controller response.

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Zeigler-Nichols Method
• It is another popular method for tuning PID controllers. Ziegler and Nichols
presented two classical methods for determining values of proportional gain,
integral time and derivative time based on transient response characteristics
of a given plant or system.

First Method
• Obtain a unit step response of the plant experimentally and it may look‘s’
shaped curve as shown in figure below. This method applies, if obtained
response exhibit s-shaped curve for unit step input otherwise it cannot be
applied. This curve can also be obtained by dynamic simulation of the plant.

Obtain two constants, delay time L and time constant T by drawing a tangent line at
the inflection point of the s-shaped curve.
Set the parameters of Kp, Ti, and Td values from the table given below for three types
of controllers.

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Second Method
It is very similar to the trial and error method where integral and derivative terms are
set to the zero, i.e., making Ti infinity and Td zero.

Increase the proportional gain such that the output exhibits sustained oscillations. If
the system does not produce sustained oscillations then this method cannot be
applied.
The gain at which sustained oscillations produced is called as critical gain.

Once the sustain oscillations are produced, set the values of Ti and Td as per the
given table for P, PI and PID controllers based on critical gain and critical period.

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Integration Windup
A significant problem with integral action is that when the error signal is large for a
significant period of time. This can occur every time when there is large change in set
point.

If there is a sudden large change in set point, the error will be large and the
integrator output in a P-I-D control will build up with time. As a result, the controller
output may exceed the saturation limit of the actuator.

This windup, unless prevented may cause continuous oscillation of the process that
is not desirable.

Bumpless Transfer
When a controller is switched from manual mode to auto-mode, it is desired that the
input of the process should not change suddenly.

But since there is always a possibility that the decision of the manual mode of
control and the auto mode of control be different, there may be a sudden change in
the output of the controller, giving rise to a sudden jerk in the process operation.

Special precautions are taken for bumpless transfer from manual to auto-mode.

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Pneumatic Controller
• It has been already mentioned that the early days PID controllers were all
pneumatic type. The advantage of pneumatic controllers is its ruggedness,
while its major limitation is its slow response.
• Besides it requires clean and constant pressure air supply. The major
components of a pneumatic controller are bellows, flapper nozzle amplifier, air
relay and restrictors (valves).
• The integral and derivative actions are generated by controlling the passage of
air flow through restrictors to the bellows.

• Here four bellows are connected to a force beam as shown. The measured
process variable is converted to air pressure and connected to the bellows P1.
Similarly the air pressure corresponding to the set point signal is applied to
the bellow P2.
• The error corresponding to the measured value and the set point generates a
force on the left hand side of the force beam. There is an adjustable pivot
arrangement that sets the proportional gain of the amplifier. The right hand
side of the force beam is connected to two bellows, P3 and P4 and a flapper
nozzle amplifier. The output air pressure is dependent on the gap between the
flapper and nozzle.
• An air relay enhances the air handling capacity. The output pressure is
directly fed back to the feedback bellows P4, and also to P3 through a
restrictor (valve). The opening of this restrictor decides the integral action to be
applied

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Electronic PID Controllers

Electronic PID controllers can be obtained using operational amplifiers and passive
components like resistors and capacitors.

A typical scheme is shown in Fig. 5. With little calculations, it can be shown that the
circuit is capable of delivering the PID actions as:

• It is evident from Fig. 5, the proportional gain Kp is decided by the ratio of the
first amplifier;
the integral action is decided by R3 and C1 and the derivative action by R5
and C2.
• The final output however comes out with a negative sign, compared to eqn. (1)
(though the positive sign can also be obtained by using a noninverting
amplifier at the input stage, instead of the inverting amplifier).
• The op. amps. Shown in the circuits are assumed to be ideal.

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Special Control
Structures: Feedforward and Ratio Control
Feedforward Control
When the disturbance is measurable, feedforward control is an effective means for
cancelling the effects of disturbance on the system output.

This is advantageous, since in a simple feedback system, the corrective action starts
after the effect of disturbance is reflected at the output.

On the other hand, in feedforward control the change in disturbance signal is

measured and the corrective action takes place immediately. As a result, the speed
and performance of the overall system improves, if feedforward control, together with
feedback action is employed.
In order to illustrate the effect of feedforward control, let us consider the heat
exchange process shown in Fig.1. The cold water comes from a tank and flows to the
heat exchanger. The flow rate of cold water can be considered as a disturbance. The
change in input flow line may occur due to the change in water level in the tank.
Suppose, the feedforward line is not connected, and the controller acts as a feedback
control only. If the water inlet flow rate increases, the temperature of the outlet hot
water flow will decrease.

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This will be sensed by the temperature sensor that will compare with the set point
temperature and the temperature controller will send signal to open the control valve
to allow more steam at the steam inlet.

The whole operation is a time consuming and as a result the response of the
controller due to the disturbance (inlet water flow rate) is normally slow. But if we
measure the change in inlet flow rate by a flowmeter and feed this information to the
controller, the controller can immediately take the correcting action anticipating the
change in outlet temperature.

This will improve the speed of response. Thus feedforward action, in addition to the
feedback control improves the performance of the system,but provided, the
disturbance is measurable.

Let us now draw the block diagram of the overall control operation of the system
shown in Fig. 1.

The block diagram representation is shown in Fig. 2.

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In general, the structure of the feedforward-feedback action in terms of the block

diagram of
transfer functions can be represented as shown in Fig. 3. Where,
G s ( ) = Transfer function of the process (manipulating variable to output)
G s n( ) = Disturbance transfer function (disturbance to output)
G s c( ) = Transfer function of feedback controller

G s f ( ) = Transfer function of the feedforward controller

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So there are two controllers, one is the conventional feedback controller , while the
other is the feedforward controller that is intended to nullify the effect of disturbance
at the output. From Fig. 3, the overall output is

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Ratio Control
Ratio control is a special type of feedforward control where the disturbance is
measured and the ratio of the process output and the disturbance is held constant.
It is mostly used to control the ratio of flow rates of two streams. Flow rates of both
the stream are measured, but only one of them is controlled.

There can be many examples of application of ratio control. Few examples

are:
1. fuel-air ratio control in burners,
2. control of ratio of two reactants entering a reactor at a desired ratio,
3. maintaining the ratio of two blended streams constant in order to maintain the
composition of the blend at the desired value.

There can be two schemes for achieving ratio control. The first scheme is shown in
Fig. 5. In this
configuration the ratio of flow rates of two streams is measured and compared with
the desired
ratio. The error is fed to the controller and the controller output is used to control
the flow rate of stream B

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The second possible scheme for ratio control is shown in Fig. 6. Suppose the flow
rate of fluid B has to be maintained at a constant fraction of flow rate of fluid A,
irrespective of variation of flow rate of A (qA). In this scheme the flow rate of fluid A is
multiplied with the desired ratio (set externally) that gives the desired flow rate of
fluid B. This is compared with the actual flow rate of fluid B and fed to the controller
that operates the control valve.

Predictive Control (smith predictor)

Model of aprocess having a time delayτ d will have a term e-sτ d in its numerator of
the transfer function.
Processes having large time delays are normally difficult to control. A change in set
point or disturbance does not reach the output until a time τ d has elapsed.

As a result, performance of the closed loop control system is normally sluggish and
any change in set point or disturbance will give rise to large oscillations of the output
before coming to a steady state value.

The scheme for taking a predictive action in presence of transportation delay in

the system is better known as Smith Predictor.

Let us consider that the transfer function of the process is given by:

where G(s) represents the system model without the delay. The basic scheme for
Smith Predictor is shown in Fig. 1. Here G(s) is the conventional PID controller
designed fro the process G(s). If the system model is exact, the output of the
comparator-A would be zero and the outer loop can be ignored.

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Application of Predictive Control in Gage Control

of Steel Rolling Mills
Predictive Control in control of gage thickness in steel rolling mills. Automatic Gage
Control (AGC) is the most important control scheme in a rolling mill.

Its main objective is to maintain the thickness of the sheet steel coming out of a
rolling mill constant. The basic feedback scheme for AGC in a single stand rolling
mill is shown in Fig. 4.

The gage is controlled by varying the gap between the rollers in a stand. In fact, there
are a number of stands in a rolling milling and the rolling is carried out in stages.
Hydraulic actuators are normally used for roll gap adjustment. In this scheme, the
gage of the strip is measured at the exit stand and compared with the reference gage
command. The error is amplified to operate the servo valve of the hydraulic actuator.
The basic control scheme shown here is P-type.

Nucleonic detector is used for measurement of gage thickness at the exit stand.

But because of the fact that the thickness measuring device is installed at a distance
from the roll, it will introduce transportation lag in the closed loop system. There will
be considerable time lag to detect the variation of sheet thickness at the roll stand
and that will lead to oscillatory and unsatisfactory behaviour of closed loop gage
control.

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Cascade Control
Consider the heat exchange process shown in Fig. 1.Steam is used to heat the water
in the heat exchanger. Feedback temperature controller is used to compare the water
outlet temperature with the set point and control the steam flow rate by opening or
closing the control valve. However due to the change in upstream steam pressure
(Pi), the steam flow rate may change, though the control valve is at the same
position. This will affect the amount of heat exchanged and the temperature at the
water outlet. It will take some time to detect the change in temperature and take
subsequent corrective action. In a cascade control, this problem can be overcome by
measuring the disturbance (change in flowrate in steam due to upstream pressure
variation and a corrective action is taken to maintain constant flowrate of steam.
There is an additional controller (flow controller) whose set point is decided by the
temperature controller. The schematic arrangement of cascade control is shown in
Fig.2. its block diagram is shown in Fig.3. Clearly, there are two control loops – outer
and inner, and two controllers. The set point of the inner loop controller is decided
by the outer loop primary controller.

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Broadly speaking, there are two major functions of cascade control: (1) to eliminate
the effect of some disturbances, and (2) to improve the dynamic performance of the
control loop. It is evident from Fig. 3, that the effect of disturbances arising within
the inner loop (or secondary loop, as it is called sometimes) is corrected by the
secondary controller, before it can influence the output, and the primary controller
takes care of the other disturbances in the outer loop. As a result the transient
response of the overall system improves. Fig. 4 depicts typical responses of a closed
loop system with (a) simple P-I type feedback controller and (b) cascade with primary
P-I controller.

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Override Control
In several processes, there may be a single manipulating variable and several output
variables. So the control loop should monitor more than just one control variable.
Override control (or a selective control, as it is sometimes called), is a special type of
multivariable control, where the manipulating variable is controlled by one output
variable at a time. Normally only one of the output variables is controlled; but it has
also to be ensured that the other output variables do not cross the safe limits. If it is
so, a second controller takes over the controller through a selector switch. This can
be achieved by using “High Selector Switch” (HSS) or a “Low Selector Switch”
(LSS) as required. HSS is used when it is desired that a variable should not exceed
an upper limit. Similarly the LSS.

Let us consider a simple example of override control.

Consider a boiler system shown in Fig. 6. Under normal circumstances, the steam
pressure of the boiler is controlled by controlling the flow through the discharge line.
The pressure is maintained through the pressure transmitter and the pressure
controller. But the water level of the boiler should also not fall below a specified lower
limit, which is necessary to keep the heating coil immersed in water and thus
preventing the burning out. This can be achieved by using override control through
the lower limit switch (LSS). Under normal circumstances, the selector switch selects
the pressure control loop for control; but as soon as the level of water falls below a
set value, the selector switch switches to level control mode and the second loop
takes over the control action.

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Split Range Control

This type of control is used, where there are several manipulated variables, but a
single output variable. The coordination among different manipulated variables is
carried out by using Split Range Control

Fig. 7 shows an example of a typical split range control scheme. The steam
discharges from several boilers are combine at a steam header. Overall steam
pressure at the header is to be maintained constant through a pressure control loop.

The command from the pressure controller is used for controlling simultaneously the
steam flow rates from the boilers in parallel. Clearly, there is a single output variable
(steam header pressure) while there are a number of manipulating variables
(discharge from different boilers).

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