INSTRUMENTATION AND

CONTROL

TRANSFER FUNCTION MANIPULATION


On completion of this tutorial, you should be able to do the
following.


Explain a basic open loop system.

Explain a basic closed loop system.

Explain the use of negative feedback

Manipulate transfer functions.

Explain the use of velocity feedback.

Explain the affect of disturbances to the output of a system.

Explain the use of proportional and derivative feedback.

Reduce complex systems to a single transfer function.



f you are not familiar with instrumentation used in control
engineering, you should
complete the tutorials on nstrumentation !ystems.

n order to complete the theoretical part of this tutorial, you must be
familiar with basic
mechanical and electrical science.

"ou must also be familiar with the use of transfer functions and the
#aplace $ransform
%see maths tutorials&.
'
1. INTRODUCTION

$he function of any control system is to automatically
regulate the output and keep it at the desired value.
$he desired value is the input to the system. f the input is
changed the output must respond and change to
the new set value. f something happens to disturb the
output without a change to the input, the output
must return to the correct value. (ere is a short list of some
of the things we might be controlling.

$he speed or angle of a motor
%electric or hydraulic&
$he speed or position of a linear
actuator %e.g. in robotics, ship)s
stabilisers, aircraft control etcetera&
$he temperature of an oven %e.g. heat treatment&
$he pressure of a vessel %e.g. a steam boiler&
$he *uantity inside a container %e.g. metering contents in a
vessel&
$he flow of solids, li*uids and gases %e.g. controlling the
steam flow to a turbine&

$here are some basic properties and terminology used with
systems which we should examine next.

2. TRANSFER FUNCTION

+ny item in any system
may be represented as a
simple block with an
input and output as
shown. n general terms,
the input is designated i
and the output o.
,igure '


$he ratio of output over input is often shown as - . o/ i.
0hen the model is a differential e*uation the
#aplace transform is used and this introduces the complex
operator s. n this case - is called the
$R+1!,ER ,213$O1 and strictly we should write -
(s) = o(s)/ i(s)

f - is a simple ratio, it is still a $ransfer function but if the
model is not a simple ratio and cannot be
transformed, it should not strictly be called a transfer
function. "ou should study the tutorial on #aplace
and ,ourier transforms in the maths section in order to
fully appreciate this tutorial.

3. OPEN LOOP SYSTEMS

+ system with no regulation is called an open loop system.
,or example a typical instrument system %see
tutorials on instrumentation& is an open loop system with
an input and output but no control action at all.

#et)s take a d.c. servo motor as an example %see the tutorial
on electric actuators&. $he speed of the servo
motor depends on the voltage and current supplied to it. +
typical system might use a potentiometer
which you turn to an angle %the input& to produce a
voltage 4 and this is amplified with a power
i
amplifier producing electric power 5 that drives the motor
at speed 1 %the output&.


,igure 6

6
$he block diagram looks like this.

,igure 7

$he block diagram show that the signal path from input to
output is a linear chain not forming any loop
so this why it is called an O5E1 #OO5 !"!$EM.


WORKED EXAMPLE No.1

$he
speed of
an
electric motor is directly proportional to voltage such that
1 . 684 where 4 is in
4olts and 1 in rev/min. $he motor is controlled by a
power supply which has an output voltage
related to the position of the control knob by 4 . 6
where 4 is in 4olts and is in degrees.
i
i
9raw the block diagram and deduce the overall transfer
function. 9etermine the output speed when
the knob is set to :8o.

SOLUTION

,igure ;
- . 1/ . 6 x 68 . ;8 rev/min per degree 1 . ;8 x
:8 . 6;88 rev/min
i i




SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE No.1

+ simple control system consists of a potentiometer with a
transfer function of 8.864/mm in series
with an amplifier with a gain of '6, in series with a 4/
converter with a transfer function . 8.<4
where 4 is in volts and in m+. $he output current is
amplified with a gain of '688 and the output
current supplied to an electro=magnetic tor*ue arm
which produces 7 1m per +mp.

9raw the block diagram and deduce the overall transfer
function. %8.;76 1m/mm&

9etermine the input position of the potentiometer in mm
which produces a tor*ue output of :8 1m.
%'7>.? mm&



3onsider the example of the servo motor again. !uppose
the motor drives a load and that the load
suddenly increases. $his would make the motor slow down
as there would not be enough power to keep it
at the original speed. 0e would now have an error between
the speed selected with the potentiometer and
the actual speed of the motor. $o bring the speed back to
the correct value, we have to turn up the power
and do this automatically we need a closed loop system.
Open loop systems are incapable of maintaining
a correct output in all but the simplest cases.
7

; . SUMMIN DE!ICES

n order to regulate any control system we must determine
the error between the output and the input.
$his is done with a summing device and the symbol for
this is shown in the left diagram. $hese devices
may be electrical %e.g. a simple differential amplifier&,
pneumatic %e.g. a differential pressure cell& or
mechanical. 0e can put a 5lus %@& or minus %=& sign in the
symbol to show if it is adding or subtracting
and the symbol can be used with more than one signal as
shown in the right diagram. n modern digital
systems it is a simple case of adding or subtracting the
numbers stored in registers.

,igure <

". #ASIC CLOSED LOOP CONTROL

3onsider the example of the servo motor again. $his time
suppose we wish to control the angle of the
shaft . $he input potentiometer produces a voltage 4 and
the output potentiometer produces a voltage
o i
4 to represent the angle of the shaft. f the two voltages
are the same, the shaft is at the correct angle. f
o
there is an error, the voltages are different. $he differential
amplifier acts as the summing device and
produces a voltage 4 representing the error. $he error is
supplied to the power amplifier and power is
e
sent to the motor to rotate it in the direction that corrects
the angle. 0hen the voltages are e*ual again, the
error is Aero and no power is supplied to the motor so it
stops. Error in either direction can be corrected if
the power amplifier is capable of producing positive and
negative current.

,igure :

$his description is somewhat over simplified and does not
explain an actual working system. $he motor
would have difficulty staying at the correct angle if there is
a load trying to turn it. 1ote how the voltage
from the output potentiometer is fed back to the summing
device so that the error is 4 . 4 = 4 . $his is
e i o
1E-+$4E ,EE9B+3C and this is essential to make the
system respond to the error.
;

: . CLOSED LOOP SYSTEM TRANSFER
FUNCTIONS

$he most basic block diagram for a closed loop system is
shown below. $he main block is an open loop
system with a transfer function - . $his relates the error
and the output so that - . /
ol ol o e.

$he transfer function for the closed loop system is - . $his
relates the input i and output o.
c.l

$he error is obtained by comparing the output value with
the input value in the signal summing device.
$his produces the result e . i = o and because o is
subtracted, this idea is called 1E-+$4E ,EE9
B+3C. $he block diagram shows that the signal passes
around a closed loop hence the name 3#O!E9
#OO5 !"!$EM.

,igure D
$he system shown is said to have 21$" ,EE9 B+3C as
there is no processing in the feed back path.
$he following result will be used many times in later
tutorials on system analysis.

. o -
ol
e
. =
e o i

- . o