Theory of Automatic Control 1 State Feedback

Assignment 3 - State Feedback

1 Two liquid tanks in series

We study a system of two tanks with straight vertical walls that hold a liquid and are connected
in series. The sketch of the system is given in Fig. 1. The liquid enters a tank on its top. The
flow-rate of this stream q0 (t) is freely adjustable. An out-flowing streams leave the ith tank p at
its bottom with the flow-rate that is driven by the gravity, i.e., Torricellis law qi (t) = kii hi (t),
where kii is valve constant and hi (t) is the height of liquid in the tank. Two streams enter the
second tank, q0 (t) and q1 (t). The cross-sectional area of the ith tank is denoted as Fi . We can
assume that the density of the liquid () is constant everywhere. We can only measure the level
in the second tank.

q0 (t)
F1

h1 (t)
q1 (t)
q0 (t)

F2
h2 (t)

q2 (t)

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the two-tank system.

The transfer function between the output and the input was derived in the previous assignment
as:
! ! ! !
x1 (t) Fk11 0 x1 (t) 1
F1
= k1 + 1 u(t), (1a)
x2 (t) F2 Fk22 x2 (t) F2
| {z } | {z }
A B
!
  x (t)  
1
y(t) = 0 1 + 0 u(t). (1b)
| {z } x2 (t) |{z}
C D

Tasks

1. Determine whether the system is controllable. What are the physical conditions that ensure
controllability? Discuss them briefly. Hint: If not sure about the reasoning of the obtained
results, try to derive eigenvalues of the matrix A BK. (3 Points)

1
Theory of Automatic Control 1 State Feedback

2. Determine whether the system is observable. What are the physical conditions that ensure
observability? Discuss them briefly. (3 Points)

3. Design a state-feedback controller (control law u(t) = Kx(t)) that

(a) gives the poles of the closed-loop system at 5 and 10,

(b) gives the closed-loop performance with 10% overshoot and settling time 10 s. (Hint:
You can use (approximate) expressions from the lecture Control Performance).

The parameters of the (nonlinear) system are given in the following table for each student
individually (look for your initials). Discuss whether the specified performance can be
reached by a P controller. (4 Points)

Student initials F1 [m2 ] F2 [m2 ] k11 [m2.5 /s] k22 [m2.5 /s]
TA 0.1 0.8 1.0 1.3
DB 0.1 0.8 1.3 1.0
MF 0.8 0.1 1.0 1.3
MH 0.8 0.1 1.3 1.0
MM 2.0 0.8 1.0 1.3
MM 2.0 0.8 1.3 1.0
MN 0.8 2.0 1.0 1.3
JN 0.8 2.0 1.3 1.0

4. Verify the performance of the designed controllers. Plot evolution over time of both the
state variables as well as of the control input. Comment on the physical realizability of the
control input trajectories. (4 Points)

5. Implement a state-feedback controller with integral action. Test the controller in simulation
with (at least two) different set-points provided. Plot and comment the results. (3 Points)