A control system is a device or set of devices to manage, command, direct or regulate the behavior of other devices or systems.

There are two common classes of control systems, with many variations and combinations: logic There is or sequential also fuzzy controls, which

exam problems.

Control systems engineering is a branch of professional engineering. It requires an understanding of the science of instrumentation and the automatic control of dynamic processes. The ability to apply this knowledge to the planning, design, development, operation, and evaluation of control systems to ensure the safety and practical operability of such processes is a must. The CSE examination includes elements of electrical, mechanical, chemical, and other branches of engineering, centered on the technologies needed for feedback and feedforward control of dynamic systems.

and feedback orlinear controls.

logic,

attempts to combine some of the design simplicity of logic with the utility of linear control. Some devices or systems are inherently not controllable. The term "control system" may be applied to the essentially manual controls that allow an operator, for example, to close and open a hydraulic press, perhaps including logic so that it cannot be moved unless safety guards are in place. An automatic sequential control system may trigger a series of mechanical actuators in the correct sequence to perform a task. For example various electric and pneumatic transducers may fold and glue a cardboard box, fill it with product and then seal it in an automatic packaging machine.

3, An Automatic Sprinkler System An automatic water sprinkler system has been ordered by a farmer. The system must have sensors that detect dry weather and turn on water sprinklers to water valuable crops.

The company manufacturing the system have decided that a starting Control Systems Engineering (CSE) was recognized by a vote of the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying INPUT How will the dryness of the soil be sensed? Perhaps an electrode can be used. point is to think in terms of INPUT -PROCESS - OUTPUT and also include FEEDBACK. The basic plan is set out below OUTPUT This may be a sprinkler device which is turned on when the computer detects the need for water.

PROCESS What device(s) will be needed to control the output? A computer could monitor incoming data and control the output, a simple program will be required. FEEDBACK Feedback is constant as the computer continually checks the moisture level of the soil.

(NCEES) at its annual meeting in Nashua, New Hampshire, on August 10, 1991. Recognition means that an examination will be developed by NCEES, with help from a professional society, and offered for use by boards for engineering licensing in the United States. NCEES recognition followed a request by control systems engineers to the Texas Board of Registration for Professional Engineers that it accept CSEs for licensing in that state. The Texas Board, in turn, asked NCEES to provide an approved examination. Meetings with CSEs, mostly ISA members, showed NCEES committee and staff members that this new discipline satisfied their criteria for recognition: existence of ABET-accredited programs in the field; an effect on the public health, safety and welfare, and a need on the part of the It can be seen that this control system, completed by the operator, possesses the following functions: Measurement This is essentially an estimate or appraisal of the process being controlled by the system. In this example, this is achieved by the right hand of the operator. Functions of a Control System

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profession; sufficient numbers to justify preparation of an exam; and availability of a professional society willing to support an exam program. An exam committee was required to submit a two-year supply of acceptable

Comparison

This is an examination of the likeness of the measured values and the desired values. This is carried out in the brain of the operator.

Computation This is a calculated judgment that indicates how much the measured value and the desired values differ and what action and how much should be taken. In this example, the operator will calculate the difference between the desired temperature and the actual one. Accordingly the direction and amount of the adjustment of the valve are worked out and the order for this adjustment is sent to the left hand from the brain of the operator. If the outlet water temperature is lower, then the brain of the operator will tell the left hand to open the steam valve wider. If there is any disturbance, or variation of flow rate in water to the shower inlet, some adjustment must be made to keep the outlet water temperature at a desired value.

We put a device called a controller, in this case a temperature controller, to replace the brain of the operator. This has the functions of comparison and computation and can give orders to the control valve. The signal and order connections between the measurement device, control valve and controller are transfered through cables and wires, which replace the nerve system in the operator.

Hardware of a Control System Examining the automatic control system, it is found that it contains the following hardware. Sensor - a piece of equipment to measure system variables. It serves as the signal source in automatic control. These will be discussed at length in a later module. Controller - a piece of equipment to perform the functions of comparison and computation. The actions that a controller can take will be discussed at length in a later module. Control Element - a piece of equipment to perform the control action or to exert direct influence on the process. This element receives signals from the controller and performs some type of operation on the process. Generally the control element is simply a control valve.

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Correction This is ultimately the materilisation of the order for the adjustment. The left hand of the operator takes the necessary actions following the order from brain.

Therefore, for a control system to operate satisfactorily, it must have the abilities of measurement, comparison, computation and correction. Of course, the manual operation has obvious disadvantages e.g. the accuracy and the continuous involvement of operators. Although accuracy of the measurement could be improved by using an indicator, automatic control must be used to replace the operator. In industry, it is automatic control that is widely used. Automatic Control System Based on the above process, we can easily set up an automatic control system as shown in the next figure.

Software of a Control System Associated with a control system are a number of different types of variables. First we have the Controlled Variable. This is the basic process value being regulated by the system. It is the one variable that we are specially interested in - the outlet water temperature in the example above. In feedback control the controlled variable is usually the measured variable. An important concept related to the controlled variable is the Setpoint. This is the predetermined desired value for the controlled variable. The objective of the control system is to regulate the controlled variable at its setpoint. To achieve the control objective there must be one or more variables we can alter or adjust. These are called the Manipulated Variables. In the above example this was the input hotwater flow rate. Conclusively, in the control system we adjust the manipulated variable to maintain the controlled variable at its setpoint. This meets the requirement of keeping the stability of the process and suppressing the influence of disturbances.

Example - Hot Water Tank In the Virtual Control Laboratory there is an experiment which shows a control system in action. This example is based on the hot water thermostat mentioned inModule 1.1 - The Very Basics. It describes how the control system is put together and then how it works. In this simple example feedback on/off control is used to regulate the temperature of the hot water at its setpoint. Note that a link to this experiment can also be found in the Case Study Section for this part of the HyperCourse.

Firstly, we can use a temperature measurement device to measure the water temperature, which replaces the right hand of the operator. This addition to the system would have improved accuracy. Instead of manual valves, we use a special kind of valve, called a control valve, which is driven by compressed air or electricity. This will replace the left hand of the operator.

A time control is a mechanism in the tournament play of almost all two-player board games so that each round of the match can finish in a timely way and the tournament can proceed. Time controls are

typically enforced by means of a game clock. Time pressure (or time trouble orzeitnot) is the situation of having very little time on a player's clock to complete his remaining moves. The World Chess Federation FIDE sets a single time control for all major FIDE events: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an addition of 30 seconds per move starting from move one. The toaster is typically a small electric kitchen appliance designed to toast multiple types ofbread products. A typical modern two-slice toaster draws anywhere between 600 and 1200W and makes toast in 1 to 3 minutes. There are also non-electrical toasters that can be used to toast bread products over an open fire or flame.

armature. The electrical equivalent of the armature coil can be described by an inductance (La) in series with a resistance (Ra) in series with an induced voltage (Vc) which opposes the voltage source. The induced voltage is generated by the rotation of the electrical coil through the fixed flux lines of the permanent magnets. This voltage is often referred to as the back emf (electromotive force).

Fig. 6F.2 Electrical representation of a dc motor. A differential equation for the equivalent circuit can be derived by using Kirchoff's voltage law around the electrical loop. Kirchoff's voltage law states that the sum of all voltages around a loop must equal zero, or

4.

Feedback describes

the

situation

when

output

from

(or information about the result of) an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or occurrences of the same (i.e. same defined) event / phenomenon (or the continuation / development of the original phenomenon) in the present or future. When an event is part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop, then the event is said to "feed back" into itself. Feedback is also a synonym for: where ia is the armature current. The voltage across the inductor is proportional to the change of current through the coil with respect to time and can be written as According to Ohm's law, the voltage across the resistor can be represented as

Feedback signal - the information about the initial event that is the basis for subsequent modification of the event

Feedback loop - the causal path that leads from the initial generation of the feedback signal to the subsequent modification of the event where La is the inductance of the armature coil. Finally, the back emf can be written as

Audio feedback - the special kind of positive feedback that where kv is the velocity constant determined by the flux density of the permanent magnets, the reluctance of the iron core of the armature, and the number of turns of the armature winding. w a is the rotational velocity of the armature. Substituting eqns. (6F.2), (6F.3), and (6F.4) into eqn. (6F.1) gives the following differential equation:

occurs when a loop exists between an audio input and output. Feedback is a mechanism, process or signal that is looped back to control a system within itself. Such a loop is called a feedback loop. In systems containing an input and output, feeding back part of the output so as to increase the input is positive feedback (regeneration); feeding back part of the output in such a way as to partially oppose the input is negative feedback (degeneration). Mathematical Model The goal in the development of the mathematical model is to relate the voltage applied to the armature to the velocity of the motor. Two balance equations can be developed by considering the electrical and mechanical characteristics of the system. Electrical Characteristics The equivalent electrical circuit of a dc motor is illustrated in Fig. 6F.2. It can be represented by a voltage source (Va) across the coil of the

Mechanical Characteristics Performing an energy balance on the system, the sum of the torques of the motor must equal zero. Therefore,

which is expressed symbolically as

where Te is the electromagnetic torque, Tw ' is the torque due to rotational acceleration of the rotor, Tw is the torque produced from the velocity of the rotor, and TL is the torque of the mechanical load. The electromagnetic torque is proportional to the current through the armature winding and can be written as

where kt is the torque constant and like the velocity constant is dependent on the flux density of the fixed magnets, the reluctance of the iron core, and the number of turns in the armature winding. Tw ' can be written as

where is the state vector, output vector. Transfer Function Block Diagram

is the input vector, and

is the

A block diagram for the system can be developed from the differential equations given in eqns. (6F.11) and (6F.12). Taking the Laplace transform of each equation gives

where J is the inertia of the rotor and the equivalent mechanical load. The torque associated with the velocity is written as

where B is the damping coefficient associated with the mechanical rotational system of the machine. Substituting eqns. (6F.7), (6F.8), and (6F.9) into eqn. (6F.6) gives the following differential equation: If perturbations around some steady state value are considered, the initial conditions go to zero and all the variables become some change around a reference state, and the equations can be expressed as follows:

State Space Representation The differential equations given in eqns. (6F.5) and (6F.10) for the armature current and the angular velocity can be written as

The above equations can then easily be put into block diagram form. The block diagram obtained from these equations for a permanent magnet dc motor is shown in Fig. 6F.3.

which describe the dc motor system. Putting the differential equations into state space form gives