Design and practical implementation of a fractional order proportional integral controller (FOPI) for a poorly damped fractional order process with time delay

One of the most popular tuning procedures for the development of fractional order controllers is by imposing frequency domain constraints such as gain crossover frequency, phase margin and iso-damping properties. The present study extends the frequency domain tuning methodology to a generalized range of fractional order processes based on second order plus time delay (SOPDT) models. A fractional order PI controller is tuned for a real process that exhibits poorly damped dynamics characterized in terms of a fractional order transfer function with time delay. The obtained controller is validated on the experimental platform by analyzing staircase reference tracking, input disturbance rejection and robustness to process uncertainties. The paper focuses around the tuning methodology as well as the fractional order modeling of the process' dynamics

PID control system analysis, design, and technology

Designing and tuning a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller appears to be conceptually intuitive, but can be hard in practice, if multiple (and often conflicting) objectives such as short transient and high stability are to be achieved. Usually, initial designs obtained by all means need to be adjusted repeatedly through computer simulations until the closed-loop system performs or compromises as desired. This stimulates the development of "intelligent" tools that can assist engineers to achieve the best overall PID control for the entire operating envelope. This development has further led to the incorporation of some advanced tuning algorithms into PID hardware modules. Corresponding to these developments, this paper presents a modern overview of functionalities and tuning methods in patents, software packages and commercial hardware modules. It is seen that many PID variants have been developed in order to improve transient performance, but standardising and modularising PID control are desired, although challenging. The inclusion of system identification and "intelligent" techniques in software based PID systems helps automate the entire design and tuning process to a useful degree. This should also assist future development of "plug-and-play" PID controllers that are widely applicable and can be set up easily and operate optimally for enhanced productivity, improved quality and reduced maintenance requirements

Universal direct tuner for loop control in industry

This paper introduces a direct universal (automatic) tuner for basic loop control in industrial applications. The direct feature refers to the fact that a first-hand model, such as a step response first-order plus dead time approximation, is not required. Instead, a point in the frequency domain and the corresponding slope of the loop frequency response is identified by single test suitable for industrial applications. The proposed method has been shown to overcome pitfalls found in other (automatic) tuning methods and has been validated in a wide range of common and exotic processes in simulation and experimental conditions. The method is very robust to noise, an important feature for real life industrial applications. Comparison is performed with other well-known methods, such as approximate M-constrained integral gain optimization (AMIGO) and Skogestad internal model controller (SIMC), which are indirect methods, i.e., they are based on a first-hand approximation of step response data. The results indicate great similarity between the results, whereas the direct method has the advantage of skipping this intermediate step of identification. The control structure is the most commonly used in industry, i.e., proportional-integral-derivative (PID) type. As the derivative action is often not used in industry due to its difficult choice, in the proposed method, we use a direct relation between the integral and derivative gains. This enables the user to have in the tuning structure the advantages of the derivative action, therefore much improving the potential of good performance in real life control applications

Robust PI Controller Design Satisfying Sensitivity and Uncertainty Specifications

This paper presents a control design method for determining proportional-integral-type controllers satisfying specifications on gain margin, phase margin, and an upper bound on the (complementary) sensitivity for a finite set of plants. The approach can be applied to plants that are stable or unstable, plants given by a model or measured data, and plants of any order, including plants with delays. The algorithm is efficient and fast, and as such can be used in near real-time to determine controller parameters (for online modification of the plant model including its uncertainty and/or the specifications). The method gives an optimal controller for a practical definition of optimality. Furthermore, it enables the graphical portrayal of design tradeoffs in a single plot, highlighting the effects of the gain margin, complementary sensitivity bound, low frequency sensitivity and high frequency sensor noise amplification

Control of open-loop unstable processes with time delay using PI/PID controllers specified using tuning rules: An outline survey

The ability of PI and PID controllers to compensate many practical processes has led to their wide acceptance in industrial applications. The requirement to choose two or three controller parameters is conveniently done using tuning rules. Starting with a general discussion of industrial practice, the paper provides a survey of tuning rules for continuous time PI and PID control of open-loop unstable time-delayed single-input, single-output (SISO) processes

Robust PI Controller Design Satisfying Gain and Phase Margin Constraints

This paper presents a control design algorithm for determining PI-type controllers satisfying specifications on gain margin, phase margin, and an upper bound on the (complementary) sensitivity for a finite set of plants. Important properties of the algorithm are: (i) it can be applied to plants of any order including plants with delay, unstable plants, and plants given by measured data, (ii) it is efficient and fast, and as such can be used in near real-time to determine controller parameters (for on-line modification of the plant model including its uncertainty and/or the specifications), (iii) it can be used to identify the optimal controller for a practical definition of optimality, and (iv) it enables graphical portrayal of design tradeoffs in a single plot (highlighting tradeoffs among the gain margin, complementary sensitivity bound, low frequency sensitivity and high frequency sensor noise amplification)

Event-Based Implementation of Fractional Order IMC Controllers for Simple FOPDT Processes

Fractional order calculus has been used to generalize various types of controllers, including internal model controllers (IMC). The focus of this manuscript is towards fractional order IMCs for first order plus dead-time (FOPDT) processes, including delay and lag dominant ones. The design is novel at it is based on a new approximation approach, the non-rational transfer function method. This allows for a more accurate approximation of the process dead-time and ensures an improved closed loop response. The main problem with fractional order controllers is concerned with their implementation as higher order transfer functions. In cases where central processing unit CPU, bandwidth allocation, and energy usage are limited, resources need to be efficiently managed. This can be achieved using an event-based implementation. The novelty of this paper resides in such an event-based algorithm for fractional order IMC (FO-IMC) controllers. Numerical results are provided for lag and delay dominant FOPDT processes. For comparison purposes, an integer order PI controller, tuned according to the same performance specifications as the FO-IMC, is also implemented as an event-based control strategy. The numerical results show that the proposed event-based implementation for the FO-IMC controller is suitable and provides for a smaller computational effort, thus being more suitable in various industrial applications

Observer Based Scheme for the Control of High Order Systems with Two Unstable Poles Plus Time Delay

International audienceThis paper deals with the problem of the stabilization and control of linear time invariant high order systems with two unstable real poles plus time delay. A simple observer based controller is designed in order to achieve a stable behavior of the closed loop system. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of the proposed control structure are stated. Hence, only four proportional gains and the model of the plant are enough to obtain a stable response of the delayed system. Moreover, a robustness analysis is presented in order to compute the maximal uncertainty bound accepted for the delay term. In addition, a two degrees of freedom PI control action is implemented in order to track step references and to reject step disturbances. The achieved performance of the proposed control strategy is illustrated by mean of numerical simulations