Identification of Frequency Ranges for Subharmonic Oscillations in a Relay Feedback System

This paper examines the behaviour of a single loop relay feedback system (RFS) which is driven by an external signal. It is well known that such a RFS exhibits a variety of oscillation patterns including forced and subharmonic oscillations (SO). This paper focuses on the conditions for SO. It will be shown that for an external signal with a fixed amplitude, it is possible for SO with different orders to occur simply by changing the frequency of the external signal. Similarly, for an external signal with a fixed frequency, it is possible for SO with different orders to occur when the amplitude of the external signal is varied. The conditions under which these different scenarios will occur are explored. An analysis of these conditions identifies the frequency ranges where certain orders of SO are possible for a given amplitude of the external signal. The effects of the initial conditions on the SO are illustrated and discussed. Simulation studies are presented to illustrate the result