integral control

8/10/2019 Integral Control

1/21

PID Control Systems - Integral Control

Why Not Use An Integral Controller?

Properties Of Integral Controllers

Implementing Integral Controllers

Integral Control Example

You are at: Design Techniques - The PID Family of Controllers - Integral Controllers

Click here to return to the Table of Contents

Why Not Use An Integral Controller?

An integral controller has one very good quality. An integral controller will normally ensure zero SSE in a control system -

for step (constant) inputs.

An integral controller is not particularly difficult to implement.In an analog system, an integral control system integrates the error signal to generate the control signal. If the error

signal is a voltage, and the control signal is also a voltage, then a proportional controller is just an analog integrator.

In a digital control system, an integral control system computes the error from measured output and user input to a

program, and integrates the error using some standard integration algorithm, then generates an output/control signal from

that integration.

Goals For This Lesson

Here's what you need to work toward in this lesson.

Given a system in which you want to use integral control,

Be able to predict the effect of integral control on SSE.

Be able to predict the effect of integral control on stability.

Be able to predict the effect of integral control on speed of response.
http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/mastascu/econtrolhtml/Start.htmlhttp://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/mastascu/econtrolhtml/Start.html


2/21

Properties Of Integral Controllers

Integral controllers have these properties.

The controller integrates the error as shown in the block diagram of an example system below.

The integral controller has a transfer function of Ki/s

So, the actuating signal (the input to the system being controlled) is proportional to the integral of the error.

We can examine some of the features of integral control using an integral controller.

In an integral controller, steady state error should be zero.

The system would have to have a zero at the origin to make this claim false.Of course, the closed loop system has to be stable.

Integral control has a tendency to make a system slower. We'll talk about why that happens shortly.

If we think about the root locus for a system with integral control we can note the following.

The integral gain, Ki, is either the root locus gain, or the root locus gain is proportional to Ki.

Integral control has a tendency to make a system slower. Consider a typical situation as shown below.


3/21

There's a pole at s = 0 from the integral controller.

There may be a real pole from the system.

The root locus moves to the left from the pole at the origin.

Click the green button on the plot to see that.You may want to do a complete analysis of your system before you decide that integral control does give you the response

you want.

Finally, we should note that integral control changes the order of the system, so a second order system becomes a third

order system when you use an integral controller. An proportional controller, on the other hand, does not increase the order of

the system.

You also need to know how to implement an integral controller if you can achieve system performance specifications with an

integral controller.

Let's examine a few examples of systems with integral control. We'll use these same example systems we used when we

discussed proportional control.

We're going to make some standard assumptions about our systems. First of all, in the prototype system configuration,

we'll assume H(s) = 1. In other words, we'll always have unity feedback. Here is the system we will use.


4/21

The first example is a system with a single pole. We assume that pole to be at s = -1. Here's the root locus for that system

after adding an integral controller.

There are now two closed loop poles.

The closed loop poles move together and coalesce at s = -0.5, then become complex, with a damping ratio that becomes

smaller for larger gain.

The system never goes unstable - not for any gain.

We can also take a look at the frequency response for this system.


5/21

As we increase the gain (The plot is for Ki = 1) the phase margin gets smaller because the phase for the entire system,

including controller, starts at -90o, and approaches -180o, for high frequencies.

No matter how high the gain gets, the phase margin is always positive.

The system never goes unstable - not for any gain.

The second example we will discuss is a system with two open loop poles.

Here's the root locus. This is the root locus for the original system and is really the root locus you would have usingproportional control.


6/21

Open loop poles are at -1 and -4. But, we need to add the pole due to the integral controller at s = 0. Here is the root locus

of the system with integral control - adding a pole at s = 0.

As the gain increases, the closed loop poles become imaginary, and eventually move into the RHP.

This second example illustrates something that happens often with integral control.


7/21

Here's the root locus again for the system with proportional control. There's a root locus branch between the poles that

splits for higher gains.

With integral control, a pole is added at s = 0, and there is now a branch of the root locus between the pole at s = 0 and the

rightmost system pole.

There is now a pole constrained between those two poles, and when those poles do break off the axis, they tend to move

toward the RHP.

The pole constrained between 0 and -1 is slower than any pole you would get using proportional control for the original

system. Using proportional control all poles lie to the left of -1. Using integral control there is always a pole to the

right of -1, sometimes poles that are unstable.


8/21

It is tempting to draw a conclusion, and that conclusion is often right. Here it is.

Adding integral control to a system may sacrifice speed of response, and even stability, for the sake of zero SSE.

Integral control produces a slower system because of the pole(s) constrained to the right of the rightmost pole in the

system.It is up to the designer to decide if that is an acceptable tradeoff.

It is not an acceptable tradeoff to trade zero SSE for instability.

Now, examine the Bode' plot for this system.


9/21

At high frequencies, the phase approaches -270o, when the phase of the integral controller is included.

As the gain is increased, the phase margin gets smaller and eventually becomes negative as the system goes unstable.

From the examples, there are some interesting things to note.

Integral control is not a cure-all.

It's best to look at the situation in detail before drawing any conclusion.

You will need to examine every other aspect of the system if you use integral control because stability, speed of response

and other performance measures will all be affected by using integral control.

Implementing Integral Control

Integral control in an analog system is often implemented with operational amplifier circuits. The circuit below is an

operational amplilfier integrator that can be used to integrate a signal.


10/21

The integrating circuit produces an output voltage given by this expression.

Clearly, this circuit can generate an output voltage that is proportional to an error signal, V1- V2, and used as a proportional

controller, so that gives us a way to implement integral control analog-fashion.

Integral control in a digital system is often implemented in code in some programming language like C. That's the digitalversion of integral control. To implement integral control you use an approximation to the integral. An approximation that is

widely used and easy to implement approximates the integral using rectangular areas as shown in the figure.

The integral computation is updated by adding an area equal to the latest measurement multiplied by the sampling period

between measurements (the width of the rectangle in the plot above).

H ' d d t th t ld i l t i t l t ll


11/21

Here's a pseudo-code segment that could implement an integral controller.

MeasuredOutput = MeasureVolts(instrument); /Measure the output/

Error = DesiredOutput - MeasuredOutput; /Compute Error/

ErrorInt = ErrorInt + DT*(DesiredOutput - MeasuredOutput);

VoltsOut = ProportionalGain*ErrorInt; /Compute output voltage/

OutputVoltage(VoltsOut); /Output the control signal/

This code assumes that you have a function - MeasuredOutput - that will measure voltage using an instrument connected to

the computer, and can output a voltage with a function - OutputVoltage - that uses another instrument connected to the

computer.

The pseudo-code segment implements a particular integration algorithm - the Euler Integration Algorithm - and other

integration algorithms would have different code and different Z-domain transfer functions.

If you want to predict the effect of an integrator on system performance, you will need to have the transfer function for

the intgrator. For that, consider the difference equation that the integrator satisfies.

ErrorInt = ErrorInt + DT*(DesiredOutput - MeasuredOutput);

In other words:

ErrorIntk= ErrorIntk-1 + DT*(Errork)

This equation assumes that the error is measured/computed, and that the computation for the integral of the error takes

place quickly so that the D/A in the system can produce the output quickly.

Take the transform of this difference equation to get:

ErrorInt[z] = [1/z] ErrorInt[z] + DT*Error[z]

so:

ErrorInt[z]/Error[z] = DT/(1 - 1/z) = (z DT)/(z - 1)

and, this system has a pole added at z = 1, and a zero added at the origin of the z plane.

L t' fl t th l d di it l i l t ti f i t l t ll


12/21

Let's reflect on the analog and digital implementations of integral controllers.

The analog controller would have an integrator transfer function of 1/s.

The digital controller would have an integrator transfer function of (z DT)/(z - 1).

There is a strong temptation to consider s, in the analog/continuous domain, to be the equivalent of (z - 1)/(z DT) in

the digital/sampled domain.That conclusion would only be true if the Euler integration algorithm were the integration

algorithm. We would get a different sampled transfer function if we used a different integration algorithm (like

trapezoidal integration, for example), but we would probably still get one pole at z = 1.

Example Problem

This problem concerns the control of an internal combustion engine that is used to rotate a load. That load is shown in the

diagram below as the plant. It's really a rotating load that is connected to the engine. That engine is controlled by a controller,

and the speed of rotation is measured with a sensor.

When the motor starts to turn the load, it gradually increases in speed and asymptotically approaches a steady state

speed. We're going to model the plant as a first order system to show that. The transfer function model for the load is shown

above.

The controller also is modelled with a single time constant. When an error is applied to the controller, the engine torquedoes not change instantaneously. We're going to model the controller with a similar transfer function. That's next. However,

the controller for the motor needs a control signal computed by a PID unit. That's shown in the block diagram above.

Th t nsf f n ti n m d l f th nt ll is sh n b l N h t m d l th s ns W ' in t s th


13/21

The transfer function model for the controller is shown below. Now we have to model the sensor. We re going to use the

same kind of model again. When the speed changes, the sensor measurement doesn't change instantaneously but rather

approaches the steady state measurement asymptotically with time-constant behavior. The transfer function model for the

sensor is incorporated in the block diagram below. It is the same kind of model again. When the speed changes, the sensor

measurement doesn't change instantaneously but rather approaches the steady state measurement asymptotically with time-

constant behavior.

That completes our model of the system, but now we need some numbers.

Here's the numbers we are going to use for this problem.

For the engine + load:GL= 1, tL= 2 sec.

For the controller:

GC= KI(variable), tC= 1 sec.

For the sensor:

GS= 1, tS= .2 sec.

We have some questions.

Can the system operate with 5% SSE for a constant input?

How quickly will the system respond when we have 5% SSE?

How much overshoot does the system exhibit when set for 5% SSE?

How sensitive is the system to changes in the gain at 5% SSE?

We'll try to go through these questions one-by-one to get some feel for what we can make the system do.

You should find that there are difficulties controlling this system and meeting the SSE specifications using proportional

control (Click here to go to that solution ) Integral control should be able to solve that problem by ensuring 0% SSE However


14/21

control. (Click here to go to that solution.) Integral control should be able to solve that problem by ensuring 0% SSE. However,

to design the system - particularly to choose a gain value for the integral control - will take some analysis.

You have two options.

Do the analysis in the time domain using root locus methods.

Do the analysis in the frequency domain using Nyquist/Bode methods.

We'll start by getting a root locus for the system with integral control. That's shown below. There are a few points to

note in the locus.

The two branches that start at 0 and -0.5 come together and head toward the right half plane.

However, those two branches stay in the left half plane for a while, giving pole locations that would produce very stable

responses.

The points noted above are the good points. There could be one problem here.

The two branches that start at 0 and 0 5 come together and head toward the right half plane never go very far into the


15/21

The two branches that start at 0 and -0.5 come together and head toward the right half plane never go very far into the

left half plane.

That might imply a slow response. It looks as though all of the real parts are to the right of s = -0.2 roughly.

That's a five second or longer time constant in the response.

We need to examine the response of this system in the time domain. What we can do is pick a gain and compute the response

for the system with the given gain. Here's a blow-up of the root locus that shows some of the detail near the origin.

It looks like there is a point on the negative real axis at s = -0.2 that gives poles that are furthest into the left half plane.

At that point, the root locus gain can be calculated from the product of pole distances, and is given by:

KRL= .2x.3x.8x4.8 = .2304

In order to do a simulation to calculate time response for this system, we need to relate the root locus gain to the gain in

the system.

G(s)H(s) = (2.5Ki) / (s(s + 0.5)(s + 1)(s + 5))

so, KRL= 2.5Ki

for KRL= 0.23, 2.5Ki= 0.23, and Ki= 0.23/2.5 = .092

Here is the unit step response for the system with an integral controller (Ki = .092). The response is just about what you

expect.


16/21


17/21

This system has some overshoot, and has a somewhat shorter settling time, so this is possibly an improvement if the

overshoot can be tolerated.

Here is the response of our system with a gain half of the original gain shown with the original system.

This system takes considerably longer to respond.

Clearly this system is inferior to the original design.

Now, let's examine the system from a frequency domain viewpoint. We'll start by getting a Bode' plot for the system with

integral control That's shown below drawn for Ki = 1 There are a few points to note on this plot


18/21

integral control. That s shown below, drawn for Ki= 1. There are a few points to note on this plot.

The -180ocrossing occurs at a frequency a little below f = 0.1 Hz.

At f = 0.1 Hz, the magnitude is just a few db below zero.It's a stable system, but just barely stable for this gain.

Earlier, in our root locus analysis we used a particular value for the gain of the integral controller:

Ki= .092

We can adjust the gain of the system to get a better phase margin. Here is a video that permits you to vary the gain and

see the resulting phase margin as well as the magnitude and phase plots.


19/21

Note the following in that plot.

The decibel scale is adjusted so that phase and magnitude can apprear on the same plot. 200 on the vertical scale is really

20 db!

Play the video to see how changing the gain changes the phase margin. Now, let us adjust the gain so that we get a reasonable

system.

We will pick a phase margin arbitrarily, and we will choose 60o. We can design to that phase margin and then check

performance.

Now, select the gain to give the phase margin of 60o.

Now, select the gain to give the phase margin of 60o. Before you continue, mark the gain.

Here is the computed step response for Ki = 0.18

This response was with a sixty degree phase margin We could relax that somewhat A higher gain would give a lower phase


20/21

This response was with a sixty degree phase margin. We could relax that somewhat. A higher gain would give a lower phase

margin, but we might expect a little faster response. Still this compares reasonably favorably with the response obtained using

root locus methods.

We aren't going to pursue integral control beyond this point for this particular system.

We have a clear idea of what can be done with integral control.

We see the limits of what we can do.

We have some sense of what happens if the gain within the system changes - either the gain we add, or a gain in thesystem.

If we need this accuracy and we have to have faster response, we're going to have to do something else.

The End

That's it for this lesson. You're ready to apply what you know in an integral control system.

Links To Related Lessons

Other Lessons On PID Controllers

Proportional Control

Implementing Proportional Control

Integral Control

General PID Control

Material That You Might Want To Review

Root locus

Frequency analysis

The basic lesson on integral control

Moving Along - More Advanced Material

Lag Compensators

Lead Compensators


21/21

Lead Compensators

Send us your comments on these lessons.

integral control

Documents