CHE 185 PROCESS

CONTROL AND DYNAMICS

PID CHARACTERISTICS AND
SIGNAL FILTERING

DIGITAL VERSIONS OF THE PID

ALGORITHM
CONTROLLER ACTION - DIRECT AND
REVERSE
A COMBINATION OF PROCESS GAIN AND THE TYPE
OF ACTUATOR USED. PROCESS GAIN IS A
PROCESS CHARACTERISTIC.
WHEN PROCESS GAIN IS NEGATIVE:
THERE IS A DECREASE IN THE VALUE OF THE
CONTROLLED VARIABLE WITH AN INCREASE IN THE
CONTROLLED PROPERTY

DIRECT LEVEL CONTROL

EXAMPLE
PROCESS GAIN IS
POSITIVE BECAUSE WHEN
FLOW IN IS INCREASED,
THE LEVEL INCREASES.
IF THE FINAL CONTROL
ELEMENT IS DIRECT
ACTING, USE REVERSE
ACTING PID.
FOR REVERSE ACTING
FINAL CONTROL
ELEMENT, USE DIRECT
ACTING PID

REVERSE LEVEL CONTROL

EXAMPLE
PROCESS GAIN IS
NEGATIVE BECAUSE
WHEN FLOW OUT IS
INCREASED, THE LEVEL
DECREASES.
IF THE FINAL CONTROL
ELEMENT IS DIRECT
ACTING, USE DIRECT
ACTING PID.
FOR REVERSE ACTING
FINAL CONTROL
ELEMENT, USE REVERSE
ACTING PID.

ACTUATOR DIRECTION
BASED ON PROCESS NEEDS
DIRECT ACTING ACTUATORS INCREASE VALUES
OF THE FINAL CONTROL ELEMENT WITH
INCREASES IN DRIVING FORCE. A DIRECT ACTING
ACTUATOR ON A VALVE (AIR-TO-OPEN OR
NORMAL CLOSED) INCREASES THE OPENING WITH
INCREASING AIR PRESSURE.
REVERSE ACTING ACTUATORS DECREASE
VALUES OF THE FINAL CONTROL ELEMENT WITH
INCREASES IN DRIVING FORCE. A REVERSE
ACTING ACTUATOR ON A VALVE (AIR-TO-CLOSE
OR NORMAL OPEN) DECREASES THE OPENING
WITH INCREASING AIR PRESSURE

PROPORTIONAL BAND

ANOTHER WAY TO EXPRESS THE CONTROLLER

GAIN.
KC IN THIS FORMULA IS DIMENSIONLESS. THAT IS,
THE CONTROLLER OUTPUT IS SCALED 0-100% AND
THE ERROR FROM SETPOINT IS SCALED 0-100%.
IN MORE FREQUENT USE 10-15 YEARS AGO, BUT IT
STILL APPEARS AS AN OPTION ON DCSS.

CONVERSION FROM PB TO KC
PROPORTIONAL BAND IS EQUAL TO 200%.
THE RANGE OF THE ERROR FROM
SETPOINT IS 200 PSI.
THE CONTROLLER OUTPUT RANGE IS 0 TO
100%.

CONVERSION FROM KC TO PB
CONTROLLER GAIN IS EQUAL TO 15 %/F
THE RANGE OF THE ERROR FROM
SETPOINT IS 25 F.
THE CONTROLLER OUTPUT RANGE IS 0 TO
100%.

DERIVATION OF THE VELOCITY FORM

OF THE PID CONTROL ALGORITHM
SEE SECTION 7.5

VELOCITY FORM OF DERIVATIVE

FROM ERROR FOR PID CONTROLLER

NOTE THE DIFFERENCE IN PROPORTIONAL,

INTEGRAL, AND DERIVATIVE TERMS FROM
THE POSITION FORM.
VELOCITY FORM IS THE FORM
IMPLEMENTED ON DISTRIBUTED CONTROL
SYSTEMS.

CORRECTION FOR DERIVATIVE

KICK
DERIVATIVE KICK OCCURS WHEN A SETPOINT
CHANGE IS APPLIED THAT CAUSES A SPIKE IN THE
DERIVATIVE OF THE ERROR FROM SETPOINT.
DERIVATIVE KICK CAN BE ELIMINATED BY
REPLACING THE APPROXIMATION OF THE
DERIVATIVE BASED ON THE ERROR FROM
SETPOINT WITH THE NEGATIVE OF THE
APPROXIMATION OF THE DERIVATIVE BASED ON
THE MEASURED VALUE OF THE CONTROLLED
VARIABLE, I.E.,

CORRECTION FOR AGGRESSIVE

SETPOINT TRACKING
FOR CERTAIN PROCESS, TUNING THE CONTROLLER FOR
GOOD DISTURBANCE REJECTION PERFORMANCE RESULTS
IN EXCESSIVELY AGGRESSIVE ACTION FOR SETPOINT
CHANGES.
THIS PROBLEM CAN BE CORRECTED BY REMOVING THE
SETPOINT FROM THE PROPORTIONAL TERM. THEN
SETPOINT TRACKING IS ACCOMPLISHED BY INTEGRAL
ACTION ONLY.

SEE EQN 7.5.5

SUMMARY OF 3 VERSIONS OF THE

PID ALGORITHM OFFERED ON DCSS
(1) THE ORIGINAL FORM IN WHICH THE
PROPORTIONAL, INTEGRAL, AND
DERIVATIVE TERMS ARE BASED ON THE
ERROR FROM SETPOINT
EQN. 7.5.4

SUMMARY OF 3 VERSIONS OF THE

PID ALGORITHM OFFERED ON DCSS
(2) THE FORM IN WHICH THE
PROPORTIONAL AND INTEGRAL TERMS
ARE BASED ON THE ERROR FROM
SETPOINT WHILE THE DERIVATIVE-ONMEASUREMENT IS USED FOR THE
DERIVATIVE TERM
EQN. 7.5.2

SUMMARY OF 3 VERSIONS OF THE

PID ALGORITHM OFFERED ON DCSS
(3) THE FORM IN WHICH THE
PROPORTIONAL AND DERIVATIVE TERMS
ARE BASED ON THE PROCESS
MEASUREMENT AND THE INTEGRAL IS
BASED ON THE ERROR FROM SETPOINT.
EQN. 7.5.5

SIGNAL FILTERING
FILTERS ARE USED TO REMOVE SOME OF
THE NOISE FROM LOOPS AND OPERATE
WITH AVERAGED VALUES FOR VARIABLES.
THE SIMPLEST FILTERS AVERAGE N
PREVIOUS VALUES TO OBTAIN THE ONE
ACTUALLY SENT TO THE CONTROLER.
FILTERS ARE LOCATED AFTER THE
SENSOR SIGNAL IN THE BLOCK DIAGRAM

FEEDBACK LOOP WITH SENSOR

FILTERING

FILTERING THE PROCESS

MEASUREMENT

FILTERING REDUCES THE EFFECT OF

SENSOR NOISE BY APPROXIMATING A
RUNNING AVERAGE.
FILTERING ADDS LAG WHEN THE FILTERED
MEASUREMENT IS USED FOR CONTROL.
NORMALLY, USE THE MINIMUM AMOUNT OF
FILTERING NECESSARY.
f- FILTER FACTOR (0-1)

EFFECT OF FILTERING ON
CLOSED LOOP DYNAMICS

FILTERING EXAMPLE USING 50

DATA POINTS
INITIAL DATA ARE SHOWN AS OUTPUT

FILTERING EXAMPLE USING 50

DATA POINTS
FILTERED DATA ARE AVERAGED VALUES
FOR THE PREVIOUS 5 DATA POINTS
CUMULATIVE VALUES ARE THE AVERAGES
STARTING FROM THE FIRST POINT.
RESULTING GRAPH (NEXT PAGE) SHOWS
SIGNAL SENT TO COMPARATOR
ALSO SEE FIGURE 7.8.1

FILTERING EXAMPLE USING 50

DATA POINTS
Noise Filtering Function
25.000
24.000
23.000
22.000
21.000

Output

Signal 20.000

Filtered
cum Mean

19.000
18.000
17.000
16.000
15.000

1
1

3
1

5
1

7
1

9
1

1
2

3
2

5
2

7
2

Point

9
2

1
3

3
3

5
3

7
3

9
3

1
4

3
4

5
4

7
4

9
4

FILTERING EXAMPLE USING 50

DATA POINTS
THE BALANCE REQUIRED IS TO MINIMIZE
THE NOISE SO A RELATIVELY STABLE
SIGNAL CAN BE SENT TO THE
CONTROLLER.
TOO FEW DATA POINTS IN THE AVERAGE
LEAVES A RESIDUAL THAT CAN HAMPER
CONTROL
TOO MANY DATA POINTS RESULTS IN VALUES
THAT CAN LAG THE ACTUAL VALUES

DERIVATIVE ACTION IS THE PROPERTY

THAT IS MOST AFFECTED BY NOISE

ANALYSIS OF EXAMPLE
f IS EQUAL TO t (1/f-1) AS f
BECOMES SMALL, f BECOMES LARGE.
AS f IS INCREASED, p WILL
INCREASE.
CRITICAL ISSUE IS RELATIVE
MAGNITUDE OF f COMPARE TO p.

EFFECT OF THE AMOUNT OF FILTERING ON

THE OPEN LOOP RESPONSE

AN EXAMPLE OF TOO MUCH

AND TOO LITTLE FILTERING

FILTER FACTOR (f), THE RESULTING

REPEATABILITY REDUCTION RATIO (R)
AND THE FILTER TIME CONSTANT (f)

KEY ISSUES FOR SENSOR

FILTERING
TO REDUCE THE EFFECT OF NOISE (I.E., R
IS INCREASED), f MUST BE REDUCED,
WHICH INCREASES THE VALUE OF f.
FILTERING SLOWS THE CLOSED-LOOP
RESPONSE SIGNIFICANTLY AS tf BECOMES
LARGER THAN 10% OF p.
THE EFFECT OF FILTERING ON THE
CLOSED-LOOP RESPONSE CAN BE
REDUCED BY INCREASING THE
FREQUENCY WITH WHICH THE FILTER IS
APPLIED, I.E., REDUCING tf.