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DerivativeControlExplained|ControlNotes

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DerivativeControlExplained
May3,2010
Whendoingonsiteservicesortraining,Iamoftenasked:Whenshouldoneusethederivativecontrol
modeofaPIDcontroller?Althoughthereisnoblack&whitedivisionbetweenwhentouseitornot,
Ihaveafewguidelinesthatshouldhelpyourdecision.Butletstakeastepbackfirstandreviewthe
derivativecontrolmodeanditsroleinaPIDcontroller.

Figure1.PIDController
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WhatisDerivative?
Youcanthinkofderivativecontrolasacrudepredictionoftheerrorinfuture,basedonthecurrent
slopeoftheerror.Howfarintothefuture?Thatswhatthederivativetime(Td)isfor.Itisthe
predictionhorizon.(Derivativecontrolactuallyusesextrapolation,notprediction.Buthey,weall
understandhowpredictionworks,soIlljustgowiththat.)Oncethederivativemodehaspredicted
thefutureerror,itaddsanadditionalcontrolactionequaltoControllerGain*FutureError.
Forexample,iftheerrorchangesatarateof2%perminute,andthederivativetimeTd=3minutes,
thepredictederroris6%.IftheControllerGain,Kc=0.2,thenthederivativecontrolmodewilladd
anadditional0.2*6%=1.2%tothecontrolleroutput.
YoudontAbsolutelyNeedDerivative
ThefirstpointtoconsiderwhenthinkingaboutusingderivativeisthataPIDcontrolloopwillwork
justfinewithoutthederivativecontrolmode.Infact,theoverwhelmingmajorityofcontrolloopsin
industryuseonlytheproportionalandintegralcontrolmodes.Proportionalgivesthecontrolloopan
immediateresponsetoanerror,andtheintegralmodeeliminatestheerrorinthelongerterm.Hence
noderivativeisneeded.
WhyUseDerivative
Thederivativecontrolmodegivesacontrolleradditionalcontrolactionwhentheerrorchanges
consistently.Italsomakestheloopmorestable(uptoapoint)whichallowsusingahighercontroller
gainandafasterintegral(shorterintegraltimeorhigherintegralgain).
Thesehavetheeffectofreducingthemaximumdeviationofprocessvariablefromsetpointifthe
processreceivesandexternaldisturbance.Foratypicaltemperaturecontrolloop,youcanexpecta
20%reductioninthemaximumdeviation.Figure2showshowaloopwithderivative(PID)control
recoversquickerfromadisturbancewithlessdeviationthanaloopwithPorPIcontrol.

Figure2.PversusPIversusPIDcontrol.
Obviouslyyoudontwanttousederivativetospeedupaloopifthecontrolobjectiveisslow
response,likeasurgetank,forexample.Butforloopswherefastresponseistheobjective,derivative
couldhelp.Butdoreadonforinformationonwhennottousederivative.
NoisyPV
Usingthederivativecontrolmodeisabadideawhentheprocessvariable(PV)hasalotofnoiseonit.
Noiseissmall,random,rapidchangesinthePV,andconsequentlyrapidchangesintheerror.
Becausethederivativemodeextrapolatesthecurrentslopeoftheerror,itishighlyaffectedbynoise
(Figure3).YoucouldtrytofilterthePVsoyoucanusederivative,aslongasyourfiltertimeconstant
isshorterthan1/5ofyourderivativetime.

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Figure3.EffectofNoiseonDerivative.
ProcessDynamics
Ondeadtimedominantprocesses,PIDcontroldoesnotalwaysworkbetterthanPIcontrol(it
dependsonwhichtuningmethodyouuse).Ifthetimeconstant(tau)isequaltoorlongerthanthe
deadtime(td),likeinFigure4,PIDcontroleasilyoutperformsPIcontrol.

Figure4.ProcessDynamics.
TemperatureandLevelLoops
Temperaturecontrolloopsnormallyhavesmoothmeasurementsandlongtimeconstants.Theprocess
variableofatemperaturelooptendstomoveinthesamedirectionforalongtime,soitsslopecanbe
usedforpredictingfutureerror.Sotemperatureloopsareidealcandidatesforusingderivativecontrol
ifneeded.Levelmeasurementscanbeverynoisyonboilingliquidsorgasseparationprocesses.
However,ifthelevelmeasurementissmooth,levelcontrolloopsalsolendthemselvesverywellto
usingderivativecontrol(exceptforsurgetanksandaveraginglevelcontrolwhereyoudontneedthe
speed).
FlowControlLoops
FlowcontrolloopstendtohavenoisyPVs(dependingontheflowmeasurementtechnologyused).
Theyalsotendtohaveshorttimeconstants.Andtheynormallyactquitefastalready,sospeedisnot
anissue.Thesefactorsallmakeflowcontrolloopspoorcandidatesforusingderivativecontrol.
PressureControlLoops
Pressurecontrolloopscomeintwoflavors:liquidandgas.Liquidpressurebehavesverymuchlike
flowloops,soderivativeshouldnotbeused.Gaspressureloopsbehavemoreliketemperatureloops
(someevenbehavelikelevelloops/integratingprocesses),makingthemgoodcandidatesforusing
derivativecontrol.
FinalWords
Derivativecontroladdsanotherdimensionofcomplexitytocontrolloops.Itdoeshaveitsbenefits,
butonlyinspecialcases.Ifaloopdoesnotabsolutelyneedderivativecontrol,dontbotherwithit.
However,ifyouhavealagdominantloopwithasmoothprocessvariablethatneedseverybitof
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speeditcanget,goforthederivative.
Tolearnmoreaboutcontrollersandtuning,contactOptiControlstoforonsiteprocesscontrol
training.

Staytuned!
JacquesSmutsAuthorofthebookProcessControlforPractitioners

Postedin3.PIDControllers|

Tags:ControllerTuning,DerivativeControl

4ResponsestoDerivativeControlExplained
GarcierLaCamppiello:
June14,2012at4:17pm
Iusedthisasarefresherreviewandfounditveryhelpful.Youhavedoneafinejobat
describingthederivativecontrolmodeandIrecommendittoallreaders.Iaman
InstrumentationTechnicianformerlywithAlyeskaPipelineServiceCo.,Alaska,retiredbutstill
functional.
Thankyou,
abdulwahab:
February7,2013at1:27pm
nice,iamveryhappytolearnthis
Sivasankar:
April17,2013at1:11pm
Reallyusefulsinceimaninstengineer,havinglongtimedoubtaboutusageofderivative
controlisearchedlotndidntconvinceanyanswersbuthereireallygotwati
wanted..thanksalot.
Osama:
December31,2014at4:36pm
VeryHelpful.Explanationisclearandreallyoneofthebestpostsonthissubject.Goodjob
Thanksalot

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