Feed forwards augment PID control

In closed-loop motion control applications, it is common to multiply the

target speed and target acceleration by the velocity and acceleration feed
forwards to generate the feed forwards contribution to the control output.
Feed forward augmentation is a prediction technique that estimates the
output from a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control algorithm
without waiting for the PID algorithm to respond. Feed forward reduces the
error faster or keeps the error smaller than relying on the PID algorithm
alone.
Peter Nachtwey

03/31/2015

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Feed forward augmentation is a prediction technique that estimates

the output from a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control
algorithm without waiting for the PID algorithm to respond. If the feed

forward prediction can estimate the control output closely, the PID
algorithm, whose job it is to minimize the error between the current
state of the system and the desired state, will need to do less to
correct the error. This reduces the error faster or keeps the error
smaller than relying on the PID algorithm alone. Feed forward control
outputs usually are calculated using the setpoint value and its
derivatives (based on target velocity and acceleration values) and
multiplying each one by a gain. In closed loop motion control
applications it is common to multiply the target speed and target
acceleration by the velocity and acceleration feed forwards to
generate the feed forward's contribution to the control output. (Figure
1 contains a typical control loop diagram with feed forward terms
added to the conventional P, I, and D terms.)
Motor PID example
As a simple example, consider a motor that will move 1 in. per
second if 1 V is applied, 2 in. per second when 2 V are applied and
so on, such that applying 10 V will result in a speed of 10 in. per
second. In this case the feed forward value would be proportional to
the velocity: the velocity feed forward value is 1 volt per inch per
second. This means that if the setpoint (that is, the target velocity of
the system) is 8 in. per second, the output from the velocity feed
forward term would be 8 V.
In a motion control application the velocity setpoint is ramped up to
the final setpoint smoothly so the feed forward term ramps up
smoothly to avoid sudden changes in the control output that would
shock the system.

Also, a motion control application usually has an acceleration feed

forward that is multiplied by the rate of change in the velocity setpoint
to give the motor an extra boost when accelerating to the final
position and a little braking while decelerating as the final position is
reached.
Temperature control applications generally perform well without using
feed forwards because the process is relatively slow and the
integrator gain term has time to do most of the work. However, there
are cases where the load changes rapidly.
Feed forward story problem
For example, consider a baking application where material being
heated moves through the oven on a conveyor. Assume that the time
the material must be in the oven is constant, but the oven
temperature can be varied, and the difference in the rate of baking
can only be due to the density of the material being heated. As the
material leaves the oven, it removes heat; material leaving the oven
at a higher rate will make for a greater heat loss. To compensate for
these factors, some mechanism would be required to estimate the
density of the material going through the oven, which could be used
to calculate the required variations in oven temperature.
Typically, the greater the volume or number of items going through
the oven, the higher the oven temperature should be. If the oven is
long and has many zones, then a queue needs to be implemented so
each zone can respond to different amounts of material in it. There
may even need to be a "look ahead" feature in the queue to account
for dead time between items being baked.
In theory, feed forwards should be able to predict the correct control
output so there would be no error, making the use of a PID control
algorithm unnecessary. In reality, the feed forward gains will not be
perfect due to the real-world reactions of the plant being nonlinear,
changing loads, or time constants relating to the process that aren't
really constant. So a PID is still required to correct the error.
However, if the feed forwards can estimate the control output within
10% of the actual control value required, then the PID only needs to
do the last 10% of the work. This will result in a faster response and
less error over time, and presumably lower costs and higher
productivity for the manufacturing process.
Calculating feed forward gains

Feed forward gains are actually the inverse of the plant model (a
mathematical model of the operation or process being controlled). If
the plant model was some function Gp(s), the feed forwards would be
FF(s) = 1/Gp(s). This fact is useful because when controlling a
system, the process variable [PV(s), the measured state of the
process] should be equal to the setpoint SP(s). In math terms, feed
forward control is:
SP(s)*FF(s)*Gp(s)=PV(s)
Since the feed forwards are the inverse of the plant, Gp(s)*FF(s) = 1,
so the equation above simplifies to
SP(s)=PV(s)
The process variable is the same as the setpoint, so there is no error.
This is the desired goal. As mentioned above, the only problem is
that typically the plant designers neglect to provide a plant model, so
the feed forward gains must be tuned manually. This isn't as hard as
it seems if the person doing the tuning has access to the integrator's
gain contribution to the control output.
It is best if the integrator's gain contribution can be plotted on a trend
or captured in a plot. The reason for this is that if there is an error in
the feed forward gains, the integrator gain will try to compensate for
the error (see Figure 2a).
3 tuning plot figures
Figures 2a, 2b, and 2c show three tuning plots. The yellow plot line in
each represents the integrator term. Red and light blue are actual
and target position. Blue and magenta are actual velocity and target
velocity, and green is the control output to the valve. The goal is for
the actual and target axis positions to precisely overlap at every point
in time (horizontal axis).

By looking at the plot or trend, the cause of the error can be

determined. Then, to reduce the error, a feed forward gain can be
calculated as a function of whatever caused the error. For instance, if
the motor discussed earlier is told to move at 10 in. per second, the
motor's actual speed will lag behind the target speed until the value
of the PID's integrator component winds up enough to increase the
control output to 10 in. per second.
Changing the target velocity caused the error, so the first step is to
calculate a feed forward term as a function of velocity. Using the
numbers from the example above the integrator value would need to
increase enough to contribute 10 V to the control output, causing the
system to go 10 in. per second. Now the person tuning the system
can divide the speed by the control output to easily arrive at a
velocity feed forward term.

Acceleration, deceleration
Assuming the velocity feed forward is now correct, there should be
very little, if any, error while the system is traveling at constant
velocity (see Figure 2b). However, there will most likely be some
error during acceleration and deceleration. During acceleration the
integrator output will tend to increase a bit to keep the actual velocity
from lagging the target velocity. Since the target acceleration also
can be plotted, the amount of integrator wind-up during acceleration
can be divided by the peak acceleration to get a good estimate of the
acceleration feed forward gain. This should reduce the following error
during the acceleration phase and when deceleration goes to zero.

Figure 2c shows a perfectly tuned system with the feed forwards

doing all the work.

Linear motor model

Finally, as stated above, the feed forward gains provide the
coefficients for the plant model because the feed forward terms are
the inverse of the linear plant model. A simple linear motor model
may be:

So the feed forward gains are:

...where:
K is the gain of the motor with load
is the time constant of the motor with load
s is the Laplace operator
1/K is the velocity feed forward term
s/K is the acceleration feed forward term
[Reminder: Laplace transform is a mathematical device used to
make a round trip from the time to the frequency-dependent complex
variable(s) domain and back. A Laplace operator is a differential
operator given by a function's gradient.]
Hydraulic cylinder model
A linearized model for a hydraulic cylinder and load is more
complicated. The cylinder and load can be modeled as a mass
between two springs, so it is an underdamped two-pole system. A
linear model is:

Invert to find the feed forward gains:

...where the additional term is the damping factor and is the

natural frequency
1/K is the velocity feed forward term
(2**s)/(K*) is the acceleration feed forward term
and
1/(K2 ) is the jerk feed forward term
Notice that there is an extra power of (s) and a corresponding feed
forward term. This is the jerk feed forward gain that is multiplied by
the current target jerk generated by the target generator. Refer to
Figure 1 to see how all the terms combine in the control loop
structure.
Feed forwards are relatively easy to tune or determine empirically
and can reduce errors and improve response times significantly.
Feed forwards always should be considered when setpoints or load
change, yet the error must be minimized.
- Peter Nachtwey is president of Delta Computer Systems Inc.; edited
by Mark T. Hoske, content manager, CFE Media, Control
Engineering, mhoske@cfemedia.com.
Key concepts
Feed forward estimates proportional-integral-derivative (PID)
control algorithm output without waiting for the PID algorithm to
respond.
Feed forward can reduce the error faster or keep the error
smaller than relying only on the PID algorithm.
When setpoints or load change and error must be minimized,
feed forwards always should be considered.
Consider this
Do you have open loops that could benefit from feed-forward
predictions applied to PID motion control?
ONLINE extra

Below, see the Control Engineering tutorial, Back to Basics:

Relearning terms, concepts for process control, and the related
article, Using PID for motion control, robotics.
Also, see another Delta Computer Systems article: Inside machines:
Motion control moves bacon faster