Introduction to the key terms associated

with PID Temperature Control

ON / OFF Control
On / Off control is the simplest means of control but gives rise to fluctuations in the
process variable (Fig 1). A degree of hysteresis or deadband must be set in On / Off
control if the operation of the switching device is to be reduced and relay chatter is to be
avoided (Fig 2).
On / Off control is a very simple form of control, which leads to oscillation of the process
variable. This oscillation can affect the quality of the final product and is undesirable. The
alternative is to use three term control, known as PID control.

Three Term Control

A ' closed loop ' consists of :

A process in the plant to be controlled; G(s)

A sensor to detect the Process Value (PV) such as a thermocouple or
pressure sensing device.

A controller to provide control of that process, referred to in the

overhead as the term PID.
An output to an actuator or device to control the input stimulus to that
process, such as heat.

To understand the PID terms, the comparison to

driving a car can be used
Simple On/Off control could be thought of as starting the engine (G(s)) of the car (Plant),
pressing the accelerator (Output) to the floor until the desired speed (SP) of 80 kph is
reached as indicated on the speedometer (PV), then taking your foot completely off the
accelerator. When the speed drops below 80 kph the accelerator is again depressed to
the floor until 80 kph is again reached.
Comparison to the Proportional Term
If we wish to drive from a standstill to 80 kph we can consider the procedure we adopt to
achieve this to explain the Proportional term.
From a standstill we depress the accelerator pedal. The speed of the vehicle will
increase and at a certain speed below our target speed of 80 kph we begin to ease off
the accelerator pedal in order to prevent cruising past the desired speed. This easing off
the accelerator pedal can be directly compared to entering the Proportional Band or the
band relative to the required speed. If we do not look at the speedometer we will
certainly drive at a speed that is not our desired speed and an error will result.
Comparison to the Integral Term
If we now look at the speedometer we see that we are low of our desired speed and
using this visual feedback we correct for the error and begin to slowly depress the
accelerator pedal. As a result our speed slowly increases to achieve the desired speed
of 80 kph.
This procedure can be compared to the Integral Time of a PID controller.
Comparison to the Derivative Term

We are now cruising at our Setpoint of 80 kph and we continue to maintain this speed
through visual feedback of the speedometer.
If we encounter a sudden change in slope of the road such as a hill we correct for the
reduction in speed which would result by depressing the accelerator pedal more than
would otherwise be the case for the slight reduction in speed we initially encounter. As
the slope of the road levels off again we ease off the accelerator pedal more than would
otherwise be the case for the slight increase in speed to avoid raising our speed too far
beyond our target speed.
The amount of correction and time to reduce this correction to zero can be compared to
the Derivative Time.

When we have driven a car for some time these procedures become second nature to
us and we do not think about the technique we use to drive. Consider, however, the
process of someone learning to drive and you will observe these descriptions in action.
Different process variables such as temperature, speed, pressure etc. all have different
characteristics. For example a temperature on an extruder barrel responds very slowly
whereas the speed responds much more quickly and the pressure can respond more
quickly still.

The information given above may make it appear easy to generate a PID controller using
simple mathematical terms. In reality, industrial control manufacturers develop
sophisticated control algorithms, containing many other features than those described

above. In this way they are able to provide the industry with controllers which give
excellent performance in a wide range of control applications.
Additional techniques are also included to prevent the Integral term from saturating
during open loop conditions and to prevent overshoot of the Setpoint value. The two
conditions of start-up or changed setpoint and normal running conditions generally
require different responses. Advanced control algorithms are developed by control
companies to compensate for both conditions.

Loop Response
The combination of the three terms can provide a stabilizing effect on a process only if
the terms are correctly set. This is referred to as ' tuning the loop '. If we ignore the
situation of loop oscillation, there are three categories of loop performance :
Under Damped
In this situation the terms are set to prevent oscillation but do lead to an overshoot of the
Process Value followed by decaying oscillation to finally settle at the Setpoint. This type
of response does give a minimum time to Setpoint but overshoot may cause problems in
certain situations and the loop may be sensitive to sudden changes in Process Value.
This will result in further decaying oscillations before settling once again.
Critically Damped
This represents and ideal situation where overshoot does not occur and the process
responds to changes in a controlled, non oscillatory manner.
Over Damped
In this situation the loop responds in a controlled but sluggish manner which will result in
a loop performance which is non ideal and unnecessarily slow. The balancing of the P, I
and D terms depends totally upon the nature of the process to be controlled.
In a plastics extrusion example, a barrel zone will have a different response to a casting
roll, drive loop, thickness control loop or pressure loop. In order to achieve the best
performance from an extrusion line all loop tuning parameters must be set to their
optimum values. Needless to say, many extrusion lines and industrial equipment are not
set up to give their best performance.

Loop Tuning

T
here are many documented methods of tuning a loop with the most common methods
being the following:
Ziegler Nicholls: This method involves putting the loop into oscillation and
measuring the oscillation period T. The oscillation is caused by setting the I and D terms
to off and reducing the Proportional Band until the loop just oscillates. The setting of the
P term at the onset of oscillation (Px) is used to determine the desired Proportional
Band.
Cohen & Coon: In this method power is applied from a low Process Value and a note
is made of the time before any response is observed ( dead time ) and the maximum
rate of change of the Process Value. By combining this information with the final settling
of the Process Value resulting from the power applied, the P, I and D values are
calculated.
Popular Method (Rule of Thumb)
An easier method of manually determining the P, I and D values is to set the Integral and
Derivative terms to off and to set the Proportional Band to a minimum. The resulting
oscillation width Xosc and the oscillation period tosc can be used to determine the PID
settings shown below.
P = 2.0 * Xosc
I = 1.5 * tosc
D=I/5
These values result in a slightly over damped response and consequently all values can
be reduced slightly to give a more responsive loop.
Auto Tuning: (Standard with all Eurotherm PID Controllers)

The
standard initial method of tuning a process loop is to use the advanced adaptive tuning
algorithms inbuilt in todays controllers, to automatically test the loop and implement the
optimum PID control parameters.
Care should be taken to ensure that the oscillations of the Process Value will not
damage the process being tuned. It is recommended to set the Setpoint for tuning
purposes below the normal running Setpoint value.
Avoiding Overshoot
Various techniques are used to avoid overshoot. The aim is to prevent the process value
from exceeding the desired value or setpoint. In the example shown the proportional
band is brought down to meet the approaching process value in order to reduce the
output power and to smoothly bring the process value to the desired setting.