But the goal of any electrical or electronic control system is to measure, monitor,

and control a process and one way in which we can accurately control the
process is by monitoring its output and “feeding” some of it back to compare the
actual output with the desired output so as to reduce the error and if disturbed,
bring the output of the system back to the original or desired response.
The quantity of the output being measured is called the “feedback signal”, and
the type of control system which uses feedback signals to both control and adjust
itself is called a Close-loop System.
A Closed-loop Control System, also known as a feedback control system is a
control system which uses the concept of an open loop system as its forward
path but has one or more feedback loops (hence its name) or paths between its
output and its input. The reference to “feedback”, simply means that some portion
of the output is returned “back” to the input to form part of the systems excitation.
Closed-loop systems are designed to automatically achieve and maintain the
desired output condition by comparing it with the actual condition. It does this by
generating an error signal which is the difference between the output and the
reference input. In other words, a “closed-loop system” is a fully automatic control
system in which its control action being dependent on the output in some way.
So for example, consider our electric clothes dryer from the previous open-loop
tutorial. Suppose we used a sensor or transducer (input device) to continually
monitor the temperature or dryness of the clothes and feed a signal relating to the
dryness back to the controller as shown below.

Closed-loop Control

This sensor would monitor the actual dryness of the clothes and compare it with
(or subtract it from) the input reference. The error signal (error = required dryness
– actual dryness) is amplified by the controller, and the controller output makes
the necessary correction to the heating system to reduce any error. For example
if the clothes are too wet the controller may increase the temperature or drying
time. Likewise, if the clothes are nearly dry it may reduce the temperature or stop
the process so as not to overheat or burn the clothes, etc.
Then the closed-loop configuration is characterised by the feedback signal,
derived from the sensor in our clothes drying system. The magnitude and polarity
of the resulting error signal, would be directly related to the difference between
the required dryness and actual dryness of the clothes.
Also, because a closed-loop system has some knowledge of the output condition,
(via the sensor) it is better equipped to handle any system disturbances or
changes in the conditions which may reduce its ability to complete the desired
task.
For example, as before, the dryer door opens and heat is lost. This time the
deviation in temperature is detected by the feedback sensor and the controller
self-corrects the error to maintain a constant temperature within the limits of the
preset value. Or possibly stops the process and activates an alarm to inform the
operator.
As we can see, in a closed-loop control system the error signal, which is the
difference between the input signal and the feedback signal (which may be the
output signal itself or a function of the output signal), is fed to the controller so as
to reduce the systems error and bring the output of the system back to a desired
value. In our case the dryness of the clothes. Clearly, when the error is zero the
clothes are dry.
The term Closed-loop control always implies the use of a feedback control
action in order to reduce any errors within the system, and its “feedback” which
distinguishes the main differences between an open-loop and a closed-loop
system.The accuracy of the output thus depends on the feedback path, which in
general can be made very accurate and within electronic control systems and
circuits, feedback control is more commonly used than open-loop or feed forward
control.
Closed-loop systems have many advantages over open-loop systems. The
primary advantage of a closed-loop feedback control system is its ability to
reduce a system’s sensitivity to external disturbances, for example opening of the
dryer door, giving the system a more robust control as any changes in the
feedback signal will result in compensation by the controller.
Then we can define the main characteristics of Closed-loop Control as being:
 To reduce errors by automatically adjusting the systems input.
 To improve stability of an unstable system.
 To increase or reduce the systems sensitivity.
 To enhance robustness against external disturbances to the process.
 To produce a reliable and repeatable performance.
Whilst a good closed-loop system can have many advantages over an open-loop
control system, its main disadvantage is that in order to provide the required
amount of control, a closed-loop system must be more complex by having one or
more feedback paths. Also, if the gain of the controller is too sensitive to changes
in its input commands or signals it can become unstable and start to oscillate as
the controller tries to over-correct itself, and eventually something would break.
So we need to “tell” the system how we want it to behave within some pre-
defined limits.
Closed-loop Summing Points
For a closed-loop feedback system to regulate any control signal, it must first
determine the error between the actual output and the desired output. This is
achieved using a summing point, also referred to as a comparison element,
between the feedback loop and the systems input. These summing points
compare a systems set point to the actual value and produce a positive or
negative error signal which the controller responds too. where: Error = Set point –
Actual

The symbol used to represent a summing point in closed-loop systems block-

diagram is that of a circle with two crossed lines as shown. The summing point
can either add signals together in which a Plus ( + ) symbol is used showing the
device to be a “summer” (used for positive feedback), or it can subtract signals
from each other in which case a Minus ( − ) symbol is used showing that the
device is a “comparator” (used for negative feedback) as shown.

Summing Point Types

Note that summing points can have more than one signal as inputs either adding
or subtracting but only one output which is the algebraic sum of the inputs. Also
the arrows indicate the direction of the signals. Summing points can be cascaded
together to allow for more input variables to be summed at a given point.

Closed-loop System Transfer Function

The Transfer Function of any electrical or electronic control system is the
mathematical relationship between the systems input and its output, and hence
describes the behaviour of the system. Note also that the ratio of the output of a
particular device to its input represents its gain. Then we can correctly say that
the output is always the transfer function of the system times the input. Consider
the closed-loop system below.
Typical Closed-loop System Representation

Where: block G represents the open-loop gains of the controller or system and is
the forward path, and block H represents the gain of the sensor, transducer or
measurement system in the feedback path.
To find the transfer function of the closed-loop system above, we must first
calculate the output signal θo in terms of the input signal θi. To do so, we can
easily write the equations of the given block-diagram as follows.
The output from the system is equal to: Output = G x Error
Note that the error signal, θe is also the input to the feed-forward block: G
The output from the summing point is equal to: Error = Input - H x Output
If H = 1 (unity feedback) then:
The output from the summing point will be: Error (θe) = Input - Output
Eliminating the error term, then:
The output is equal to: Output = G x (Input - H x Output)
Therefore: G x Input = Output + G x H x Output
Rearranging the above gives us the closed-loop transfer function of:

The above equation for the transfer function of a closed-loop system shows a
Plus ( + ) sign in the denominator representing negative feedback. With a positive
feedback system, the denominator will have a Minus ( − ) sign and the equation
becomes: 1 - GH.
We can see that when H = 1 (unity feedback) and G is very large, the transfer
function approaches unity as:
Also, as the systems steady state gain G decreases, the expression of: G/(1 +
G) decreases much more slowly. In other words, the system is fairly insensitive to
variations in the systems gain represented by G, and which is one of the main
advantages of a closed-loop system.

Multi-loop Closed-loop System

Whilst our example above is of a single input, single output closed-loop system,
the basic transfer function still applies to more complex multi-loop systems. Most
practical feedback circuits have some form of multiple loop control, and for a
multi-loop configuration the transfer function between a controlled and a
manipulated variable depends on whether the other feedback control loops are
open or closed.
Consider the multi-loop system below.

Any cascaded blocks such as G1 and G2 can be reduced, as well as the transfer
function of the inner loop as shown.

After further reduction of the blocks we end up with a final block diagram which
resembles that of the previous single-loop closed-loop system.
And the transfer function of this multi-loop system becomes:

Then we can see that even complex multi-block or multi-loop block diagrams can
be reduced to give one single block diagram with one common system transfer
function.

Closed-loop Motor Control

So how can we use Closed-loop Systems in Electronics. Well consider our DC
motor controller from the previous open-loop tutorial. If we connected a speed
measuring transducer, such as a tachometer to the shaft of the DC motor, we
could detect its speed and send a signal proportional to the motor speed back to
the amplifier. A tachometer, also known as a tacho-generator is simply a
permanent-magnet DC generator which gives a DC output voltage proportional to
the speed of the motor.
Then the position of the potentiometers slider represents the input, θi which is
amplified by the amplifier (controller) to drive the DC motor at a set
speed N representing the output, θo of the system, and the tachometer T would
be the closed-loop back to the controller. The difference between the input
voltage setting and the feedback voltage level gives the error signal as shown.

Closed-loop Motor Control

Any external disturbances to the closed-loop motor control system such as the
motors load increasing would create a difference in the actual motor speed and
the potentiometer input set point.
This difference would produce an error signal which the controller would
automatically respond too adjusting the motors speed. Then the controller works
to minimize the error signal, with zero error indicating actual speed which equals
set point.
Electronically, we could implement such a simple closed-loop tachometer-
feedback motor control circuit using an operational amplifier (op-amp) for the
controller as shown.
Closed-loop Motor Controller Circuit

This simple closed-loop motor controller can be represented as a block diagram

as shown.

Block Diagram for the Feedback Controller

A closed-loop motor controller is a common means of maintaining a desired

motor speed under varying load conditions by changing the average voltage
applied to the input from the controller. The tachometer could be replaced by an
optical encoder or Hall-effect type positional or rotary sensor.

Closed-loop Systems Summary

We have seen that an electronic control system with one or more feedback paths
is called a Closed-loop System. Closed-loop control systems are also called
“feedback control systems” are very common in process control and electronic
control systems. Feedback systems have part of their output signal “fed back” to
the input for comparison with the desired set point condition. The type of
feedback signal can result either in positive feedback or negative feedback.
In a closed-loop system, a controller is used to compare the output of a system
with the required condition and convert the error into a control action designed to
reduce the error and bring the output of the system back to the desired response.
Then closed-loop control systems use feedback to determine the actual input to
the system and can have more than one feedback loop.
Closed-loop control systems have many advantages over open-loop systems.
One advantage is the fact that the use of feedback makes the system response
relatively insensitive to external disturbances and internal variations in system
parameters such as temperature. It is thus possible to use relatively inaccurate
and inexpensive components to obtain the accurate control of a given process or
plant.
However, system stability can be a major problem especially in badly designed
closed-loop systems as they may try to over-correct any errors which could cause
the system to loss control and oscillate.
In the next tutorial about Electronics Systems, we will look at the different ways in
which we can incorporate a summing point into the input of a system and the
different ways in which we can feed signals back to it.