Chapter 8

Performance of P-only, PI
and PID Controllers
 Overall Course Objectives
• Develop the skills necessary to function as an
industrial process control engineer.
– Skills
• Tuning loops
• Control loop design
• Control loop troubleshooting
• Command of the terminology
– Fundamental understanding
• Process dynamics
• Feedback control
 P-only Control
• For an open loop overdamped process as Kc
is increased the process dynamics goes
through the following sequence of behavior
– overdamped
– critically damped
– oscillatory
– ringing
– sustained oscillations
– unstable oscillations
 Dynamic Changes as Kc is
Increased for a FOPDT Process

Time Time Time

Time Time Time

 Root Locus Diagram
(Kc increases a to g)
8 8
g
f
d
4 4
Imaginary Axis

0 0
a b c b a e
-4 -4
d
f g
-8 -8
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1
Real Axis
Effect of Kc on Closed-Loop z
Effect of Kc on Closed-Loop tp
 P-only Controller Applied to First-
Order Process without Deadtime
• Without deadtime, the system will not become
unstable regardless of how large Kc is.
• First-order process model does not consider
combined actuator/process/sensor system.
• Therefore, first-order process model without
deadtime is not a realistic model of a process
under feedback control.
 PI Control
• As Kc is increased or tI is decreased (i.e.,
more aggressive control), the closed loop
dynamics goes through the same sequence
of changes as the P-only controller:
overdamped, critically damped, oscillatory,
ringing, sustained oscillations, and unstable
oscillations.
 Effect of Variations in Kc

Time Time Time

Effect of Variations in tI

Time Time Time

 Analysis of the Effect of Kc and
tI

• When there is too little proportional action

or too little integral action, it is easy to
identify.
• But it is difficult to differentiate between
too much proportional action and too much
integral action because both lead to ringing.
Response of a Properly Tuned PI
Controller

Lag

ys

Time
Response of a PI Controller with
Too Much Proportional Action

Lag

ys

Time
Response of a PI Controller with
Too Much Integral Action

Lag

ys

Time
 PID Control
• Kc and tI have the same general effect as
observed for PI control.
• Derivative action tends to reduce the
oscillatory nature of the response and
results in faster settling for systems with
larger deadtime to time constant ratios.
Comparison between PI and PID
for a Low qp/tp Ratio

PI

PID
Time
Comparison between PI and PID
for a Higher qp/tp Ratio

PI

PID

Time
An Example of Too Much
Derivative Action
ys

Time
Effect of tD on Closed-Loop z
Demonstration: Visual Basic
Simulator
Effect of Kc, tI, and tD
 Overview
• As the controller aggressiveness is increased
(i.e., Kc is increased or tI is decreased), the
response goes from overdamped to critically
damped to oscillatory to ringing to sustained
oscillations to unstable.
• Too little proportional or integral action are
easy to identify while too much proportional
or integral results in ringing. Differentiating
between too much integral or proportional
action requires comparing the lag between
the controller output and the CV.