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A Tutorial On Feedforward Control - Control Notes

Feedforward control works by reacting immediately to disturbances without waiting for a process variable deviation, improving a control loop's response. It measures disturbances and adjusts the control output proportionally to cancel their effects. Feedforward control is usually added to feedback control, with feedback handling other sources of deviation. A feedforward controller consists of a lead-lag function with adjustable gain and can address multiple disturbances by summing their individual controllers' outputs. It is tuned by matching its output to the feedback controller's response at different disturbance levels.

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221 views4 pages

A Tutorial On Feedforward Control - Control Notes

Feedforward control works by reacting immediately to disturbances without waiting for a process variable deviation, improving a control loop's response. It measures disturbances and adjusts the control output proportionally to cancel their effects. Feedforward control is usually added to feedback control, with feedback handling other sources of deviation. A feedforward controller consists of a lead-lag function with adjustable gain and can address multiple disturbances by summing their individual controllers' outputs. It is tuned by matching its output to the feedback controller's response at different disturbance levels.

Uploaded by

Ahmed Mostafa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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ATutorialonFeedforwardControl

ATutorialonFeedforwardControl
January17,2011
Feedforwardcontrolcanbeusedverysuccessfullytoimproveacontrolloopsresponseto
disturbances.Feedforwardcontrolreactsthemomentadisturbanceoccurs,withouthavingtowaitfor
adeviationinprocessvariable.Ifanyprocesscontrolloopissubjecttolarge,measurable
disturbances,itcanbenefitgreatlyfromfeedforwardcontrol.

Feedforwardcontrolreducingeffectsofadisturbance

Tounderstandfeedforwardcontrol,letsfirstreviewfeedbackcontrol.

FeedbackControl
FeedbackcontrolistypicallydonewithPID(proportional+integral+derivative)controllers.The
processvariableofinterestismeasuredandthecontrollersoutputiscalculatedbasedonthe
processvariableanditssetpoint.Althoughexternaldisturbancesoftenaffecttheprocessvariable,
theyarenotuseddirectlyforcontrol.Instead,ifadisturbanceaffectstheprocessvariable,thecontrol
actionisbasedontheprocessvariableandnotthedisturbance.
Asanexample,theoutlettemperatureofaheatexchangercanbemeasuredandusedforfeedback
control.Thefeedbackcontrollerwillmanipulatethesteamflowtotheheatexchangerandkeepthe
outlettemperatureasclosetosetpointaspossible.

FeedbackControl

FeedbackControlandDisturbances
Manyprocesscontrolloopsareaffectedbylargedisturbances.Feedbackcontrolcanactonlyonthe
resultofadisturbance,whichmeansfeedbackcontrolcannotdoanythinguntiltheprocessvariable
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hasbeenaffectedbythedisturbance.
Intheexampleoftheheatexchangerabove,changesinprocessflowratewillbeamajorsourceof
disturbancestotheoutlettemperature.Iftheprocessflowratethroughtheheaterisincreased,the
originalsteamflowratewillnotbeenoughtoheatuptheincreasedamountofprocessliquidandthe
outlettemperaturewilldecrease.Feedbackcontrolwilleventuallyincreasethesteamflowrateand
bringtheoutlettemperaturebacktoitssetpoint,butnotuntiltherehasbeenasignificantdeviationin
temperature.

FeedforwardControl
Incontrasttofeedbackcontrol,feedforwardcontrolactsthemomentadisturbanceoccurs,without
havingtowaitforadeviationinprocessvariable.Thisenablesafeedforwardcontrollertoquicklyand
directlycancelouttheeffectofadisturbance.Todothis,afeedforwardcontrollerproducesitscontrol
actionbasedonameasurementofthedisturbance.
Whenused,feedforwardcontrolisalmostalwaysimplementedasanaddontofeedbackcontrol.
Thefeedforwardcontrollertakescareofthemajordisturbance,andthefeedbackcontrollertakes
careofeverythingelsethatmightcausetheprocessvariabletodeviatefromitssetpoint.

Feedforward+FeedbackControl

Inourexampleoftheheatexchanger,inwhichthemajordisturbancescomefromchangesin
processflowrate,thelattercanbemeasuredandusedforadjustingthesteamflowrate
proportionally.Thisisdonebythefeedforwardcontroller.

ImplementingFeedforwardControl
ManyPIDcontrollershaveanexternalconnectionforaddinganinputfromafeedforwardcontroller.
Otherwisetheoutputofthefeedforwardcontrollercanbeexternallyaddedtotheoutputofthe
feedbackcontroller.Reviewyourcontrollerdocumentationandtakespecialcarewithscalingthe
feedforwardsignal.ManyPIDcontrollersexpectthefeedforwardsignaltobescaledbetween100%
and+100%.
Feedforwardandfeedbackcontrolisoftencombinedwithcascadecontrol,toensurethattheir
controlactionsmanipulatethephysicalprocesslinearly,eliminatingcontrolvalvenonlinearitiesand
mechanicalproblems.
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Ifseveralmajordisturbancesexist,afeedforwardcontrollercanbeimplementedforeachofthem.
Theoutputsofallthefeedforwardcontrollerscanbeaddedtogethertoproduceonefinal
feedforwardsignal.Onlyconsiderdisturbancesthatmeetthesecriteria:
Measurableifitcantbemeasuredyoucantcontrolfromit
Predictableeffectontheprocessvariablemostdisturbanceswillfallinthisclass
Occursorapidlythatthefeedbackcontrolcannotdealwiththemastheyhappen.

FeedforwardControllerDesignandTuning
Afeedforwardcontrolleressentiallyconsistsofaleadlagfunctionwithanadjustablegain.Adead
timefunction(Ttd)canbeaddediftheeffectofthedisturbancehasalongtimedelaywhilethe
controlactionismuchmoreimmediate.

Feedforwardcontrollerdesign

Thefeedforwardgain(Kff)issettoobtaintherequiredcontrolactionforagivendisturbance.For
example,itcontrolstheratioofsteamflowtoprocessflowintheexampleusedpreviously.Thelead
andlagtimeconstantsaresettogettherighttimingforthecontrolaction.Thefeedforwardslead
(Tld)willspeedupcontrolactionshouldbesetequaltotheprocesslagbetweenthecontrolleroutput
andtheprocessvariable.Thefeedforwardslag(Tlg)willslowdownthecontrolactionandshouldbe
setequaltotheprocesslagbetweenthedisturbanceandtheprocessvariable.
Youcanuseanalternativedesignforafeedforwardcontrollerthatmakestuningeasy.Thisisto
simplyuseafunctiongeneratorasthefeedforwardcontroller.Beforeimplementingthefeedforward
controller,takenoteofthefeedbackcontrollersoutputandthedisturbancemeasurementatvarious
levelsofthedisturbance.Usethisrelationshiptosetupthecurveinthefunctiongenerator.

Simplifiedfeedforwardcontrollerdesign

Fortheheatexchangerexample,weshouldtabulatethetemperaturecontrollersoutputandprocess
flowratesundervarioussteadystateproductionrates.Thenweprogramacurveinthefunction
generatortoproducethedesiredcontrolleroutputateachoftheprocessflowrateswemeasured.
Staytuned!
JacquesSmutsAuthorofthebookProcessControlforPractitioners
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