Mid-term Exam Problem Sheet

EE234531 Control Systems Analysis and Design

18-04-2024

1 Instructions
• Create groups consisting of 2 students

• For each student, select one problem from part A and B (so one student should solve 2
problems)

• Every student should solve different problems, i.e., no student solves a same problem
from both Part A and B.

• Show any improvement of the system performance due to your compensator design,
in both time and frequency domain. Do some analysis and interpret your design.

• Submit the solutions by tomorrow before the class, 21 April 2024 before 22:00.

• Prepare presentation slides of your answers; you may crop your answers and use them
in the slides. Present them in 25 April 2024 during the class

• GOOD LUCK.

2 Problems
2.1 Part A
1. Figure 1a shows a two-tank system. The liquid inflow to the upper tank can be con-
trolled using a valve and is represented by F 0 . The upper tank’s outflow equals the lower
tank’s inflow and is represented by F 1 . The outflow of the lower tank is F 2 . The objec-
tive of the design is to control the liquid level, y(t ), in the lower tank. The open-loop
transmission for this system is

Y (s) a2 a3
= 2
F 0 (s) s + (a 1 + a 4 )s + a 1 a 4

The system will be controlled in a loop analogous to that of Figure 1b, where the lower
liquid level will be measured and compared to a set point. The resulting error will be
fed to a controller, which in turn will open or close the valve feeding the upper tank.
a) Assuming a 1 = 0.04, a 2 = 0.0187, a 3 = 1, and a 4 = 0.227, design a lag compensator
to obtain a step-response steady-state error of 10% without affecting the system’s
transient response appreciably.

1
 b) Verify your design through MATLAB simulations.

2. Consider a heat-exchanger process whose purpose is to maintain the temperature of a

liquid at a prescribed temperature. The temperature is measured using a sensor and
a transmitter, that sends the measurement to a controller compares the actual tem-
perature with a desired temperature set point. The controller automatically opens or
closes a valve to allow or prevent the flow of steam to change the temperature in the
tank. The corresponding block diagram for this system is shown in Figure 2. Assume
the following transfer functions:
0.02 70 1
G v (s) = ; G 1 (s) = ; H (s) =
4s + 1 50s + 1 12s + 1
a) Assuming G c (s) = K , find the value of K that will result in a dominant pole with
ζ = 0.7. Obtain the corresponding T s .
b) Design a lead compensator to obtain the same damping factor ζ = 0.7 with a set-
tling time 20% smaller.
c) Verify results through MATLAB simulation.

3. Steam-driven power generators rotate at a constant speed via a governor that main-
tains constant steam pressure in the turbine. In addition, automatic generation con-
trol (AGC) or load frequency control (LFC) is added to ensure reliability and consis-
tency despite load variations or other disturbances that can affect the distribution line
frequency output. A specific turbine-governor system can be described only using the
block diagram of Figure 1b in which G(s) = G c (s)G g (s)G t (s)G m (s), where:

1
G g (s) = is the governor’s transfer function
0.2s + 1
1
G t (s) = is the turbine transfer function
0.5s + 1
1
G m (s) = represents the machine and load transfer functions
10s + 0.8
G c (s) is the LFC compensation to be designed

a) Assuming G c (s) = K , find the value of K that will result in a dominant pole with
ζ = 0.7. Obtain the corresponding C (s).
b) Design a lag-lead compensator for a steady-state error of 1% for a step input com-
mand.
c) Verify results through MATLAB simulation.

4. Magnetic levitation systems are now used to elevate and propel trains along tracks. Ac-
tion between a permanent magnet attached to the Ping-Pong ball, the object to be lev-
itated, and an electromagnet provides the lift. The amount of elevation can be con-
trolled through Va applied to the electromagnet. The elevation is controlled by using
a photo-detector pair to detect the elevation of the Ping-Pong ball. Assume that the
elevation control system is represented by Figure 3 and do the following:

2
 a) Design a compensator, G c (s), to yield a settling time of 0.1 second or less if the
step response is to have no more than 1% overshoot. Specify the compensator’s
poles, zeros, and gain.
b) Cascade another compensator to minimize the steady-state error and have the to-
tal settling time not exceed 0.5 second. This compensator should not appreciably
affect the transient response designed in Part a. Specify the poles and zeros of this
compensator.
c) Use MATLAB program to simulate the system to check your design.

5. The transfer function for an AFTI/F-16 aircraft relating angle of attack, α(t ), to elevator
deflection, δe (t ), is given by

α(s) (s + 23)(s 2 + 0.05s + 0.04)

G(s) = = 0.072
δe (s) (s − 0.7)(s + 1.7)(s 2 + 0.08s + 0.04)

Assume the block diagram shown in Figure P9.15 for controlling the angle of attack, α,
and do the following
a) Find the range of K for stability
b) Plot or sketch a root locus
c) Design a cascade compensator to yield zero steady-state error, a settling time of
about 0.05 second, and a percent overshoot not greater than 20%.
d) Use Matlab to check your design

6. An X-4 quadrotor flyer is designed as a small-sized unmanned autonomous vehicle

(UAV) that flies mainly indoors and can help in search and recognizance missions. To
minimize mechanical problems and for simplicity, this aircraft uses fixed pitch rotors
with specially designed blades. Therefore, for thrust it is necessary to add a fifth pro-
peller. A simplified design of the thrust control design can be modeled as in Figure 1b
with G(s) = GC (s)P (s) where
¡ s ¢
1.90978 0.43 +1
P (s) = ¡ s ¢¡ s ¢
9.6 + 1 0.54 + 1

represents the dynamics of the thruster rotor gain, the motor, and the battery dynam-
ics. Initially, the system is designed using a proportional compensator given by GC (s) =
3
a) Calculate the resulting steady-state error for a unit step input.
b) Design a lag compensator to yield half the steady-state error of the proportional
compensator, without appreciably affecting the system’s transient response.
c) Verify your design with Matlab

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(a) Two tanks system. (b) Simple feedback structure.

Figure 2: Heat-exchanger system.

Figure 3: Magnetic levitation system.

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2.2 Part B
1. An electric ventricular assist device (EVAD) that helps pump blood concurrently to a
defective natural heart in sick patients can be shown to have a transfer function
P ao (s) 1361
G(s) = =
E m (s) s 2 + 69s + 70.85
The input, E m (s), is the motor’s armature voltage, and the output is P ao (s), the aortic
blood pressure. The EVAD will be controlled in the closed-loop configuration shown in
Figure 1b.
a) Design a phase lag compensator to achieve a tenfold improvement in the steady-
state error to step inputs without appreciably affecting the transient response of
the uncompensated system.
b) Use MATLAB to simulate the uncompensated and compensated systems for a unit
step input.

2. Self-guided vehicles are used in factories to transport products from station to station.
One method of construction is to embed a wire in the floor to provide guidance. An-
other method is to use an onboard computer and a laser scanning device. Bar-coded
reflective devices at known locations allow the system to determine the vehicle’s an-
gular position. This system allows the vehicle to travel anywhere, including between
buildings. Figure 4 shows a simplified block diagram of the vehicle’s bearing control
system. For 11% overshoot, K is set equal to 2.
Design a lag compensator using frequency response techniques to improve the steady-
state error by a factor of 30 over that of the uncompensated system. Verify the result
using MATLAB simulations.

3. An aircraft roll control system is shown in Figure 5. The torque on the aileron generates
a roll rate. The resulting roll angle is then controlled through a feedback system as
shown. Design a lead compensator for a 60o phase margin and K v = 5.

4. The plant dynamics of a chemical process is represented by

100
G(s) =
s(s + 5)(s + 10)
a) We desire that the unity feedback system have a small steady-state error for a
ramp input so that K v = 100. For stability purposes, we desire a gain margin of
G.M. ≥ 10 dB and a phase margin of P.M. ≥ 40o . Determine a lead-lag compen-
sator that meets these specifications.
b) Verify your design using MATLAB.

5. The transfer function from applied force to arm displacement for the arm of a hard disk
drive has been identified as
X (s) 3.3333 × 104
G(s) = =
F (s) s2

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 Figure 4: Automated guided cart system.

Figure 5: Roll control block diagram.

The position of the arm will be controlled using the feedback loop shown in Figure 1b.
a) Design a lead compensator to achieve closed-loop stability with a transient re-
sponse of 16% overshoot and a settling time of 2 msec for a step input.
b) Check your design using Matlab

6. Active front steering is used in front-steering four-wheel cars to ontrol the yaw rate of
the vehicle as a function of changes in wheel-steering commands. For a certain car, and
under certain conditions, it has been shown that the transfer function from steering
wheel angle to yaw rate is given by

28.4s + 119.7
P (s) =
s 2 + 7.15s + 14.7
a) Design a lag-lead compensator such that the system has zero steady-state er-
ror for a step input. The bandwidth of the closed-loop system must be ωB = 10
rad/sec. Let the open-loop magnitude response peak be less than 1 dB and the
steady-state error constant K v = 20.
b) Check your design using Matlab.