Misr University for Science and Technology

College of Engineering
Mechatronics Lab

PROCESS CONTROL MODULE

PID TUNING AND STABILITY
(MATLAB Simulation)

Prof. Farid A. Tolbah

Eng. Waleed A. El-Badry

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1. Objective
The experiment is aimed to make student acquainted with the preliminary steps to manually
tune a PID controller for a plant model by means of MATLAB.

2. Outcome
Writing mathematical models of plants under investigation in Laplace form using MATLAB.
Developing the mathematical Laplace representation of Ziegler-Nicholas PID controller in
MATLAB.
Finding the critical gain (Kc) and the ultimate period (Pu) to calculate PID gains.

3. Prerequisite
Student should be familiar with the following terms:

Closed loop system.

System response.
PID controller
Ziegler-Nicholas tuning method.
Also basic understanding of MATLAB syntax is preferred.

4. The Closed loop system

The below figure represents the generic closed loop system.

Set e(t) wc y(t)

FCE

Controller Plant
Point
Current
Level

Feedback

Figure 1 Closed loop system

For implementation in this experiment, we are given the following plant model W p(s):
1 1
() = 3
=
(10 + 1) 1000 + 300 2 + 30 + 1
3

And the Ziegler-Nicholas PID is formulated as:

1
() = (1 + + )

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 Assuming unity feedback, redrawing the block diagram:

Set E(S) 1 X(S) 1 Y(S)

(1 + + )
Point Current (10 + 1)3
Level

Figure 2 Problem block diagram

5. Developing MATLAB functions (Plant, Controller and Closed Loop)

a. Launch MATLAB software.
b. From the Home tab, select New -> Function.
c. Write down the generic plant function as shown in the following snippet:
function [ Wp ] = CreatePlant( num,den )
%CreatePlant Creates plant transfer function.
% The returned value is the system in numerator/denomerator format
%% Parameters
% num : Numerator vector (starting from highest order of
coefficients)
% den : Denomerator vector (starting from highest order of
coefficients)
% plant : Plant transfer function
%% EXAMPLE
% num=[1];
% den=[1 0 1];
% sys=CreatePlant(num,den)

%% Result is
% 1
% sys= ---------------
% S^2+1
%% Function implementation
syms s;
Wp=tf(num,den);
end
Snippet 1 CreatePlant function

d. Save the file.

e. Close the function file.

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f. Repeat steps b-e for creating the following snippet for Ziegler-Nicholas generic function:
function Wc = ZieglerNicholasPID( Kc,Ti,Td )
% ZieglerNicholasPID function to generate the PID controller
transfer
%% Parameters
% Kc : Critical gain
% Ti : Reset time (minutes)
% Td : Derivative time (minutes)

%% Function implementation
s=tf('s');
Wc=Kc*(1+(1/(Ti*s))+Td*s);
end
Snippet 2 Ziger-Nicholas PID implementation

g. The final function bonds the two functions (plant and controller) to build the closed loop
system:
function sys = CLS( Wp,Wc )
%CLS Closed loop system function

%% Parameters
% Wp : Plant transfer function
% Wc : Controller transfer function
% sys : Closed Loop transfer function with assuming unity
feedback.

%% Function implementation
CLS=feedback(series(Wp,Wc),1);
end
Snippet 3 Closed loop system bonding

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6. Open loop system response

Set 1 Y(s)
Point (10 + 1)3

Figure 3 Open loop system

To plot the open loop response, perform the following steps:

a. From MATLAB command window, we will call the function CreatePlant to create the
transfer function mentioned in shown:

sys=CreatePlant(1,[1000 300 30 1]);

step(sys)

b. From the figure opened, right click on it and select characteristics -> Settling Time, Rise
Time and Steady State. Fill in the table:

Figure 4 Characteristics of Open loop system

Table 1 Characteristics of open loop system

Rise Time (sec) 42.2

Settling Time (sec) 75.2
Steady State (sec) 120

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7. Finding the critical gain (Kc) via Nyquist plot
a. To plot the Nyquist of frequency response of the plant, write down the following code:
Wp=CreatePlant(1,[1000 300 30 1]);
nyquist(Wp);

b. Right click on the plot and select characteristics -> Minimum Stability
Margins as shown in figure

Figure 5 Nyquist plot (Open loop)

c. Write down the gain margin Gm (in dB) and convert it to magnitude. Write down the
margin frequency Wc .

2 2
d. Calculate = = 8.0011 , and = = 0.173 = 36.32 and consequently

=

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 e. Check that Kc is the critical gain by writing down the following MATLAB code:

t=0:0.01:200;
Wp=CreatePlant(1,[1000 300 30 1]);
%Setting Kc=8, Ki=~0 and Kd=0
Wc=ZieglerNicholasPID(8,100000,0);
sys=CLS(Wp,Wc);
%plotting step response from t0=0 to tf=200 sec
step(sys,t)
Snippet 4 Plotting the system response at critical gain

Figure 6 Step response at Kc=8

8. Calculating P, PI and PID control gains

After obtaining the critical gain from the previous step, we are able to calculate the P,I and D
parameters and perform comparison of each controller type. According to Ziegler Nicholas
table:
Table 2 Ziegler Nicholas Tuning Chart

Controller Type Kp Ti (sec) Td (sec)

P 0.5*Kc = 0.5*8=4 100000 0
PI 0.45*Kc = 0.45*8=3.6 0.83*Pu=0.83*36.32=30.1 0
PID 0.59* Kc = 0.59*8=4.7 0.5*Pu=0.5*36.32=18.2 0.12*Pu =0.12*36.32=4.4

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Plot the step response of each controller over the plant by writing the following code:
Wp=CreatePlant(1,[1000 300 30 1]);
Wcp=ZieglerNicholasPID(4,100000,0);
Wcpi=ZieglerNicholasPID(3.6,30.1,0);
Wcpid=ZieglerNicholasPID(4.7,18.2,4.4);
t=0:0.01:500;
sys=CLS(Wp,Wcp);
step(sys,t)
hold on
sys=CLS(Wp,Wcpi);
step(sys,t)
sys=CLS(Wp,Wcpid);
step(sys,t)
legend('P','PI','PID')

Figure 7 step response of P, PI and PID controller

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