Unit No.

II
Block Diagram Representation

Prof. R.G.Mahajan
Asst Prof.
Mech. Engg Dept.MMIT,Pune
 Content
1.Introduction to Control system, Functional block diagramme.
2.Types of control system , open loop control system, closed loop control system
3. Identification of key elements of Mechatronics systems
4.Consept of Transfer function, Features of transfer function
5.Block diagramme representation of system( Block diagramme reduction technique)
6.Closed loop Transfer function
7.Numerical on block diagramme reduction
8. Applications of Mechatronics systems:- Household, Automotive, Shop floor
(industrial).
 Control system
When a number of elements are combined together to form a system to produce
desired output then the system is referred as control system
A control system is a system of devices or set of devices, that manages, commands,
directs or regulates the behaviour of other device(s) or system(s) to achieve desire results

Required Temp. Of Set

Temp. Input Air conditioning System output
Value

The system used for controlling the position, velocity, acceleration, temperature, pressure,
voltage and current etc. are examples of control systems. Let us take an example of simple
temperature controller of the room

There are two main types of control system. They are as follow :
1.Open loop control system 2.Closed loop control system
 1.Open loop control system
A control system in which the control action is totally independent of output of
the system then it is called open loop control system. Manual control system is also an
open loop control system. Fig - 1 shows the block diagram of open loop control system in
which process output is totally independent of controller action.

Practical Examples of Open Loop Control System

1.Electric Hand Drier – Hot air (output) comes out as long as you keep your hand under the
machine, irrespective of how much your hand is dried.
2.Automatic Washing Machine – This machine runs according to the pre-set time
irrespective of washing is completed or not.
3.Automatic Tea/Coffee Maker – These machines also function for pre adjusted time only.
4.Light Switch – lamps glow whenever light switch is on irrespective of light is required or
not.
5.Volume on Stereo System – Volume is adjusted manually irrespective of output volume
level.
Advantages of Open Loop Control System
1. Simple in construction and design.
2. Economical.
3. Easy to maintain.
4. Generally stable.
Convenient to use as output is difficult to measure.

Disadvantages of Open Loop Control System

1. They are inaccurate.
2. They are unreliable.
3. Any change in output cannot be corrected automatically.
 2.Closed loop control system
Control system in which the output has an effect on the input quantity in such
a manner that the input quantity will adjust itself based on the output generated is
called closed loop control system. Open loop control system can be converted in to
closed loop control system by providing a feedback. This feedback automatically makes
the suitable changes in the output due to external disturbance.
In this way closed loop control system is called automatic control system. Figure below
shows the block diagram of closed loop control system in which feedback is taken from
output and fed in to input.
Practical Examples of Closed Loop Control System
1. Automatic Electric Iron – Heating elements are controlled by output temperature of
the iron.
2. Servo Voltage Stabilizer – Voltage controller operates depending upon output
voltage of the system.
3. Water Level Controller– Input water is controlled by water level of the reservoir.
4. Missile Launched & Auto Tracked by Radar – The direction of missile is controlled
by comparing the target and position of the missile.
5. An Air Conditioner – An air conditioner functions depending upon the temperature
of the room.
6. Cooling System in Car – It operates depending upon the temperature which it
controls.
Advantages of Closed Loop Control System
1. Closed loop control systems are more accurate even in the presence of non-linearity.
2. Highly accurate as any error arising is corrected due to presence of feedback signal.
3. Bandwidth range is large.
4. Facilitates automation.
5. The sensitivity of system may be made small to make system more stable.
6. This system is less affected by noise.
Disadvantages of Closed Loop Control System
1. They are costlier.
2. They are complicated to design.
3. Required more maintenance.
4. Feedback leads to oscillatory response.
5. Overall gain is reduced due to presence of feedback.
6. Stability is the major problem and more care is needed to design a stable closed loop
system.
 Feedback Loop of Control System
A feedback is a common and powerful tool when designing a control system. Feedback
loop is the tool which take the system output into consideration and enables the system to
adjust its performance to meet a desired result of system.
In any control system, output is affected due to change in environmental
condition or any kind of disturbance. So one signal is taken from output and is fed back to
the input.
This signal is compared with reference input and then error signal is generated.
This error signal is applied to controller and output is corrected. Such a system is called
feedback system. Figure below shows the block diagram of feedback system.
Effect of Feedback
Refer figure beside, which represents feedback system where
R = Input signal E = Error signal G = forward path gain H = Feedback C = Output signal B
= Feedback signal

1. Error between system input and system output is reduced.

2. System gain is reduced by a factor 1/(1±GH).
3. Improvement in sensitivity.
4. Stability may be affected.
5. Improve the speed of response.
Comparison of Closed Loop And Open Loop Control System

Sr. No Open loop control system Closed loop control system

1 The feedback element is absent. The feedback element is always present.

2 An error detector is not present. An error detector is always present.

3 It is stable one. It may become unstable.

4 Easy to construct. Complicated construction.

5 It is an economical. It is costly.
6 Having small bandwidth. Having large bandwidth.
7 It is inaccurate. It is accurate.
8 Less maintenance. More maintenance.
9 It is unreliable. It is reliable.
Examples: Servo voltage stabilizer,
10 Examples: Hand drier, tea maker
perspiration
 Explain the control system used for following
1.Controlling the water height in tank
2.Actuation of street lights at 6p.m.
3.Stopping a clothes dryer when the clothes are dry.
4.Angle alteration by flat plate collector in solar panel
5.Burgelar Alarm
6.Sleep mode in Tv
7.Tea Maker / Coffee machine.
8.Voltage stabilizer
 Transfer Function
For many control system relationship between output & input is represented by
differential equation.These differential equations are transformed in to simple algebraic
equations to facilitate manipulators. This transformation is known as time domain in to
s domain by Laplace transform.
The transfer function of a control system is defined as the ration of the Laplace
transform of the output variable to Laplace transform of the input variable assuming all
initial conditions to be zero.

Where, r(t) and c(t) are time domain function of input and output signal respectively.

Procedure for determining the transfer function of a control system are as follows
1. We form the equations for the system
2. Now we take Laplace transform of the system equations, assuming initial conditions as
zero.
3. Specify system output and input
4. Lastly we take the ratio of the Laplace transform of the output and the Laplace transform of
the input which is the required transfer function
 In this circuit, the current 'i' is the response due to applied voltage (V) as
cause. Hence the voltage and current of the circuit can be considered as input and
output of the system respectively.

Now applying Laplace Transform, we get,

The transfer function of the system, G(s) = I(s)/V(s), the ratio of output to input.
Transfer function of Closed loop system
In a closed loop control system, a fraction of
output is fed-back and added to input of the
system. If H (s) is the transfer function of
feedback path, then the transfer function of
feedback signal will be B(s) = C(s)H(s). At
summing point, the input signal R(s) will be
added to B(s) and produces actual input signal or
error signal of the system and it is denoted by
E(s).
Methods of obtaining a Transfer function
There are major two ways of obtaining a transfer function for the control system .The
ways are –
1. Block diagram method : It is not convenient to derive a complete transfer function
for a complex control system. Therefore the transfer function of each element of a
control system is represented by a block diagram. Block diagram reduction
techniques are applied to obtain the desired transfer function.
2. Signal Flow graphs : The modified form of a block diagram is a signal flow graph.
Block diagram gives a pictorial representation of a control system . Signal flow
graph further shortens the representation of a control system.
Steps in Block diagram method:
1.Reduce the blocks connected in series.
2.Reduce the blocks connected in parallel.
3.Reduce minor internal feedback loops.
4.Try to shift take off points towards right & summing points to the left.
5.Using standard transfer of simple closed loop system , obtain close loop transfer
C(s)/R(s) of overall system.
 Functional Block in System
1.Summing Point of Block Diagram

2. Take off Point of Block Diagram when we need to apply one or same input to more
than one blocks, we use take off point. A point is
where the input gets more than one paths to
propagate.

3.Cascade Blocks

4.Parallel Blocks
 Rules for block diagram Reduction
1. When several systems or control blocks are connected in cascaded manner, the
transfer function of the entire system will be the product of transfer function of all
individual blocks.

2. When same input signal is applied different blocks and the output from each of them are
added in a summing point for taking final output of the system then over all transfer function
of the system will be the algebraic sum of transfer function of all individual blocks.
3.Summation of input signals is represented by a point called summing point which is
shown in the figure below by crossed circle. Here R(s), X(s) and Y(s) are the input signals.

4.Shifting of Take off Point

Principle of shifting of take off point is that, it may be shifted either side of a block but
final output of the branches connected to the take off point must be un-changed.
5 .Shifting of Summing Point

6.Feedback loop Elimination

Example.1 Find out Transfer function by using block diagramme reduction technique

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Example.2

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Example.3

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Example.4

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Example.5

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Example

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Example

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Example 6

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 Example 7

Find the transfer function of the following block diagrams

(a)

G4
R (s ) Y (s )
G1 G2 G3

H2
H1
 I
G4
R(s ) B A
Y (s )
G1 G2 G3
H2
H1 G2

Solution:

1. Moving pickoff point A ahead of block G2

2. Eliminate loop I & simplify

B
G4  G2G3
 G4
R(s )
GG4 
B A G G
Y (s )
G1 2
2G 3
3

H2
H1G2

3. Moving pickoff point B behind block G4  G2G3

II
R(s ) B C
Y (s )
G1 G4  G2G3
H2
H1G2 1 /(G4  G2G3 )
4. Eliminate loop III

R(s ) Y (s )
G1 GG4 4GG 2G2G
3 3
C C

1  H 2 (GH4 2 G2G3 )
G2 H1
G4  G2G3
Using rule 6

R(s ) G1 (G4  G2G3 ) Y (s )

1  G1G 2 H1  H 2 (G4  G2G3 )

Y ( s) G1 (G4  G2G3 )
T (s)  
R( s ) 1  G1G 2 H1  H 2 (G4  G2G3 )  G1 (G4  G2G3 )
Example 8

(b)

R(s ) Y (s )
G1 G2

H1 H2

H3
Solution:

1. Eliminate loop I

R(s ) A
G2 I
B
Y (s )
G1 G2
H1
1  GH2 H
2
2

H3
G2
2. Moving pickoff point A behind block
1  G2 H 2
R(s ) A G2 B
Y (s )
G1
1  G2 H 2

1  G2 H 2 II
H1
G2

H3 Not a feedback loop

3. Eliminate loop II

R(s ) G1G2 Y (s )
1  G2 H 2

Using rule 6
 Example 9

H4
R(s ) Y (s )
G1 G2 G3 G4

H3

H2

H1
 Solution:

1. Moving pickoff point A behind block G4

I
H4
R(s ) Y (s )
A B
G1 G2 G3 G4
H3 1
H3 G4 G4
H2 1
H2
G4 G4
H1
2. Eliminate loop I and Simplify

R(s ) II Y (s )
B
G1
H3
G4
H2
G4 III
H1

II feedback III Not feedback

H 2  G4 H 1
G4
 3. Eliminate loop II & IIII

R(s ) G1G2G3G4 Y (s )
1  G3G4 H 4  G2G3 H 3

H 2  G4 H 1
G4
Using rule 6

Y ( s) G1G2G3G4
T (s)  
R( s) 1  G2G3 H 3  G3G4 H 4  G1G2G3 H 2  G1G2G3G4 H1
Example 10

H2

R(s ) A Y (s )
G1 G2 G3 B

H1

G4
Solution:

1. Moving pickoff point A behind block G3

I
H2

R(s ) A B Y (s )
G1 G2 G3
1
H1 G3
1
H1 G3
G4
2. Eliminate loop I & Simplify

H2

B
G2 G3 B G2G3

1 H1
 H2
H1 G3 G3
II
R(s ) Y (s )
G1

H1
G3

G4
3. Eliminate loop II

R(s ) Y (s )

G4

Y ( s) G1G2G3
T ( s)   G4 
R( s) 1  G2 H1  G2G3 H 2  G1G2 H1
Example11

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 Applications of Mechatronics systems
1.Anti lock braking system (ABS):
Anti-lock Brake System (ABS) Helps prevent brakes from locking.
TheABS (Anti-lock Brake System) monitors the speed of each wheel to detect locking.
When it detects sudden braking, it will release braking pressure for a moment and then
provide optimum braking pressure to each wheel.
2.Engine Management System:-
3.Home Temperature Control

Control Objective: maintain house temperature at SP in spite of disturbances

1. Process Variable: house temperature
2. Measurement Sensor: thermistor; or bimetallic strip coil on analog models
3. Measured Process Variable (PV) Signal: signal transmitted from the thermistor
4. Set Point (SP): desired house temperature
5. Controller Output (CO): signal to fuel valve actuator and furnace burner
6. Final Control Element (FCE): solenoid valve for fuel flow to furnace
7. Manipulated Variable: fuel flow rate to furnace
8. Disturbances (D): heat loss from doors, walls and windows; changing outdoor
temperature; sunrise and sunset; rain…
4.Automated Car Parking system

An automated car parking system is a Mechatronics system designed to

transport and park cars automatically.
5.Automated color bottle filling Plant