Feedforward Control ()

Liankui DAI
Institute of Industrial Control, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, P. R. China
2009/04/22

Contents

Feedforward Concept Design of Linear Feedforward Controllers Design of Nonlinear Feedforward Controllers Design Examples of Feedforward Control Feedforward-Feedback Control Simulation Results Summary

Problem Discussion
Consider the heat exchanger shown in the figure, it is required to control the outlet temperature of process fluid, T, Tm by manipulating the steam flow, RV. Please design the relevant control schemes on the diagram for the T following cases: Case #1: both of the flow, RF, and steam inlet pressure, PV, are stable; Case #2: RF is stable, but PV varies frequently; Case #3: PV is stable, but RF varies frequently; Case #4: both of PV and RF varies frequently.
Steam PV

RV RF , Ti Process Fluid Condensate

Feedback or Feedforward Control Examples

Tsp
Steam HV, RV Process Fluid cp, RF , T1 Condensate T2 Tsp
FF
TC

Steam HV, RV Process Fluid

RF

cp, RF , T1 Condensate

T2

Feedback Control Scheme

Feedforward Control Scheme

Feedforward Concept
ysp Feedforward control system u(t)

D1(t), , Dn(t) represent some measurable disturbances to the controlled variable

Process y(t)

D1(t)

...

Dn(t)

Idea: to compensate for some measurable disturbances before they affect the controlled variable.

Feedforward / Feedback Control

ysp Feedforward control system +

+ u(t)

Feedforward control system

ysp

Process y(t) D(t)

Design of Linear Feedforward Controllers

ysp Feedforward control system u(t)

Design Objective:
Ym ( s ) GYD ( s ) GYC ( s )GFF ( s )GDM ( s ) D( s) 0
y(t)

Process D(t)

D (t)

Disturbance Path GYD (s) Disturbance Measurement GDM (s) Feedforward Controller GFF (s)

Dm (t)

u(t)

Control Path GYC (s)

ym (t)

Extended Controlled Process

Design of Linear Feedforward Controllers (cont.)

D (t) Disturbance Path GYD (s) Disturbance Measurement GDM (s) Feedforward Controller GFF (s)

Dm (t)

u(t)

Control Path GYC (s)

ym (t)

Extended Controlled Process

Design Objective:
Ym ( s ) GYD ( s ) GYC ( s )GFF ( s )GDM ( s ) D( s) 0

Design formula for the feedforward controller:

GYD ( s ) GFF ( s ) GYC ( s )GDM ( s )

Design of Linear Feedforward Controllers (cont.)

Design formula for the feedforward controller:

GDM ( s) K DM KYD GYD ( s ) exp D s TYD s 1

GFF ( s ) K FF K FF KYD KYC K DM

GYD ( s ) GFF ( s ) GYC ( s )GDM ( s )

KYC GYC ( s ) exp C s TYC s 1 TYC s 1 exp FF s TYD s 1

FF max 0, D C ( Why ? )

Types of Feedforward Controllers

Steady-State or Dynamic Feedforward

Controller () Linear or nonlinear Feedforward Controller ()

GFF ( s ) K FF TYC s 1 exp FF s TYD s 1 K FF KYD KYC K DM

Discuss the common-used feedforward controller

Simulation Results of Linear Feedforward Controllers

Output of Transmitter 42 41 40 39 38 Steady-State Feedforward Control Strong Dynamic Feedforward Control Dynamic Feedforward Control

37 36 35 34 33 32 40

Weak Dynamic Feedforward Control

Without Feedforward Control

50

60

70

80 Time, min

90

100

110

120

(Please see/FFControl /ExHeaterLinearFFC.mdl)

Nonlinear Steady-state Feedforward Control

T2sp Nonlinear FFC T1 RVsp
FC

Steady-state Equation
RVm Steam HV, RV Process Fluid T2 Condensate

c p RF (T2 T1 ) H V RV

RF

cp, RF , T1

sp RV 1

Kv

RF (T2sp T1 ) ,

K v HV / c p

Discuss the realization of nonlinear feedforward controller and the effect of relevant measurements

Nonlinear Steady-State Feedforward Control Simulation

(Please see /FFControl/ExHeaterStaticFFC.mdl)

Comparison of Feedforward and Feedback Control

Feedforward Control
Disturbances are measurable Control MV based on disturbances Open-loop, No Stability Problem Only some disturbances are detected

Feedback Control
CV is measurable Control MV based on control ERROR Closed-loop, Stability is the most important All disturbances are detected No accurate model needed Adaptable to nonlinear or timevaried systems

Accurate model needed for both of Control and Disturbance Paths

Not adaptable to nonlinear or time-varied systems

FFC+FBC Scheme #1 for Heat Exchanger

T2sp
TC

FFC RF k1

RVsp
FC

RV

Steam

T1 T2

Process Fluid Condensate

Steady-state output and smooth switch problem ?

FFC+FBC Scheme #2 for Heat Exchanger

T2sp
TC

FFC RF k1

RVsp
FC

RV

Steam T2

T1

Process Fluid Condensate

Summary

Cases which may introduce feedforward control

(1) Primary Controlled Variable is not measurable (2) Primary CV is measurable, but some disturbances are too strong for feedback control systems

Conditions to apply feedforward control

(1) Main disturbances are measurable (2) Response speed of disturbance path is slower than that of control path (3) Characteristics of disturbance and control path are almost invariable