NPTEL Online Course (Jan - May 2025)

Control Engineering
Instructor: Dr. Ramkrishna Pasumarthy
Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

Solution - Assignment 8

Common data for Q1 to Q7:

Given the plant transfer function of a servomechanism:
10
G(s) = (1)
s(s + 2)(s + 8)

We need to design a compensator meeting the following requirements: Settling time (2% cri-
terion) ts = 2 sec, Mp = 16.3%, and the steady-state error to a unit ramp input must equal
0.0125.

1. The dominant poles are calculated to be:

√
sd = −2 ± j2 3 (2)

and the corresponding characteristic equation is:

s2 + 4s + 16 (3)

Therefore, the real part of the dominant pole is −2.

The correct answer is -2

2. The angle deficiency can be calculated using the angle criterion of the root locus:

ϕ = −180 − (−∠sd − ∠(sd + 2) − ∠(sd + 8)) (4)

Expanding:
√ √ √
−1 2 3 −1 2 3 −1 2 3
ϕ = −180 − (− tan ( ) − tan ( ) − tan ( )) (5)
−2 −2 + 2 −2 + 8
√ 1
ϕ = −180 − (−(180 − tan−1 ( 3) − tan−1 (∞) − tan−1 ( √ ))) (6)
3
ϕ = −180 − (−120 − 90 − 30) (7)
ϕ = 60◦ (8)
The correct answer is 60

1
3. From the dominant pole characteristic equation, ωn = 4. The compensator zero is given
by:
ωn sin(γ)
zc = (9)
sin(θ + γ)
Substituting values:
4 sin(30◦ )
zc = =2 (10)
sin(60◦ + 30◦ )
Since the zero is located in the LHP, its location is −2.
The correct answer is -2

4. The compensator pole is given by:

ωn sin(γ + ϕ)
pc = (11)
sin(θ + γ + ϕ)

Substituting values:
4 sin(30◦ + 60◦ )
pc = =8 (12)
sin(60◦ + 30◦ + 60◦ )
Since the pole is located in the LHP, its location is −8.
The correct answer is -8

5. The open-loop transfer function of the compensated system with gain K is given by:
K · 10
KG(s)Gc (s) = (13)
s(s + 8)2
√
The gain of the system for the dominant closed-loop poles to be sd = −2 ± j2 3 is
determined as follows:

|KG(s)Gc (s)|s=−2+j2√3 = 1 ⇒ K = 19.2 (14)

The correct answer is in the range of 18, 20

6. The open-loop transfer function of the lead compensated system is:

192
KG(s)Gc (s) = (15)
s(s + 8)2

The velocity error constant is given by:

Kv = lim sKG(s)Gc (s) (16)

s→0

Substituting values:
s · 192 192
Kv = lim 2
= =3 (17)
s→0 s(s + 8) 64
The correct answer is in the range of 2.8, 3.2

2
 7. The parameter α is given by:
zc 2
α= = = 0.25 (18)
pc 8
Since αβ = 1, we get:
1 1
β= = =4 (19)
α 0.25
The new velocity error constant Kv′ is given by:

Kv′ = βKv = 4 × 3 = 12 (20)

The correct answer is in the range of 11, 13

8. Closed poles should be at s = −1±j. The characteristic equation should be s2 +2s+2 = 0.

When this is written in unity feedback form, we get

s2 + 2s + 2 = 0
2
1+ 2 =0
s + 2s
2
1+ =0
s(s + 2)

Therefore, the open loop transfer function with compensator is given by:
2
G(s)Gc (s) =
s(s + 2)
K(s + a) 2
=
(s + 2)(s + 3)(s + b) s(s + 2)

As given in the hint, we can take a = 3 and cancel out the pole and zero as s = −3. By
comparing the rest of the terms, we get K = 2 & b = 0.
The correct answer is in the range of 1.8, 2.2

9. The value of ’a’ is 3.

The correct answer is 3

10. The value of ’b’ is 0.

The correct answer is 0

11. The characteristic equation for the closed-loop system is given by:

s2 + 1500 = 0. (21)

Thus, we see that the coefficient of the s term is missing. Hence,

2ζωn = 0, (22)

and since ωn can be found from the constant term in the equation, it is non-zero. Thus
ζ = 0. Hence, we get the peak overshoot to be:
√
2
Mp % = e−ζπ/ 1−ζ × 100 (23)

3
 = e0 × 100 = 100%. (24)
Thus, since the system is undamped, the overshoot is 100%.
The correct answer is 100

12. The system is oscillatory, and we need to improve the transient response of the system
without shifting the root locus to the right half. This can be achieved using a phase lead
compensator, as a phase lead compensator will add gain at high frequencies and thus
improve the transient response. The phase lead compensator also increases the stability
of the system as it increases the phase margin and shifts the root locus towards the left
half.
The correct answer is Lead

13. Velocity error constant,

Kv = lim sGc (s)G(s) (25)
s→0
  
s+z 2500
= lim sK = 0. (26)
s→0 s+p s2 − 1000
The correct answer is 0

14. The characteristic equation of the closed-loop system is:

s3 + 10s2 + s(2500K − 1000) + 12500K − 104 . (27)

The Routh-Hurwitz table can be obtained as:

s3 1 (2500K - 1000)
s2 10 (12500K - 104 )
s1 1250K
s0 (12500K - 104 )

Hence, we can infer that the closed-loop system is stable for K > 0.8. Thus, the correct
options are options B and D.
The correct answer is 1.0, ∞