Response of first-order systems.

1
 Chapter 4 (Part I)

Lecture 5
  Before discussing a complete control system, it is necessary to
become familiar with the responses of some of the simple, basic
2
systems that often are the building blocks of a control system.
 Transfer Function :
 Mercury Thermometer :
3
  Consider the thermometer to be located in a flowing stream
4 of fluid for which the temperature 𝒙 varies with time.
 Our problem is to calculate the response or the time variation
of the thermometer reading 𝒚 for a particular change in 𝒙.
 The following assumptions will be used in this analysis:
1. All the resistance to heat transfer resides in the film
surrounding the bulb (i.e., the resistance offered by the glass
and mercury is neglected).
2. All the thermal capacity is in the mercury. Furthermore, at
any instant the mercury assumes a uniform temperature
throughout.
3. The glass wall containing the mercury does not expand or
contract during the transient response.
  It is assumed that the thermometer is initially at steady state.
5  By applying the unsteady-state energy balance :
 𝐈𝐧𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 − 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 = 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
𝒅𝒚
 𝒉𝑨 𝒙 − 𝒚 − 𝟎 = 𝒎𝑪 (𝟒. 𝟏)
𝒅𝒕
 Where :
 𝑨 = surface area of bulb for heat transfer, 𝒇𝒕𝟐
 𝑪 = heat capacity of mercury, 𝑩𝒕𝒖/𝑰𝒃𝒎 .𝒐 𝑭
 𝐦 = mass of mercury in bulb, 𝒍𝒃𝒎
 𝒕 = time, 𝒉𝒓 .
 𝒉 = film coefficient of heat transfer, 𝑩𝒕𝒖/𝒉𝒓. 𝒇𝒕𝟐 .𝒐 𝑭
  The coefficient 𝒉 will depend on the flow rate and properties of
the surrounding fluid and the dimensions of the bulb.
6
 Assuming that 𝒉 = constant.
 Eq. (4. l) is a first-order differential equation.
 At 𝐬𝐭 − 𝐬𝐭 ∶
𝒅𝒚
 =𝟎
𝒅𝒕
 𝒉𝑨 𝒙𝒔 − 𝒚𝒔 = 𝟎 (𝟒. 𝟐)
 𝒕<𝟎 𝒙𝒔 = 𝒚𝒔
 Subtracting Eq.(4.2) from Eq.(4.1) gives :
𝒅 𝒚−𝒚𝒔
 𝒉𝑨 𝒙 − 𝒙𝒔 − 𝒚 − 𝒚𝒔 = 𝒎𝑪 (𝟒. 𝟑)
𝒅𝒕
 Note that:
𝒅 𝒚−𝒚𝒔 𝒅𝒚
 = because 𝒚𝒔 = 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭
𝒅𝒕 𝒅𝒕
 𝑿 = 𝒙 − 𝒙𝒔 , 𝒀 = 𝒚 − 𝒚𝒔
  Where : 𝑿 and 𝒀 are the deviation variables.
7  𝒉𝑨 𝑿 − 𝒀 = 𝒎𝑪 𝒅𝒕
𝒅𝒀
(𝟒. 𝟒)
𝒎𝑪
 If we let = 𝝉 = 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆
𝒉𝑨
𝒅𝒀
 𝑿−𝒀= 𝝉 𝒅𝒕 (𝟒. 𝟓)

 Taking the Laplace transform of Eq.(4.5)

 The parameter 𝝉 is called the time constant of the system and has the units of time. From
above, we have ,
 𝑿 𝒔 − 𝒀 𝒔 = 𝝉[𝒔𝒀 𝒔 − 𝒀 𝟎 ]
 𝑿 𝒔 − 𝒀 𝒔 = 𝝉𝒔𝒀 𝒔 (𝟒. 𝟔)
𝒀 𝒔 𝟏
 = 𝝉𝑺+𝟏 (𝟒. 𝟕)
𝑿 𝒔

 𝝉 = 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞.

𝒀 𝒔
 𝑿 𝒔
= 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦
 It is the ratio of the Laplace transform of the deviation in thermometer reading to the
Laplace transform of the deviation in the surrounding temperature.
 To summarize the procedure for determining the
8
transfer function for a process:
 Step 1. Write the appropriate balance equations (usually mass or
energy balances for a chemical process).
 Step 2. Linearize terms if necessary (details on this step are given
in Chap. 5).
 Step 3. Place balance equations in deviation variable form.
 Step 4. Laplace-transform the linear balance equations.
 Step 5. Solve the resulting transformed equations for the transfer
function, the output divided by the input.
This procedure is a very useful summary for developing
the transfer function for a process.
 Standard Form for First-Order Transfer Functions
9  The general form for a first-order system is
𝒅𝒚
 𝝉 + 𝒚 = 𝒌𝒑 𝒙 𝒕 (𝟒. 𝟖)
𝒅𝒕
 where 𝒚 is the output variable and𝒙(𝒕) is the input forcing function. The initial
𝒅𝒚
conditions are , at t = 0, =0
𝒅𝒕
 𝒚 𝟎 = 𝒚𝒔 = 𝒌𝒑 𝒙 𝟎 = 𝒌𝒑 𝒙𝒔
 Introducing deviation variables gives
 𝑿 = 𝒙 − 𝒙𝒔
 𝒀 = 𝒚 − 𝒚𝒔
 Eq.(4.8) becomes
𝒅𝒀
 𝝉 + 𝒀 = 𝒌𝒑 𝑿 𝒕 (𝟒. 𝟗) 𝒀 𝟎 =𝟎
𝒅𝒕
 𝝉𝒔𝒀 𝒔 + 𝒀 𝒔 = 𝒌𝒑 𝑿 𝒔
𝒀(𝒔) 𝒌𝒑
 = (4.10)
𝑿(𝒔) 𝝉𝒔+𝟏
  The important characteristics of the standard form are as follows:
 The denominator must be of the form 𝝉𝒔 + 𝟏
10
 The coefficient of the 𝒔 term in the denominator is the system time constant 𝝉
 The numerator is the steady-state gain 𝒌𝒑
 Example 4.1. Place the following transfer function in standard first-order form, and
identify the time constant,𝝉 and the steady state gain, 𝑲𝒑 .
𝒀(𝒔) 𝟐
 = 𝟏
𝑿(𝒔) 𝒔+
𝟑
 Rearranging to standard form, we get
𝒀(𝒔) 𝟐 𝟔 𝒀(𝒔) 𝑲𝒑
 = 𝟏 = 𝟑𝒔+𝟏 , 𝑿(𝒔) = 𝝉𝒔+𝟏 , 𝝉 = 𝟑 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑲𝒑 = 𝟔
𝑿(𝒔) 𝒔+
𝟑
 If the system is subjected to unit forcing function,
𝟏
 𝑿 𝒕 = 𝒖(𝒕), 𝑿 𝒔 =
𝒔
𝟔
 𝒀 𝒔 =
𝒔(𝟑𝒔+𝟏)
 The ultimate value of 𝒀 𝒕 𝒊𝒔
𝟔
 𝒍𝒊𝒎[𝒀 𝒕 ] = 𝐥𝐢𝐦[𝒔𝒀 𝒔 ] = 𝒍𝒊𝒎 = 𝟔 = 𝑲𝒑
𝒕→∞ 𝒔→𝟎 𝒔→𝟎 𝟑𝒔+𝟏
  Properties of transfer functions :
11  A transfer function relates two variables in a physical process; one of these is
the cause (forcing function or input variable) and the other is the effect
(response or output variable).
 In our example, the surrounding temperature is the cause or input, whereas the
thermometer reading is the effect or output.
𝒀 𝒔
 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝑮 𝒔 =
𝑿 𝒔
 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 ∶
 𝑮 𝒔 = symbol for transfer function.
 𝑿 𝒔 = transform of forcing function or input, in deviation form.
 𝒀 𝒔 = transform of response or output, in deviation form.
 The transfer function describes the dynamic characteristics of the system
 𝑿 𝒔 = 𝒂𝟏 𝑿𝟏 𝒔 + 𝒂𝟐 𝑿𝟐 (𝒔)
 Where : 𝑿𝟏 and 𝑿𝟐 are particular forcing functions and 𝒂𝟏 and 𝒂𝟐 are constants.
 𝒀 𝒔 = 𝑮 𝒔 𝑿 𝒔 = 𝒂𝟏 𝑮 𝒔 𝑿𝟏 𝒔 + 𝒂𝟐 𝑮 𝒔 𝑿𝟐 𝒔 = 𝒂𝟏 𝒀𝟏 𝒔 + 𝒂𝟐 𝒀𝟐 (𝒔)
 𝒀𝟏 (𝒔) and 𝒀𝟐 (𝒔) are the responses to 𝑿𝟏 and 𝑿𝟐 .
  Ex : the response of the mercury thermometer to a sudden change in
surrounding temperature of 𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝑭 is simply twice the response to a sudden
12 change of 𝟓𝟎 𝑭 in surrounding temperature.
𝒀(𝒔) 𝒌𝒑 𝟏𝟎
 = , 𝑿 𝒕 = 𝟏𝟎𝒖 𝒕 , 𝑿 𝒔 =
𝑿(𝒔) 𝝉𝒔+𝟏 𝒔
𝟏𝟎𝒌𝒑 𝟏𝟎𝒌𝒑 /𝝉 𝑨 𝑩
 𝒀 𝒔 = = 𝟏 = + 𝟏
𝒔(𝝉𝒔+𝟏) 𝒔(𝒔+ ) 𝒔 (𝒔+ )
𝝉 𝝉

 𝒀 𝒕 = 𝑨 + 𝑩𝒆−𝒕/𝝉
 𝑨 = 𝟏𝟎𝒌𝒑 𝑩 = −𝟏𝟎𝒌𝒑
𝒕
−𝒕/𝝉 −
 𝒀 𝒕 = 𝟏𝟎𝒌𝒑 − 𝟏𝟎𝒌𝒑 𝒆 = 𝟏𝟎𝒌𝒑 (𝟏 − 𝒆 ) 𝝉

𝟓
 𝑰𝒇 𝑿 𝒕 = 𝟓𝒖(𝒕) 𝑿 𝑺 =
𝒔
𝟓𝒌𝒑 𝟓𝒌𝒑 /𝝉 𝑨 𝑩
 𝒀 𝒔 = 𝒔(𝝉𝒔+𝟏) = 𝟏 =𝒔+ 𝟏
𝒔(𝒔+ ) (𝒔+ )
𝝉 𝝉

 𝒀 𝒕 = 𝑪 + 𝑫𝒆−𝒕/𝝉
 𝑪 = 𝟓𝒌𝒑 𝐃 = −𝟓𝒌𝒑
𝒕
−𝒕/𝝉 −
 𝒀 𝒕 = 𝟓𝒌𝒑 − 𝟓𝒌𝒑 𝒆 = 𝟓𝒌𝒑 (𝟏 − 𝒆 ) 𝝉

 Note : 𝛕 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐤 𝐩 are constants for the same thermometer

 Transient response
13
 Now that the transfer function of a first-order system
has been established, we can easily obtain its
transient response to any forcing function.
 Since this type of system occurs so frequently in
practice, it is worthwhile to study its response to
several common forcing functions: step, impulse,
ramp, and sinusoidal.
 These forcing functions have been found to be very
useful in theoretical and experimental aspects of
process control.
 They will be used extensively in our studies, so let’s explore the
transient response of the first-order system to different forcing
functions
  Transient response :
14  Forcing function :
a. Step function :
 𝑿 𝒕 = 𝑨𝒖(𝒕)
 Where : 𝒖(𝒕) is the unit-step function
 For example, a step change in flow rate
can be obtained by the sudden
opening of a valve.
 Step response :
 If a step change of magnitude A is introduced into a first-order system, the
transform of 𝑿(𝒕) is :
𝐴
 𝑋 𝑠 = (4.12)
𝑠
 The transfer function, which is given by Eq. (4.7), is :
𝑌 𝑠 1
 = (4.7)
𝑋 𝑠 𝜏𝑠+1
 By combining 4.7 and 4.12 :
15 𝑨
 𝒀 𝒔 = (𝟒. 𝟏𝟑)
𝒔(𝝉𝒔+𝟏)
𝑨/𝝉 𝑪𝟏 𝑪𝟐
 𝒀 𝒔 = 𝟏 = + 𝟏 (𝟒. 𝟏𝟒)
𝒔(𝒔+ 𝝉 ) 𝒔 𝒔+ 𝝉

 𝑪𝟏 = 𝑨 , 𝑪𝟐 = −𝑨
𝑨 𝑨
 𝒀 𝒔 = − 𝟏
𝒔 𝒔+ 𝝉

 𝒀 𝒕 = 𝑨 − 𝑨𝒆−𝒕/𝝉 = 𝑨(𝟏 − 𝒆−𝒕/𝝉 )

 𝒀 𝒕 =𝟎 𝒕<𝟎 (𝟒. 𝟏𝟓)
 𝒀 𝒕 = 𝑨 𝟏 − 𝒆−𝒕/𝝉 𝒕≥𝟎
𝒀(𝒕)
 = 𝟏 − 𝒆−𝒕/𝝉
𝑨
  From this Fig.4.7 :
1. The value of 𝒀(𝒕) reaches 𝟔𝟑. 𝟐 %
16
of its ultimate value when
the time elapsed is equal to one time
constant 𝝉.
2. When the time elapsed is 2𝝉,3𝝉,
and 4𝝉, the percent response is 𝟖𝟔. 𝟓 ,
𝟗𝟓, and 𝟗𝟖, respectively.
3. From these facts, one can consider
the response essentially completed in
three to four time constants.
4. Also from the Fig., the slope of the response curve at the origin is 1. This means
that, if the initial rate of change of 𝒀(𝒕) were maintained, the response would
be complete in one time constant.
5. The response to a step input of any magnitude 𝑨 may be obtained directly from
Fig. by multiplying the ordinate by 𝑨.
  Ex : 4.2 :
 A thermometer having a time constant of 𝟎. 𝟏 𝐦𝐢𝐧 is at a steady-state
17 temperature of 𝟗𝟎𝟎 𝑭. At time 𝒕 = 𝟎, the thermometer is placed in a temperature
bath maintained at 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝑭. Determine the time needed for the thermometer to
read 𝟗𝟖𝟎 𝑭.
 Solution :
 𝝉 = 𝟎. 𝟏 𝒎𝒊𝒏 𝒙𝒔 = 𝟗𝟎𝒐 𝑭 𝑨 = 𝟏𝟎𝒐 𝑭
 The ultimate thermometer reading will, of course, be 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝒐 𝑭, and the ultimate
value of the deviation variable 𝒀 𝒕 = ∞ = 𝟏𝟎𝒐 𝑭. When the thermometer reads
𝟗𝟖𝒐 𝑭, 𝒀 𝒕 = 𝟖𝒐 𝑭.
 𝒀 𝒕 = 𝑨(𝟏 − 𝒆−𝒕/𝝉 )
 𝒚 − 𝒚𝒔 = 𝟗𝟖 − 𝟗𝟎 = 𝟖 = 𝟏𝟎(𝟏 − 𝒆−𝒕/𝟎.𝟏 )
 𝒕 = 𝟎. 𝟏𝟔𝟏 𝒎𝒊𝒏
 Also from the Fig. :
𝒀 𝒕 𝟖
 = = 𝟎. 𝟖
𝑨 𝟏𝟎
𝒀 𝒕 𝒕
 𝒂𝒕 = 𝟎. 𝟖 → ∴ = 𝟏. 𝟔
𝑨 𝝉
 𝒕 = 𝟎. 𝟏𝟔 𝒎𝒊𝒏