Feedforward controller

Generic Control Strategies. The two generic strategies for process control are feedback and feedforward control. Most process control strategies are based on one or a combination of these strategies (1 3). 

The feedforward control strategy (Fig. lb) addresses the disadvantages of the feedback control strategy. The feedforward control strategy measures the disturbance before it affects the output of the process. A model of the process determines the adjustment ia the manipulated variables(s) to compensate for the disturbance. The information flow is therefore forward from the disturbances, before the process is affected, to the manipulated variable iaputs. 

The primary advantage of the feedforward over the feedback control strategy is that corrective action is initiated before the controlled variable is upset. Feedforward control, however, has its own drawbacks, ie, variables used to characterize the disturbances must be measurable a model of the response of the controlled variable to the disturbance must be available (when the feedforward strategy is used alone, the control performance depends on the accuracy of the model) and the feedforward control strategy does not compensate for any disturbance not measured or modeled. 

In most process plant situations where feedforward control is appropriate, a combination of the feedforward and feedback control is usually used. The feedforward portion reduces the impact of measured disturbances on the controlled variable while the feedback portion compensates for model inaccuracies and unmeasured disturbances. This control strategy is referred to as feedforward control with feedback trim. 

The decision to implement a feedforward control strategy should be based on the quahty of control requked, the nature and frequency of the... 

Stea.dy-Sta.teFeedforwa.rd, The simplest form of feedforward (FF) control utilizes a steady-state energy or mass balance to determine the appropriate manipulated variable adjustment. This form of feedforward control does not account for the process dynamics of the disturbance or manipulated variables on the controlled variable. Consider the steam heater shown ia Figure 15. If a steady-state feedforward control is designed to compensate for feed rate disturbances, then a steady-state energy balance around the heater yields ... 

Fig. 15. Example of steady-state feedforward controls, where + indicates the summation of signals. Terms are defined in text.

Ratio and Multiplicative Feedforward Control. In many physical and chemical processes and portions thereof, it is important to maintain a desired ratio between certain input (independent) variables in order to control certain output (dependent) variables (1,3,6). For example, it is important to maintain the ratio of reactants in certain chemical reactors to control conversion and selectivity the ratio of energy input to material input in a distillation column to control separation the ratio of energy input to material flow in a process heater to control the outlet temperature the fuel—air ratio to ensure proper combustion in a furnace and the ratio of blending components in a blending process. Indeed, the value of maintaining the ratio of independent variables in order more easily to control an output variable occurs in virtually every class of unit operation. 

Ratio control and multiphcative feedforward control, in general, are subject to the same considerations. Ratio control can be of a steady-state or a dynamic form. It is often implemented using a setpoint as the load variable when the load variable has a controller associated with it and the controller is in auto mode. 

Feedforward Control A reedfoi ward system uses measurements of disturbance vai iables to position the manipulated variable in such a way as to minimize any resulting deviation. The disturbance... 

While the single-loop PID controller is satisfactoiy in many process apphcations, it does not perform well for processes with slow dynamics, time delays, frequent disturbances, or multivariable interactions. We discuss several advanced control methods hereafter that can be implemented via computer control, namely feedforward control, cascade control, time-delay compensation, selective and override control, adaptive control, fuzzy logic control, and statistical process control. 

Feedforward Control If the process exhibits slow dynamic response and disturbances are frequent, then the apphcation of feedforward control may be advantageous. Feedforward (FF) control differs from feedback (FB) control in that the primary disturbance or load (L) is measured via a sensor and the manipulated variable (m) is adjusted so that deviations in the controlled variable from the set point are minimized or eliminated (see Fig. 8-29). By taking control action based on measured disturbances rather than controlled variable error, the controller can reject disturbances before they affec t the controlled variable c. In order to determine the appropriate settings for the manipulated variable, one must develop mathematical models that relate ... 

The effect of the disturbance on the controlled variable These models can be based on steady-state or dynamic analysis. The performance of the feedforward controller depends on the accuracy of both models. If the models are exac t, then feedforward control offers the potential of perfect control (i.e., holding the controlled variable precisely at the set point at all times because of the abihty to predict the appropriate control ac tion). However, since most mathematical models are only approximate and since not all disturbances are measurable, it is standara prac tice to utilize feedforward control in conjunction with feedback control. Table 8-5 lists the relative advantages and disadvantages of feedforward and feedback control. By combining the two control methods, the strengths of both schemes can be utilized. 

FIG. 8-31 (a) Feedback control of a heat exchanger, (h) Feedforward control... 

The above FF controller can be implemented using analog elements or more commonly by a digital computer. Figure 8-33 compares typical responses for PID FB control, steady-state FF control (.s = 0), dynamic FF control, and combined FF/FB control. In practice, the engineer can tune K, and Tl in the field to improve the performance oTthe FF controller. The feedforward controller can also be simplified to provide steady-state feedforward control. This is done by setting. s = 0 in Gj. s). This might be appropriate if there is uncertainty in the dynamic models for Gl and Gp. 

Other Considerations in Feedforward Control The tuning of feedforward and feedback control systems can be performed independently. In analyzing the block diagram in Fig. 8-32, note that Gy is chosen to cancel out the effects of the disturbance Us) as long as there are no model errors. For the feedback loop, therefore, the effects of L. s) can also be ignored, which for the sei vo case is ... 

These decoupler design equations are very similar to the ones for feedforward control in an earlier section. In fact, decoupling can be interpreted as a type of feedforward control where the input signal is the output of a feedback controller rather than a measured load variable. 

Feedforward control can also be applied by multiplying the liquid flow measurement—after dynamic compensation—by the output of the temperature controller, the result used to set steam flow in cascade. Feedforward is capable of a reduction in integrated error as much as a hundredfold but requires the use of a steam-flow loop and dynamic compensator to approach this. 

FIG. 8 54 Controlling evaporators requires matching steam flow and evaporative load, here using feedforward control. 

Lee, M., and Park, S., A new scheme combining neural feedforward control with model predictive control. AIChE J., 38, 193 (1992). 

Fig. 5.3. Process regulation (a) feedback control, (b) feedforward control.

Apply classical controller analysis to cascade control, feedforward control, feedforward-feedback control, ratio control, and the Smith predictor for time delay compensation. 

To counter probable disturbances, we can take an even more proactive approach than cascade control, and use feedforward control. The idea is that if we can make measurements of disturbance changes, we can use this information and our knowledge of the process model to make proper adjustments in the manipulated variable before the disturbance has a chance to affect the controlled variable. 

We will continue with the gas furnace to illustrate feedforward control. For simplicity, let s make the assumption that changes in the furnace temperature (T) can be effected by changes in the fuel gas flow rate (Ffuei) and the cold process stream flow rate (Fs). Other variables such as the process stream temperature are constant. 

This equation provides us with a model-based rule as to how the manipulated variable should be adjusted when we either change the set point or face with a change in the load variable. Eq. (10-5) is the basis of what we call dynamic feedforward control because (10-4) has to be derived from a time-domain differential equation (a transient model). 3... 

In Eq. (10-5), 1/Gp is the set point tracking controller. This is what we need if we install only a feedforward controller, which in reality, we seldom do.4 Under most circumstances, the change in set point is handled by a feedback control loop, and we only need to implement the second term of (10-5). The transfer function -GL/Gp is the feedforward controller (or the disturbance rejection... 

To see how we implement a feedforward controller, we now turn to a block diagram (Fig. 

In contrast, we could have done the derivation using steady state models. In such a case, we would arrive at the design equation for a steady state feedforward controller. We ll skip this analysis. As will be shown later, we can identify this steady state part from the dynamic approach. 

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