Application Notes D-3 Exclusive Control

In Exclusive Control, the Speed Reference becomes 0, and the PID Output becomes the
entire Freq Command. Exclusive Control is used when A152 [PID Ref Sel] is set to
option 1, 2, 3 or 4. This configuration does not require a master reference, only a
desired set point, such as a flow rate for a pump.

Example

• In a pumping application,
o The PID Reference equals the Desired System Pressure set point.
• The Pressure Transducer signal provides PID Feedback to the drive.
o Fluctuations in actual system pressure,
o Due to changes in flow, result in a PID Error value.
• The drive output frequency,
o increases or decreases to vary motor-shaft speed,
o To correct for the PID Error value.
• The Desired System Pressure set point is maintained as valves in the system are
opened and closed causing changes in flow.
• When the PID Control Loop is disabled,
o The Commanded Speed is the Ramped Speed Reference.

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First, stop and take a deep breathe.
Got it? OK.
Loop controls are not trivial in general and especially in the situation you are probably going to encounter.
Let's take this one step at a time.
1. All closed loop controls work roughly the
same way.
a. You have a SP (set point),
b. CV (control variable, aka output),
c. and a PV (process variable, aka
input).
The goal of the control loop is to adjust the
CV so that the SP equals the PV.
Before we go any further then, we have just
ONE input controlling ONE output to try to
match ONE setpoint.
You have 12 or 16 inputs (it wasn't clear)
controlling 4 outputs.
You have to decide right away how to
combine those inputs.
For instance, if any of the thermocouples
are clearly out of range (way too high or too
low) indicating a broken or shorted
thermocouple, then you will probably want
to ignore them.
For the remainder, most commonly you will
be either taking the lowest, highest, or
average value, or perhaps a median or
some other tricky formula of your own
design such as a weighted average.
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Whatever you do, it needs to come up with
a SINGLE input value for each output.
2. There are several different methods to
achieve the control aspect of things.
To begin with, there is "open" vs. "closed",
also known as "feed forward" and "feed
back" loops.
In an open or feed forward loop, you simply
perform some math on the SP and feed the
result to the CV.
The PV is ignored.
These types of "loops" have much faster
response speeds than closed loop
controllers because closed loop controllers
only adjust things based on the errors (after
the fact).
Often the output of both types is summed
together before being sent to the actual
output to control the device.
3. The closed loop controller looks at the
difference between the PV and the SP (the
error signal) and adjusts the CV (output) to
try to make the PV and SP match.
It does not take changes to the set point
into consideration in general, only the error
signal.
Thus the reason that the open loop
controller deals with changes in set points
so much better.
There are several types of controllers such
as IMC (internal model control), SMC
(sliding mode control), and the one you
mentioned, PID (proportional, integral,
derivative control, plus variations which
turn various P/I/D terms off).
Each has certain distinct advantages in
certain applications.
For instance, PID loops work best with low
process lags (if you change the CV, the PV
responds very quickly), linear responses and
consistent process gains (the same size
change in CV results in the same change in
the PV every time), and non-integrating
loops (the error value does not go into
exponential runaway).
IMC controllers are much more tolerant of
long process lags and process gain issues
but intolerant of process linearity issues and
integrating loops.
Sliding mode controllers are very tolerant of
pretty much all of the above except for
integrating loops and can be a bit on the
slow side to converge.
The reason I'm mentioning these
alternatives is because in general sliding
mode controllers tend to work very good as
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process heating controllers where PID loops
don't tend to work so well.
4. Now more importantly, it is important that
any of these controllers are operated either
by taking timing into consideration or else
run with consistent timing.
What do I mean by that?
All of the closed loop controllers have gain
settings that are in terms of time.
They are programmed as if "time" is
consistent...that is, the controller gets run
say once every 100 ms or once every
second.
If you put the controller code in your
continuous task and don't go through some
sort of gyration to fix the timing issue, your
controller will not run consistently.
So the general rule is to always put the code
into a periodic task.
Start by setting up a periodic task
specifically for your control loops no matter
which PLC you are using.
There are alternatives but this is the
simplest way that gives you consistent
results.
5. Ok, so far you should have code that is
transforming your thermocouple inputs into
a single PV.
Now create the PID instruction itself, one
for each output.
 First fill in the variable where you calculated
your PV.
Ignore tieback (used for interfacing to
external discrete PID loop controllers such
as Honeywell UDC's).
Fill in the CV as the output variable for your
analog output.
Ignore the master loop and inhold stuff.
Enter 0's for any of the parameters that you
won't be using.
6. You need to enter the set point into the
loop_structure.SP member to be able to
adjust your set points.
Also make sure to turn on
a. .PVT (process variable tracking),
b. .DOE (derivative of error),
c. and clear .PE (use independent gain
equation)
d. and .NDF (turn on derivative
smoothing).
If you don't know what these mean, use my
suggestions.
You can always experiment later.
7. Now manual/auto control is another area
that is a bit strange.
8. Your 3 gains (P, I, D) are in the .KP, .KI, and
There are multiple manual modes.
The one I recommend is "software manual".
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The other manual modes are again for
interfacing to some sort of external
controller.
To set the loop into manual mode, set the
.SWM bit.
To put it in automatic, clear this bit.
Don't touch the .MO bit! I know what it
says...trust me, just don't touch it.
When you are in software manual mode,
use the ".SO" value to set the output.
In software manual mode, the PID
controller will copy the value of .SO into the
.CV (control value).
While in this mode, the PID loop internal
values "track" the .SO value and don't go
into "windup" (runaway).
While in automatic mode, the .SO value is
changed by the PID controller to reflect the
actual current .CV.
When you go back to software manual
mode, then it again releases control.
This provides for smooth transitions
between auto and manual mode (so-called
"bumpless" transfers).
.KD variables.
Now setting these things can be done
extremely scientifically but almost everyone
does a seat-of-the-pants method which I'll
 explain, mostly because Zigler-Nichols has
never been tremendously successful for me.
Now you need to make yourself a trend
chart.
On this chart you want to see the 3 key
variables (CV, SP, and PV).
Once you got your trend chart running, also
make sure you have the loop controls in
front of you so that you can control
everything in another window.
Now turn everything on and put the loop in
manual (.SWM) control with the .SO
(output) value set to something very low.
You may have to go back and tune it again
later so I recommend that you actually build
a loop tuning screen in your operator
interface specifically for doing this.
Now make at least 2 or 3 step changes to
the .SO value and watch what happens.
Wait until the .PV settles out and calculate
the actual gain.
In other words, if you adjust the .SO value
by x%, what percentage does the .PV
increase by?
This ratio is your process gain and the value
of .KP should be exactly equal to that.
So you just determined your first gain.
9. For the others, it's a bit trickier.
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a. Set the set point (.SP) close to where
the .PV (process variable) is actually
at.
b. Initially set .KI equal to 10% of the
.KP value.
c. Now put the loop in manual.
d. You should see the loop "pull in"
(adjust the .CV value until SP=PV).
e. Now change the SP and observe
how it responds again.
f. Carefully adjust KI by a factor of 10
and try to get it to pull in faster.
g. If it starts oscillating, then back off.
h. Then once you got it close, switch
from multiplying/dividing by 10 to a
factor of 2.
i. Continue tuning until whenever you
change the SP, you get a "25%
overshoot" followed by the loop
pretty much levelling out after that.
j. We'll fix the overshoot in a minute.
10. Finally, start with .KD at 10% of the value of
KI.
Slowly increase it and notice how what KD
tends to do is to provide a very quick
correction to the .CV that helps the loop
"pull in" even faster and helps narrow some
of the overshoots.
 KD will help you whenever there is a
disturbance in the system.
It helps correct process disturbances
whereas KI is all about pulling in the loop
and PV is all about setting the initial gain
(guess).
11. Now start running product through there.
This isn't a one-time affair.
It will take some additional adjustments
(usually doubling or halving gains, followed
by making much smaller moves after that)
because an "idle" heating system has a
different system gain from a real one.
12. If you want to try "auto tuners", my
recommendation is to use them with
caution.
Sometimes they work well and sometimes
not.
Interestingly enough the above tuning
method even though it is "seat of the
pants" calculated EXACTLY
THE SAME GAINS as the software product
from ControlSoft.
Or if you have RS-Logix 5000 Professional,
there is a loop tuner available in there.
Or, instead of the PID instruction, switch to
the PIDE instruction.
You will have to put it in a function block
diagram but it also has an autotuner built
right into the PLC firmware.
I've never used this instruction yet though
so I can't really tell you much else about it.
13. If you are having trouble getting the loops
to stabilize, realize that you are probably
fighting one of two things.
Process heating applications usually are
notorious for long lags (the time it takes for
the PV to respond after you change the CV
is very long), and they are notorious for
integrating loops (errors in the loop tend to
exponentially increase/decrease rather
than remaining at a fixed value).
If this is the case you may find that you will
have to set the KP low, the KI even lower,
and have a fairly high KD value.
KD tends to help keep things stable while KI
slowly corrects the errors.
Your gains will be very low since both lag
and integrating properties are fighting
against making very fast changes.
14. Or you can instead use a sliding mode
controller.
These are often much better at controlling
process heating applications than PID.
And there's really only one parameter to
tune.
Search for "SMC" or "sliding mode
controller" on this forum for references on
how to do it.