Closed-loop tuning secrets revealed!

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Closed-loop tuning secrets revealed!

Tue, 2006-09-19 (All day)

Using feed forwards makes tuning closed-loop systems easier.

By Peter Nachtwey, Delta Computer Systems, Inc.
Advances in closedloop control systems are enabling motion
controllers to deliver the advantages associated with hydraulic
power while meeting the more precise motion requirements of
today's machine control applications. Control loops
incorporating proportional, integral, and differential (P, I, and
D) gain parameters have become standard functions of motion
controllers, and control algorithms have evolved to include
additional parameters such as feed forward gains to enable
increased dynamic system responsiveness while decreasing
Figure 1. Structure of a typical
positioning and velocity error. The result is higher performance control loop incorporating P, I,
D, and velocity and acceleration
machine control, with longer machine life, due to smoother
feed forward factors.
motion.
Motion controllers use combinations of the P, I, and D gains in
generating control outputs to reduce the error between the
target and actual position. The proportional gain is simply
multiplied by the instantaneous error between the target and
actual position to generate the proportional contribution to the
output during the next time period. The larger the error, the
greater the output.
The integral gain is multiplied by the sum of position-errors
over time to generate the integrator contribution to the output.
Figure 2a. Plot of actual vs
Even if the error is very small at any instant, the sum of errors
target motion. Here, the system
and the resulting output will eventually increase to the point
uses proportional gain only and
where the error is reduced.
the actual speed and actual
position differ significantly. The
The differential gain is multiplied by the error between the
gap between the actual (red)
target and actual velocities. The differential gain's contribution
and target (cyan) position
curves is the error necessary to
to the output is proportional to the rate of convergence or
generate the proportional gain,
divergence between the target and actual positions. For
which can be eliminated by
simplicity, we will ignore the differential gain by assuming a
proper use of feed forward
system has sufficient damping factor.
terms.
Limitations of PID alone
One limitation with control using PID gains alone is that the
proportional term requires an error to generate an output and
the integrator term requires an error and time. The control

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output to the valve is always responding to the error between the

target position and the actual position. In many cases, the error
needs to be quite large to get the desired output if proportional
gain were used alone. Adding an integrator element can cause
the control output to grow by accumulating errors, but the
winding up of the integrator component of the control output
takes time.
Often, point-to-point moves need to happen so quickly that the
integrator is of little use, because the integrator does not have
the time to wind up. Even if the integrator does wind up, it may
cause the system to overshoot the target position as it winds
down.

Figure 2b. Velocity feed forward

has been applied to the system.
The position error (gap between
the red and cyan curves) has
been significantly reduced
during the constant speed part
An integrator winds down when the sign of the error between
of the move, but there is still
the target and actual position changes. This can't happen unless
position error during
the actual position overshoots the target position by some
acceleration and deceleration
amount, which is generally undesirable in a motion system. By
(see inside ovals).
incorporating feed forward components in the control loop, a
motion controller can reduce the need for the integrator to wind
up during moves.
Forward thinking
Whereas feedback deals with deviations from desired behavior
in the past, feed forwards are predictive elements that drive the
system to exhibit a desired behavior. Feed forwards make use of
the information generated by the motion controller's target or
motion profile generator. Typically, high performance motion
controllers operate on the principle of generating a target
motion profile and then closing the loop to force the actual
Figure 2c. Plot shows the same
system, but with both velocity
motion to follow the target motion. (Picture the proverbial
and
acceleration feed forwards
carrot held out in front of the donkey).
applied. The actual position plot
The target motion is updated at consistent time periods, perhaps now matches the target plot
almost perfectly this is an
every millisecond. A target generator calculates the desired
optimally tuned system.
position, velocity, and acceleration before each PID update.
Because the motion controller "knows" what the target velocity
and acceleration are, it can immediately output the control
signal needed to achieve the required velocity and acceleration
for each loop update, instead of waiting for the PID to respond
to the error developed between the target and actual position.
The amount of output is set by predictive parameters, called feed
forward gains. Unlike PID gains, which are multiplied by the
feedback error, feed forward gains are predictive gains that are
multiplied by the target velocity and acceleration and summed
together to generate a contribution to the output, Figure 1. The
feed forward contribution to the control output is based on a
simple calculation, below, where Kv is the velocity feed forward
and Ka is the acceleration feed forward.

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Figure 3. Adjusting system

Different ways
response using the Tuning
It is important to note that a desired motion can be achieved in
Wizard slider bar.
different ways. As Figure 1 shows, several elements combine to
form the control output to the valve. The output can come from
the PID gains acting on feedback errors, from the feed forward
calculations, or from a combination of the PID and feed forwards. In all cases, the same output under
the same condition will result in the same speed. The system does not "care" if the output is due to
the feed forwards or the PID elements. This can be observed in Figures 2a, 2b, and 2c.
So if the system is not moving fast enough, why not just increase the PID gains? Whenever feedback
is used in calculations, the gains need to be limited in order to insure system stability. Often, it is
simply not possible to increase PID gains enough to reduce errors to an acceptable level without
causing oscillation or instability. The benefit of having the output come from the feed forwards is
that the feed forward terms do not require an error to generate an output, whereas the PID equations
do.
The key to producing a stable, easily-tunable system is to have the feed forward calculations generate
as much of the output as possible and for the PID components of the control loop to output as little
as possible. This results in the errors being as small as possible. We should rely on the PID elements
to compensate primarily for the effects of environmental factors (e.g., temperature and humidity) on
the system and for non-linearities in system response that may change from time to time (e.g., from
varying loads things that aren't possible to predict in generating the feed forward values.
Moving the system
The velocity feed forward gains are used by the motion controller to calculate the control output
needed to cause an actuator to move at a given velocity
A hydraulic cylinder moves as the result of oil being supplied to one side of the piston and being
removed from the other side under the control of a servovalve. To move the piston at a given velocity
requires a proportional amount of oil to keep the net force across the piston equal to the work done
due to the load and frictional forces.
We can empirically estimate how much output it takes to move at each velocity. That is what the
velocity feed forward term does automatically. Figure 2b shows how adding velocity feed forward
gain can reduce positioning error.
For example, we can send a 10% control signal to a valve and measure how fast the actuator moves. If
the actuator moves 1 in./sec at 10% output, we can estimate that this same system will take a 30%
control signal to move the actuator at 3 in./sec. In other words, the open-loop gain of the system is
such that it moves at 1 in./sec for a 10% control signal.
Because the feed forward gain should be set as the inverse of the open loop system gain, the feed
forward will be 10% control signal for each in./sec of motion. The motion controller would then use
this feed forward gain to calculate the control signal each time a new target velocity is calculated.
Tuning velocity feed forwards
The velocity feed forward gains can often be determined simply by observing the p e r f o r m a n c e
during open-loop moves as described above; however, some actuators and some applications take
more effort.
For example, single rod cylinders must be tuned for both the extend and retract directions. Because
the different surface areas on the each side of the piston, a different set of PID and feed forward gains

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are required for extension and retraction. The good news is that a simple ratio exists between extend
and retract gains that can be determined by observation from the ratio of the extend and retract
velocity feed forwards.
We can determine the feed forward gains for each direction by first sending a +10% control signal to
the valve and then a -10% control signal and noting the resulting velocities in each direction. Even if
the actuator is symmetrical, some systems are inherently non-linear. One simple example is a heavy
load suspended such that gravity assists in one direction and opposes in the other.
In an ideal world, a system could be operated entirely using feed forward gains that are set in this
manner. Because real world systems have varying loads and are somewhat non-linear, motion
controllers supplement the feed forward function with the PID gains. For example, if a more heavily
loaded system requires 32% instead of 30% output to go 3 in./sec, the PID components of the control
loop require only enough error to provide the 2% output component. The velocity feed forward's 30%
output does most of the work.
Compensating for fluid compression
Acceleration feed forward gains are used by the motion controller to estimate the required control
output as a function of acceleration. The acceleration feed forward gain parameters are necessary to
compensate for the compressibility of the oil in the system.
A hydraulic system is similar to a mass (the piston) between two springs (the trapped oil in the
cylinder). Ideally, all the energy (oil under pressure) applied to the cylinder goes into kinetic energy
(moving the piston), but in reality, a certain quantity of the energy goes to increasing the pressure
that provides the force necessary to move the mass.
This is similar to applying force on one end of a spring and compressing it until the mass on the
other end of the spring starts to move. The spring absorbs energy as it compresses in the form of
potential energy instead of transferring all the energy to the desired kinetic energy. It is this
diversion of energy to potential energy instead of kinetic energy that causes cylinders to lag behind
the target position while accelerating and establishes a need for acceleration feed forward.
Acceleration feed forward gains increase the control output to the valve during acceleration, so the
valve allows more energy into the actuator and makes up for the energy absorbed by the compressing
oil. Figure 2c shows how adding an acceleration feed forward gain element can optimize the system
to eliminate lags and overshoots that can happen when velocities are changing.
The potential energy stored in the oil is released when decelerating. The spring expands, and
potential energy that is released is converted into kinetic energy often causing undesirable over
shoot. The acceleration feed forward helps here, too, because the acceleration gain is negative as the
system slows down and is subtracted from the control output.
Feed forward tuning
If tuned correctly, the acceleration feed forward will cause the system to add the right amount of
energy to compensate for energy absorbed by the oil during compression. It will also subtract the
same amount of energy as the system approachesits target so that oil decompression does not cause
overshoot. The challenge is calculating what value we should use for the acceleration feed forward.
One method is to perform a guided trial-and-error process by looking at graphs of the motion profile.
If the actual position is lagging while accelerating and leading (over shooting) while decelerating, the
acceleration feed forward value must be increased. If the position is leading while accelerating and
lagging while decelerating, the acceleration feed forward value should be decreased.

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Some motion controllers are supported with automated tuning tools to make the task of optimizing
the PID and feed forward values much easier. For example, the Tuning Wizard, Figure 3, allows the
user to adjust the responsivenessof the system by moving a slider bar on the computer screen.
The objective is to minimize the energy absorbed while accelerating and released while decelerating.
Making the spring stiffer reduces the energy absorbed by the spring. In hydraulic terms, this means
we should concentrate on increasing the natural frequency of the system by minimizing air in the oil
and increasing the area of the pistons. Never use a hose between the valve and cylinder because a
hose will absorb energy and contribute to instability. Mounting the valve on the cylinder also helps to
make the "springs" shorter.
Feed forward component of output KV Target velocity + Ka Target acceleration
Peter Nachtwey is president of Delta Computer Systems Inc., Vancouver, Wash. Contact him at
peter@deltamotion.com or visit www.deltamotion.com.
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