Besides a correct design or layout, good control systems are essential to guarantee that production systems operate and produce according the desired specifications. This course gives an introduction to classical control engineering approaches and discusses the standard methods and tools that are usually applied. The methods discussed in the course have a very wide application area. Examples are greenhouse climate, bioreactors, food production, robotics, environmental systems etc. This makes that the course fits in the curricula of several studies.
The course starts with a refresher on dynamic models of systems represented by differential equations. These differential equations will be solved by transformation to the Laplace domain. The system representation in the Laplace domain by transfer functions offers several new possibilities to interpret and to analyze the characteristics of systems and to design controllers.
Classical control is discussed and analyzed for the PID controller family. Controller tuning, stability and performance are central items to qualify the controllers, and methods to find these qualifications are introduced (response times, pole placement, root-locus and frequency response). At the end of the course the use of control systems is extended from single-input single-output systems to the more complex multiple-input multiple-output systems.
During the course theory will be explained by examples from practice, exercising problems, working on a design case and a computer practical on controller tuning as it would be done in a practical situation. The course provides an important initial step towards more advanced control that can be applied in Mechanical Engineering (combining hardware and software).
