Introduction to Control Systems

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Hello friends, I hope you all are doing great. Today, I am going to start this new tutorial series on Control Systems. I will start from very basics and will slowly move towards complex concepts. I’ll not only cover the theoretical control systems, but will also focus on its practical implementation. Though out this tutorial series, I will use MATLAB software (where required) to solve & plot different features of control systems.
As it’s our first tutorial, so today, we will have a look at detailed Introduction to Control systems. Before starting with technical details, I would like to simplify things, by first providing the basic concept of a Control System. So, let’s get started:
Introduction to Control Systems

A system, whose output can be managed, controlled or regulated by varying its input is called Control System .
If we look around, we will find many control systems in our surroundings i.e. Refrigerator, Air Conditions, Washing Machines etc.

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A control system can also be a combination of smaller control systems and are normally used to get desired/required output.
It’s block diagram is shown in below figure:

The above figure represents a simple control system and we can think of this control system as a mathematical equation i.e.

 X + 5 = Y
where, X is input, Y is output and Constant 5 is acting as a Control System.

So, by changing the value of input parameter ( X ), we can change our output value (Y).
Similarly, if we want a particular output value, we can achieve it by fixing input value.

Real Life Example of a Control System
As I have mentioned earlier, we are literally surrounded by control systems, these days. Keeping this simple, let’s have a look at the example of a smart fan, which regulates its spinning speed with respect to atmospheric temperature.

A pre-installed Temperature sensor reads the temperature, which is then fed into Comparator.
Comparator compares current temperature with user-inputted temperature value and then regulates the Fan speed.

Hence the input parameter i.e. temperature helped us in changing the system’s output i.e. Spinning Speed. Below is the block diagram for representing the control system of a smart fan:

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Now I hope that you can quite easily find different control systems in your surroundings. Now let’s have a look at Main two Types of Control Systems:
Types of Control Systems
Control Systems are classified into two main categories, which are:

Open Loop.
Closed Loop.

Let’s discuss them one by one, in detail:
Open Loop Control System...