Control Engineering Basics

Which of the following is the correct pair of a property of derivative (D) action in PID control and a measure taken when implementing it?

  1. AIt accumulates the error over time to remove the steady-state error, and to prevent integral windup the upper and lower limits on the manipulated variable are removed
  2. BIts gain becomes smaller at higher frequencies, so it is robust to noise, and no low-pass filter is used because a filter would add phase lag and cause instability, so it is used as it is
  3. CIt suppresses oscillation with a manipulated variable that follows the rate of change of the error, but it strongly amplifies high-frequency noise, so it is combined with a low-pass filter as a filtered derivative
Show answer and explanation

Answer: C. It suppresses oscillation with a manipulated variable that follows the rate of change of the error, but it strongly amplifies high-frequency noise, so it is combined with a low-pass filter as a filtered derivative

Derivative action produces a manipulated variable proportional to the rate of change of the error and responds in advance, before the error grows, so it suppresses oscillation and increases damping. The gain of a differentiator s grows in proportion to frequency, so it strongly amplifies high-frequency components such as sensor noise. A first-order low-pass filter is therefore combined with it, as in Td·s/(1 + Td·s/N) (a filtered derivative), limiting the gain at high frequencies to about N times. N is often chosen around 8 to 20.

  • A. This describes integral action. Removing the limits also does not remove the saturation of the real actuator.
  • B. The gain of a derivative grows at higher frequencies, which makes it sensitive to noise.
  • C. Correct. A filtered derivative limits the gain at high frequencies.
Practice this topic Back to topic

Related calculators

Books on Control Engineering Basics Ad

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

More Control Engineering Basics questions

  1. In PID control, which of the following prevents the manipulated variable from jumping sharply at the instant the setpoint is changed as a step (derivative kick)?
  2. In the Ziegler–Nichols ultimate sensitivity method, the gain is raised under proportional control alone until a sustained oscillation appears, and from that gain Ku and the period of oscillation Tu the PID parameters are set to Kp = 0.6Ku, Ti = 0.5Tu and Td = 0.125Tu. Which of the following are the values for Ku = 8 and Tu = 2 s?
  3. Which of the following correctly describes integral windup?
  4. Positional PI control is implemented on a microcontroller, with the duty cycle of a PWM signal (0 to 100%) as the manipulated variable. Which of the following is a correct countermeasure against integral windup?
  5. A digital PI controller with a sampling period Ts = 1 ms calculates the integral with the rectangular approximation Σe·Ts. With an integral gain Ki = 10 s⁻¹, which of the following is the increase in the integral term when an error e = 0.2 lasts for 50 samples?

Comparisons in this topic