On-line process identification and PID controller autotuning

Abstract

We propose a new and simple on-line process identification method for the automatic tuning of the PID controller. It does not require a special type of test signal generators such as relay or P controller only if the signals are persistently exciting. That is, a user can choose arbitrary signal generators such as relay, a P controller, the controller itself, pulse signal and step signal generator because it needs only the measured process output and the controller output. It can incorporate nonlinearities due to actuator saturation or manual mode operation during identification work and shows a good robustness to measurement noises, nonlinearity of the process and disturbances. The proposed autotuner combined with the identification method and tuning rule using a model reduction shows good control properties compared with previous autotuning methods.