What is Control System Engineering?
Control system Engineering is an engineering discipline that applies automatic control theory to design systems, which yields desired behaviors in control environments.
Control engineering is based on the foundations of feedback theory and linear system analysis, and it generates the concepts of network theory and communication theory.
Control engineering (what is control system engineering) gathers information from the system and uses it to estimate how it will behave in the future and make changes to the system to ensure it operates as desired. Based on feedback & other inputs, it also helps to optimize the system.
Designed to function without human intervention, these systems do not require any human input. In many industrial and civil engineering fields, such as dishwashers and airplanes, control engineering is critical.
Binary, analog, and digital features divide control technology into three types. Today, digital and binary controls are the main types of controls used in electrical engineering, replacing analog controls for more and more.
Controls based on binary signals include light bulbs, valves, and motors with small numbers of turns. Control systems for binary systems can be used to regulate lighting systems, water feeds, or the movement of vehicle drives.
Components of Control System Engineering
These are the main components of any Control Engineering work.
- The system, on which you want to have control. Control is having the power to influence or direct the course of events of a system.
- Ability to modify/influence the behavior of the system. We want to use this influence to get the system to behave a certain way, i.e. when we have control, we get to decide what to do and ensure that it happens.
- Way to use this influence to achieve the desired goal.
Control engineering can be thought of as the collection of tools, techniques, guidelines, and processes by which we accomplish that.
These are some of the tasks and responsibilities that a control engineer performs
- Developing control systems.
- Designing, developing, and managing control systems.
- Identifying, reviewing, and selecting control algorithms.
- Software and hardware development for controlling equipment.
- Keeping existing controls in check & hence keep on looking at overall system.
- Maintaining safety, efficiency & effectiveness according to specifications.
Types of Control Systems Engineering:
Control Systems are used to continually regulate the behaviour of devices in a repeatable and predicted way
The fundamentals of a Control System (control system basics concepts) include measuring an error signal and then adjusting the system to reach the desired course or outcome. If the system deviates too fast and the control system is unable to adjust the course or outcome, the Control System (type of the system in control system)
is inadequate to manage the disturbances.
There are different types of control engineering based on the methodologies involved. Control engineering has many types, including:
- Classical Control Engineering
Here, the systems are usually represented by using ordinary differential equations. In classical control engineering, these equations are transformed and analyzed in a transformed domain. This method is commonly used in Single Input Single Output systems (SISO).
- Modern Control Engineering
In modern control engineering, higher-order differential equations are converted to first-order differential equations. These equations are solved very similarly to the vector method. By doing so, many complications dealt in solving higher order differential equations are solved.
These are applied in Multiple Input Multiple Output systems where analysis in the frequency domain is not possible.
- Optimal Control Engineering
In optimal control engineering, the problem is articulated/formulated as a mathematical model of the process, physical constraints, and performance constraints, with the aim to minimize the cost function.
- Robust Control Engineering
In robust control methodology, the changes in the performance of the system with the change in parameters are measured for optimization.
- Game Theory
It’s the study of conflict & cooperation. In-game theory, each system tries to reduce its cost function against the disturbances/noises (while the disturbances try to maximize the cost function).
- Adaptive Control Engineering
- Nonlinear Control Engineering
Importance of Control Systems:
Control systems use electricity to transmit and distribute power in order to provide the desired output. As a result, companies increasingly rely on well-designed control systems to reduce manual intervention in the process of improving potency and supplying products and services.
Every aspect of a control system needs to be updated periodically to ensure that software remains updated.
Companies rely heavily on control systems to operate, so the role of control system engineers is essential. It is becoming more and more prevalent for control systems to automate processes for a smooth, efficient response.
The entire business service could be compromised, and the company could lose customers as a result of faults in the control system (what is control system in electrical engineering).
Examples/Usage of Control Engineering
Some basic examples of a control system include cruise control in a motor vehicle, temperature control in a building, chemical concentrations in drinking water, the speed of a conveyor belt in a process plant.
Apart from these, some more examples are
- Thermostat Heater: Here with Control Engineering, Temperature is regulated.
- Sunseeker solar system: Here position change of panel is modified/changed.
- Voltage stabilizer: This is to reduce/increase voltage.
- Missile Launcher: To do proper target the physical material (building/bridge.)
- Auto Engine: It helps in change/regulating the speed
- Inverter AC: To adjust compressor/change in speed
- Turbine Water Control System at power Station: To do adjustment in the gate for the flow of water
Conclusion:
Control engineering is the engineering discipline that focuses on the modeling of a diverse range of dynamic systems and the design of controllers that will cause these systems to behave in the desired manner.
Control engineering is based on the foundations of feedback theory and linear system analysis.
Now, this work is done on a computer using mathematical modeling.
By using computer simulations, a Control Systems Engineer can determine how to control the system’s variables and, ultimately, the production line.
They will then develop software, so this control can be applied in a real-world situation.
