Process Control: Modeling, Design, and Simulation

3.14. Summary

The main objective of this chapter was to develop an understanding of dynamic process behavior. Although Laplace transforms can be used to obtain analytical solutions to differential equations, we will not be using them for this purpose during the rest of this textbook. The concept of a transfer function is very useful for control system design and analysis. In future chapters we find that transfer functions allow the use of algebra rather than differential equations when analyzing control systems composed of a number of components (controller, valve, process, sensor, etc.).

The stability of a process is determined by the eigenvalues of the state space A matrix, or the poles of the Laplace transfer function: if all are negative, ...