An improved parallel cascade control structure for processes with time delay

Parallel cascade control strategies, to improve the dynamic performance of a control system, have been proposed earlier mainly for control of stable processes. In this paper, further results are presented for a new parallel cascade control structure and controller design for controlling stable, unstable or integrating processes with time delay. The design of the disturbance rejection controllers and the setpoint filter are based on loop shaping and ISE performance measures, respectively. A modified Smith predictor scheme is used in the primary loop to enhance the closed-loop performance of the system. The stabilization, robustness and performances of time delay processes are analyzed. The disturbance rejection capability of the proposed scheme is superior as compared to some existing methods. Examples are given to illustrate the usefulness of the proposed method and its superiority over some parallel cascade control schemes.