Assessment of controller performance: a relay feedback approach

Assessment of control loop performance is one of the important tasks to be carried out in a plant, regardless of the control strategy. The present work utilizes the shape information from single relay feedback test to assess the performance of a feedback system. The process considered is a typical first-order plus dead time process and the controller used is PI type of controller. An ideal relay is introduced in the feedback loop before the controller. The shape of the relay output characterizes the performance of the controller. The mismatch in the integral time can also be observed from the shape. Based on the shape information, analytical expressions for relay feedback responses are derived and straightforward procedures are evolved to assess the performance of the controller. The proposed scheme assesses the controller performance and computes the new tuning parameters, in case retuning of the controller is necessary. The robustness of the method is also tested for second-order plus dead time as well as for higher order systems. More importantly the present approach employs only one relay test for (1) assessment and (2) retuning of the controller. It provides a reliable way that is compatible even to a non-expert operator to assess the controller performance.