Procedure for Cascade Control Systems Design: Choice of Suitable PID Tunings

This paper provides an approach for the application of PID controllers within a cascade control system configuration. Based on considerations about the expected operating modes of both controllers, the tuning of both inner and outer loop controllers are selected accordingly. This fact motivates the use of a tuning that, for the secondary controller, provides a balanced set-point / load-disturbance perfor- mance. A new approach is also provided for the assimilation of the inner closed-loop transfer function to a suitable form for tuning of the outer controller. Due to the fact that this inevitably introduces unmodelled dynamics into the design of the primary controller, a robust tuning is needed.