Teaching a conscious use of PI/PID tuning rules

This paper presents a didactic activity concerning the use of PI/PID tuning rules, also addressing the issue of how to achieve a knowledgeable selection of the most suited one for the particular problem at hand. The activity aims at making the students aware of the rationale of said rules, and therefore of their suitability for the dynamic (not necessarily physical) characteristics of the controlled process, and the objectives to achieve. The ultimate goal is to induce a conscious use of tuning rules, making the students approach them (also) as conceptual tools and not just recipes.