Software for PID Design: Benefits and Pitfalls

The most common PID design methods in industry are based on formulas. This article will present some major advantages of instead using the power of computer based softwares for PID controller design. The Matlab based software used in this work was developed in 2007 and derives robust, IAE minimizing, PID controllers. The experiences of using this software are collected in this article and include control signal activity limitation due to measurement noise, controller design on an industrial Friction Stir Welding process and fast controller design for large batches of processes. It is shown that the properties of the software make it suitable for design of PID controllers and in PID research. There are, however, some possible design pitfalls that the user needs to be aware of. Some of these are presented as well.