Performance analysis and design of proportional integral derivative controlled automatic voltage regulator system using local unimodal sampling optimization technique

Abstract

Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controllers are mainly used in industrial control systems, motor drives, process control, and instrumentation. Optimum tuning of PID controller parameters is a big challenge for researchers and plant operators. This paper describes the 'Local Unimodal Sampling (LUS)' algorithm to tune the PID controller for an Automatic Voltage Regulator (AVR) system to determine the optimum controller parameters. Many optimization techniques use local sampling with a fixed sampling range. Therefore, there is a risk of getting stuck in the local optima. This problem can be overcome by using LUS algorithm which decreases the sampling range as optimization progresses. Compared with the artificial bee colony (ABC), the proposed method is found to be more robust and efficient in improving the step response of an AVR system. Transient response analysis, root locus analysis and bode analysis are used to compare the performance of both the algorithms. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.