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In control theory, an open-loop controller, also called a non-feedback controller, is a control loop part of a control system in which the control action ("input" to the system [1]) is independent of the "process output", which is the process variable that is being controlled. [2]
A control loop is the fundamental building block of control systems in general and industrial control systems in particular. It consists of the process sensor, the controller function, and the final control element (FCE) which controls the process necessary to automatically adjust the value of a measured process variable (PV) to equal the value of a desired set-point (SP).
A closed loop controller therefore has a feedback loop which ensures the controller exerts a control action to give a process output the same as the "reference input" or "set point". For this reason, closed loop controllers are also called feedback controllers. [1] The definition of a closed loop control system according to the British ...
In open-loop control, the control action from the controller is independent of the "process output" (or "controlled process variable"). A good example of this is a central heating boiler controlled only by a timer, so that heat is applied for a constant time, regardless of the temperature of the building.
The control system performance can be improved by combining the feedback (or closed-loop) control of a PID controller with feed-forward (or open-loop) control. Knowledge about the system (such as the desired acceleration and inertia) can be fed forward and combined with the PID output to improve the overall system performance.
In some systems, closed-loop and open-loop control are used simultaneously. In such systems, the open-loop control is termed feedforward and serves to further improve reference tracking performance. A common closed-loop controller architecture is the PID controller.
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A control given as a function of time only is referred to as an open-loop control. In contrast, a control that gives optimal solution during some remainder period as a function of the state variable at the beginning of the period is called a closed-loop control .