Solution 5.8.1.1
G
H
+
R
CΣ
Figure 1: Standard Closed Loop Conguration
For the system of Figure 1 wehave
GH =
K(s+2)
s(s +1)
The rst step is to plot the poles and zeros of GH.Thepoles of GH are
not the closed loop pole locations, but they can be used to nd the closed
loop poles. The closed loop zeros can be found immediately: they are the
zeros of G and the poles of H.Thezeros of GH also help in nding the
poles of the closed loop system.
The rootlocus is shown in Figure 2. Note that there is root locus between
the poles at s =0ands = ;1andtothe left of the zero at s = ;2. All
locations between the poles and to the left of the zero are closed loop poles
for some gain. As can be seen, root locus also appears o the real axis for
the following reasons. Weknow that there is a closed loop pole associated
with eachofthepoles of GH. Heuristically,asthe the gain is increased from
zero through small values one can think of a pole emanating from eachof
the poles of GH.Asthegain is increased, these twopoles migrate towards
each other. For a certain gain, the largest gain that can be found along the
real axis between s =0and s = ;1, they `collide,' that is for some gain
there is a double real pole in the closed loop system.
As the gain is increased further, the twopoles break out of the real axis.
They migrate to the left because weknowfrom the `rules' that one of these
poles must eventually go to the nite zero at s = ;2 and the other to the
zero at s = ;1. Since there is root locus everywhere to the left of the zero
at s = ;2the logical conclusion is that the twopolesbreak in somewhere
to the left of s = ;2. That is, for some gain the closed loop system has
adouble pole to the left of the zero at s = ;2. For higher gains one pole
1
XX
-2 -1
Re(s)
Im(s)
Figure 2: Root Locus
migrates righttowards s = ;2and the other left towards s = ;1.Thus,
insofar as the real axis is concerned, the value of gain at the break-in point
represents the minimum gain. That is, if wecompute the gain required to
place closed loop poles anywhere to the left of s = ;2onthe real axis, the
minimum value will occur at the break-in point.
To nd the break out and break in points along the real axis, wecan
do one of twothings: build a table of specic values of K versus s along
the real axis, or nd the critical points of K as a function of s.Thesecond
method has analytical appeal, and in this case is not dicult to use:
d
ds
K(s) =
d
ds
;s(s +1)
s +2
=
;(s
2
+4s+2)
(s+2)
2
The critical points ( maximums and minimums ) occur where the deriva-
tiveisequal to zero or where
;(s
2
+4s+2)=0;;
namely
s = ;2
p
2
2
-2
-1
Re(s)
Im(s)
V
3
V
2
V
1
s
Gain at point s =
V
2
V
1 x
V
3
Figure 3: Gain Calculation to Find Break-in/Break-out Points
s -0.8 -0.7 -0.6 -0.5 -0.4
K 0.1333 0.1615 0.1714 0.1667 0.15
Table 1: K versus s for s Between Poles of GH
Note that the break in at s = ;2;
p
2andthebreak-out at s = ;2+
p
2
are equal distance from the zero of GH.Actually, the root locus o the real
axis is a circle centered at the zero at s = ;2. This is always the case if GH
has exactly one pole and twozeros.
We could also nd the approximate break-in and break-out points by
computing the gain at specic points along the real axis. The calculation is
based upon Figure 3. Weknow that
GH =
K(s+2)
s(s+1)
;;
and that for any s on the root locus, including those along the real axis,
K =
jsjjs+1j
js+2j
and that the magnitudes in this equation are simply the lengths of the vec-
tors drawn from the poles and zero ofGH to the chosen s. These magnitudes
are shown in Figure 3. Tables 1 and 2 can be used to nd the approximate
break out and break in points.
One might ask whyanapproximate calculation would be preferred over
an exact calculation. An answer to that is the following. In this problem,
3
s -4 -3.5 -3.4 -3.2 -3
K 6.0 5.883 0.5.826 5.8667 6.0
Table 2: K versus s for s to the Left of s = ;2
GH has twopoles and the equation we needed to solvetond the critical
points was second order. If GH had four poles the equation for the critical
points of K(s)would havebeen fourth order. With a modern calculator,
and supposing we made no error in calculating dK=ds, this is not a big
problem. However, nding dK=ds if K(s)isfourth order is tedious and one
can easily makeamistake, a mistake that can be hard to spot. On the other
hand, the tables can be generated with a simple calculator and they are self
correcting. That is, if wemakeamistakeincomputing a particular value
of gain, it should stickoutlikeasore thumb. Further, wegenerally are not
interested in nding break-in and break-out points exactly,wejustwantto
knowtheir approximate locations.
4