Now that we are allowed to jump in our cars and go for a short ride, irrespective of whether or not it's an 'essential journey'!!, I expect many of you will have used the opportunity to get to visit some much missed family or friends in their gardens. In the past, and where necessary now, on longer journeys you will have been using your vehicle’s cruise control function whilst you travel to your destination. Did you actually know or may be surprised to hear that it works because of a 19th century engineering breakthrough?
Known in the engineering world as 'control theory', it is a way of modelling a system which will govern a system’s input to achieve a desired state. There are two types of system; open and closed loop. The first is used when the desired output can be separated from the input, such as a central heating boiler which is controlled by a timer and is switched off at a particular time. So in this case, the output has no effect on the control action.
The second type however, the closed loop, which is also known as a feedback control system, is used when an output is referred back to the input. For example your car’s cruise control which is set up to regulate a particular speed, uses this system. The car’s actual speed is continuously being measured against the set / desired speed, and the engine power will therefore automatically increase when the desired mph is not being met for example.
So the closed loop system is more beneficial when you require a set point to be consistently achieved and automation makes accuracy more possible to achieve. But it is of course more costly than the open loop system, when designing and developing a product and bringing it to the marketplace. We’re here if you need to talk about your similar development project.
Further information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_theory#Open-loop_and_closed-loop_(feedback)_control
https://www.controleng.com/articles/know-when-to-use-open-or-closed-loop-control/
https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/systems/closed-loop-system.html
