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Control Of A Nonlinear System By Linearization, Drew D. Nelson

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

In today’s linear control systems, exact solutions can be obtained by the use of Laplace Transforms in the frequency domain. In dealing with nonlinear systems, exact solutions are not always achievable. For this reason, it is necessary to linearize the system and then apply frequency response methods.

This paper shows the comparison of a nonlinear system with the linearized model of the same system. For both proportional and proportional-integral control, the response to a unit step change in the set point showed minimal difference between the linearized and nonlinear system.