Teilregler

Teilregler is a German term used in control engineering to denote a controller that regulates a part of a larger control system. Literally meaning "partial controller" or "subcontroller," a Teilregler acts on a single loop or subsystem within hierarchical, cascade, or decentralized control architectures. It is responsible for local regulation tasks such as maintaining a setpoint, rejecting disturbances, or implementing an inner feedback loop, while higher-level controllers coordinate broader system objectives.

Teilregler are commonly implemented as PID controllers, state-feedback regulators, or simple on/off controllers, depending on the application. In cascade control, a Teilregler forms the inner loop beneath a primary controller; in decentralized control of multivariable plants, multiple Teilregler independently control individual inputs or outputs. Design methods range from classical tuning rules and loop-shaping to model-based approaches and decoupling techniques intended to mitigate interactions between loops.

Advantages of using Teilregler include modularity, simpler tuning and maintenance, improved fault isolation, and scalability. Disadvantages include potential performance degradation or instability when interactions between subsystems are significant; in such cases centralized or coordinated multivariable control may be preferable. Typical application domains include process control, power systems, robotics, HVAC, and industrial automation, where complex plants are partitioned into more manageable control tasks. Alternative terms in English include local controller, subcontroller, or inner-loop controller.