A Comparative Study of Fractional PID and Integer PID: Experimental Test Results on a Thermal Process

The fractional integral (FO) is an advanced variant that extends the conventional PID controller by incorporating noninteger (fractional) orders of integration and differentiation. This modification allows for a more flexible response to the error signal, improving stability and efficiency compared to the traditional PID. This paper presents a comprehensive comparative study conducted within Simulink for the Temperature Control Lab (TCLab). The results show that fractional PIDs perform better than regular PIDs due to the two additional tuning parameters that allow for better tuning in the controller's action.