A PID control system and method which maintains continuity of the control
output in spite of changes in controller parameters. The controller
parameters include a proportional gain, an integral gain, a derivative
gain, and a manual/automatic mode parameter. The control output at the
time of a parameter change is set equal to the previous controller output,
and the integrated error is set to a value consistent with the previous
controller output according to a PID controller equation. This value for
the integrated error serves to ensure the sustained continuity of the
control output after the controller parameter change. Alternatively, the
control output at the time of a parameter change is set equal to a first
value continuous with respect to one or more previous control output
values, and the integrated error is set to a value consistent with the
first value according to the PID controller equation. Furthermore, the
system and method employs integrator anti-windup. If the control output
saturates, i.e. falls outside a control region defined by a lower control
bound and an upper control bound, the system and method of the present
invention prescribe (a) setting the control output to the value of the
control bound which is exceeded, and (b) setting the integrated error
equal to a value consistent with the exceeded control bound according to
the PD controller equation.