Robust control of mismatched buck DC–DC converters by PWM-based sliding mode control schemes

In this paper, two control methods are proposed to control mismatched dc–dc buck converters. In the first method, called Method I, a multiple surface sliding mode control is proposed to handle mismatched load uncertainty. A major problem associated with multiple surface sliding mode control viz. ‘explosion of terms’ is handled by a disturbance observer. Another method, Method II, based on simultaneous state and disturbance observer is proposed as a further improvement over Method I in terms of sensor requirement. The practical stability of the proposed schemes is proved. The performance of both the methods are assessed for regulation and tracking of output voltage under various uncertainties and is compared with a method based on extended state observer. It is shown by simulation and experimentation that the transient and steady state performance of both the controllers are satisfactory.     

Robust sigma–delta generalised proportional integral observer based control of a ‘buck’ converter with uncertain loads

This article describes the design of an observer based robust linear output feedback controller for the regulation and output reference trajectory tracking tasks in switched ‘buck’ converter circuits feeding a completely unknown time-varying load. The state-dependent perturbation effects of the unknown load resistance are on-line estimated by means of a generalised proportional integral (GPI) observer, which represents the dual counterpart of GPI controllers introduced in Fliess, Márquez, Delaleau and Sira-Ramírez (Fliess, M., Márquez, R., Delaleau, E., and Sira-Ramírez, H. (2002), ‘Correcteurs Proportionnels-intégraux Géneralisés’, ESAIM: Control, Optimisation and Calculus of Variations, 7, 23–41). The reconstructed perturbation complements the controller in a cancellation effort which allows the core of the feedback controller to become a traditional proportional derivative (PD) controller. The designed average feedback controller is then implemented via a sigma–delta-modulator, which effectively translates the designed continuous average feedback control input signal into a discrete valued switched input signal driving the converter's input switch and preserving all relevant features of the average design. The Appendix collects some generalities about GPI observers.     

Closed-loop analysis and control of a non-inverting buck–boost converter

In this article, a cascade controller is designed and analysed for a non-inverting buck–boost converter. The fast inner current loop uses sliding mode control. The slow outer voltage loop uses the proportional–integral (PI) control. Stability analysis and selection of PI gains are based on the nonlinear closed-loop error dynamics incorporating both the inner and outer loop controllers. The closed-loop system is proven to have a nonminimum phase structure. The voltage transient due to step changes of input voltage or resistance is predictable. The operating range of the reference voltage is discussed. The controller is validated by a simulation circuit. The simulation results show that the reference output voltage is well-tracked under system uncertainties or disturbances, confirming the validity of the proposed controller.     

Model predictive control of a DC–DC converter for battery emulation

A battery emulator is used instead of a real traction battery to supply an electric motor inverter on a test bed for hybrid and electric powertrains under deterministic conditions. The use of virtual battery models eliminates the need for expensive battery prototypes. Virtual battery properties such as chemistry, state of charge or state of health can be changed instantly. However, the control of a battery emulator is a challenging problem. Very fast reference tracking is required for battery impedance emulation but motor inverters act as constant power loads that have a negative influence on the tracking performance and can even lead to instability. In this paper an MPC strategy is proposed for solving this problem. Scheduling of local controllers is utilized in order to handle the nonlinear and destabilizing load. Furthermore, a fast algorithm is presented that allows real-time MPC subject to input and output constraints. Experimental results obtained with a battery emulator supplying an electric drive inverter demonstrate the performance of the stabilizing controller.     

Simplifying ADRC design with error‑based framework: case study of a DC–DC buck power converter

In this work, the problem of designing a robust control algorithm for a DC-DC buck power converter is investigated. The applied solution is based on a recently proposed error-based version of the active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) scheme, in which the unknown higher-order terms of the reference signal are treated as additional components of the system “total disturbance”. The motivation here is to provide a practical following of a reference voltage trajectory for the buck converter in specifc cases where neither the analytical form of the desired signal nor its future values are known a’priori, hence cannot be directly used for control synthesis. In this work, the application of the error-based ADRC results in a practically appealing control technique, with compact structure, simplifed control rule, and intuitive tuning (inherited from the conventional output-based ADRC scheme). Theoretical, numerical, and experimental results are shown to validate the efcacy of the error-based ADRC in buck converter control, followed by a discussion about the revealed theoretical and practical limitations of this approach.     

Non-singular terminal sliding-mode control of DC–DC buck converters

This paper presents a non-singular terminal sliding mode control (NTSMC) method for DC–DC buck converters. The NTSMC method eliminates the singularity problem which arises in the terminal sliding mode due to the fractional power and assures the finite time convergence of the output voltage error to the equilibrium point during the load changes. It is shown that the NTSMC method has the same finite time convergence as that of the terminal sliding mode control (TSMC) method. The influence of the fractional power on the state trajectory of the converter is investigated. It is observed that the slope of the sliding line becomes larger with decreasing value of the fractional power which leads to a faster transient response of the output voltage during the load changes. The theoretical considerations have been verified both by numerical simulations and experimental measurements from a laboratory prototype.     

Dynamic evolution control for synchronous buck DC–DC converter: Theory,model and simulation

This paper proposes a new control technique for synchronous buck DC–DC converter. Theory, design and implementation of the proposed control technique are provided. A new approach for converter controller synthesis based on dynamic evolution control theory is presented. In order to synthesize the converter controller, this method uses a simple analysis of nonlinear equation models of the converter. The synthesis process is simple and requires a quite low bandwidth for the controller. Therefore, this control method is suitable for digital control implementation. As an illustrative example, the synthesis of synchronous buck DC–DC converter controller is discussed in detail. The model of the synchronous buck DC–DC converter system was implemented using SimPowerSystems toolbox of MATLAB-SIMULINK. Performance of the proposed dynamic evolution control under step load change and step input voltage condition was investigated. Simulation results confirm that the proposed control method is superior to traditional PI based controller because of fast transient response and good disturbance rejection.     

UDE-based sliding mode control of DC–DC power converters with uncertainties

The DC–DC power converter plays an important role in solar systems to provide the stable DC bus voltage, but which is easily subject to various uncertainties and disturbances in practical operation. In this paper, an uncertainty and disturbance estimator (UDE) based sliding mode control approach is applied to improve the performance of power converters. The UDE is designed for the estimation of both the matched and mismatched uncertainties. To address the mismatched uncertainties, an adaptive sliding mode function is constructed with the compensation of the estimated uncertainties, which renders a chattering-free robust control law. Simulation and experimental results illustrate that the proposed control scheme achieves good dynamic performance, strong robustness and chattering reduction in the presence of uncertainties and disturbances     

Maximum power tracking of a generic photovoltaic system via a fuzzy controller and a two-stage DC–DC converter

This study presents a new two-stage DC–DC converter for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) and a voltage boost of a generic photovoltaic (PV) system. An intelligent MPPT of PV system based on fuzzy logic control (FLC) is presented to adaptively design the proposed fuzzy controlled MPPT controller (FC-MPPTC) while a voltage boost controller (VBC) is used to fix the output voltage to a voltage level that is higher than the required operating voltage to the back-end grid impedance. Modeling and simulation on the PV system and the DC–DC converter circuit are achieved by state-space and the software Powersim. The PV string considered has the rated power around 600?VA under varied partial shadings. The FC-MPPTC and VBC are designed and realized by a DSP module (TMS320F2812) to adjust the duty cycle in the two-stage DC–DC converter. A special FLC algorithm is forged to render an MPPT faster and more accurate than conventional MPPT technique, perturb and observe (P&O). The simulations are intended to validate the performance of the proposed FC-MPPTC. Experiments are conducted and results show that MPPT can be achieved in a fast pace and the efficiency reaches over 90?%, even up to 96?%. It is also found that the optimized tracking speed of the proposed FC-MPPTC is in fact more stable and faster than the general P&O method with the boost voltage capable of offering a stable DC output.     

Robust control of a hydraulically driven flexible arm

A new robust controller is proposed to regulate both flexural vibrations and rigid body motion of a hydraulically driven flexible ann. The controller combines backsteppmg control and sliding mode to arrive at a controller capable of dealing with a nonlinear system with uncertainties. The sliding mode technique is used to achieve an asymptotic joint angle and vibration regulation in the presence of payload uncertainty by providing a virtual torque input at the joint while the backstepping technique is used to regtthte the spool position of a hydraulic valve to provide the required torque. It is shown that there is no chatter in the hydraulic valve, which results in smoother operation of the system.     

Analysis and design of a high efficiency bidirectional DC–DC converter for battery and ultracapacitor applications

This paper presents a high efficiency non-isolated bidirectional converter which can be employed as an interface circuit between ultracapacitors or batteries and DC bus voltage. All semiconductor devices in the proposed converter are soft switched while the control circuit remains PWM. So, the energy conversion through the converter is highly efficient. The proposed converter acts as a zero-voltage transition (ZVT) buck to charge an ultracapacitor or battery and acts as a ZVT boost to discharge an ultracapacitor or battery. The performance of the proposed converter with respect to abrupt load and operating mode change is shown through computer simulation results. The results confirm the aforementioned advantages and features of the proposed converter.     

Robust adaptive control of a class of nonlinear uncertain systems

A smooth robust dynamic feedback controller is constructed, and the problem of robust H∞ almost disturbance attenuation with internal stability is solved for high-order nonlinear systems with parameter uncertainties. Finally, illustrative example and simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Robust constrained stabilization of boost DC–DC converters through bifurcation analysis

This paper proposes a new methodology for designing robust affine state-feedback control laws, so that wide-range safe and efficient operation of switched-mode DC–DC boost converters is guaranteed. Several undesirable nonlinear phenomena such as unstable attractors and subharmonic oscillations are avoided through bifurcation analysis based on the bilinear averaged model of the converter. The control design procedure also relies on constrained stabilization principles and the generation of safety domains using piecewise linear Lyapunov functions, so that robustness to supply voltage and output load variations is ensured, while input saturation is avoided and additional state constraints are also respected. The technique has been numerically and experimentally validated.     

Robust variable admittance control for human–robot co-manipulation of objects with unknown load

Over the last years, physical Human–Robot Interaction (pHRI) has become a particularly interesting topic for industrial tasks. An important issue is allowing people and robots to collaborate in an useful, simple and safe manner. In this work, we propose a new framework that allows the person to collaborate with a robot manipulator, while the robot has its own predefined task. To allow the robot to smoothly switch from its own task to be a compliant collaborator for the person, a variable admittance control is developed. Furthermore, in general the task to accomplish requires the robot to carry variable, unknown, loads at the end-effector. To include this feature in our framework, a robust control is also included to preserve the performance of the robot despite uncertainties coming from the unknown load. To validate our approach, experiments were carried out with a Kuka LBR iiwa 14 R820, first to validate both parts of the controller, and finally, to study a use-case scenario similar to an industrial production line. Results show the efficiency of this approach to allow the person to collaborate at any moment while the robot is capable of performing another task. This flexible framework for object co-manipulation also allows unknown loads up to 2 kg to be handled without making the task more difficult for the person.     

Decentralized adaptive neural network control of cascaded DC–DC converters with high voltage conversion ratio

Decentralized output voltage tracking of cascaded DC–DC converters is an interesting topic to obtain a high voltage conversion ratio. The control purpose is challenging due to the load resistance changes, renewable energy supply voltage variations and interaction of the individual converters. In this paper, four novel decentralized adaptive neural network controllers are designed on the cascaded DC–DC buck and boost converters under load and DC supply voltage uncertainties. In the beginning, individual buck and boost converter average models that can operate in both continuous and discontinuous conduction modes are derived. Then, the interconnected and decentralized state-space models of cascaded buck and boost converters are extracted. These models are highly nonlinear with unknown uncertainties which can be estimated by neural networks. Further, two decentralized adaptive backstepping neural network voltage controllers are proposed on cascaded buck converters to deal with uncertainties and interactions. However, these control strategies are not applicable to a boost converter due to its non-minimum phase nature. Then, two novel decentralized adaptive neural network with a conventional proportional–integral reference current generator are developed on the cascaded boost converters. Practical stability of the overall system is guaranteed for the proposed controllers using Lyapunov stability theorem. Finally, four control strategies provide good quality of output voltage in the presence of uncertainties and interactions. Comparative simulations are carried out on cascaded buck and boost converters to validate the effectiveness and performance of the designed methods.     

Robust control for a class of uncertain switched fuzzy systems

A model of uncertain switched fuzzy systems whose subsystems are uncertain fuzzy systems is presented. Robust controllers for a class of switched fuzzy systems are designed by using the Lyapunov function method. Stability conditions for global asymptotic stability are developed and a switching strategy is proposed. An example shows the effectiveness of the method.