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(CIGRE-120)

CIGR Canada Conference on Power Systems Vancouver, October 17- 19, 2010

Direct Switching Control of DC-DC Power Electronic Converters Using Hybrid System Theory1
J. ZHAO1, C. WANG1, 2, F. LIN1 1 The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering 2 The Division of Engineering Technology Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, (USA)

SUMMARY
This paper presents a direct switching control scheme for power electronics converters, which have been used in almost any place where electric energy conversion is needed including renewable energy systems and electric drive vehicles. Differentiating from Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) switching control methods that have been traditionally developed from average models of power electronic converters, the proposed control scheme is a direct switching method based on detailed hybrid system models of converters. The control design procedure and simulation results of Buck converters are given in the paper to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

KEYWORDS
Converter control, direct switching control, hybrid systems, power electronic converters, PWM.

Feng Lin is also with School of Electronics and Information Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China. This work is supported in part by the National Science Foundation of USA under Grants ECS-0624828 and ECS-0823865, the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants 60904019 and 60804042.

junhui.zhao@wayne.edu

1. INTRODUCTION
Being the fastest-growing and the most convenient form of end-user energy, electricity consumption is projected to increase by about 70% from 2010 to 2030 worldwide [1]. In order to meet this increasing demand, global electricity generation is projected to increase about 2.4% each year, from 18 trillion kWh in 2006 to 31.8 trillion kWh in 2030 [1]. However, the electric power generation has caused tremendous environmental impacts. For instance, in the USA more than 2459 million metric tons of CO2 have been emitted to the atmosphere just due to electricity generation, which accounts for about 41% of its total CO2 emission in 2005 [2]. The ever-increasing demand for electricity and increasing concerns about manmade climate changes have called for changes in the ways that electricity is generated and delivered. Though their current contributions to electricity generation are small, renewable energy (RE) sources will play a significant role in the future electricity supply due to their clean and/or sustainable power generation technologies. A majority of states in the USA have passed Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), which set aggressive goals to achieve a certain percentage of electricity generated from renewable by a certain deadline [3]. Transportation is another major contributor to energy consumption and environmental impacts. Furthermore, new fuel efficiency standards were recently announced for requiring the U.S. auto fleet to reach an average fuel economy of 35.5 miles per gallon (mpg) by 2016 [4]. To meet this new regulation, vehicle electrification is necessary and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), electric vehicles (EV), and fuel cell vehicles (FCV) are technologies currently under consideration. Power electronic converters are one of the enabling components in RE systems, energy storage, and electric drive vehicles (EDV). They are necessary for system integration and grid interconnection of RE systems, and controls of EDV such as regenerative braking and charging control. Power electronic converter control is basically achieved by controlling the switching components in the device to obtain a desired format of electric energy from another type. Among different types of power electronic converters, the DC-DC converter is a switched mode circuit that transfers DC power from input to load. They are used in a large variety of applications due to their light weight, compact size, high efficiency and reliability. Particularly, they play an important role in the technology of computer power supplies, battery management, DC motor drives and renewable energy system. As the vital part for the energy delivery and management, the modeling and control of the DC-DC converters have been studied for a long time. The common method for modeling DC-DC converters is the pulse width modulation (PWM) state-averaging method [5, 6]. This method bypasses the difficulties posed by the hybrid nature of the system, in which an averaged continuous-time model is obtained by using the duty cycle as the input. Duty cycle refers to the amount of time in the period that the pulse is high, which is typically specified as a percentage of the pulse period. Through the use of PWM technology, the duty cycle of a square wave is modulated to encode a specific reference voltage. The PWM method in the electronic circuit could eliminate the problems of imperfect conversions between digital and analog signals. Based on the PWM state average modeling, voltage control is proposed. In this method, the feedback voltage loop is regulated by the PID compensator, so that the duty cycle could be automatically adjusted and the desired output voltage could be obtained with high accuracy. Another wide applied control theme is the peak current control method [7], in which the double feedback loops of switch current and output voltage are implemented. Compared with the voltage mode control, the peak current mode could provide better dynamics by adding the measurement of the switch current. However, the susceptibility to noise in the switching current signals and the external compensation artificial ramp are unavoidable disadvantages of the peak current mode control. To provide better noise immunity, the inductor current is used to replace the switching current for the inner loop and a high gain integrating current error amplifier is introduced into the current loop. It is named the average current mode control [8, 9]. The average current could tracks the current program with a high degree of accuracy without the slope compensation. Another widespread method is the Slide Mode Control (SMC) [10, 11], which combines the inherently variable-structured character of dc-dc converters and nonlinear control method appropriately. The key idea is to establish a sliding surface for the average inductor current that corresponds to the desired output voltage, and to indirectly regulate the output voltage through keeping the inductor current close to the sliding surface. This control technique provides good overall performances compared to current control and good robustness

against load and input voltage variations. However, it is difficult to obtain constant switching frequency because the switch is controlled by the hysteresis output signal. The HYCON group considers the hybrid nature of the DC-DC converters in recent study [12, 13]. In their study, the hybrid control is implemented using PWM to regulate the duty cycle thereby obtaining desired output voltage. The hybrid control methods of model predictive control (MPC), piecewise affine (PWA) approximations and constrained optimal control are introduced. These methods show a brand new view for us to explore the control of the power converters from their hybrid characteristic. In this paper, we propose a direct switching control scheme for power electronic converters using hybrid system theory. We model a DC-DC converter as a hybrid machine. The switching among different modes of the DC-DC converter is modeled as discrete events, which are directly controlled by a hybrid controller. Synthesis methods developed for hybrid systems will be used to design the hybrid controller. We hope that this hybrid system approach will provide new perspectives and systematic design methods for control of DCDC converters. The rest of paper is organized as follows. Section 2 talks about hybrid system modelling in general. The hybrid model of DC-DC Buck converters is developed and given in Section 3. In Section 4, the idea of Direct Switching Control (DSC) is introduced for the first time. Simulation studies and results are discussed and given in Section 5 and Section 6 concludes the paper.

2. HYBRID SYSTEMS
In this paper, we present a direct switching control scheme for power electronic converters based on hybrid system theory. Hybrid system model captures both continuous variable and discrete event dynamics [14, 16, 18]. Since the 1990s, various models for hybrid systems have been proposed, including hybrid automata in [14] and hybrid machines in [19, 20]. In this paper, we will use hybrid machine model, because it is particularly suitable to model power electronic converters. Using the hybrid system theory, a hybrid system is modelled by a composite hybrid machine (CHM) which consists of concurrent operation of multiple elementary hybrid machines (EHMs). An EHM is a basic hybrid machine that cannot be decomposed into smaller EHMs any further. EHMs are used to model a component of the system. These EHMs are then combined using a parallel composition to form a CHM that models the entire systems. An EHM is an extension of a finite state machine. Discrete states are replaced by configurations, in which continuous dynamics are defined. These dynamics are modeled by differential equations and output equations, as in conventional continuous variable systems. Transitions among configurations can be either made on discrete events (called event transitions), or can be triggered by the continuous dynamics (called dynamic transitions). Formally, an EHM is defined as [19, 20]

EHM = (Q, , D, E, I , (q0 , x0 ))

(1)

where Q is the set of configurations, and the initial configuration is q0 Q . is the set of input events and output events. The input events, denoted by , are from the environment in which the EHM operates (anything outside the EHM is considered to be in the environment). The output events, designated as , are actions impacting the environment from the EHM. D is the set of continuous dynamic denoted by d q where the subscript q signifies that the dynamics is tied with configuration q. If configuration q is not associated with any dynamics, d q = . D is described by

D = {d q = (x q , y q , u q , g q , h q ) : q Q} xq = g q (xq , u q ) y q = h q (xq , u q ) where x q , u q , and y q are the vectors of states, input, and output variables, respectively. Their dimensions may be different from one discrete configuration to another; therefore the subscript q is needed. x q = g q (x q ,u q ) is a state-space equation and y q = h q (x q ,u q ) is a output equation. Together, the two equations (2)

completely describe d q . We use x 0 = x q (t0 ) to define the initial value of the state vector. E in (1), a set of
0

state transition paths, is defined as

E = {e = (q, G , q, x0 ) : q, q Q} q

(3)

The transition occurs when the system leaves configuration q and go to configuration q . The transition occurs only when the input event is received by the EHM and the conditions set in dynamic guard G are satisfied. G is defined as a Boolean combination of inequalities specifying conditions involving the state variables. The arrow in the above equation indicates that once the transition occurs the output event will be transmitted to the environment immediately. Note that whether exists depends on application; it may 0 be absent in some applications. x q is the initial value for x q . I in (1) is a set of invariants, each of which is a Boolean combination of inequalities that defines a discrete state resulted from a state variable in the inequalities. All EHMs in a hybrid system run in parallel to form a CHM. The parallel composition is denoted by ||:
CHM = EHM 1 || EHM 2 || ... || EHM n

(4)

The detail on parallel composition can be found in [19, 20]. For hybrid systems, control objectives often combine those studied in continuous variable systems and those studied in discrete event systems. They include: (1) stability, (2) optimality, (3) safety, and (4) liveness. All these control objectives have been studied to various degrees. In this paper, the design of direct switching control will be based on the design of safety controller investigated in [19, 20]. The objective of a safety controller is to ensure that a hybrid system stays in a legal region such as the output voltage is within a prespecified range. Such a controller is designed as follows. If an event transition leads to the illegal region, then it must be disabled. If a dynamic transition leads to the illegal region, then it must be pre-empted. If it is too late to pre-empt this dynamic transition in certain region, then this region shall be consider illegal as well. Therefore, based on an iterative algorithm [19, 20], a safety controller can be designed which ensure the system will always stay in the legal region.

3. HYBRID SYSTEM MODEL DEVELOPMENT OF BUCK CONVERTERS

For the purpose of discussion, the hybrid machine model development for Buck converters is given in this section. The method can be extended to other types of power electronic converters such as Boost converters.

Fig. 1. A Buck DC/DC converter.

Fig. 1 shows the circuit of a Buck converter that transfers the input voltage to a lower, desired level. For instance, it adapts the varying voltage (e.g. 60-120 V) from the input source to a fairly constant output voltage (e.g. 48 V). rL is the inductor resistance and rC is the equivalent series resistance (ESR) of the capacitor. S in the circuit is a power electronic switch that can be turned on and off by a switching control signal to achieve the desired DC power conversion. R is the equivalent load resistance.
3.1 CIRCUITS AT TWO SWITCHING STATES

The circuit has two conditions corresponding to two configurations based on whether the switch S is on or off. Dictated by the circuit topology, the diode works in a complementary way as to that of the switch. In other words, if the switch is on, the diode is off (reverse biased); if the switch is off, the diode is then on

(forward biased). Fig. 2 shows the equivalent circuits for the two configurations. The diode forward voltage drop and the voltage drop across the switch when it is on are neglected in the circuit for this discussion. For the equivalent circuits shown in Fig. 2, the corresponding state-space model can be derived for each configuration. If x1=iL, x2=vc are taken as the system state variables and Vo as the system output, the statespace equations can be obtained as follows.

(a) For configuration q1 when S is on:

x = A1 x + B1vi vo = C1T x

(b)

Fig. 2. Two circuit states of the Buck converter: (a) S = ON; (b) S = OFF.

(5)

For configuration q2 when S is off:

x = A2 x + B2 vi vo = C2T x

(6)

In the above equations

Rrc + RrL + rc rL L( R + r ) c A1 = A2 = R C ( R + rc )
1 0 B1 = L , B2 = , 0 0

R L( R + rc ) , 1 C ( R + rc )

Rrc R+r . c and C1 = C2 = R R+r c

(7)

3.2 HYBRID MACHINE MODEL

Since a power electronic converter has the clearly defined circuit states and the discrete events (switching operations) that cause the converter change configurations, it is naturally to develop a hybrid machine model for it. Fig. 3 shows the hybrid machine model of Buck converters, which is readily to be developed based on the discussion given in the previous sub-section. We denote the EHM in Fig. 3 by

EHM = (Q, , D, E, I , (q0 , x0 ))

where Q={q1, q2}, ={, }, D is given in equations (5-7), E is shown in Fig. 3, q0=q2, x0=0.

(8)

4. CONTROL METHOD DEVELOPMENT

The hybrid nature of switching converters is an important feature that the circuit output target is achieved through the state changes (the switching operations) and the dynamic response at each state. It can be noted from Fig. 4 that, in the On state, the inductor current iL will increase and the output voltage vo will stop decreasing and begin to increase until above the steady state value Vo; in the Off state, the inductor current iL will decrease and the output voltage vo will stop increasing and begin to decrease until below the steady state value Vo. Therefore the vo could change around the steady state value of Vo which is set by the reference value of the output voltage. IL is the average current of the inductor current iL at a certain load, and IL= Vo/R.

In this paper, to obtain the desired output voltage and inductor current, we developed a control method, called the Direct Switching Control (DSC), to directly control the switch of the power converter based on its hybrid machine model as shown in Fig. 3..
vL

q1

Vi vo

q1 q2

0
iL IL

vo

Ts 2
t

0 vo

q2
Fig. 3 EHM of a Buck converter.

Vo

Fig. 4 Waveforms of vL, iL and vo at steady state.

The controller obtained using hybrid system theory is shown in Fig. 5. The controller itself is an another EHM, denoted by C. The controlled system (CS) is the parallel composition of Buck and C: CS=Buck || C
vo High

(9)

vo Vo + 1

vo Vo + 1
iL High

vo < Vo + 1

iL I L + 2

iL I L + 2
iL Low

iL < I L 2

iL < I L 2 vo > Vo 1
vo Low

vo Vo 1

vo Vo 1

Fig. 5. Controller C.

The controller C works as follows: The output voltage feedback loop is set as the main control loop. Setting the acceptable output voltage ripple as 1 . If vo Vo + 1 , the S will be switched off; If vo Vo 1 , the S will be switched to on. Once the output voltage is regulated to the range of (Vo+1, Vo-1), the system will be controlled according to the value of iL, which is set as the inner feedback control loop, shown in Fig. 5. Setting the acceptable inductor current ripple as 2 . If iL IL+2, the S will be switched off; If iL< IL+2, the S will be switched on; otherwise, the S will keep its state. If the control action makes the output voltage exceed the range of (Vo+1, Vo-1), the system will return to the main output voltage feedback loop until the vo is adjusted within the range again.

The settings of 1 and 2 are determined by the system performance requirements and have a great impact on the switching frequency. 1 can be simply determined by the requirement of the output voltage. 2 can be chosen based on the consideration of the systems dynamic response and the switching frequency. The small value is needed for good system performance such as small ripples. However, over-small requirement will lead to high switching frequency thereby causing higher switching losses. Therefore, there will be a compromise between the performance and the switching frequency. Based on the hybrid control, the output voltage could be regulated within the desired band. In case, that vo over-responds to the input voltage fluctuation and the load step, it could be quickly regulated back to near the reference value because of the fast direct switching control. Its effectiveness is to be verified by the simulation studies in the following section.

5. DESIGN AND SIMULATION RESULTS

A Buck converter model is developed in Matlab/Simulink to testify the performance of the proposed DSC. The parameters of the converter are as follows: Vin = 24V, L = 4.7H, C = 100F, Vo = 12V. The simulation time is set as 0.01s and the load resistor is 6 and step-changes to 12 at t = 0.005s.
15

15 10

10

vo
5 0

vo

5 0

0.002

0.004

0.006

0.008

0.01

0.002

0.004

0.006

0.008

0.01

12.2

4
12.1

vo

12

iL

2 0

11.9 0 0.002 0.004

0.006

0.008

0.01

0.002

0.004

0.006

0.008

0.01

6 4

iL

2 0 -2

2.4 2.2 iL 2 1.8 1.6

0 0.002 0.004

0.006

0.008

0.01

2.1

2.2

2.3

2.4

2.5 x 10
-3

Fig. 6

Fig.7

Fig. 6. Simulation results when 1 and 2 are set as 0.02V and 0.5A respectively. (a) Waveform of vo; (b) Waveform of vo in detail (zoomed in); (c) Waveform of iL. Fig. 7. Simulation results when 1 and 2 are set as 0.01V and 0.2A respectively. (a) Waveform of vo; (b) Waveform of iL; (c) Waveform of iL in detail (zoomed in).

Firstly, we set 1 as 0.02V and 2 as 0.5A. The corresponding simulation results are shown in Fig. 6. It is noted that under the DSC, the system can start-up very quickly and vo and iL are exactly regulated as designed. When the load steps from 6 to 12, the system returns to the steady state very fast, showing the good transient response and robustness of this novel control method. The switching frequency is estimated to be around 25 kHz for this case. To further reduce output voltage and inductor current ripples, the restrition bands are changed to 1=0.01V and 2=0.2A. The simulation results of this scenario are given in Fig. 7. It is clearly seen in the figure that both the vo ripple and iL ripple can be limited within the desired values. The switching frequency is estimated to be around 100 kHz for this case, which is higher than the switching frequency when a looser constration band was used.

6. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a direct switching control method for Buck converters is presented. Different from traditional PWM control theme based on the state averaging modelling, the proposed control method is based on the approach of hybrid system modelling to capture both continuous and discrete dynamics. The DSC method directly controls the switching operation to regulate the output voltage and the inductor current. The simulation results verify that the effectiveness of the method in providing fast transient responses and well regulated voltage and current. Compared with the PWM method, the main advantages of the DSC for the DC-DC converters are: the control structure is simple which is easy to be achieved by either analog method or digital programming; on the other hand, this hybrid controller could provide an immediate response to dynamic disturbances and the corresponding fluctuates of output voltage and inductor current could trigger the action of the hybrid controller immediately. The future study will focus on the experiment realization and the extension of applications onto other types of converters.

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