IET Power Electronics

Research Article

ISSN 1755-4535
Adaptive sliding mode control method for Received on 25th December 2014
Revised on 11th March 2015
DCDC converters Accepted on 30th March 2015
doi: 10.1049/iet-pel.2014.0979
www.ietdl.org

Liqun Shen 1 , Dylan Dah-Chuan Lu 2, Chengwei Li 1

1
School of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, Peoples Republic of China
2
School of Electrical and Information Engineering, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
E-mail: liqunshen@gmail.com

Abstract: This study presents an adaptive sliding mode control method for DCDC converters. In the state space model of
DCDC converters, there are always some unknown coordinate components of the desired equilibrium point (static
working point), which are necessary to obtain the error vector and then build the sliding surface. To obtain the
unknown coordinate components of the equilibrium point, an adaptive law is proposed. The adaptive law and the error
response are formulated in a single equation, which determines the system performance. A systematic sliding mode
control design procedure of a class of DCDC converters is hence carried out. To verify the usefulness and
effectiveness of the proposed adaptive sliding mode control method, the negative output elementary super lift Luo
converter is used as a design example. Simulation and experimental results are reported to confirm the proposed
approach.

1 Introduction have the known values on the equilibrium point according to

DCDC converters have been applied widely in various industrial
applications, such as DC motor drives, computer power supply
and communication equipment. Moreover, there are different DC
DC converter topologies such as buck converter, boost converter,
Ck converter and full-bridge converter [1]. DCDC converters
are generally non-linear systems. They can present very complex
behaviours [2, 3]. That leads to much research in the analysis and
control of DCDC converters [410]. It is well known that sliding
mode control is a robust control method with relatively simple
design procedures [11, 12]. Owing to the switching structure,
sliding mode control is a good candidate for the controller design
of DCDC converters [1315].
There are mainly two objectives while designing a sliding mode
control scheme. One is to stabilise the sliding surface. That is to
force the system trajectory converge to the sliding surface. The
other is to make the dynamics of the error system stable on
the sliding surface. Then the system trajectory will converge to the
desired equilibrium point. Moreover, the system performance can
be designed by many classical methods, such as the Ackermanns
formula [16]. To implement the control scheme, hysteresis
modulation [17] and pulse width modulation [18, 19] are usually
used. Hysteresis modulation performs better in keeping the basic
virtue of the sliding mode control. Moreover, with pulse width
modulation, the DCDC converter can work under constant
switching frequency which simplies the electromagnetic
interference lter design. For unmatched disturbances, a non-linear
sliding surface can be applied to solve the problem [20].
To realise the sliding mode control, the desired equilibrium point
(static working point) is necessary to derive the error vector and
build the sliding surface. For the state space model of DCDC
converters, there are always some unknown coordinates of the
equilibrium point, which vary with the load and the input voltage.
For example, the inductor current is a state variable in the state
space model of DCDC converters, such as that in buck converter,
boost converter and Luo converters [2124]. It varies with the
input voltage and the load resistance at certain reference voltage.
The equilibrium point which is necessary to obtain the error vector
will vary with the working condition. To solve this problem, some
researchers add some new state variables to the system, which
certain reference voltage [6, 18, 25]. The new state variables are
usually chosen from the output voltage error, and its integral and
differential forms. The sliding surface is built according to these
state variables. For instance, in the well-known buck converter, the
state variables can be chosen as the output voltage and the
capacitor current (the differentiation of the output voltage error).
With predetermined equilibrium point, the error system can be
obtained directly. Moreover, the desired system performance can
be obtained via designing a proper sliding surface. However, if the
original state variable is not used, there is the possibility that some
important information of the whole system is lost. Moreover, the
additional state variable may also increase the difculty in the
controller design process. For example, extra attention to noise
ltering is needed for capacitor current sensing [6]. Moreover, to
take full advantage of sliding mode control, the controller which is
designed according to the original state space model is preferable.
One possible solution is to use the input voltage and the load
resistance to obtain the equilibrium point [26]. However, the input
voltage and load resistance must be obtained before designing the
controller, which is not practical as the values of these parameters
are of time varying nature. Another method is to use a
proportionalintegral (PI) compensator to obtain the reference
current [2729]. The control objective is to stabilise the output
voltage. However, the sliding surface is designed only according
to the reference current. It is not a complete sliding mode
controller and is unclear on how to choose the sliding surface and
the control parameters. Some researchers proposed an adaptive
method to obtain the input voltage and the load resistance [30], so
that the reference current can be calculated. However, the
procedure of obtaining the current reference is indirect and
complex, which also lacks a clear direction on how to obtain the
desired performance. Some researchers designed a much general
sliding mode controller which adds an integral item of the output
voltage error to eliminate the static error caused by the unknown
inductor current on the equilibrium point [31]. This method is
effective as it can be applied under different circumstances [19,
32, 33]. However, it is unclear on how large the coefcient of the
integral item should be and whether the coefcient should be
positive or negative. Since sliding mode control is widely used in
DCDC converters, a general purpose formulation is valuable for

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different sliding mode control applications, as the results in [13, 14, substituting (3) into (1) as
19, 31]. In this paper, we also proposed a general design approach
based on the new modelling of DCDC converters. A single state




ec A (u) A12 (u) ec D1
space error response equation is derived, which can be helpful for e = = 11 + (4)
ef A21 (u) A22 (u) ef D2
the designer to obtain the desired performance. Moreover, an
adaptive control method is summarised, which can be used not
only in Luo converters but also in other converters as will be where 1 = A11(u)Xcref + A12(u)Xfref, 2 represents the non-linearities,
discussed in Section 3.3. the discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) effect and the
On the basis of the aforementioned problems, there is a need for a disturbances. On the equilibrium point, we have 1 = 0.
systematic, direct and easy-to-use approach to design the controller
for DC/DC converters. Hence, this paper proposes an adaptive Assumption 1: For any positive denite P and u, after the transient
sliding mode control method for DCDC converters where the time, DT1 Pec 0 is satised.
equilibrium point cannot be derived directly from the reference
voltage. An adaptive scheme for the estimation of the equilibrium Remark 2: The assumption holds for NOESLLC, buck and boost
point is designed. This is a pure state space method. Comparing converters.
with frequency methods, this derive process is straightforward and
each step of the derive process has an explicit meaning. The error Since Xfref is not known, we dene an estimated value as Xfref .
response is formulated in a single state space equation. With this Moreover, an adaptive method should be derived to make Xfref
concise error response system, designers can design the parameters converges to Xfref. Then the sliding surface can be designed via the
of the system and the controller directly. A general design estimated error vector
procedure is carried out which may be useful for converter design
engineers.


ec ec
This paper is organised as follows. Section 2 carries out the e = X Xref = = (5)
theoretical derivations of a general adaptive sliding mode ef ef X fref
controller for a class of DCDC converters. The implementation to
negative output elementary super lift Luo converter (NOESLLC) is where X fref = Xfref X fref represents the estimation error.
performed in Section 3. In Section 4, the simulation and Substituting (5) into (4), we have
experiments are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the
proposed controller. Section 5 concludes the contribution of this

  
A11 (u) A12 (u) ec A12 (u)X fref + D1
paper. e = + (6)
A21 (u) A22 (u) ef D2 + A22 (u)X fref X fref

Design a sliding surface as

2 Theoretical derivations
S = G T e (7)
Consider a DCDC converters state space equation as
 T
where T represents the transpose operation, G = G T1 GT2 ,





X c A11 (u) A12 (u) Xc 0 G2 = I (n-r)(n-r)
. When the sliding surface is stabilised, we have
= + (1)
X f A21 (u) A22 (u) Xf f (u, X )
ef = G T1 ec (8)


Xc
where X = [ Rn , Xc Rr is the constrained coordinate such Substituting (8) into the rst line of (6), we have
Xf
as the output voltage, Xf Rnr is the free coordinate such as
ec = (A11 (u) A12 (u)G T1 )ec + A12 (u)X fref + D1 (9)
 u R
nr
the
inductor current, is the switching
vector, 
A11 (u) A12 (u) 0
A= is the system matrix, F = On the equilibrium point, we have 1 = 0, X ref = 0. To make the
A21 (u) A22 (u) f (u, X )
ensures there are no unmatched disturbances, where A and F error system stable, we should make sure
represent the equivalent matrix under certain u.
Suppose the equilibrium point is ec = (A11 (u) A12 (u)GT1 )ec (10)

 stable. Moreover, a switching logic satisfying the reachability

X cref
X ref = (2) condition should be designed, which determines u.
X fref According to (9), during the sliding motion the system equation
and the estimation error can be described as
where Xcref Rr represents the control objective, Xfref Rnr is the    

unknown free reference which is determined by the load and the ec (A11 (u) A12 (u)G T1 )ec + A12 (u)X fref D1
= +
X
input voltage, and the system equation and so on. 0
Xfref fref

Remark 1: The basic idea of this formulation is to control one free (11)
coordinate with one switch variable. For the second-order DCDC
converters with one switch, we have n = 2, r = 1, which is used as Then G1 and X fref should be designed to stabilise (11) and satisfy the
the design example in Section 3. performance demand. Considering (11), on the equilibrium point, ec
Dene the error vector as and X fref satises


 (A11 (u) A12 (u)GT1 )ec + A12 (u)X fref = 0 (12)

X c X cref e
e = X X ref = = c (3)
X f X fref ef
If we just give an approximate value of Xfref , static error in ec will
exist which satises (12). To eliminate the static error, an adaptive
The error system around the equilibrium can be obtained by method is proposed.

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Fig. 1 Topology and the CCM equivalent circuits of NOESLLC
a Topology
b Switch on
c Switch off

Theorem 1: If the reachability condition of the sliding surface is approximately as

satised and system (10) is stable, an updating law of the
 


equilibrium points free coordinate can be designed as ec (A11 (u) A12 (u)G T1 ) A12 (u) ec
= (16)
X AT12 (u)P 0 X fref
X fref = AT12 (u)Pec
fref
(13)
The system performance can be estimated by calculating the
where P Rrr is a positive denite matrix, which satises eigenvalues of the system matrix of (16). We should choose
proper G1 and P to make (16) stable and satised the desired
system performance.
(AT11 (u) GT1 AT12 (u))P + P(A11 (u) A12 (u)G1 ) , 0 (14) Second, the existence condition and the hitting condition of the
sliding surface should be tested. That is the sliding surface can be
Then the sliding mode controller and the parameter updating law stabilised by certain switching schemes. Otherwise, the sliding
(13) can stabilise the desired equilibrium point and accomplish the surface and the adaptive scheme should be redesigned.
estimation of Xfref.

Proof: Choose a Lyapunov function as 3 Design example

To use the sliding mode control, two conditions must be satised,

1 T T

V = ec Pec + X fref X fref (15) which are the reachability condition and the stability of the sliding
2 surface. In this section, NOESLLC [24] is used as a design
example to illustrate the implementation of the proposed control
Differentiate both sides of (15), we have method. For other DCDC converters, we will also give a brief
discussion on how to design such a controller.
1
T 
e Pe + eTc Pec + X fref X fref
T
V = 3.1 Mathematical model of NOESLLC
2 c c
= eTc P[A11 (u)ec + A12 (u)(ef + X fref ) + D1 ] The topology and the continuous conduction mode (CCM)
equivalent circuits of NOESLLC under switch S turn-on and
(X fref X fref )T
AT12 (u)Pec
turn-off
 instantsTare shown in Fig. 1. The state vector is chosen as
= eTc P[A11 (u)ec + A12 (u)(ef + X fref ) + A11 (u)X cref ] X = Vo iL1 , which is continuously varying. All components
in the circuit are assumed to be ideal. When the switch is on, the
(X fref X fref )T AT12 (u)Pec equivalent circuit is shown in Fig. 1b. The state space equation can
be described as
= eTc P(A11 (u) A12 (u)G 1 )ec + DT1 Pec


 1
 0
Comparing with the switching action, the stability analysis is the
V o
= RC2
0 Vo
+ 1 Vin (17)
iL1 iL1
long-term behaviour. Therefore Aij (u) can be regarded as the 0 0 L1
average matrix. Since (10) is designed to be stable, there exists
some positive denite P which satises (14). Considering where R, C2 and L1 are the load resistance, capacitance and
Assumption 1 and (14), we have V 0. According to (8), (11), ec, inductance, respectively, iL1 , Vo and Vin are the inductor current,
ef and X fref will all converge to zero.
output voltage and input voltage, respectively.
When the switch is off, the equivalent circuit is shown in Fig. 1c.
Remark 3: We do not discuss the reachability condition and only The state space equation can be described as
focus on the stability and the adaptive law here, because it is
impossible to obtain the reachability condition by such a general
1 1
formulation. In power electronics, the reachability condition is

 0
V o RC2 C2 V
often replaced by the hitting condition (reaching condition) and =


iL
o
+ 1 VC (18)
the existence condition [6, 13], which is discussed in Section 3.2. iL1 1 1
0 1 L1
L1
The adaptive sliding mode control scheme can be designed by the
following two steps. First, a sliding surface and an adaptive law where C1 is the capacitance, VC1 is the voltage of the capacitor C1. If
satisfy the demand of the systems performance should be C1 is large enough or the switching frequency is high, VC1 can be
designed according to (11) and Theorem 1. With 1 are looked on approximated by Vin. This approximation is made in the second
as disturbances, according to (11) and (13), during sliding motion line of (18), which can be looked on as the matched disturbance.
the dynamic of the controlled system can be represented If discontinuity happens in the inductor current, suppose VC1 is

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positive, the state space model under iL1 = 0 will become


 1 1

V o
= RC2
V
C2 i o (19)
iL1 L1
0 0

which is only affected in the second row comparing with (18). It can
also be treated as the matched disturbance. As the sliding mode
control is robust to matched disturbances, the control scheme
proposed in Section 2 will be robust to such model inaccuracies
provided the sliding motion can be achieved.
Combining (17) and (18), and approximating VC1 by Vin, we have

1 1u


 0
V o RC C V
=
1u
2 2
iL
o
+ 1 Vin (20)
iL1
0 1 L1
L1

where u represents the status of the switch (u = 1 when the switch is Fig. 2 Vector eld of NOESLLC during switch on and switch off
on and u = 0 when the switch is off). In the following analysis, (20) a Switch on
is used. Since the approximation is made in the second row of (20), b Switch off
the sliding mode controller will be robust to such approximation.
The equilibrium point of (20) can be derived as
performance is mainly determined by

T
Vin Vin  T T
X eq = = Xcref T
Xfref (21)
1 ueq (1 ueq )2 R  
  1 G1 (1 u) 1u


ec RC2 C2 C2
where ueq is the equivalent duty cycle under steady state (equilibrium = ec (25)

X fref P(1 u) X fref
point). 0
When u < ueq, the output voltage is lower than the reference C2
voltage, we have ec < 0

1 1u 1 1 ueq The eigenvalues of the system matrix of (25) is

D1 = X + X . X + Xfref = 0
RC2 cref C2 fref RC2 cref C2



then ec1 < 0. Similarly, when u > ueq, the output voltage is higher 
1 1 1u 1 1u 2 P(1 u)2
than the reference voltage, we have ec > 0 l1,2 = G1 + + G1 4
2 RC2 C2 RC2 C2 C22
1 1u 1 1 ueq (26)
D1 = X + X , X + Xfref = 0
RC2 cref C2 fref RC2 cref C2

then ec1 < 0.
According to the above analysis, we have ec1 0. ec1 = 0 only
holds on the equilibrium point.
3.2 Adaptive sliding mode controller design
First, the sliding surface and the adaptive law should be designed.
Suppose the control objective is to stabilise the output voltage at
Vref. According to (20) and (7), the sliding surface can be designed as
From (25) and (26), we can see the value of the capacitor will affect
the convergence speed, whereas the stability of the system will not be
destroyed. The value of the inductor will only affect the convergence
speed in the reaching phase (reaching the sliding surface), and will
not affect the convergence speed greatly. According to (26), large
P will improve response speed but may also cause oscillations.
Therefore P should not be set too large. Since A12(u) = (1 u)/
C2 0 is always satised, according to (13), the simplied
adaptive law can be designed as

S = G T e = G1 (Vo Vref ) + iL1 iref (22)

i = P (V V ) (27)
  ref o ref
where G = G1 1 , G1 is a constant. Moreover, according to (10),
the reduced order error system
where P is a positive constant.
 
1 1u Now the switching scheme should be studied to satisfy the
ec = + G1 e c (23) existence condition and the hitting condition of the sliding surface.
RC2 C2
To clarify the design process, the vector eld of NOESLLC during
switch on and switch off is shown in Fig. 2.
should be made stable, where ec = Vo Vref. If we choose a positive
Since G1 is positive, the sliding surface should be a line across the
G1, (23) will obviously be a stable system. According to (14) in
equilibrium point with negative slope. The switching logic should
Theorem 1, any positive P can satisfy the condition
make the system trajectory go towards the sliding surface and then
  stay there. From Fig. 2b, it is obvious that the reachability
1 G (1 u) condition cannot be satised in the whole state space. Therefore
P 1 ,0 (24)
RC2 C2 instead of the reachability condition, the existence condition and
the hitting condition are studied in the following, which can be
According to (16), if the reachability condition is satised, the looked on as a variation of the reachability condition. Differentiate

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both sides of (22), we have Table 1 Circuit parameters used in the simulation and experiments
Circuit and control parameters Values
S = G1 V o + iL1 iref
  inductor L1 132 H
V 1u 1u V capacitors C1, C2 33 F
= G1 o + iL1 V + in + P (Vo Vref ) adaptive parameter P 100
RC2 C2 L1 o L1 sliding surface parameter G1 0.1
(28)

When u = 1
than iref , there will be a time point when S > 0. Then the switch
will be turned off. Then Vo will increase as well as iL1 decreases.
G1 Vo Vin
S = + + P (Vo Vref ) (29) If the trajectory can reach the sliding surface, the switch will
RC2 L1 be turned on again which satises the hitting condition. The
sliding motion should take place afterwards. According to Fig. 2
When u = 0 and the switching scheme, the parameters of the controller and
NOESLLC should satisfy that vector eld crosses the sliding
G1 Vo Vin G1 iL1 V surface upwards while switch is on and downwards while switch
S = + + o + P (Vo Vref ) (30) is off during the sliding motion.
RC2 L1 C2 L1 According to the above analysis, to stabilise the sliding surface the
switching scheme can be designed as
To satisfy the existence condition of the sliding surface, (29) and
(30) should have opposite signs near the equilibrium point. 
u = 1, S,0
Although choosing G1 and P, the existence condition should not (32)
u = 0, S.0
be destroyed. Moreover, S should be dominated by Vin/L1 and
(Vo Vin)/L1 while u = 1 and 0, respectively. That is S . 0 while
u = 1 and S , 0 while u = 0. Equations (29) and (30) can also be 3.3 Discussion of applications to other converter
used to determine the switching frequency while using the topologies
hysteresis modulation [25]. Then we have S . 0 while switch on
and S , 0 while switch off near the sliding surface around the The proposed adaptive sliding mode control method is a general one.
desired equilibrium point. Therefore we can turn on the switch The state space equations of buck and boost converters also satisfy
while S < 0 and turn off the switch while S > 0 to satisfy the this formulation.
existence condition.
To satisfy the hitting condition of the sliding surface, the proposed
switching scheme should be able to drive the system trajectory from 3.3.1 Buck converter: If we choose the output voltage Vo and the
origin to the sliding surface. In the initial state, there is inductor current iL as the state variables, the state space equation of
buck converter can be formulated as
S = G1 (Vo Vref ) + iL1 iref = G1 Vref iref (31)


 1 1
  
0
Suppose the initial value of iref is zero, we have S = G1Vref < 0. V o RC C V
= o + u Vin (33)
According to the switching scheme, the switch should be turned iL 1 iL
0 L
on. Moreover, iL1 iref will vary with time. If iL1 increases faster L

Fig. 3 SIMULINK model of NOESLLC under control

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Fig. 4 State response of NOESLLC
a Response of Vo
b Response of iL1
c Response of iref
d Variation of Vin

where Vin is the input voltage, u is the switch variable. Moreover, inductor current on the equilibrium point is not known. The state
inductor current on the equilibrium point is not known. The state space (34) satises the formulation of (1).
space (33) satises the formulation of (1). For buck and boost converters, the design procedure will be
similar.

3.3.2 Boost converter: For boost converters, the output voltage

Vo and the inductor current iL is often chosen as the state variables. 4 Simulation and experimental results
The state space equation of boost converter can be formulated as
The proposed control scheme is tested both in the simulation and a
1 u

  1 laboratory prototype. The parameters used are shown in Table 1.
0
V o RC C Vo + V
= 1 (34)
iL 1u iL in
4.1 Simulation results
0 L
L
MATLAB SIMULINK model is used in the simulation to verify
where Vin is the input voltage, u is the switch variable. Moreover, the effectiveness of the proposed controller which is shown in

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Fig. 5 Schematic diagram of the NOESLLC with the proposed controller
Fig. 3. The purpose is to test the performance theoretically by the
simulation results of the NOESLLC with the proposed control
scheme. From Fig. 3, we can see that the formation of the
controller is quite clear. In the simulation, the initial conditions
are set as Vin = 15 V, Vref = 40 V, R1 = 50 , R2 = 50 , the load
resistance R = R1 = 50 (switch S2 is on in the initial state)
and iref = 0. When t = 0.06 s, we set Vin = 10 V by the step
signal of the controlled voltage source. When t = 0.12 s, we set R
= 100 by turning off the switch S2. Simulation results are shown
in Fig. 4.
From Figs. 3 and 4, we can see that the proposed controller
can realise the control objective without the information of
Vin, R and iref (The value of iL1 on the desired equilibrium
point.). The adaptive scheme can realise the estimation of iref.
Moreover, there is no static error in Vo under the variation of Vin
and R.
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4.2 Experimental results
This section evaluates the performance of the NOESLLC under
the proposed control method. Moreover, experiments are carried
out with a prototype circuit. The full schematic diagram is shown
in Fig. 5.
Small capacitors are added to build the low-pass lters, which are
used to lter the high-frequency noises in the signals of iL1 and Vo.
This can reduce the chattering without affecting the system
operation. In the following, the prototype is tested in different
working conditions to verify the effectiveness of the proposed
control method.
4.2.1 Startup response: The operation conditions are set as
Vin = 15 V, Vref = 40 V and R = 50 . This experiment is to test the
startup response of the experimental prototype. Experimental
1729
Fig. 6 Experimental waveforms
a Startup response of Vo with reference to Vref
b Startup response of iL1 and iref
c Steady-state waveforms of the sliding surface and the control signal

Fig. 7 Experimental waveforms

a Line variation response of Vo and Vin
b Line variation response of iL1 and iref
c Steady-state waveforms of the sliding surface and the control signal

Fig. 8 Experimental waveforms

a Load variation response of Vo with reference to Vref
b Load variation response of iL1 and iref
c Steady-state waveforms of the sliding surface and the control signal

results are shown in Fig. 6. Fig. 6a shows that Vo tracks Vref
well. However, there is a small error between iref and iL1
which is shown in Fig. 6b. It is mainly caused by the error of
the sliding surface. From Fig. 6c, we can see that the average
value of the sliding surface is not zero. This causes the error
between iref and iL1 . This error also ensures the tracking
accuracy of Vo when error exists in the sliding surface. Fig. 6b
also shows that iref start with a negative value. The reason is
that there are small unbalances in the circuit which cause the
integral circuit output a negative value in initial condition.
Although the state space model is an approximate model, the
output voltage converges to the desired value. This shows the
adaptivity and the robustness of the proposed control method.
This control method can realise the control objective under
certain modelling errors.
4.2.2 Line variation: Keeping Vref = 40 V and R = 50
unchanged, we change Vin suddenly from 15 to 10 V. The
experimental results are shown in Fig. 7. Fig. 7a shows that Vo goes
down suddenly and returns back to the reference value after a
transient time. Fig. 7b shows that iref also tracks the variation of iL1 .
Moreover, there is almost no error between iref and iL1 . It is because
that the average value of the sliding surface is almost zero, which is
shown in Fig. 7c. Fig. 7c shows that the duty cycle becomes larger
when Vin gets smaller and Vref stays unchanged. Moreover, the
switching frequency also gets lower. Some researchers also did some
detailed analysis about the switching frequency of buck converter [25].
4.2.3 Load variation: Keeping Vref = 40 V and Vin = 10 V
unchanged, we change R suddenly from 50 to 100 . The
experimental results are shown in Fig. 8. Fig. 8a shows that Vo goes

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Fig. 9 Experimental waveforms
a Startup response of Vo with reference to Vref
b Steady-state waveforms of iL1 and iref
c Steady-state waveforms of the sliding surface and the control signal
up suddenly and returns back to the reference value after a transient time.
Fig. 8b shows that iref also tracks the variation of iL1 . Moreover, there is a
small error between iref and iL1 . This is because that the average value of
the sliding surface is not zero, which is shown in Fig. 8c.
4.2.4 DCM working condition: In this part, the control method
is tested under DCM working condition. In DCM working condition,
the system model will change greatly. However sliding mode control
is a robust control method, which is robust to certain modelling
errors. The operation condition is set as Vin = 20 V, Vref = 25 V
and R = 300 . The experimental results are shown in Fig. 9.
Fig. 9a shows that although working in DCM, Vo can still track
Vref. From Fig. 9b, we can see that the converter is working in
DCM. Moreover, iref tracks the average value of iL1 with a small
error. The error is caused by the error of the sliding surface and
the discontinuousness of iL1 . Fig. 9c shows the waveforms of the
sliding surface and the control signal. In DCM working condition,
the second row of the simplied system (20) will change greatly.
Moreover, this can be interpreted as the matched modelling error.
Sliding mode control is robust to matched uncertainty. Comparing
with conventional PI controller, conventional PI controller does
not take such disturbances into consideration, which may cause the
failure of the controller. Moreover, conventional PI controller is
usually based on the small signal model. When we use this
method, we often ask ourselves what will happen if the small
signal model does not hold. Although this method gives a much
general description of the controllers design. The designer may
understand and accept this method better.
5 Conclusion
An adaptive sliding mode control method for DCDC converters is
presented. By adopting an estimating algorithm of the unknown
coordinate components of the equilibrium point, the static error of
the output voltage is eliminated. This control method can be
applied to a class of DCDC converters, where there are unknown
coordinate components in the equilibrium point. Moreover, the
design procedure mainly contains two steps: rst, the sliding
surface and an adaptive law satisfy the demand of the systems
performance should be designed. Second, the existence condition
and the hitting condition of the sliding surface should be tested.
The proposed control method is applied to an example converter,
that is, NOESLLC, whose inductor current of the equilibrium
point is not known. Hysteresis modulation is used in the
implementation. Simulation and experimental results of the
NOESLLC agree with the analysis of the proposed control method.
6 Acknowledgments
This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (60904050) and the Natural Scientic
IET Power Electron., 2015, Vol. 8, Iss. 9, pp. 17231732
& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015
Research Innovation Foundation in Harbin Institute of Technology
(HIT.NSRIF.2012016).
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IET Power Electron., 2015, Vol. 8, Iss. 9, pp. 17231732
& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015