MSEE THESIS PROPOSAL

FEEDBACK CONTROLLER OF A BOOST CONVERTER

THROUGH OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES

Presented by : Muhammad Adnan Samad

Registration no.: MSEE-01121004
Supervised by : Dr. Ghulam Abbas

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

THE UNIVERSITY OF LAHORE

 FEEDBACK CONTROLLER OF A BOOST CONVERTER
THROUGH OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES

ABSTRACT:
The main objective of this article is to design and implement a feedback controller for a boost-
type DC-DC converter employing the optimization techniques in MATLAB. By using techniques other than
optimization technique it becomes quite difficult and laborious to design a feedback controller for a
boost converter that works in a stable region. Hence, the feedback controller design is formulated as an
optimization problem, and controller parameters will be estimated through different optimization
techniques.

INTRODUCTION:
Boost converters are used to obtain higher output voltage in comparison with the input DC
voltage and it is increasingly employed as front end converters for battery sources, photovoltaic solar
systems, fuel cells, laptop computers, personal communication devices, battery-driven vehicles and
lighting systems. These converters, when operated under open loop condition, it exhibits poor voltage
regulation and unsatisfactory dynamic response, and hence, this converter is generally provided with
closed loop control for output voltage regulation. The mode of operation of the converter varies from
ON to OFF state of the power switch and traditionally small signal linearization techniques have largely
been employed for controller design. In past, closed loop control design was carried out using small
signal linearization. Linear PID and PI controllers are usually used DC-DC converters are designed using
standard frequency response techniques based on small signal model of the converter. The control
strategies that are based on the linearized small signal model of the converter have good performance
around the operating point. However, a boost converter’s small signal model changes when the
operating point varies. The poles and a right-half-plane zero, as well as the magnitude of the frequency
response, are all dependent on the duty cycle. Therefore, it is difficult for the PID controller to respect
well to changes in operating point, and they exhibit poor performance when the system is subjected of
large load variations.

According to this article we will apply optimization techniques for the feedback controller design
for DC-DC boost converter. The design of feedback control parameters is framed as an optimization task
and the controller parameters are identified using Genetic Algorithm (GA) and one of the other
optimization techniques, that are listed below,

 Global Search and MultiStart

 Direct search
 Simulated Annealing
 Multiobjective Optimization
 Parallel Processing
 Ant Colony Optimization
 Modeling of a Boost Converter

The experimental setup of the closed-loop system is shown in Figure 1. In the feedback control
system, a fraction β of actual output voltage vO and its reference value βvO are first compared using a
comparator, and the error e(t) so obtained is processed by the PID controller. The error detector gives
the difference between the reference input voltage VO and the output voltage vO and is passed onto the
feedback PID controller.

The PID controller is implemented using two resistors (R1, R2) and two capacitors (C2, C2) and
with an operational amplifier. The error signal from the PID controller is given to the pulse-width
modulator (PWM). Here, the output of the PID controller is compared with a saw tooth signal from a
signal generator to generate gate pulses to a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor
(MOSFET). When the saw tooth signal magnitude is greater than the error signal value, the comparator
output will be set to +VSAT , and when it is less than the error signal, the magnitude comparator output
will be set to –VSAT . Thus, MOSFET conducts during the Ton period so that the output of the modulator
is a gating pulse with the duty cycle varying in accordance with the PID controller output voltage. The
complete closed loop boost converter with a PID controller is shown in Figure 1 and the gate pulse
generation by the PWM modulatr is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 1. Circuit of boost-type dc-dc converter in closed-loop mode.

 Figure 2. Gate pulse generation

Problem Formulation Using Optimization Techniques

In this work, more emphasis is given for improving the dynamic response of the DC-DC boost
converter by identifying proper controller parameter. The following dynamic parameters are considered
in this work,

 Rise Time
 Settling Time
 Peak Overshoot
 Steady State Error

The objective of improved dynamic response of DC-DC boost converter is perceived as an

optimization task and solved. Therefore the optimization problem is formulated as defined by eq. (1):

F (ϕ ) = ((1+Tr) * (1+Ts) * (1+Ess) * (1+ Po)) (1)

Subject to constraints:
KP(min) < KP < KP(max)
KI(min) < KI < KI(max)
Kd(min) < Kd < Kd(max)
Where,
Tr = Rise time
Ts = Settling time
Ess = Steady state error
Po = Peak over shoot
 Figure 3. Objective function against the no. of iterations.

The controller type used here is a PID controller with the transfer function given in eq. (2):

Gc(s) = KP + Ki /s + Kds
= (Kds2 + KPs + Ki )/s (2)

Where KP , Ki & Kd are proportional, integral and differential gains respectively.

The formulated optimization problem is solved using various optimization techniques and the details are
presented in below,
 Genetic Algorithm Based Design

Genetic Algorithm generates solutions to optimization problems using techniques inspired by

natural evolution, such as inheritance, selection, crossover and mutation. It is a biologically inspired
population based algorithm and was developed by John Holland, to understand the process of natural
systems. It is widely used in scientific and engineering fields. The various steps involved are

 Initializing Population.
 Evaluation of Fitness.
 Selection of Survivors based on fitness.
 Randomly varying Individuals i.e.: CROSS-OVER & MUTATION operation on the
survivors.

Step 1: Initialization:

Initialize population size of α with each chromosome representing the values of kp, ki, kd.

Step 2: Fitness function evaluation:

Evaluate objective function for the entire population by assigning a value to each chromosome.
Arrange chromosomes of the population according to fitness values.

Step 3: Selection:

To evolve chromosome with best fitness value, chromosomes are selected.

Step 4: Crossover and mutation:

Perform cross-over and mutation operation to evolve best chromosome values.

Step 5: Termination:

Continue steps 2, 3, 4 till the stopping criteria is met or for a particular number of iteration.
 Flow Chart of Genetic Algorithm

The Figure 3 shows the flow chart of genetic algorithm, in which all the steps involved in genetic
algorithm are shown,

Figure 4. Flow chart of genetic algorithm.

REFRENCES
[1] Kinattingal Sundareswaran and V. T. Sreedevi, “Boost converter controller design using Queen-bee-assisted GA”.

[2] The design of PID Controllers using Ziegler Nichols Tuning Brain R Copeland, March, 2008.

[3] Global optimization toolbox in matlab.

[4] Ang, S., and Oliva, A., Power-Switching Converters, Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2005.

[5] Erickson, R. W., Fundamentals of Power Electronics, New York: Chapman and Hall, 1997.

[6] Genetic algorithms for optimization – application in the controller synthesis task – Popov A., diploma thesis,
department Systems and Control, faculty Automatics, Technical University Sofia, 2003.

[7] K. Krishnakumar and D. E. Goldberg, “Control System Optimization Using Genetic Algorithms”, Journal of
Guidance, Control and Dynamics, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp. 735-740, 1992.