AC 2012-3302: SMART CONTROL OF POWER ELECTRONIC CONVERT-

ERS IN PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS

Mr. Ahmed Mohamed, Florida International University

Ahmed Mohamed (El-Tallawy) was born in Minia, Egypt, in 1984. He received his B.Sc. degree from
the faculty of engineering, Minia University, Minia, Egypt, in 2006. From 2006 to 2009, he was a Re-
search/Teaching Assistant in the faculty of engineering, Minia University. He received a M.Sc. degree
from the faculty of engineering, Minia University, Minia, Egypt in 2009. He is currently a Research As-
sistant in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, College of Engineering and Computing,
Florida International University, Miami, Fla., USA. His current research interests are DC distribution,
renewable energy systems, and electrical power systems. Address: Energy Systems Research Labora-
tory, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, College of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
Florida International University, 10555 W Flagler Street, Room EC-3925, Miami, Florida 33174, USA.
Telephone: +1 305-348-6194; Cell +1 786-975-4524.

Dr. Osama A. Mohammed, Florida International University

Osama A. Mohammed received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Virginia Poly-
technic Institute and State University. He has many years of teaching, curriculum development, research,
and industrial consulting experience. He authored and co-authored more than 300 technical papers in the
archival literature, as well as in National and International Conference records in addition to additional
numerous technical and project reports and monographs. Mohammed specializes in electrical energy sys-
tems, especially in areas related to alternate and renewable energy systems. He is also interested in design
optimization of electromagnetic devices, artificial intelligence applications to energy systems, and elec-
tromagnetic field computations in nonlinear systems for these energy applications. He has current interest
in shipboard power systems and integrated motor drives. He is also interested in the application communi-
cation and sensor networks for the distributed control of power grids. Mohammed has been successful in
obtaining a number of research contracts and grants from industries and federal government agencies. He
has current active and funded research programs in several areas funded by the Office of Naval Research
and the U.S. Department of Energy. Mohammed is also interested in developing learning environments
and educational techniques for Internet based delivery systems and virtual laboratories. Mohammed is a
Fellow of IEEE and is a recipient of the 2010 IEEE PES Cyril Veinott Electromechanical Energy Con-
version Award. Mohammed is also a Fellow of the Applied Computational Electromagnetic Society. He
is Editor of IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics-Conferences,
as well as an Editor of COMPEL. He also received many awards for excellence in research, teaching,
and service to the profession and has chaired sessions and programs in numerous international confer-
ences in addition to delivering numerous invited lectures at scientific organizations in around the world.
Mohammed serves as the International Steering Committee Chair for the IEEE International Electric Ma-
chines and Drives Conference (IEMDC) and the IEEE Biannual Conference on Electromagnetic Field
Computation (CEFC). Mohammed was the General Chair of the 2009 IEEE IEMDC conference held in
Miami Florida, May 3-6, 2009, and was the Editorial Board Chairman for the IEEE CEFC2010 held in
Chicago, Ill., USA, May 9-12, 2010. He was also the General Chairman of the 1996 IEEE International
Conference on Intelligent Systems Applications to Power Systems (ISAP’96). Mohammed has chaired
the Electric Machinery Committee for IEEE PES and was the Vice Chair and Technical Committee Pro-
gram Chair for the IEEE PES Electric Machinery Committee for a number of years. He was a member of
the IEEE/Power Engineering Society Governing Board (1992-1996) and was the Chairman of the IEEE
Power Engineering Society Constitution and Bylaws committee. He also serves as Chairman, Officer or
as an active member on several IEEE PES committees, sub-committees, and technical working groups. Page 25.1163.1

American
c Society for Engineering Education, 2012
 Smart Control of Power Electronic Converters in Photovoltaic Systems
Abstract

This paper presents an overview of the techniques used to control the power electronic
converters used to integrate renewable energy sources to the electric grid. Moreover, a smart
fuzzy-PID controller for DC-DC boost converters, which are the most commonly used
converters as voltage regulators in Photovoltaic (PV) systems, is presented. Details about the
educational side of these concepts; in-class, simulation and experimental demonstrations are also
included. The proposed fuzzy-PID controller maximizes the stable operating range by tuning the
PID parameters ultimately at various loading conditions. Then, a fuzzy logic approach is used to
add a factor of intelligence to the controller such that it can detect a change in the operating point
and move among different values of proportional gain (Kp), integral gain (Ki) and derivative gain
(Kd) based on the system conditions. This controller allows optimal control of boost converters at
any loading condition with no need to retune parameters or possibility of failure. Moreover, the
paper presents the methodology to teach a novel technique to move between the PI and PID
configurations of the controller such that the minimum overshoot and ripple are obtained, which
increases the controller applicability for utilization of PV systems in supplying sensitive loads.
This paper gives an excellent educational presentation of several aspects related to control
theory, renewable energy engineering and power electronics.

Introduction

Photovoltaic systems have become globally accepted as a practical and feasible tool for power
generation. Researchers’ efforts for facilitating PV systems utilization and their integration to
currently available systems have been always inspired by the national goal of having renewable
and clean energy sources. These efforts successfully solved many of the problems that are
attached to PV systems [1].
One of the major problems of PV systems is that the output voltage of PV panels is highly
dependent on solar irradiance and ambient temperature. Hence, loads cannot be directly
connected to the output of PV panels.
A DC-DC converter is required to operate as an interface between PV panels and loads [2]. The
DC-DC boost converter fixes the output voltage of the PV system. It receives a variable input
voltage, which is the output of PV panels, and yields a constant output voltage across its output
capacitors where the loads can be connected. Normally, a DC-DC boost converter operates at a
certain duty cycle. In this case, the output voltage is at a certain level corresponding to that duty
cycle. If the input voltage is changed while the duty cycle is kept constant, the output voltage
varies. However, in the controlled boost converter utilized in this paper, the duty cycle is
controlled based on the input voltage and loading conditions such that the output voltage is
constant. Duty cycle is varied using a pulse width modulation (PWM) technique.
PID controllers are commonly used as controllers for boost converters in PV systems. However,
these controllers have to be tuned according to a certain operating range and loading conditions.
This limits the operating range of the controller. In this paper, the operating range of the
controller is maximized by tuning the PID controller parameters; Kp, Kd and Ki at different
operating points. A fuzzy controller [3, 4] is then used to set the optimal values of the controller
Page 25.1163.2

parameters based on the measured output current. The controller will be utilized in this paper to
output a proper modulation index for pulse width modulation.
Due to this exponentially increasing importance of PV systems, power electronic converters and
their corresponding controllers, the topic of PV energy and its integration to electric grids is an
essential topic to be taught to engineering students. In this educational paper, teaching the topic
will start with some general background about PV systems and power electronic converters. This
portion is theoretical and will be explained by the instructor in class. Then, the
MATLAB/SIMULINK power system simulation tool will be used to simulate and test the
developed converter and controller before it is implemented in hardware. This portion needs a
computer lab or in the form of assignments to students depending on their knowledge about
power simulation tools. Finally, students will implement the controller in hardware and test in
during real-time operation.

Photovoltaic Systems

Solar arrays consist of different solar cells connected in series and/or parallel in order to
achieve desired voltage and current levels. Solar cells consist of semi-conductor materials that
have the ability to convert solar irradiation into DC current. This is called the PV effect. The
characteristic equation of solar arrays is given by (1) [2],

{ [ ( )] } (1)

Where:
ILG Light generated current
IOS Reverse saturation current
q Electronic charge
A Dimensionless factor
K Boltzmann’s constant
Rs Series resistance of the cell
Rsh Shunt resistance of the cell

The equivalent circuit of the PV panel is given in Fig. 1. Inspecting the characteristic
equation of PV panels given in (1), we can see that the relation between output voltage and
current of PV panels is not linear. Therefore, the output voltage of PV panels is dependent on the
amount of power drawn out of them. Moreover, the output voltage of PV panels is dependent on
solar irradiation and ambient temperature. Hence, the output voltage of PV panels is variable
depending on these conditions. On the other hand, a constant voltage level is needed for
connecting loads to PV arrays. This imposes an imperative necessity of having a power
conditioning unit as an interface between PV panels and the loads connected to them.
𝑅𝑆 𝐼
𝐼𝐷 𝐼𝐿𝐺

𝐼𝐿𝐺 𝑅𝑆𝐻
Page 25.1163.3

Fig. 1. PV cells equivalent circuit model.

 Fig. 2 shows the electric characteristics of the PV panels. It can be seen that fluctuations in
the output current (ΔI), result in fluctuations in the output voltage (ΔV), which lead to
fluctuations in the output power (ΔP). The figure indicates that any power fluctuations around
the maximum power point (MPP) derate the average power coming from the PV array.
In a typical PV system as shown in Fig. 3, the PV array is connected to a boost converter. As
a result of the switching process, the input current to the boost converter will oscillate around its
DC value, these oscillations result in current fluctuations at the PV side, which derate the array’s
power. As a consequence, the loadability of the array decreases which is not desired.
In order to reduce the fluctuations at the PV array side, and increase the system loadability, a
capacitor can be used to smoothen the output current and voltage profile of the array, a capacitor
of capacitance Cpv=1200 µF has been used in this paper.

Fig. 2. Power and current characteristics of the PV panels versus voltage

DC AC Inverter

PV Array Boost Converter Filter

𝐿 𝐿𝐴𝐶
𝐹𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝐴 𝐵

𝐶𝑝𝑣 𝐶 NOT NOT 𝐶𝐴𝐶 𝑅𝐿𝑜𝑎𝑑

𝐼𝑝𝑣 𝑣𝑝𝑣 𝑃𝑊𝑀

MPPT Algorithm
& PID control

𝐴 𝐵 PLL & 𝑣𝑜𝑢𝑡

PID Control

Fig. 3. A typical stand-alone PV system.

Power Electronic Converters

Power electronic converters are essential components of PV systems since PV arrays yield a
variable DC output voltage. If the output voltage from PV systems is higher than the required
Page 25.1163.4

voltage level, a DC-DC buck converter is used to step down the voltage. The step-down
converter is as shown in Fig. 4. The power electronic switch is connected in series with the input
voltage source. Hence, when it switches ON and OFF the output voltage is stepped-down
corresponding to the duty cycle (D), which is the ratio between the time within which the IGBT
is ON to the switching time. An output filter consisting of a capacitor and an inductor is then
used to filter the DC output. The output voltage is given by (2)
V DV (2)
where Vout is the output voltage of the converter, Vin is the input voltage and D is the duty
cycle.

Fig. 4. Buck converter circuit

On the other hand, if the output voltage from PV arrays is to be stepped up, a boost converter is
most commonly used. Hence, we focus on this example in this paper. Boost converter is a DC-
DC converter that steps up its input voltage based on the formula given in (3)
V V (3)
The circuit diagram of the boost converter is shown in Fig. 5. It consists of an inductor, an IGBT
switch, a fast switching diode and a capacitor. The configurations of the boost converter circuit
during switching ON and OFF intervals are shown in Figs. 6 and 7, respectively. When the IGBT
is switched ON ( t t ), the inductor is directly connected to the input voltage source. In
this case, the inductor current rises charging it and the inductor is storing energy while the diode
is reverse biased disconnecting the load (RL) and output capacitor (C) from the source voltage.
During this interval, the pre-charged capacitor assures constant voltage across the load terminals.
When the IGBT is switched OFF (t t ) where Ts is the switching period, the diode is
forward biased and both the source and the charged inductor are connected to the load. The
inductor releases the energy stored in it. This energy is transferred to the load in the form of
voltage that adds to the source voltage. Hence, the converter boosts the input voltage.

Fig. 5. Boost converter circuit

Page 25.1163.5

Fig. 6. ON state of the IGBT

 Fig. 7. OFF state of the IGBT
The boost converter proposed in this paper is designed to operate in the continuous conduction
modes (CCM) which means that the inductor current is always higher than zero. The inductance
value is designed to be higher the minimum inductance required for operation in CCM given by
(4) [5]
( )
(4)
where Lmin is the minimum inductance, D is the duty cycle, RL is load resistance, and fs is the
switching frequency of the IGBT.
The capacitance is designed such that the output voltage ripple is within the desired boundary.
The minimum capacitance required for certain output voltage ripple is given by (5)
C (5)
The duty cycle governs how much boosting of the input voltage will be achieved during boost
converter operation. In other words, by controlling the duty cycle we can output constant output
voltage even in the case of input voltage or loading variation.

Theoretical Background on Smart Fuzzy/PID (In-class presentation)

In order to control the output voltage of the boost converter, proportional/integral/derivative

(PID) controllers are commonly used to give a duty cycle command signal to the switch. The
derivative part can be neglected from the PID controller, so the controller in this case is called a
PI controller as shown in Fig. 5. The PID gains are designed and tuned using the transfer
function of the converter. The duty cycle to output voltage boost converter’s transfer function is
highly nonlinear. Therefore, it has to be linearized around a limited operating range to design the
controller using linear control theory.
Normally, a DC-DC boost converter operates at a certain duty cycle. In this case, the output
voltage corresponds to that duty cycle. If the input voltage is changed while the duty cycle is
kept constant, the output voltage will vary. However, in the controlled boost converter utilized in
this paper, the duty cycle is controlled based on the input voltage and loading conditions such
that the output voltage is constant. Duty cycle is varied using a pulse width modulation (PWM)
technique. Hence, the system under study in this section is as shown in Fig.3 except that the
inverter stage is eliminated since the power is delivered in DC form. The main objectives of the
proposed controller are,

1. Maximizing the Operating Range

1.1 Tuning the PID parameters

Page 25.1163.6

The operating range of the boost converter is mainly defined by the input voltage and the output
current. In order to maximize the operating range of the control system, the parameters of the
PID controller are tuned at different operating points. The tuning process aims at minimizing rise
time, settling time, ripple and steady state error of the output voltage of the boost converter
corresponding to step changes in input voltage and load. Parameters were tuned at values of
around 60º phase margin and 10 dB gain margin. The tuning process yields values of Kp, Ki, Kd
that are tuned at different output current ranges and input voltage ranges. For instance, results of
the tuning process at different loading conditions at an input voltage of 110 V are given in Table
1.
Figs. 8 and 9 show the response of the PID controller corresponding to a step change in the
loading condition using two different techniques; firstly in Fig. 8 when the PID controller has the
same parameters values before and after the change in loading condition. Secondly, Fig. 9 shows
the response for the controller when the parameters vary corresponding to Table 1 such that a
matching set of (Kp, Ki and Kd) constants are used after the step change is applied. We can see
that the response in Fig. 9 is better in terms of overshoot (75% less) and less ripple.
Table 1: Kp, Ki and Kd optimal values at input voltage of 110 V and different output current ranges
Current range (A) Kp Ki Kd
0.00-0.80 0.00200 0.2000 0.000000
0.80-1.36 0.00940 0.6216 1.1765e-4
1.36-1.76 0.00830 0.6216 1.1913e-4
1.76-2.24 0.00320 0.6214 7.0000e-4
2.24-3.00 0.00270 0.5300 2.7420e-5
3.00-5.0 0.00128 0.4042 1.4527e-4

202

198
Voltage (Volts)

194

190

186

182
0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1
Time (sec)
Fig. 8. Load step change voltage response for conventional PI controller, 110 V input voltage.

202

198
Voltage (Volts)

194

190

186

182

0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1

Time (sec)
Fig. 9. Load step change voltage response for proposed controller, 110 V input voltage.

1.2 Fuzzy controller involvement for smart decision making

Page 25.1163.7

Fuzzy control is a powerful control method that can be applied on different systems. It is based
on the experience of the user about the system behavior rather than modeling the system under
control mathematically like in linear control theory. This makes fuzzy control a powerful control
technique especially with non-linear systems in which it is difficult to derive an accurate
approximated mathematical model of the system and expect its behavior. Fuzzy control is a rule-
based control technique that is approached by linguistic fuzzy rules, which describe the output
desired out of the system under different operating conditions. Fuzzy rules are in the form of if-
then rules that the proficient should design such that they cover all the conditions the system is
expected to go through.
Designing a fuzzy logic controller is achieved through three basic steps; fuzzification, inference
Mechanism and defuzzification as shown in Fig. 10. The Mamdani type fuzzy system has been
used in this paper.
In fuzzification, different membership functions are used to map the input variables, which are
the output current and the PV voltage into fuzzy sets. Each of the output current and the input
voltage that are the inputs to the control system is mapped into six fuzzy subsets as shown in Fig.
11. Operation of the membership functions on the input variable yields the extent to which that
variable is a member of a particular rule. The process of converting control variables into
linguistics rules is called fuzzification.
The fuzzy controller has three outputs which are Kp, Ki and Kd. Each is fuzzified into a
membership function and mapped into a certain linguistic values. The Kp values are represented
by five membership functions whereas each of the Ki and Kd is represented by four membership
functions as shown in Fig. 12.
However, in inference Engine and Rule base step, the output of fuzzy controller is managed
through putting certain linguistic rules. These control rules are constructed based on given
conditions (inputs) such that the fuzzy controller decides the proper control action. The control
action here means that the controller outputs a suitable Kp, Ki and Kd gains such that the PID
controller parameters are those which give the optimal performance at every operating range.
The rules are designed such that the controller gives the values of the PID parameters suitable for
the current loading condition.
Crisp Input 1
Fuzzification Inference Engine Defuzzification
Crisp Input 2

Rule Base

Fig. 10. A block diagram of the fuzzy controller utilized in this paper.

S SB M MB B BB VS S SM SB B VB
1 1

0.8 0.8
Membership
Membership

0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

0 0
0 50 100 150 200 0 1 2 3 4 5
Input voltage (Volts) Output Current (Amps)
Page 25.1163.8

(a) (b)
Fig. 11. Membership functions for: (a) output current, (b) PV voltage
 VS S M B VB
1

0.8

Membership
0.6

0.4

0.2

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Kp Gain x 10
-3

(a)

S M
1 VS B

0.8
Membership

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6
Ki Gain
(b)

VS S M B
1

0.8
Membership

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 1 2
Kd Gain -4
x 10
(c)

Fig. 12. Membership functions for: (a) Kp gain, (b) Ki gain and (c) Kd gain

Finally, in defuzzification, as the output of the fuzzy controller is in the form of fuzzy set, it has
to be transformed from linguistic form into a number that can be used to control the system.
Page 25.1163.9

Many defuuzification methods like weighted average (wtaver) or weighted summation (wtsum)
methods have been proposed. In this paper, we utilized the wtaver method. Figs 13-15 show the
output of the fuzzy controller as a function of the output current and input voltage.

0.01

0.005

p
K
0
200
150 5
4
100 3
2
50 1
Vin Io

Fig. 13. Surface plot of the Kp gain

0.8

0.6

0.4
i
K

0.2

0
200
150 5
4
100 3
2
50 1
Vin Io

Fig. 14. Surface plot of the Ki gain

-4
x 10

4
d
K

0
200
150 5
4
100 3
2
50 1
Vin Io

Fig. 15. Surface plot of the Kd gain

2. Enhancing Transient and Steady State Response

PI controller is the most commonly used controller in industry. It is simply a PID controller in
which the derivative gain value is set to zero. Generally, the proportional integral (PI) controller
is able to control a DC-DC boost converter. On the other hand, the derivative part of the PID
Page 25.1163.10

controller has the characteristic of anticipating the future behavior of the error as it deals with the
derivative of the error. Hence, it is very helpful in mitigating sudden and step changes that the
system may be subjected to. However, it causes ripple in the output voltage waveform. Fig. 16
shows the response of the PID controller for the same case study given in Fig. 8. As can be seen
in the figure, adding the derivative component (PID controller) decreases the voltage dip caused
by the step change of the load. However, the ripple increases during steady state operation in this
case more than it is in the case of the PI controller after.

202

198

Voltage (Volts)
194

190

186

182

0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1

Time (sec)
Fig. 16. Load step change voltage response for conventional PID controller

In this paper, we benefit the help of the derivative part only when it is useful to have it as a part
of the controller and eliminate its effect gradually until we obtain a PI controller with minimum
ripple. The technique is based on detecting any step change in the input variables using a
derivative block. This transient detection pulse triggers the Kd gain. The derivative gain is used
to mitigate the transient effect then it is gradually excluded from the controller to reduce the
ripple in steady state operation. A block diagram of the proposed controller is shown in Fig. 17.

𝐿𝐷𝐶
𝐴
𝑣𝑝𝑣 𝐶𝐷𝐶 𝑅𝐿𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑉
𝑉

𝑣𝑟𝑒𝑓
𝑒

X
𝐾𝑝
𝑖𝑜 𝑣𝑝𝑣

X Fuzzy
𝑠 𝐾𝑖

𝑠 X 𝐾𝑑

Kd Controller Load variation 𝑖𝑜

detector

Fig. 17. Block diagram of the proposed controller

Computer Lab (Simulating the developed converter)

Students will simulate the DC-DC boost converter to examine the difference between the
performances of the proposed controller and of the conventional converter and run some
Page 25.1163.11

experiments to verify the validity of the proposed controller and gain experience on dealing with
PV systems, power electronic converters and PID controllers. The MATLAB/SIMULINK
simulation tool will be used. In order to do that, students need a computer lab with MATLAB
2010 or a newer version installed including SimPowerSystems library and the Fuzzy Logic
Toolbox. The procedure to build the simulation model is as follows,
1- Open MATLAB.exe.
2- Open SIMULINK tool.
3- FileNewmodel (a new empty model will now be open).
4- SimulationConfiguration parameters: adjust sampling time Ts to 1e-5 and the solver to
a fixed step solver ode1 (Euler).
5- Open SIMULINK library.
6- From the library find then drag and drop all the hardware components and measurements
(IGBT, diode, inductor, capacitor, resistive load, voltage and current measurements) from
the SimPowerSystems library.
7- From the SIMULINK main different libraries, find the various gains and math operations
needed to develop a PI controller. For instance, the gains from Math Operations library
and the integral from the Continuous library.
8- Build the circuit then connect a scope to the output of the voltage measurement.
9- Run the model and apply step changes to the voltage reference and monitor the
converter’s performance.
10- Replace the conventional PI controller with the developed controller by adding the fuzzy
agent from the Fuzzy Logic Toolbox.
Finally, the SIMULINK model is as shown in Fig 18.

Controlled DC-DC Boost Converter Circuit Continuous

powe rgui

1 [G]
20 >0
error s Duty Sy cle
Reference voltage Ki Integrator Saturation Compare Pulses1
To Zero
[V]

V_act1
-K- Sowtooth
Gain1 Sawtooth

shifter

L D
[G]

Pulses
g

+
C

PV Emulator
- v
[V]
IGBT C Load
V_act
m
E

Fig. 18. Simulink model of a controlled DC-DC boost converter.

Fig. 19 shows the voltage, current and PID gains responses to a load step change from 100 W to
500 W. Load current is an input for the fuzzy controller and based on its value, the PID
parameters are estimated. As can be seen in the figure, the Kp and Ki gains changed
instantaneously with the load step change with a small delay of 0.3 msec. It can also be observed
that a pulse is generated with a period that is a function of the capacitor time constant to detect
Page 25.1163.12

any loading to the boost converter. At steady state operation, the gain Kd in this case causes the
capacitor to have a slow charge/discharge operation. However, this is undesired in steady state
operation. On the other hand, one of the advantages of having a fast controller is its ability to
enhance the transient response of the converter corresponding to changes in the output voltage.
Therefore, the Kd gain is zero at steady state operation. However, at any loading or input voltage
change, it is applied to a tuned value. This value is chosen by the fuzzy logic controller. It can be
observed from Fig. 19 that the Kd gain has a fixed value of 0.7e-3 during the load detection pulse
ON period. Once the load detection pulse is turned off, an exponential damping factor is applied
to the Kd value to enhance the ripple of the device at the steady state operation. However, the Kp
and Ki values are fixed.

Fig. 19. Proposed adaptive controller load step change, 100 W-500W, response and controller parameters variations.

A PI controller is used in comparison with the proposed adaptive controller to highlight its
advantages. Fig. 20 shows the voltage and current responses corresponding to a load step change
of 100 W to 500 W. The same load step changes were applied previously to the adaptive
controller illustrated in Fig. 19. The Y-axis ranges used in Fig. 20 for the voltage and current are
the same as in Fig. 19 to facilitate the comparison. When the load suddenly changes from 100 W
to 500 W, the voltage dip in the case of traditional PI controller is around 19 V. Whereas, this
voltage dip is around 1 V in case of the proposed controller.

Page 25.1163.13

Fig. 20. Traditional PI controller Load step change response (100W-500W), simulation results.
Experimental Lab (Implementing the developed converter in real-time)

Experimental results will also been taken to insure the validity of the proposed control
strategy. This requires a power system lab. The following components will be needed,

PV Emulator dSPACE 1104

Current Transducer Voltage Transducer

Inductor Capacitor

IGBT/Diode Heat Sink

Fig. 21. Components needed to build the controlled boost converter circuit.

The test setup used will be as shown in Fig. The tests are as follows; firstly, the load is
changed from 220 W to 1 KW. As seen in Fig. 23, a transient of 0.05 sec has occurred and a
small voltage dip can be observed. Another test was conducted to test the controller. A load step
change from 1 KW to 220 W was applied to the boost converter. Due to that step change, a
transient of 0.05 sec occurred. In addition, a voltage overshoot of around 1 V is observed during
that transient. Fig. 24 shows the voltage and current response for a load step change from 1 KW
to 220 W.
Page 25.1163.14

To illustrate the effect of having the derivative gain in the controller, Fig. 25 shows the voltage
and current transient responses corresponding to a load step change of 1 KW to 220 W. Here, the
fuzzy controller here is choosing only the PI parameters. Whereas, the derivative gain value is
set to zero at all loading conditions. It can be observed that a voltage dip of approximately 10
Volts occurred when the load was switched and it took the controller 0.35 sec to stabilize. These
experimental results indicate that when adding the derivative gain component in the PID
controller during the transient interval, a better transient response is achieved.
Figs. 26 and 27 show the voltage and current transient response of the traditional PI controller
for the same step changes from 220 W to 1 kW and from 1 kW to 220 W, respectively. It can be
seen that there is voltage undershoot and overshoot of around 20 V in both case studies,
respectively.

AVO Meter DC Load

Boost Converter

dSPACE 1104
dSPACE Control desk

Programmable Power
Supply (PV Emulator)

Fig. 22. Experimental setup for the controlled DC-DC boost converter.

Fig. 23. Proposed adaptive PID controller response for load step change from 220 W to 1 KW, experimental results
Page 25.1163.15
Fig. 24. Proposed adaptive PID controller response for load step change from 1 KW to 220 W, experimental results.

Fig. 25. Proposed controller (with Kd gain set to zero) response for load step change from 220 W to 1 KW,
experimental results.

Fig. 26. Traditional PI controller response for load step change from 220W to 1 KW, experimental results.
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 Fig. 27. Traditional PI controller response for load step change from 1 kW to 220 W, experimental results.

Conclusion
In this paper, a smart PID controller has been presented. Teaching this developed controller
involves concepts related to various subjects including renewable energy sources, power
electronics and control theory. Moreover, the simulation and experimental environments used to
develop and verify the developed controller can very effective tools to increase students’
knowledge about these subjects.
References

[1] T. Khatib, A. Mohamed and N. Amin, “A new controller scheme for photovoltaics power generation systems,” European Journal of
Scientific Research, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 515-524, 2009.
[2] J. Santos, F. Antunes, A. Chehab and C. Cruz, “A maximum power point tracker for PV systems using a high performance boost
converter,” Solar Energy, vol. 80, pp. 772-778, 2006.
[3] C. Elmas, O. Deperlioglu, H. Sayan, “Adaptive fuzzy logic controller for DC-DC converters,” Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 36,
pp. 1540-1548, 2009.
[4] P. Mattavelli, L. Rossetto, G. Spiazzi and P. Tenti, “General-purpose fuzzy controller for DC-DC converters,” IEEE Transaction on Power
Electronics, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 79-86, 1997.
[5] M. H. Rashid, Power Electronics Handbook, California: ACADEMIC PRESS, 2001.

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