Implementation of Sliding Mode Control
in DC Microgrids
Leonardy Setyawan, Wang Peng, Xiao Jianfang
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Nanyang Technology University, Singapore
leon0159@e.ntu.edu.sg, epwang@ntu.edu.sg, xi0012ng@e.ntu.edu.sg
Abstract—Upon the increasing implementation of direct
current (DC) power sources, energy storages and loads in power
systems, DC microgrids have drawn more attention from global
stakeholders. Reliable operation of DC microgrids mainly
depends on proper control method to cope with bus voltage
variations due to renewable sources intermittency and load
changes. The main objectives of the control method are to
maintain the operating bus voltage and the power balance. This
control method is applied in battery energy storage (BES)
component. By charging and discharging power to and from BES
the control objectives can be achieved. Sliding mode control
(SMC) method is implemented because of its robustness for
sudden variations of power sources and loads. SMC is also of fast
response in dynamics. Washout filter is applied to minimize the
transient response. DC microgrid model is developed in
Matlab/Simulink simulation to verify the performance of SMC.
The comparison between SMC and the conventional
proportional-plus-integral (PI) control is also carried out in the
analysis.
Keywords—sliding mode control; DC microgrid; washout filter;
battery energy storage
I. INTRODUCTION
Semiconductors which are natively DC are about to
dominate electrical devices since the invention of
semiconductor material in 1960s. Hence, the majority of the
load base will be DC-compatible [1]. Most carbon-free energy
sources i.e. photovoltaic (PV) and fuel cell, and energy
storages which are vastly increasing in number are also DC
inherent. The continuous growth penetration of DC-compatible
components in both loads and sources are inevitable.
Nowadays, nearly 30% of all power generated will pass
through a power electronic converter before it is utilized, and it
is predicted to increase to 80% within the next 10-15 years [2].
The conversion process causes the power loss in the power
system. It will be more efficient and sustainable if the number
of conversions are reduced.
Because of those factors, it is the time to reconsider the
merits of DC over AC throughout the system. Nevertheless, the
implementation of the DC microgrid alone for wider use has
The authors are with School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering,
Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, SINGAPORE
639798.
This research is supported by Energy Research Institute @ NTU
(ERI@N), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
978-1-4799-4315-9/14/$31.00 2014
c IEEE
some barriers which include the aspect of standards, protection,
safety, and equipment [1]. Therefore, the DC microgrid is
implemented to enhance the performance of the overall power
system rather than to substitute the existing AC power system.
The main motivation of this research is to cope with
stability issue existing in the DC microgrid which is mainly
caused by the intermittent nature of renewable sources and
load changes. BES is the main component to regulate the bus
voltage through charge and discharge to maintain power
balance of DC microgrid [3]. PI control is a common control
technique used for converters [4-7]. It is a linear control that
minimizes the error by adjusting the control input of the system
with the control action. Since the converter is nonlinear, to
simplify the control process, nonlinear control is implemented.
The nonlinear control chosen in this research report is SMC.
SMC is recognized as an efficient tool to do design robust
controllers for complex high-order nonlinear dynamic plant
operating under uncertain conditions [8]. SMC has major
advantages including the guaranteed stability and the
robustness against parameter, line, and load uncertainties [9,
10]. The simulation results are presented to validate this
research work. In this research the performance comparison
between SMC and PI control will be carried out.
The organization of this paper is as follow: Section 2
exposes a typical DC microgrid from the overall system to its
components including the mathematic modeling; Section 3
explains the implementation of the sliding mode control
method in the DC microgrid; the results and analysis of the
simulations of several case studies are presented in Section 4;
and in the last Section 5, conclusions are provided.
II. DC MICROGRID CONFIGURATION AND MODELLING
A. DC Microgrid Configuration
DC microgrid interconnects a localized grouping of
electricity sources, storages and loads that predominantly
generates, distributes, stores, and uses electricity in its native
DC. It is able to operates either in grid-tied mode or isolated
mode. The DC microgrids have advantages over the AC
microgrid [11], including: a) simple to control, b) higher
efficiency, c) higher power quality, d) higher reliability, and e)
reduces the greenhouse effect.
578
 Rs Ipv
+
Iph D Rsh Vpv Load
Ͳ
DC Sources

Fig. 2. PV Cell Equivalent Circuit

B. Modeling of DC Microgrid Components

The detail of the model of each component in DC
microgrid for the simulation is presented in the followings:
1) Modeling of Solar PV Panel
A solar PV cell can be modelled as a current source driven
by the sunlight in paralleled with a diode. A shunt resistor and
a series resistor are connected at the output. The equivalent
circuit of a solar PV cell is presented in Fig. 2.
The model of solar PV panel is represented in the equations
DC Storages

below [12, 13]:

AC link
௤ ௏೛ೡ
‫ܫ‬௣௩ ൌ ݊௣ ‫ܫ‬௣௛ െ ݊௣ ‫ܫ‬௦௔௧ ቈ݁‫ ݌ݔ‬ቆቀ ቁቀ ൅ ‫ܫ‬௣௩ ܴ௦ ቁቇ െ ͳ቉ (2)
஺௞் ௡ೞ

ௌ
‫ܫ‬௣௛ ൌ ቀ‫ܫ‬௦௦௢ ൅ ݇௜ ሺܶ െ ܶ௥ ሻ ൈ ቁ (3)
ଵ଴଴଴
DC loads

் ଷ ௤ா೒ೌ೛ ଵ ଵ
‫ܫ‬௦௔௧ ൌ ‫ܫ‬௥௥ ቀ ቁ ݁‫ ݌ݔ‬ቆቀ ቁ ൈ ቀ െ ቁቇ (4)
்ೝ ௞஺ ்ೝ ்

Fig. 1. The Schematic Layout of a DC microgrid where: Voc = Rated open circuit voltage
Iph = Photocurrent
A generic schematic layout of the DC microgrid is Isat = Module reverse saturation current
q = Electron charge (1.602 x 10-19 C)
displayed in Fig. 1 which consists of: A = Ideality factor
k = Boltzman constant (1.38 x 10-23 J/K)
a. DC sources Rs = Series resistance of a PV cell
These components include solar PV panels, wind turbine, Rsh = Parallel resistance of a PV cell
and fuel cell (FC) with their respective converter. Isso = Short-circuit current
b. DC storages ki = SC current temperature coefficient
Tr = Reference temperature (300 K)
These components include BESs and super capacitor Irr = Reverse saturation current at Tr
installed with converters. Egap = Energy of the band gap for silicon (1.12 eV)
c. Loads np = Number of cells in parallel
These components include DC-compatible loads ns = Number of cells in series
S = Solar irradiation level
T = Surface temperature of the PV
BES is the main voltage regulation component in DC
microgrid which maintain system power balance through 2) Modeling of Battery
charge and discharge [4]. Excess power in DC microgrid The battery voltage terminal Vb and state of charge (SOC)
induces bus voltage swell and, vice versa [3]. Therefore, the are two important parameters for the indication of the battery
controller maintains the power balance of DC microgrid by status which are determined by the equations below [14].
charging to BES when power is excess and discharging from
BES when power is deficit. Power balance on DC microgrid ொ
ܸ௕ ൌ ܸ௢ െ ‫ܭ‬ ൅ ‫ ܣ‬ȉ ݁‫݌ݔ‬ሺെ‫݅ ׬ ܤ‬௕ ݀‫ݐ‬ሻ െ ܴ௕ ȉ ݅௕  (5)
can be expressed with the following equation: ொି‫ ׬‬௜್ ௗ௧

‫ ׬‬௜್ ௗ௧
ܲ஻ாௌ ൌ ܲ௦ െ ܲ௅ (1) ܱܵ‫ ܥ‬ൌ ͳͲͲ ቀͳ െ ቁ (6)
ொ

where PBES, PS and PL are the power of battery energy
storages, DC sources, and loads respectively.
where Rb, Vo, ib, Q, K, A and B are the internal resistance,
open circuit voltage, battery current, rated capacity,
polarization voltage, exponential voltage and exponential
capacity respectively. This battery model is provided in
MATLAB/Simulink tool. The battery equivalent circuit is

2014 IEEE 9th Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ICIEA) 579
shown in Fig. 3 and the parameters of the lead acid type battery
model are provided as in Table I.
TABLE I. PARAMETERS OF THE BES MODEL
Symbol Description Value Units
V Nominal Voltage 196 V
Q Rated Capacity 150 Ah
SOC Initial State-of-Charge 50 %

Fig. 4. The Simplified Model of DC microgrid

where: vc = Instantaneous capacitor voltage

iL = Instantaneous inductor current
Vb = Battery voltage
R = Resistive load
rL = Equivalent series resistor of the inductor
P = Difference power generated and consumed

஼
by substituting ‫ ݐ‬ൌ ߬ξ‫ ܥܮ‬and ሼ݅௅ ǡ ‫ݒ‬௖ ሽ ൌ ቊට ܸ௕ ‫ݔ‬ǡ ܸ௕ ‫ݕ‬ቋ to
௅
(8), the dynamics can be normalized to
Fig. 3. Battery Equivalent Circuit
ௗ௫
3) Modeling of Wind Turbine Generator ൌ ͳ െ ܾ‫ ݔ‬െ ‫ݕݑ‬
ௗఛ
Output power Pm from a wind turbine generator (WTG) can ௗ௬ ௗ (9)
ൌ ‫ ݔݑ‬െ ܽ‫ ݕ‬െ
be expressed as [6, 7, 15]: ௗఛ ௬

ܲ௠ ൌ ͲǤͷߩ‫ܥܣ‬௣ ሺߣǡ ߚሻܸ௪ଷ (7) where: a =

ଵ ௅
ට ; b =
஼
ට ‫ݎ‬௅ ; d = ට
௅ ௉
ோ ஼ ௅ ஼ ௏್మ

where: ȡ = Air density

A = Rotor swept area
Cp(Ȝ,ȕ) = Power coefficient which is the function of tip speed
ratio Ȝ and pitch angle ȕ
Vw = Wind speed
WTG output is connected to AC-DC-DC converter. With a
proper control, the maximum power from the WTG can be
harnessed to DC microgrid [15]. Modeling of other
components like super capacitor and loads are not presented
due to the simplicity of the model.
III. IMPELEMENTATION OF SLIDING MODE CONTROL
Washout filter is equipped to the sliding mode control.
Purposes of adding this washout filter are [16, 17]:
a. To regulate the desired output voltage of DC microgrid
b. To ensure robustness under variations
c. To minimize the transient response
The inclusion of the filter adds an additional differential
equation to (8), given by
ௗ௭
ൌ ߱௡ ሺ‫ ݔ‬െ ‫ݖ‬ሻ (10)
ௗఛ

Battery converter is scheduled to operate in voltage where ߱௡ = ʹߨ݂௡ and ݂௡ is the cut-off frequency.
regulation (VR) mode to maintain system power balance.
Sliding mode control method is implemented for control of The sliding surface that is used, represented as:
BES DC-DC bi-directional boost converter. The sliding mode
control used in this system is equipped with washout filter. The ݄௡ ሺ‫ݔ‬ሻ ൌ ‫ ݕ‬െ ‫ݕ‬௥ ൅ ݇௡ ሺ‫ ݔ‬െ ‫ݖ‬ሻ (11)
washout filter is responsible for controlling the power balance
[16]. where: yr = The desired normalized DC bus voltage
kn = Positive scalar control parameter to be adequately adjusted
DC microgrid model is simplified for the simulation. The z = The low frequency part of signal x
simplified model of DC microgrid is as shown in Fig. 4. The
dynamics of the simplified DC microgrid model can be The power switches have a frequency limitation to operate
represented as safely. A hysteresis band between the denormalized switching
surface h and the commutation signal u represented in (12) is
ௗ௜ಽ ଵ
ൌ ሺܸ௕ െ ‫ݎ‬௅ ݅௅ െ ‫ݒݑ‬௖ ሻ the most common solution to limit the switching frequency.
ௗ௧ ௅
ௗ௩೎ ଵ ௩೎ ௉ (8)
ൌ ቀ‫݅ݑ‬௅ െ െ ቁ ͳǡ݂݄݅ ൐ ߜ
ௗ௧ ஼ ோ ௩೎
‫ ݑ‬ൌ  ቐ Ͳǡ݂݄݅ ൏ െߜ (12)
‫ݑ‬௣௥௘ ǡ݂݅ െ ߜ ൑ ݄ ൑ ߜ

580 2014 IEEE 9th Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ICIEA)
where į is a constant which defines the hysteresis band and upre TABLE II. PARAMETERS FOR THE SIMULATION CASE STUDIES
is the last value of u. Symbol Description Value Units
C Capacitance 50 —F
௏್ ሺ௩೎ ି௏್ ሻ L Inductance 2.5 mH
ߜൌ (13)
ଶ௅௙ೞ ௩೎ rL Inductor resistance 5 mŸ
fs Switching frequency 100 kHz
where fs is the switching frequency in steady state. The stability 2į Hysteresis band 0.3796 A
limitation of each parameter is stated as [16]: Vb Battery voltage 196 V
Vc(0) Initial vapacitor voltage 196 V
ఠ೙ Ȧ Cut-off frequency 283 rad/s
m > 0, ܽ ൐ ܾ ൅ and kn is in the range as stated below:
ଶ k Scalar control parameter 10 -
Q Battery capacity 150 Ah
ఠ೙ ିሺଶ௕ାఠ೙ ሻξ௠ ଵିξ௠ Ppv Solar PV power 1.2 kW
‫ ܭ‬ൌ ቊ݇௡ ൐ ݉ܽ‫ ݔ‬ቄ ǡ ቅቋ (14)
ସ௔௕௬ೝ ଶ௕௬ೝ

Since the analysis is done on the normalized system, it is

necessary to denormalize the variables of the system so that the
control can be implemented:
ఠ೙
a. ߱ ൌ
ξ௅஼
௅
b. ݇ ൌ ݇௡ ට
஼

In this research work, SMC is implemented in a DC
microgrid with battery voltage of 196 V and DC bus voltage of
380 V. The switching frequency of the controller is determined
so that the hysteresis band can be calculated using (13). This
hysteresis band value will then be applied in the relay block of
the simulation model.
Other parameters that should be considered are the cut off
frequency (fn) and the positive scalar (k). After both parameters
have been determined, the values of those parameters are then
applied in the control block. This control block is then
implemented to conduct the simulation.
IV. SIMULATION SETUPS AND RESULTS
MATLAB/Simulink simulation is conducted to validate the
sliding mode control method in the DC microgrid.
A. Test System and Parameters
The simulation is conducted in the DC microgrid model
which includes a solar PV, lead acid battery energy storage,
and a DC resistance load. The parameters used in battery
energy storage converter circuit and the solar PV panel for this
simulation are presented in the Table II. The general test
system schematic layout for case studies is presented in Fig 5
with the control block diagram shown in Fig. 6.
Fig. 6. The Structure of SMC Based on Washout Filter
B. Case Studies
Three case studies have been conducted in this paper. At
the same time, results based on classical PI control are obtained
for the comparison:
1) Bus Voltage Regulation
The DC load set in this case study is 160 Ÿ and the total
simulation time is 0.05 s. The simulation result of this case
study is presented in Figs. 7 – 8. The simulation result for this
case study by using SMC has a rise time of 1.7 ms, settling
time of 4.4 ms and no overshoot. The simulation result of this
case study is compared with PI control method. The simulation
result with SMC is drawn with blue solid line whereas PI
control is drawn with red dash line.
The simulation result of capacitor/output voltage with SMC
has no overshoot compared with PI control which has 2.46%
overshoot. PI control has slower settling time (6.9 ms)
compared to SMC.

Fig. 5. The General Test System Schematic Layout

Fig. 7. Simulation Result of the Capacitor/Output Voltage

2014 IEEE 9th Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ICIEA) 581
 Fig. 8. Simulation Result of the Inductor Current
2) Solar Power Variation Event
The power produced by the solar PV panel is different in
time depending on the solar irradiation. Different levels of
input solar PV power are applied to simulate this variation. The
purpose of this case study setup is to verify the capability of the
SMC to track changes caused by the fluctuated solar power.
The DC load is 220 Ÿ and the total simulation time is 0.35 s.
The simulation result of this case study is presented in Figs. 9 –
10.
Along with the variations in the solar PV panel output
power the BES can track the bus voltage. The PI control also
produces the similar result with the SMC, the only different is
the PI control induces more oscillation compared to the SMC
during the transient when the changes happen.
Fig. 9. Simulation Result of the Capacitor/Output Voltage
Fig. 10. Simulation Result of the Inductor Current
582 2014 IEEE 9th Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ICIEA)
Fig. 11. Power Balance in DC Microgrid
The power balance in DC microgrid is presented in Fig. 11.
The power that consumed by DC load is 656.36 W. When the
solar PV panel cannot meet the needed power for DC load,
BES will discharge the power to the DC microgrid so that the
power balance is realized. In the other side when solar PV
panel power meet the DC load power and has an excess power,
the controller will use the excess to charge the BES. By doing
these the power balance in the DC microgrid is satisfied at all
time.
3) DC Load Variation Event
The effect of load variation is investigated in this case
study. The resistance changing caused the changing of DC load
power consumption. The DC load will change from the initial
value of 300 Ÿ to 200 Ÿ to 150 Ÿ to 200 Ÿ and then back to
300 Ÿ sequentially in the duration of 0.1 s. The total simulation
time is 0.5 s.
The simulation result of this case study is presented in Figs.
12 – 13. A voltage dip happened when the load is increased
and a little voltage swell happened when the load is decreased.
The performance of SMC and PI control for this case study is
similar. For the voltage overshoot or voltage undershoot which
happened in the simulation, SMC has a bit better performance
rather than PI control. The SMC has performance 0.053%
better than PI control.
Fig. 12. Simulation Result of the Capacitor/Output Voltage

Fig. 13. Simulation Result of the Inductor Current
PV converter operates in MPPT mode with constant power
output of 940 W throughout the case study.
V. CONCLUSION
The sliding mode control method has been implemented in
battery charging-discharging converter to maintain the stable
operation of a DC microgrid. MATLAB simulation has been
conducted to validate the performance of the sliding mode
control. The sliding mode control can maintain voltage stability
and power balance of a DC microgrid through controlling the
charging and discharging of the BES in case of solar irradiation
variations and load consumption changes. The sliding mode
control gives a better response on the transient response
compared to the PI control. In the transient response, the SMC
has averagely 0.387% better performance on voltage
overshoot/undershoot than the PI control.
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