A Global Tracking Sensorless Adaptive PI-PBC Design for Output Voltage Regulation in a Boost Converter Feeding a DC Microgrid

Abstract

The problem of the output voltage regulation in a DC-DC boost converter feeding a DC microgrid is addressed in this research via the passivity-based control theory with a proportional–integral action (PI-PBC). Two external input estimators were implemented in conjunction with the proposed controller to make it sensorless and adaptive. The first estimator corresponds to the immersion & invariance (I&I) approach applied to calculate the expected value of the DC load, which is modeled as an unknown DC current. The second estimator is based on the disturbance–observer (DO) approach, which reaches the value of the voltage input. The main advantage of both estimators is that these ensure exponential convergence under steady-state operating conditions, and their parametrization only requires the definition of an integral gain. A comparative analysis with simulations demonstrates that the proposed PI-PBC approach is effective in regulating/controlling the voltage profile in unknown DC loads as compared to the adaptive sliding mode controller. Experimental validations have demonstrated that the proposed PI-PBC approach, in conjunction with the I&I and the DO estimators, allowed regulation of the voltage output profile in the terminals of the DC load with asymptotic stability properties and fast convergence times (1.87 ms) and acceptably overshoots (6.1%) when the voltage input varies its magnitude (from 10 to 12 V and from 10 to 8 V) considering that the DC load changed with a square waveform between 1 and 2 A with 100 Hz.