Active Disturbance Rejection Control with Sensor Noise Suppressing Observer for DC-DC Buck Power Converters

The class of active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) algorithms has been shown in the literature to be an interesting alternative to standard control methods in power electronics devices. However, their robustness and stability are often limited in practice by the high-frequency measurement noise, common in industrial applications. In this article, this problem is addressed by replacing the conventional high-gain extended state observer (ESO) with a new cascade observer structure. The presented experimental results, performed on a DC-DC buck power converter system, show that the new cascade ESO design has increased estimation/control performance compared to the standard approach, while effectively suppressing the detrimental effect of sensor noise over-amplification.