Practical considerations of nonlinear control techniques applied to static power converters: A survey and comparative study

Abstract In light of robustness and specific characteristics of the semiconductor switches and converters, nonlinear controllers perceive power electronics as an important application field. As there is still a gap between theory and practice because of the complexity of this theme for an initial contact, many students and industrial engineers are discouraged. Generally and intuitively, the aim of this paper is to present some practical considerations such as: simple procedure to obtain nonlinear equations, sinusoidal, three-phase and isolated cases, indispensable techniques like load estimation and PI controller for output voltage regulation, Hardware in The Loop (HIL) Simulation and hybrid solutions. An additional goal is the comparative study of three nonlinear control methods - state feedback linearization (SFL), passivity based control (PBC) and interconnection and damping assignment passivity based control (IDA-PBC), all of which are applied to seven static power converters: buck, boost, buck-boost, flyback, 3-phase boost, CUK and SEPIC. Comparative figures and tables are constructed to evidence the similarities and differences between the techniques and converters. The results are shown from a qualitative viewpoint.