Control of Bidirectional DC-DC Converter for Supercapacitor

Automotive Application
H. Maker H. Gualous R. Outbib Mónica E. Romero
January 22, 2008

Abstract the case of a battery. Moreover, supercapacitors

can provide or absorb a very high current; this as-
The purpose of this paper is to study a sliding- pect can be very significant for the recuperation of
mode controller to regulate the voltage and current the energy during braking for example. The super-
a bidirectional DC-DC converter . The converter capacitors have a series resistance lower than that
is placed between a supercapacitor array (SA) and of batteries. The charge/discharge efficiency of a
a DC-link fixed at 42V. Supercapacitor array is re- supercapacitor is higher than whereas, in case of a
garded as powered system with high current and battery it is between 70% and 85% . Supercapac-
low voltage source. The DC-DC converter is bidi- itors can be used in parallel with battery or with
rectional: it is a Boost converter when the SA pro- fuel cell in a hybrid power sources for automotive
vides the power requirement of the DC link and a applications, they can provide peak power require-
Buck converter when SA is charged from the DC ment in order to increase the efficiency of the source
link. The output voltage ( Boost case) and the and the lifecycle of the system. Thus, supercapac-
inductor current (Buck case) are regulated at con- itors can be used in electric or hybrid vehicles in
stant values using a sliding mode approach. order to provide peak power for improved acceler-
ation, in parallel with the vehicle battery during
start up of the internal combustion engine with the
1 Introduction purpose of decreasing the size and the power of the
battery, in fuel cell vehicles in order to reduce the
Peak power applications like in the transportation power and therefore the cost of the fuel cell. To
domain need electric energy storage device with use supercapcitors in hybrid power source with a
high power density. The energy storage compo- DC link [1], it is necessary to introduce a reversible
nent must be able to provide or to absorb a very DC-DC converter between supercapacitors module
high current as in vehicle acceleration or braking. and the DC link with the aim to adapt the cur-
Supercapacitors (see Table 1) are ideally placed rent and the voltage levels. In this configuration,
to meet this need. They have an instantaneous the hybrid power source efficiency and the power
power more significant than that of the batteries availability depend mainly on the control law and
and with an energy level greater than that of the on the power management algorithm.
traditional capacitors. Its lifecycle is also higher In hybrid power source system configuration, the
than that of the batteries (approximately 10 years) control input is the duty cycle of the DC-DC power
[10], [3]. According to the data of Table 1, it is clear converter. By changing the duty cycle, the DC
that the supercapacitor is a potential element for link voltage or current can be regulated. In the
the buffer/temporary storage of embarked electric literature, several control laws were proposed (see
power. Supercapacitors can be used as a source, for instance [6, 15]). Among the used approaches
for peak power demands of few seconds to a few for the control of the DC-DC converter there are
tens of seconds. One can note that the number of strategies based on sliding mode control. The con-
charge/discharge cycles that a supercapacitor can trol of systems using sliding mode technique has
support is approximately 1000 times greater than attracted the attention of several authors. It is

1
employed, in particular, for variable structure sys- D2
L
tems and especially in power electronics (see for
instance[14, 16]). In this work we present a sliding Vsc
T2
mode control. More precisely, the objective of this T1 D1 C
paper is to present results on of a bidirectional DC-
DC converter (Buck-Boost). It deals with the case
where the converter is placed between a superca-
pacitors array and a 42V DC-link. The goal is the Figure 1: Bidirectional DC-DC conveter
control of a DC voltage by a bidirectional chopper.
The supplied voltage is provided by a supercapac-
itors module and, in its turns, the supercapacitors L
are charged at a constant current from the DC link. D2 I
Vsc +
The remainder of this paper is organized as fol- +
T1 C
lows. In Section 2 the models of each element of the
system under considerations are presented. Section
3 presents the supercapacitor model. Section devel-
ops the control satragies proposed in this applica-
tion. Sections ?? and ?? present simulation and Figure 2: Boost converter
experimental results and finally Section ?? resume
the conclusions of the paper.
by the following equations:
diL 1
= (VSC − (1 − u)VC )
2 DC-DC Converter dt L
(1)
The DC-DC converter under consideration, de- dvC 1
picted in Figure 1, is a bidirectional chopper. We = ((1 − u)iL − I)
dt C
consider two operating modes for this converter de-
pending on the state of charge of supercapacitors where Vsc is the supercapacitors module voltage
and by the load profile at the DC link: a.- Boost given by supercapacitors state models. iL and vC
mode corresponds when there is a power demand represent respectively the inductor current and the
at the DC link and the supercapacitors are able capacitor voltage (or DC link voltage) variables.
to provide this power and b.- Buck mode corre- The power switch T1 is controlled by the variable
sponds when the supercapacitors are charged from u that takes the value 0 or 1 wich means that the
the DC Link which is supplied by fuel cell or bat- switch transistor is closed or open. The average
teries for example. In this case the current of state model of the Boost (valid for steady state op-
charge is regulated at a constant value. The bidi- eration condition) is given by the following expres-
rectional DC-DC converter under consideration au- sion:
tomatically change the operating mode and in each
diˆL 1 ˆ
one there is a controller that regulates output volt- = (VSC − (1 − D)VˆC )
dt L
age and current respectively designed using sliding
mode approach. (2)
dvˆC 1
In the Boost mode the supercapacitors provide = ((1 − D)iˆL − I)
the peak of power requirement in order to adapt dt C
the supercapacitors voltage and current levels to where D is a continous value named the duty cycle
the 42V DC link. The simplified scheme of this and takes values 0 ≤ D ≤ 1.
configuration is represented by Figure 2. The cur- In the Buck mode the supercapacitors module is
rent source I represents the load. charged from the DC-link. The structure of the
The behaviour of the Boost converter is described converter in this mode is represented by Figure3.

2
 of this model is similar to that of a transmission
L
line[17][11] which consists in solving the two par-
VDCLink
tial differential equations which describe the varia-
C
T2 Vsc
D1 tion of the voltage and the current along the line.
Second, a model with two RC branches with a non-
linear capacitance varying with the voltage on its
terminals (see Figure 4), then it is sufficient to de-
Figure 3: Buck converter scribe the electric behavior of the supercapacitor in
power electronic applications ( I don’t understand
this comment). The parameters of the model are
determined experimentally. The method of deter-
The power switch T2 is controlled by the duty mination is described in the [19, 18].
cycle u. In this operating mode the DC-DC con-
In this work we have use the second kind of
verter behaviour can be described by the following
model. It is divided in three parts. The first part
expressions:
is composed by the branch R1 C1 , known as the
diL 1 principle branch. The capacitance is modeled as a
= (uVC − VSC ) (3) voltage depending on the differential capacitor C1 .
dt L
VC = VDC It consists of a constant capacitor and a capaci-
tor which value varies linearly with the voltage ;
The average state model of the Buck is given by , where k is a constant. R1 is the equivalent se-
the following expression: ries resistance (ESR). The R1 C1 branch dominates
the immediate behavior of the supercapacitor in
diL 1 the time range of a few seconds. The R1 C1 cell
= (DVC − VSC ) (4)
dt L is the main branch, which determines energy evo-
VC = VDC lution during charge and discharge cycles in power
electronic applications (charge and discharge in a
In this case u and D are the same as those described few seconds). It’s called fast branch. The second
in the Boost case. part is composed by the branch R2 C2 cell which
is the slow branch; it completes the first cell in
long time range in order of a few minutes and de-
3 Supercapacitor Model scribes the internal charge redistribution at the end
In this section we present briefly a model of a su- of the supercapacitor charge (or discharge). The
percapacitor. This model is used in the simulation third part (not depicted) is composed by Rp , the
test but it is no necessary for de control law de- equivalent parallel resistance. The later has only
sign. There is mainly two kinds of model that are impact on long term storage performances since it
is a leakage effect. Rp can be neglected during fast
charge/discharge of the supercapacitor. A series
Is R1 R2
inductance may be added for pulse applications,
but measurements show that its value is so small
Vcell C1(V1) V1 V2 (for Maxwell 2600F the inductance is in order of
C2
25nH)[8]. So, this inductance can be neglected in
power electronic applications.
Finally the state space model for C1 = C0 + KV1
Figure 4: Equivalent electric circuit of supercapac- results:
itor (
C1 (V1 ) Vdt1 = Is + V2R−V
2
1

proposed in the literature. First, a model based on R2 C2 Vdt2 = V2 − V1

the constant distribution of charge as in the case
of a transmission line. The parameters calculation and Vcell = Vsc = Ncell (R1 Is + V1 )

3
4 Control Design Replacing the expresion of Eq. (7) by (8) in (10)
we have:
In this section we present the control law for each
Vsc Vc Vc
operation mode of the converter using the sliding σ̇ =K1 ( + Deq − )+ (11)
mode technique that consider a discontimous con- L L L
iL iL I
trol law as: + K2 ( + Deq − )+
C C C
iL iL I
(
1 if σ(x) <  + fx2 (x)( + Deq − ) = 0
u= (5) C C C
0 if σ(x) ≥ 
dσ
note that on the sliding surface dt = (vC −
where σ(x) is a sliding surface set appropriately for vC,ref ) = 0.
each operation mode. Rearranging terms we obtain:
∂σ dx Vsc Vc iL I
4.1 Boost Mode = K1 ( − ) + K2 ( − )+ (12)
∂x dt L L C C
In this mode we propose de sliding surface as follow: iL I Vc
+ fx2 (x)( − ) + Deq (K1 +
C C L
σ(x) =K1 (iL − iL,ref ) + K2 (vC − vC,ref )+ (6) iL iL
+ K2 + fx2 (x) ) = 0
Z C C
+ K3 (vC − vC,ref )dt
if we name (K1 VLc + K2 iCL + fx2 (x) iCL ) = α(x)
and (K1 VLsc − K2 CI + fx2 (x) CI ) = β(x) expression
Now it is necessary to prove the existence of a slid-
(12) results:
ing mode (SM) operating condition and the stabil-
ity of the controled system. σ̇ = β(x) + α(x) − Deq α(x) = 0 (13)
In order to prove the existence of a SM it is sufi-
cient to find an equivalent control which should be from (13) it is suffiecient to prove that Deq exists
well defined,[12, 13]. and is:
Representing the system with compact notation 0 ≤ Deq ≤ 1 (14)
we have: to conclude that there exists a sliding mode over
ẋ = AX + Bu + ξ (7) the proposed surface σ(x). If we are in steady state
where regime and the system is on the sliding surface,
then the equality x = xref is valid. For the boost
− L1
     
x1 i 0 converter it means that:
x= = L ,A = 1 , (8)
x2 vC C 0 Vsc
vc = Vc,ref = (15)
 vC   VSC  1 − Dss
B= L
iL ,ξ = L I
C − CI il = iref =
1 − Dss
we need to find an equivalent control that drives the
where Dss is a duty cycle corresponding to the op-
system to the sliding surface (σ = 0) and remains
erating point xref . Finally repalicing the steady
there, i.e.:
state value (4.3) in (13) we find tha α(xref ) =
β(xref )
∂σ dx dσ − 1−D resulting in the following expresion:
σ̇ = + = 0. (9) ss
∂x dt dt
β(xref )
Deq = + 1 = −(1 − Dss ) + 1 = Dss (16)
Developing Equation (9) we have: α(xref )
dσ Equation (16) proves that Deq exists por any pos-
σ̇ = [K1 K2 + fx2 (x)]Ax + Bu + ξ + (10)
dt sible operating condition (xref ) that accomplishes
R Equation(4.3) so there exists a sliding mode oper-
∂f (x) ∂(K3 (vC −vC,ref )dt)
where fx2 (x) = ∂x2 = ∂x2 . ation condition.

4
4.2 Buck Mode VDC = 12V and sampling time Ts =. The simu-
lation tests where performed using a model of the
For this operation mode we propose the sliding
supercapacitor developed in Seccion 3. The con-
mode surface as follows:
Z stant values K1 , K2 , K3 ,K4 and K5 , are selected
σ(x) = K4 (iL − iL,ref ) + K5 (iL − iL,ref )dt (17) in experimental way in order to achive a well per-
formance of system. Figure5 shows that the output
As we proced in de case of the Boost mode voltage achieve the reference value of 42V and re-
(Section4.1) we calculate the equivalent control in mains constant in front of current perturbation I
order to prove the existance of a sliding mode op- as this current follows a pulsating frofile fixed by
eration condition, so we set: an active load and supercapacitor decharge.
As the supercapacitor array losts charge and its
σ̇ = 0 (18) voltage is decremented, the duty cycle varies in or-
der to regulate de output voltage Vc , in contrast,
developing Equation (18) and using expresions (2)
the inductor current augments as Eq.4.3 indicates.
we have:
The mentioned lost of charge can be seen as a
∂σ dx dσ perturbation and, as this perturbation is on the
σ̇ = + =
∂x dt dt input signal then it accomplish the “matching con-
Vc Vsc dσ dition” which guaratee the strong robustness of the
(K4 + fx (x))(Deq − )+ =
L L dt control law, [13].
VDClink Vsc dσ This feature indicates that the sliding mode ap-
(K4 + fx (x))(Deq − )+ =0
L L dt proach is a good election for this application.
finally, considering again that in the sliding surface In Figure 5 we see the DC-DC converter working
dσ in Buck mode, used to charge the supercapacitor
dt = 0 we found:
set. In this experiment we set IL,ref = 20A. The
Vsc VDClink DC-link voltage is set to VDC = 35V and the su-
(K4 + fx (x))(− + Deq (K4 + fx (x)) =0
L L percapacitor voltage grows up to 35V following a
(19) ramp profile.
expression of the equivalent control results:
Vsc
Deq = (20)
VDClink
wich is the input-ouput relation of a buck converter
IL VC
so Deq exist which guarantee the existane of a slind-
ing mode.
I Vsc

4.3 Stability Analysis

In both operation modes, Boost and Buck mode,
the stability study is very easy. Regarding the sys-
tems in the sliding mode surface, we found that the
reference values must be consistent, Eq., so both Figure 5: Voltage and currents of the converter in
regimes corresponds to steady state operation con- Boost mode
ditions, there are no non nimimum phase zero dy-
namic, and the controlled systems result stables.

5 Sismulation Results 6 Experimental Results

In this section we presents the simulation results An experimental test bench (see Figure7) was de-
performed using Matlab. The simulation parme- veloped to validate the DC/DC sliding-mode con-
ters are: L = 0.56mH , Cf = 10mF , Vc,ref = 42V , trol for supercapacitors module charge and dis-

5
 V DClink

Il
Vsc

I DClink

Figure 6: Voltage and currents of the converter in

Buck mode

charge. The experimental setup is composed by

two parts. The first part is a supercapacitors ar-
ray module, which is composed by 11 supercapaci-
tors in series and can provide approximately 3kW Figure 7: Experimental set up
during 10s when supercapacitors module is charged
and discharged between its maximum voltage and
the half of this value. The maximum voltage of the
supercapacitor module is in order of 27.5V . The
second part is a DC/DC converter which is com-
posed by Insulate Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)
power switches, a capacitor of value 10mF , and
a 56µH inductor with a series resitance of 0.03Ω.
For the control and data acquisition, the necessary
measurements are: the supercapacitors current and
voltage, the load current at the DC link and its
voltage. Currents are measured using LEM sensors
and voltages with cards using operational ampli-
fiers. The control algorithm is implemented in a
microcontroller Siemens SAB167. A data acquisi- Il
Vc
tion system is used to process the different current
and voltage sensors. The acquisition system is con- I
Vsc
trolled through the LABVIEW Software.
Notice that for simulation losses in all DC-DC
converter components are neglected. However In
practice it’s necessary to take into account these
losses. Indeed, it is important for the DC-DC effi-
ciency. The first experimental results are obtained Figure 8: Voltage and currents of the converter in
when the DC-DC operates in the boost mode, su- Boost mode
percapacitors module is discharged. In this case
the DC link voltage is regulated at 42V. To imple-
ment the control algorithm, and in order to take
into account the losses, in the microcontroller, the
expression (22) of the sliding surface is replaced by
the relation (33). More precisely, the integral ac-

6
tion and the coefficient k3 are added in order to
compensate the inductor analytical current value
which was calculated first without taking into ac-
count DC-DC losses. Finally, the sliding surface is
defined by (33)
Where the parameters are choosing in order to
verify equation (27), and is added in order to min-
imize the static error, so that and . Using an ac-
tive load which allows regulating the current at the
DC link at constant value and the test bench de-
scribed previously experimental tests were carried
out. During the first part of experimental tests,
DC/DC converter operates in Boost mode. The
obtained results are plotted in Fig 8. These results
show that VC the DC link voltage is regulated at
the reference voltage which is fixed at 42V.
7 Conclusions
We have proposed a study of the sliding control for
a bidirectional DC/DC converter placed between a
supercapacitors module and a DC link. The control
law was first illustrated by some simulation results.
In a second time, in order to be more realistic and
to take into account the DC/DC converter losses
which are present for a real process, the original
strategy of control were adopted. Afterwards, the
obtained sliding control has been implemented In a
”Siemens, C 167 microcontroller”. The experimen-
tal results have shown that the DC link voltage
is regulated at a desired reference value. Notice
that, and under the adaptation of the strategy of
the control, the experimental results are in good
agreement with the simulation ones. Works are in
progress in order to adapt this strategy of control
to a more general situation. More precisely, it con-
cerns the case when the supercapacitors module is
considered together with fuel cell.
8 Appendix A
The elementary structure of supercapacitor consists
of two activated carbon electrodes, which are im-
mersed into electrolyte, and a separator that pre-
vents physical contact of the electrodes but allows
ion transfer between them[2],[9]. Energy is stored
in the double layer capacitor as a charge separa-
tion in the double layer formed at the interface be-
7
tween the solid electrode material surface and the
liquid electrolyte in the pores of the electrodes. The
high energy content of supercapacitors in compari-
son to the electrolytic capacitors is due to the acti-
vated carbon electrode material, which has an ex-
tremely high specific surface area and the extremely
short distance at the interface between electrode
and electrolyte ( in order of a few Angstroms).
Thus, it is possible to obtain a very high capaci-
tance, up to a few thousand Farads[4][2]. Taking
into account the physical phenomena at the inter-
faces of the double electric layer capacitor, super-
capacitor cannot be represented by a simple capac-
itance, a series resistance and a leakage resistance.
The theory of Helmholtz[5] makes possible to de-
scribe the operation of the double electric layer. It
allows explaining the various physical phenomena
which occur at the interface between a liquid ionic
conductor (electrolyte) and a solid electronic con-
ductor (electrode). The interface is modeled by two
surface charge distributions, electronic for the elec-
trode and ionic for the electrolyte. Other improved
theories that of Gouy, Chapman and Stern allow to
describe the double layer operating principle, but
they do not allow to establish a model which repre-
sents accurately the electric and thermal behavior
of a supercapacitor. From an electric and thermal
point of view, it is very difficult to establish an
analytical model for supercapacitor based on phys-
ical equations. Several authors propose models in
the form of equivalent electric circuit which make
possible to describe the supercapacitor electric and
thermal behavior (see for instance,[19][7]).
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