2016 8th International Conference on Intelligent Human-Machine Systems and Cybernetics

Simulation Study on Model-free Control Method in DC-DC Converter

He Lihong

Li Ke

College of InformationScience and Engineering

Shenyang Municipal Public Security Bureau

Northeastern University

ShenyangChin

ShenyangChin

lnlike1012@126.com

helihong@mail.neu.edu.cn
AbstractBased on the nonlinear characteristics of DC-DC

based on mathematical model, although there have been

converter, we proposed the method with model free adaptive

many articles published regarding enhancing the robustness

controller and applied it to the Boost converter. Through

of the methods [3-7], such as the estimated parameters

Matlab/Simulink simulation platform, we performed the

bound method, modeling method, dead zone method;

simulation of system starting, load disturbance, input voltage

correction method, but they are all theoretical, for some

and

and

cases, they are simply useless [8,9]. How to get rid of

experimental results show that the method with model-free

dependence on the mathematical model of the controlled

adaptive controller has good control effect in Boost converter.

system and eliminate the impact from model-free dynamics

The control effect is superior to the PID control method in

of the controlled system, namely how to only use the I / O

some aspects. It has a strong robustness and anti-interference

data of the system to design control system, to make the

ability. It can solve the problem of bad control effect caused by

system not rely on the mathematical model of the controlled

circuit parameters change and the model mismatch during the

system or make it be an unknown non-linear systems "black

applications.

box"model-free adaptive control, not only in theory, but

circuit

parameters

variations.

Simulation

In this paper, the Model-free Adaptive Control-MFAC

controlleBoost converter

[10-12] method is applied to control the DC / DC Boost

INTRODUCTION

converter , build simulation models in Matlab / Simulink

and compare the method with optimal PID control in

The performance requirements of DC-DC converter are

various experimental situations.

increasing due to its more applications nowadays. Since the

DC-DC converter is a typical switch non-linear system,
obviously and

also practical application of control theory are important.

Key words-Full-format Model-free DC-DC converter PID

theoretically, the traditional linear PID

FULL-FORMAT MODEL-FREE ADAPTIVE

CONTROLLER DESIGN

Model-Free Adaptive control method is the combination

of modern and classic control theory, also break the
shackles of these theories. It provides a good and simple
control method which does not rely on mathematical
models to ensure that the closed-loop system is stable. The
innovation lies in: modeling and control integration, breaks
the shackles of PID and linear frame, and also breaks the
adaptive parameter limits to achieve the structural
adaptation.
Consider the following discrete-time nonlinear system:

control method is not able to be a best one in the electrical

and electronics field [1]. PID also has the model mismatch
problem caused by circuit parameters change and load
disturbance during the applications. Therefore, there is an
urgent need to find a new control method to solve a variety
of problems during applications.
For the controlled system, the establishment of the
mathematical model is not an easy task, and sometimes
even impossible, for the time-varying case or nonlinear

y ( k + 1) = f ( y (k ), y (k 1), , y (k nm ),

system even more so. Even if the mathematical model of

u (k ), u ( k 1), u (k nn ))

model-free dynamics can not be avoided [2], the problems


In Equation (1), y(k ) u (k ) represent the system output

may occur in the applications of adaptive control system

and input at time k respectively, nm nn represent the

the controlled system has been established, the problems of

978-1-5090-0768-4/16 $31.00 2016 IEEE

DOI 10.1109/IHMSC.2016.213

60

 represents step sequence is a weight factor.

order of the system, f ( ) is a nonlinear function of the

unknown system.
The following hypothesis: (a) system (1) is observable,
controllable. (b) f ( ) is the Partial derivative of control

Full format linearization is divided into loose and elastic

forms of full format linearization. Since loose form full
format linearization is a special form of elastic form
linearization, Model-free adaptive control scheme based on
elastic full format linearization is only considered .
The scheme with time-varying forgetting factor
least squares method for the estimation is given below:
kLy +1 (k )
[ y (k + 1) y (k ) 'T (k ) ' (k )]
9
u (k ) = u (k 1) +
2
 
+ 2Ly +1 (k )

input signal u (k ) from the current system and it is present

and continuous. (C) system (1) is a generalized Lipschitz.
For nonlinear system represented by the formula (1), under
the condition of meeting the assumptions of a, b and c,
when u ( k ) 0 there must be a known as "pseudo

(k ) , make
y (k + 1) = (k )u (k )

partial derivative" amount of

In

Equation

( k + 1) = ( k ) +

u (k ) = u (k ) u ( k 1)

P( k ) =

(k ) p , p is a constant y ( k + 1) = y (k + 1) y (k ) .
From Equation () can obtain the dynamic liner model of
systemas following

y ( k + 1) = y ( k ) + ( k ) u ( k )
2

11

' ( k ) = [ y ( k ), , y ( k L y + 1), u ( k 1), , u ( k Lu + 1)]T

(3)
2

1
P(k 1) (k ) T (k ) P(k 1)
[ P(k 1)
]
(k 1)
(k 1) + T (k ) P(k 1) (k )

where

' (k ) = [1' (k ), ,L' (k ),L'

Considering the following control input criterion function

J (u (k )) = y (k + 1) y (k + 1) + u (k ) u (k 1)

P ( k 1) ( k )
[ y ( k + 1) T ( k ) ( k )]10
( k 1) + T ( k ) P ( k 1) ( k )


y +2

(k ), ,L' y + Lu (k )]T

 of
This control method achieves an order-reduced design
classic adaptive control of the system without involving
dynamic problem from model-free system. Calculation is
simpler than classic adaptive control system, and can be
adapted to non-minimum phase systems and nonlinear
systems, this is the object in this study.
From the control rate9and pseudo partial derivative
estimation equation10, we can see only the I/O data is
needed for full-format MFAC method, and is not related to
the mathematical model and order of the controlled system.

(4)

y (k + 1) is the expected system output is a positive

weight coefficient.
Put (3) in (4), and differentiate u (k ) and make it equal
to zerowe can get the control rate u ( k ) as following:
(k )
u(k ) = u(k 1) +

( y (k + 1) y(k ))
5
2
+ (k )

Where is the step sequence.

It is concluded from (5) that the control rate u (k ) is not
related to the system structure parameter and only related to
the system input and output.
Because the pseudo derivative of the system (k ) is
unknown, we cant directly apply (k ) to (5). In the

 BOOST CONVERTER MODEL

CCM Boost converter works as shown in Figure 1, Fig.(a)
is a circuit schematic diagram, Fig.(b) is the inductor
charging mode with switch on, Fig. (c) is the inductor
discharge mode with switch off. In this system, the state
variables can be determined by the number of energy
storage elements in the converter, here consider the inductor
current and the capacitor voltage as the system state
variables.

following, we use online estimation (k ) instead of

(k ) then(5) can be written as (6).
( k )
u ( k ) = u ( k 1) +

( y ( k + 1) y ( k ))
6
2

+ (k )
Considering the estimation criterion function
of pseudo partial derivative:

in

i
u

in

in

iL u

iC
uC

iR

2
J ((k)) = y(k) y(k 1) (k)u(k 1) + (k) (k 1)
7

is an actual output of the system is the positive

weight coefficient.
Put(3) in (7), and differentiate (k ) and make it equal
to zero, we can get:
Estimation value of pseudo derivative (k )
u (k 1)
(k ) = (k 1) +
(y (k ) (k 1)u (k 1))
8
2
+ u (k 1)

y(k )

(a) Circuit principle

(b) work mode 1
(c) work mode2
Figure1. Boost principle diagram and work modes

Introducing pulse waveform u (t ) unified state equation

can be obtained

61

 diL
L dt = [u (t ) 1]uC + Vin 

C duC = [1 u (t )]i 1 u
L
C
dt
R

the inductor current and output voltage based on

data-driven full format, model-free controlled Boost
converter starts fast, and quickly reaches stable state
(1.3ms), the output voltage is basically not overshoot, the
transition process of the inductor current is smooth,
effectively and accurately track the given value, the duty
cycle control is quicker and more effective.

wheremake iL = x1 uC = x2 Vin is input voltagetaken

as a system constant .Pulse function u (t ) is a control
variablemake u (t ) = u the nonlinear standard equation of
CCM Boost suitable for differential geometry approach is:
1 1
1

L x2 + L Vin L x2
X =
+
u 
1 x 1 x 1 x
C 1 RC 2 C 1
Y = x2 Vref

103

103

Yis input equation

(a) PID

(b) MFAC

 MFAC AND PID PERFORMANCE SIMULATION

STUDY
In order to compare MFAC and PID control effect on
Boost converter, in Matlab simulation platform, simulation
experiments were performed on starting performance, load
changes, input voltage and circuit parameter changes.
10

A. System startup response

10

(c) PID

The circuit parameters of Boost converter are

inductor L = 500mH capacitor C = 470F load

(d) MFAC

Figure3. start-up output waveforms

B.Load changes
Since the load changes is the most common phenomenon
during the application, in this paper, take the model
mismatch caused by load changes of Boost converter for an
example, to verify the robustness of MFAC and PID
through simulation.
Figure 4 (a), (b) show output wave forms of PID control
and full format model-free control under the Matlab /
Simulink.

resistenance R = 100 Boost converter will convert 5V

DC voltage to 10 V DC voltage output, the simulation
model shown in Figure 2.

Figure2. MFAC simulation model

PID control parameters are: K p = 0.039 K i = 400

K d = 0 . Full Format control parameters are: = 1
= 100 .
Figure4 (a), (c) is the start-up wave forms of inductor
current and output voltage based on DP algorithm for
optimal PID control. Figure4 (a), (c) is the start-up
waveforms of inductor current and output voltage based on
the data-driven full-format model-free controlled Boost
converter. Comparing with the optimal PID control method,

(a) PID

(b)

MFAC

Figure4. controlled output waveform of PID and full format model-free

From the figures above, the PID and full format
model-free can be well maintained 10V output voltage
when load resistenance switches between 50 100 ,
but compared to the PID, the response of full-format model
free is faster, no overshoot start up and switching transition

62

is more gentle.

fluctuation overshoot of full-format model free when

C.Input voltage changes

In practice, not only the load disturbance, the unstable
input voltage is also considered to be a common disturbance
for Boost converter.
Figure 5 (a), (b), are actual output waveforms when input
voltage suddenly change from 5V to 6V during 0.5s for PID
and full-format model-free control.

inductance or capacitance change suddenly is relatively

smaller comparing with PID. In terms of anti-change of
circuit parameters, both have strong robustness
 CONCLUSION
In this paper, taking DC / DC Boost Converter as an
object, through Matlab / Simulink simulation, performed
analyses and comparisons of the various performance
indicators of full-format model free adaptive control and
PID control, the results show that full-format model free
adaptive

control

has

strong

anti-interference,

anti-mismatch ability and good robustness in terms of

(a) PID

(b)

DC/DC Boost converter control, it has practical value.

MFAC

REFERENCES

Figure5. Simulation waveform of input voltage change of PID and

full-format mode- free

>@Wei-hua Deng, The Research of State Variable FeedbackLinearization

Method on the CCM Boost Converter andNonlinear PID Control
Law[J]. Proceedings of the CSEEVol.24 No.8 Aug 2004 45-50

As can be seen from the above waveform, at 0.5s, PID

voltage reaches 13.4V peak, significantly higher than the
voltage peak 11.5V of full-format, model-free, which
indicates that full-format model-free is more capable of
anti-interference of input voltage than traditional PID.

>@Xin Peng. Adaptive Control of System With Unmodeled Dynamics[D].

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D. Circuit parameter changes

Transformer inductance, capacitance, switch resistance,
inductor resistance, and the freewheeling diode conduction
voltage drop and other parameters will change due to the
temperature change, electromagnetic interference and other
working conditions change. In order to explain why Boost
circuit itself will change with time and environment
changes, we performed a simulation experiment under the
circumstances of changing circuit parameters of PID and
full format model free, and then further performed study of
their robustness.
Figure 6 (a), (b), are simulation diagrams of PID and
model free respectively when Inductance parameter changes
from 0.5mH to 1mH.

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(a) PID

(b)

>@ Yuanming Zhu and Zhongsheng Hou Controller Compact Form

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MFAC

Figure6. simulation waveform of Inductance Parameter change for PID

and Full format model free

As can be seen from the above simulation waveforms,

Both PID and full-format model-free have strong ability of
anti-interference and anti-change of circuit parameters,

63