Design of robust controllers for telecom power supplies

Abstract

A Telecom power supply is studied and analyzed from control system viewpoint. It consists of three stages: AC/DC rectifier, a backup battery, and a Telecom load. The AC/DC rectifier stage can be composed of paralleled DC/DC converters preceded by paralleled AC/DC converters. However, paralleled DC/DC converters are only considered in this thesis because they constitute the main dynamics in practice. A system of paralleled DC/DC converters operating in continuous inductor current mode with either voltage mode control or peak current mode control are modeled and analyzed using state-space representation. The H∞ control design is used in order to guarantee the robust stability and robust performance of the system in spite of different uncertainties. Also the H∞ loop-shaping design is used to design robust controllers in the presence of uncertainties. μ-analysis is used to evaluate the robustness of the system. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the control design procedure and to compare between the two approaches presented.

A Telecom power system can be composed of voltage-loop and current-loop subsystems. The multi-input-multi-output proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller is first designed achieving robust stability and robust performance of the voltage-loop. Then, the multi-input-multi-output proportional-integral (PI) controller for current-loop is designed to achieve robust stability and robust performance of the overall system. μ-analysis is used to evaluate the robustness of PID and PI controllers. Simulation results are also presented to demonstrate and validate the control design.

The required output characteristic of a Telecom power system contains three modes of operation: constant-voltage, modified constant-power, and constant-current modes. This nonlinear operation can be achieved by using the fuzzy-logic approach. A fuzzy PID-like controller is implemented to achieve the robust output voltage in spite of load disturbances. A fuzzy PI-like controller is implemented to ensure the overload protection reaching the optimal output characteristic of a Telecom power system. Also the internal-model control (IMC) method is applied to basic DC/DC converters: buck, boost, and buck-boost converters. IMC scheme is used to improve the dynamic performance of basic converters by achieving a robust output voltage against line and load disturbances. Simulations show good dynamic performance of the IMC controller.