Model predictive control for pre-compensated power converters: Application to current mode control

Current Mode Control (CMC) is the standard approach to regulate DC-DC power converters in high performance applications, allowing to obtain a faster time-response and better closed-loop stability if compared to Voltage Mode Control (VMC). In the last decade, several algorithms have been proposed to improve standard CMC, most of them requiring to replace the original controller. However, it is common to have either analog or embedded CMC controllers which cannot be replaced easily in commercial power converters. Inspired by very recent results in the topic, this paper proposes a Model Predictive Control (MPC) external loop aimed at optimally modifying the set-point of a CMC loop to improve converter performance. The proposed configuration is directly applicable to any pre-compensated converter as it does not require changes on the already-in-place controller. Moreover, by leveraging a multi-rate implementation, the benefits of MPC are introduced in power conversion without affecting much the computational cost of the over-all control system, contrary to what would happen for a direct MPC implementation. Simulation and experimental results on a synchronous DC-DC buck converter, controlled by a standard CMC algorithm, confirm the benefits of the approach.