Development of buck power converter circuit with ANN RL algorithm intended for power industry

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to deal with application of artificial intelligence for solving real time control complication adhered with the controlled operation of a buck power converter. This type of converter finds application for power conversion at various levels for the direct current-direct current power industry to step down the input voltage. Design/methodology/approach Use of ANN-RL (Artificial Neural Networks- Reinforcement Learning)-based control algorithm to control buck power converter shows robustness against parameter and load variation. Because of non-linearity instigated by element used for switching, control of this converter becomes an arduous control predicament. All the classical control techniques are based on an approximate linear model of the step down converter and these techniques fail to handle actual non-linearity. Findings In this paper, a reinforcement learning-based algorithm has been used to handle and control buck power converter output voltage, without approximating the model of converter. The non-linearity instigated in converter is subjected to state of switch. Model of buck power converter is defined as a multi-step decision problem so that it can be solved using mathematical model of Markov decision process (MDP) and, in turn, reinforcement learning can be implemented. As MDP model is available for a discrete state system so model of converter has to be discretized and then value iteration is applied and output is analyzed. Load regulation and integral time absolute error analysis is done to show efficacy of this technique. Originality/value To mitigate the effect of discretization function approximation using neural network is applied. MATrix LABoratory has been used for implementation and result indicates an improvement in the overall response.