Review of Modern Control Technologies for Voltage Regulation in DC/DC Converters of DC Microgrids

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of modern feedback control methods for the voltage regulation in DC/DC converters of DC microgrids. Control objectives and practical restrictions are defined and used as indicators for the analysis and performance assessment of the control methods. After presenting the concept of each control method, the advantages and limitations in the converter applications are discussed. The main conclusions of this overview can be used as recommendations for the selection of the suitable control method according to the control requirements in the DC microgrid. The low robustness against disturbances is a major issue in all control methods. For the enhancement of the robustness of the feedback control methods, three approaches are reviewed. Applications of these approaches in DC/DC converters are compared with regard to the achieved disturbance rejection and the related cost of nominal performance degradation. The disturbance/uncertainty estimation and attenuation (DUEA) framework appears to be the most promising approach to compromising these opposing control objectives. This overview is presented for a general DC/DC converter, without any additional control design requirement imposed by a specific converter plant. This allows the generalisation of the conclusions of the performance assessment, which can facilitate the application of the control methods in similar systems, such as in AC/DC converters or motor drives.