Bifurcation Phenomena in Open-Loop DCM-Operated DC-DC Switching Converters Feeding Constant Power Loads

Constant power loading is an effect that appears in multiple-stage energy conversion systems with individually regulated switching power converters. In a two-stage system, an upstream or source converter drives one or more downstream or load converters. The downstream converters in a two-stage power conversion system are designed to provide the fastest transient response in stand-alone operation. Consequently, they behave as a constant power load (CPL) to the upstream converter within their control bandwidth. In the past, open-loop power converters feeding CPLs and operating in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) were considered to be stable. In this paper, it is shown that these systems can undergo instabilities, which have been so far overlooked. First, numerical simulations from the switched model of an open-loop boost converter under DCM operation and loaded with a tightly regulated buck converter and the same converter loaded by an ideal CPL are presented to show that they exhibit similar nonlinear behavior and bifurcation phenomena. Then, the three elementary open-loop DC-DC converters operating in the DCM were considered and their bifurcation phenomena were revealed. It is shown that the period-doubling route to chaos in the DC-DC boost converter is interrupted by a sudden appearance of dangerous destructive dynamics due to the excessively unlimited load current in the CPL. For the buck converter, only the first period-doubling bifurcation is observed before the destructive behavior appears. The open-loop buck-boost converter under DCM and feeding a CPL is always unstable and exhibits no periodic orbit. Based on the observed phenomena, approximate discrete-time models were derived, which despite their simplicity, were seen to display the most-important and -essential features of the corresponding switching converters before destructive dynamics occurs.