Current Control of the Coupled-Inductor Buck-Boost DC-DC Switching Converter Using a Model Predictive Control Approach

Coupled-inductor buck boost dc-dc switching converter has emerged as an alternative to manage power in several hybrid system architectures. This is due to features such as a noninverting voltage step-up and step-down characteristic, high efficiency, wide bandwidth, and the possibility to regulate its input or output currents as has been reported in previous works. All of them are based on a small-signal linearized model around an operating point. In this article, a model predictive control strategy is proposed to increase the operation point domain. The proposal consists in the use of the mathematical model of the system in discrete time to obtain the optimal switching state to be applied in the converter based on a cost function optimization, which simultaneously improves the current tracking and reduces the converter power losses. Experimental results validate the proposal demonstrating that this is a good alternative for the control of this kind of power converters.