Sliding mode control of DC-DC power converters

The DC-DC power converters have extreme importance in contemporary applications. Moreover, the DC-DC power converters are the ideal candidates in numerous applications such as electric and hybrid vehicles, fuel cells and others. They have been extensively researched upon over three decades. The control of these converters has been often implemented using PWM techniques and based on discrete components and integrated circuits. On the other hand, application of DC-DC converters for electric and hybrid vehicles requires more effective and robust control techniques. The voltage and current ratings must be honored for safe operation and limited operation of converter circuit. In this paper we propose a novel method for the control of a buck-boost DC-DC converter with variable input voltage based on sliding mode control technique. We demonstrate that the proposed algorithm achieves robustness to variations of the converter load and the input voltage without additional sensors.