Performance Analysis of PI and DMRAC Algorithm in Buck–Boost Converter for Voltage Tracking in Electric Vehicle Using Simulation

Maidul Islam,Erwin Sulaeman,Md Manjurul Ahsan,M A Parvez Mahmud,Alia Farhana Abdul Ghaffar,Abbas Z Kouzani

doi:10.3390/electronics10202516

Abstract

This study introduces a Direct Model Reference Adaptive Control (DMRAC) algorithm in a buck–boost converter in the power distribution of an electric vehicle. In this study, DMRAC was used in order to overcome the system nonlinearity due to load demand variation, in case of different driving modes (such as acceleration, stable and regenerative braking system mode), and the presence of disturbances in the system. DMRAC receives popularity because of its robustness in the presence of nonlinearity and ensuring system stability. To evaluate the efficacy of DMRAC in the current system, its performance was compared with a PI controller in the MATLAB/Simulink environment. The simulation results show the superiority of DMRAC over a conventional PI control approach, in both variable load demand and disturbed system cases that were measured by tracking error. The improvement was seen in the DMRAC response, with smaller tracking error and faster transient and disturbance rejection. The main contribution of this work is in introducing DMRAC, particularly in a buck–boost converter, and its efficacy with a DC–DC converter for an electric vehicle, which has not been studied before.

Highlights

Electric-powered equipment has received a great deal of interest among researchers as an alternative to fossil fuel
Apart from that, this study showed the performances of two controllers, namely PI and Direct Model Reference Adaptive Control (DMRAC), and compared their performances based on a performance index, tracking error in both consistent load demand and variation in load demand in the presence of disturbances
This work focuses on the boost mode of a buck–boost converter that incorporates battery discharge when an electric vehicle requires load to run the motor

Summary

Introduction

Electric-powered equipment has received a great deal of interest among researchers as an alternative to fossil fuel. Lower emissions and better performance are the key factors that motivate researchers to pay more attention to the development of electric-powered vehicles as an alternative to internal combustion engines [1,2,3,4]. There are three topologies of DC–DC converters, such as buck, boost and buck–boost, where buck–boost can offer the functionalities of both buck and boost converters. In such a case, a model-based control approach can be considered as a suitable approach, where robust and adaptive control approaches have become popular among researchers for the last several decades [7]

Results

Discussion

Conclusion