Linearization of the Control-to-Output Transfer Function for a PWM

Buck-Boost Converter
Yu-Kang LO, Member, IEEE, Shang-Chin YEN, and Jan-Ming WANG
Department of Electronic Engineering, National Taiu an University of Science and Teclnology
Taipei, Taiwan. ROC, e-mail: yklo ci'et.ntust.edu.tw
voltage. When the switches are turned off, the diodes
Abstract-A new method for linearizing the control-to- provide a conducting path for the inductor current, and the
output transfer function of a PWM buck-boost converter is inductor disclharges to the load. The voltage gain is
presented in this paper. The DC and the small-signal
characteristics are derived. A compensating signal relating to expressed as V = where D is the duty ratio of the
the inverse of the nonlinear term appeared in the control-to- M~ I-D
output transfer function is produced from the dut'y ratio, and switches. Fig. 2 depicts the transfer curve between the dutv
then fed into the feedback loop. Experimental results show that cycle and the voltage gain.
the linearity is retained bewteen the duty ratio and the output
voltage by,- adopting the proposed feedback scheme. Typicallx the duty ratio D is proportional to a control
voltage, \d. whliclh is coinpared withl a triangular or a
Index Ternts-linearization, the control-to-output transfer sawtooth-like camrer to produce the gating signlls. From Fig.
function, PWM buck-boost converter 2, apparently the v,oltage gain or the output voltage (if V, is
constant) is a nonlinear function of D and thus vd. As D
L. INTRODUCTION increases from zero- the slope increases monotonically,
slowly at first and then sharply wlhen D is larger than a
DC-to-DC switching converters are widelv used in the certain value. In another word. for the same variation in V,.
power electronics industries to serve as various DC power the corresponding change in vcd is different. Moreover. at a
sources. Among many basic topologies, the buck-boost higlher output voltage. a small perturbation in v!d will result in
converter is one capable of supplving an output voltage a much larger swing in V,. The nonlinear transfer
wlhich can be steped down or up from the input level. chaacteristic between Xd anid V0 can be revealed in the
However. the control-to-output transfer function or the duty following expression:
ratio-to-output characteristic of the buck-boost converter is
nonlinear. That is. its incremental gain is not constant for the
whole operating range. This is an undesirable feature for a V0 CE--cD k- d (1)
system when we want to design its feedback loop. especiallv I-D I-kha,
if an adjustable output voltage is required. Previous
researclhes have addressed this problem. and derived the
small-signal models revealing the nonlinear control-to- +
output transfer characteristic[l.2]. Also a nonlinear PWM
control which requires the generation of an exponential vi VQ
carrier is proposed to linearize the closed-loop gain[3]. The
control circuitry is somewhat complicated and the nonlinear
modulating mechanism is an approximation ratlher than an
exact solution. In this paper, the DC and small-signal Fig. 1 The buck-boost converter with a positive output volage
claracteristics of a PWM buck-boost converter with a
positive output voltage are developed, taking into account va/v1
the parasitic resistances of the energy,-storing elements. A 10-
V,N,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
compensating signal relating to the inverse of the nonlinear 81
term appeared in the control-to-output transfer function is
produced from the duty ratio, and then fed inlto the feedback
loop. Experimental results on a prototype converter are 6 j
performed to verifx the presented feedback scheme.
II. NONLINEAR CONTROL-TO-OUTPUT TRANSFER
FUNCTION
Shown in Fig. 1 is the buck-boost converter with a
positive output voltage. It is actually composed of a buck 00 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 D
converter and a boost converter in cascade. When the two
switches are turned on, the inductor is charged tv the input Fig. 2 The transfer curve between the duty cycle and the voltage gain

0-7803-83 04-4/04/$20.00 ic2004 IEEE 875

 III. PROPOSED METHOD OF LINEARIZATION When the switches are turned on. the state equations using
To achieve the linearitv between a new control signal Vd'
iL vc as state variables are:
and
and the output voltage, it is required tlhat:
0
VO cX k'vd'. (2) + Lyvi
1

From (1) and (2). Vd' can be related to vd as:

= A0.x + B..V, (4)
DX k'Vd =:> Vd or- (1 -
D)Vd (3) When the switches are turned off, the state equations are:

That is, the control voltage Vd^ is first multiplied by

new R]
the instantaneous turned-off duty-ratio, then fed into the
x 'l- R+r) r)~ [I]
I

PWM comparator. The block diagram illustrating the - rL+ L(R +

proposed control mechanism is shown in Fig. 3. The

= R C(R+rr.)
instantaneous value of (1 D) is obtained by inverting the
-

PWM gating signals and then passing through a low-pass

=
AoffX.+v (5)

filter.
To derive the small-signal model of the discussed buck- By adopting the state-space averaging and linearization
boost converter, the state-space averaging and linearization technique, the control-to-output transfer function in the s-
domain is:
technique is adopted. Fig. 4(a) and (b) depicts the equivalent
circuits for the converter shown in Fig. 1 when the switclhes
are turned on and off, considering the parasitic resistances of T = (s)
T(s)
-
V0rc
( zl )(s +c zl
)
(6)
the capacitor and the ilnductor, denoted respectively as rc and "d (s) (l-D)VT(R + rc ) s + 2;c,)os + °O
RL.
where v0(s) and ld(s) are the small-signal expressions for
the output voltage and the control voltage, VT is the peak
PWM value of the ramp voltage of the PWM modulator. oGzl, o(zl. ,
and oo are the zeros, damping ratio and the corner frequencv,
respectively. It is clearly seen that a term relating to the duty,
Vd ~~V ratio is included in (6). With the proposed control method
and the new- control voltage vd'. the modified control-to-
output transfer clharacteristic becomes:

Fig. 3. The block of the proposed conitrol scheine T(s)= d(s) =_

VRrC (+2o)s±o (7)
Jl d (s) VT (R + rc, ) S + 2 so s + ctzO

where Vdi(S) is the small-signal expression for Vd'. From

+c
j~~~vov (7). we can notice that the DC gain or the incremental gain
+
RL L c
C
remains constant for the buck-boost converter under the
+

V- proposed feedback design.

rc R defined before the equation appears or immediately.

(a) IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

A prototvpe converter is built to perform the experiments
with the following parameters: Vi = 50 V. L = 1.2 mH C =
470 4F/450 V. and R = 100 Q. The switching frequency is
50 kHz.
Table 1 hsts the experimental results for Vd ranging from
1 to 10 V. wlhere Vd = Vd'(l-D). Fig. 5 shows the recorded

nonlinear transfer characteristic between VO and Vd. Fig. 6

(b) shows the recorded transfer characteristic between V0 and
Vd A fairly constant gain is observed for the whole
Fig. 4 Equivalent circuits of Fig. 1 when the switches are (a) turned on and (b)
operating range.
turned off

876
 Table 1 Experimental results of the proposed linearization method VO (V)
140
Vd (V) Vd (NT)
VV

120
X (V)
d D( (Theoretical) (Measured) VO (V)
100
1 9.142 0.90858 0.9 5.32 80
1.5 18.23 1.22655 1.23 10.9 60
2 26.7 1.466 1.47 17.8 40
20
2.5 33.35 1.666 1.66 24.7
0 2 4 6 8 10 l2 .d'(V)
3 39.16 1.825 1.82 32.1
3.5 43. 8 1.967 1.95 39 Fig. 6 VO0VS Vd' under the proposed control method
4 47.8 2.088 2.07 46.3 V. CONCLUSIONS
4.5 5 1.3 2.189 2.17 53. 2
A novel method for lineanzing the control-to-output
r 54.32 2.284 2.25 61.5 transfer function of a PWM buck-boost converter is realized
SS 57.2 2. 354 2.31 69.1 in this paper. A new control signal containing infonnation of
6 59.5 2.43 2.39 73.6 the instantaneous dutv ratio is produced. From the DC and
the small-signal characteristics of the discussed buck-boost
6.5 61.5 2.502 2.45 80.3 converter, the linearization of the feedback control are
7 63.5 2.555 2.51 87.1 achieved. Experimental results on the prototype system
verify the theoretical analysis. In the final manuscript. more
7.5 65.25 2.606 2.56 94
contents about the feedback design and the dynamics will be
8 66.9 2.648 2.6 100.5 provided.
8.5 68.25 2.698 2.64 106.8
VI. REFERENCES
9 69.62 2. 734 2.68 113. 2
[1] M. K. Kazimierczuk and R. Cravens. II "Open-Loop DC and Small-
9.5 70.85 2.769 2.71 119.4 Signal Characteristics of PWM Buck-Boost Converter for CCM." in
Proc. 1EEE National Aerospace and Electronics Conference. 1994, pp.
10 72 2.8 2.74 125.6 226-233.
[2] M. K. Kazimierczuk and R. Cravens. II? "Input Impedance of Closed-
Loop PWM Buck-Boost DC-DC Converter for CCM. ' in Proc. ILSCAS.
V. (V) 1995. pp. 2047-2050.
140 [3] J. S. Lin and C. L. Chen. "Buck/Boost Servo Amplifier for Direct-
120 Drive-\Valve Actuation." IEEE Trans. Aerosp. Electron. Sjst.. vol. 31.
No. 3. 1995, pp. 960-967.
100
80
60
40
20
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Fig. 5 The nonlinear transfer characteristics between V,, and. vd'

877