Adaptive Control Based on Virtual Plant Applied to Synchronous Buck Converter using LCL Filter for Charging Lithium-Ion Batteries

Vinícius D. Rodrigues; Maicon  de Miranda; Wagner B. da Silveira; Jonas Roberto Tibola; Lucas G.  Scherer; Rodrigo Varella Tambara

doi:10.18618/REP.e202613

Authors

Vinícius D. Rodrigues Federal University of Santa Maria
Maicon de Miranda Federal University of Santa Maria
Wagner B. da Silveira Federal University of Santa Maria https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3694-024X
Jonas Roberto Tibola Federal University of Santa Maria https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2734-9272
Lucas G. Scherer Federal University of Santa Maria https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2912-6398
Rodrigo Varella Tambara Federal University of Santa Maria https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2968-6184

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18618/REP.e202613

Keywords:

Adaptive Control, LCL Filter, Virtual Plant, C-HIL

Abstract

This paper introduces a virtual plant method as the main contribution, applied independently to two discrete-time adaptive control strategies for a synchronous buck converter used in battery charging: an Adaptive PI Controller (API) and a Model Reference Adaptive Controller (MRAC). The system employs an LCL filter that interfaces the power converter with the batteries. The proposed virtual plant method enhances the transient performance of adaptive systems by pre-tuning the controller gains before the physical connection, enabling automatic gain initialization and mitigating the poor start-up dynamics typical of adaptive control. The API controller performs real-time adaptation of the parameters K_p and K_i, while the MRAC is based on a reduced-order reference model to simplify its design, updating three parameters: θ_r, θ_y and θ_vb. A simplified methodology for designing adaptive controllers is proposed, involving plant simplification and the use of a virtual plant to automate the controller design process. Controller Hardware-in-the-Loop (C-HIL) and experimental results are presented to validate the control approaches. A fixed PI controller is used as a benchmark for comparison with the adaptive control techniques. Quantitative and qualitative analyses are provided using performance indices such as ISE, IAE, ITSE and ITAE.

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Author Biographies

Vinícius D. Rodrigues, Federal University of Santa Maria

received the degree in Industrial Electronics Technology from the Colégio Técnico Industrial de Santa Maria (CTISM) at the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), Brazil, in 2023. He is currently pursuing the M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering at the Graduate Program in Electrical Engineering (PPGEE) of UFSM, in the area of applied control. Since 2015, he has been working as an Electroelectronic Technician at the Research and Development Center in Electrical Engineering (NUPEDEE) of UFSM. His research interests include power electronics, control systems, and renewable energy applications.

Maicon de Miranda, Federal University of Santa Maria

received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering at the UFSM in 2019 and 2022, respectively. Currently, he is a Ph.D. student in Electrical Engineering at UFSM, and a member of GEPOC. His main research interests include adaptive and resonant control techniques, control of distributed and grid-connected power systems, and the integration of renewable energy sources.

Wagner B. da Silveira, Federal University of Santa Maria

received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering at the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) in 2018 and 2021, respectively. Currently, he is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical Engineering at UFSM, and a member of the Group of Power Electronics and Control (GEPOC) of UFSM. His main topics of research are adaptive control theory, grid-connected power system control, and renewable energy systems.

Jonas Roberto Tibola, Federal University of Santa Maria

was born in Tenente Portela, Brazil, 1988. He received the master’s and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), Santa Maria, Brazil, in 2013 and 2017, respectively. He worked as a Lecturer with Federal Institute of Education, Venâncio Aires, Brazil, from 2015 to 2016. He is currently with UFSM, where he has been a Professor with Technical and Industrial School of Santa Maria (CTISM). He is also a Researcher with Computational Systems Research and Development Group (GSEC) and Power Electronic Research Group (GEPOC), UFSM. His research interests include modeling, control and instrumentation of pulsewidth modulation (PWM) inverters, PWM modulation strategies, and dc–dc converters.

Lucas G. Scherer, Federal University of Santa Maria

was born on October 8, 1983 in Santa Maria, he is an electrical engineer (2007), master (2012) and doctor in Electrical Engineering (2016) from the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM). He is currently an adjunct professor at UFSM. His areas of interest are: power electronics, electrical energy processing, electronic control systems, distributed generation systems and electrical machine drives. He is a member of SOBRAEP.

Rodrigo Varella Tambara, Federal University of Santa Maria

received the B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), Santa Maria, Brazil, in 2008, 2010, and 2014, respectively. He is currently an Adjunct Professor with CTISM/UFSM and a Researcher with Power Electronics and Control Group (GEPOC) and Group on Electrical and Computer Systems (GSEC). His research interests include theory and application of control systems, electronic instrumentation, and power electronics.

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