For the Half-bridge Bidirectional DC-DC power converter focused on electric traction applications, this paper develops a fixed-frequency Sliding-mode control (SMC) based on a cascade structure. First, the use of cascade control is justified by means of the state space small-signal averaged equations. Then, the design of the proposed cascade SMC scheme is detailed. Lastly, the simulation results showed that the developed control strategy outperforms the sole use of SMC for different comparison scenarios.

The effects of the windup phenomenon impact the performance of integral controllers commonly found in industrial processes. In particular, windup issues are critical for controlling variable and longtime delayed systems, as they may not be timely corrected by the tracking error accumulation and saturation of the actuators. This work introduces two anti-windup control algorithms for a sliding mode control (SMC) framework to promptly reset the integral control action in the discontinuous mode without inhibiting the robustness of the overall control system against disturbances. The proposed algorithms are intended to anticipate and steer the tracking error toward the origin region of the sliding surface based on an anti-saturation logistic function and a robust compensation action fed by system output variations. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms when they are applied to two chemical processes, i.e., (i) a Variable Height Mixing Tank (VHMT) and (ii) Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR) with a variable longtime delay. The control performance of the proposed anti-windup approaches has been assessed under different reference and disturbance changes, exhibiting that the tracking control performance in the presence of disturbances is enhanced up to 24.35% in terms of the Integral Square Error (ISE) and up to 88.7% regarding the Integral Time Square Error (ITSE). Finally, the results of the proposed methodology demonstrated that the excess of cumulative energy by the actuator saturation could reduce the process resources and also extend the actuator’s lifetime span.

In this work, an improved Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm is employed to perform the Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) of a 1.2 MW Photovoltaic farm under Partial Shading Conditions (PSC). High efficiency, low complexity and reduced tracking time are the main features achieved by integrating the ability to ensure a Global Maximum Power Point (GMPP) operation provided by PSO and the fast convergence of Perturb and Observe (P&O) algorithm. In addition, Sliding-Mode Control (SMC) is used on a cascade scheme on the DC-DC power converters in order to achieve a suitable energy conversion. Thus, the design of the SMC is achieved by using the space state representation of the power converters. Finally, photovoltaic system performance is analyzed for different solar radiation profiles. The obtained results show the proper dynamic and steady-state responses.

Nowadays, automakers face unprecedented requirements to comply and exceed quality standards while attending to consumer expectations. Among the challenges are the insertion of new functions for driving assistance towards highly automated vehicles, electrification and connectivity. Introduction of simulation – driven design in the broad wide disciplines involved within vehicles development yields significant savings in both costs and product release time. This paper introduces an approach to vehicle electrical distribution systems (EDS) simulation adapting the methods used conventionally in transmission and distribution systems to the special features found in the vehicle EDS. To this purpose, a procedure based on a backward/forward sweep (BFS) algorithm for solving power flows in weakly meshed dc traction networks is applied and described. An important part of the work has to do with the information pre-processing from the modular based format used in automotive industry into standard simulation matrices. Constant current load profiles are assumed for the consumers, while the electronic control units (ECU) are considered static power distribution boxes. The main outputs of the proposed methodology are nodal voltages, branch currents and differential voltages at components terminals in the vehicle EDS. The knowledge extracted from the simulation will help the designers during the dimensioning and validation process of modern vehicles EDS and will be a powerful tool to reach the zero-prototypes goal before the start of production.

The present work develops the entire control system to achieve the active power regulation in a detailed model of a small-scale Virtual Power Plant (VPP). Firstly, the proposed VPP topology is exposed. A DC bus has been used for the integration of the different distributed generators and the storage system. Different DC-DC power converters schemes have been employed to fulfill this goal. Later, by means of an Energy Management System strategy who commands a three-leg three-phase inverter having a suitable modulation technique, the control of the demanded active power is performed. The results exhibit successful responses of the system for both, dynamic and steady state.