I12

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. E NO. 2. # p m 1993

Small-Signal Modeling of
Average Current-Mode Control
Wei Tang, Student Member, IEEE, Fred C. Lee, Fellow, IEEE and Raymond B. Ridley, Member, IEEE

Abstract-A recently proposed average current-mode control is

analyzed. A complete small-signal model for the control scheme
is developed. The model is accurate up to half the switching
frequency. This control scheme is suitable for applications where
the average inductor current needs to be controlled, as in power
factor correction circuits and battery charger/dischargers. The
subharmonic oscillation, commonly found in peak current-mode
control, also exists in this control. This subharmonic oscillation
can be eliminated by choosing a proper gain of the compensation
network in the current loop. Model predictions are confirmed
experimentally.

I. INTRODUCTION

Fig. 1. Average current-mode control scheme.

HE advantages of average current-mode control, such as

the ability to control the average inductor current and the
improvement of noise immunity, have been presented [I]. The
control scheme is illustrated in Fig. 1. The inductor current is
sensed and fed into a compensation network to obtain its dc
information. The output of the compensator is compared with
a sawtooth ramp to generate PWM control. Since the average
current is used as a controlled quantity, average current-mode
control is particularly suitable for power-factor correction
circuits and for applications where a constant current source
is needed, such as a battery charger circuit.
The main difference between average current-mode control
and peak current-mode control is that in the former, the inductor current is averaged and compensated by a compensation
network. In peak current-mode control, however, only the
switch current is sensed, and no compensation exists in current
loop. The PWM conductance control proposed in [2] senses
the inductor current and compares it with a triangular ramp
to generate PWM control. Also, the switching frequency of
PWM conductance control is fixed; both turn-on time and
tum-off time vary according to the control. Adding an integrallead network to the current loop [3] makes PWM conductatxe
control similar to average current-mode control. The lowfrequency small-signal analysis of PWM conductance control
was presented in [3].
Small-signal analysis, especially a continuous-time smallsignal model, is very useful in the control loop design of
power supplies. As mentioned in [4], [ 5 ] ,current-mode control
exhibits certain properties of a sampling system. One problem
Manuscript received November 6, 1991; revised September 25, 1992. This
work was supported in part by Lambda Electronics, Inc.
The authors are with the Virginia Power Electronics Center, Department
of Electrical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,
Blacksburg, VA 24061.
IEEE Log Number 9206671.

of concern is the subharmonic oscillation at half the switching frequency. In this paper, a complete small-signal model
is developed for average current-mode control. It generates
all the transfer functions needed for design purposes. The
sampling nature of current-mode control is considered in the
development of the model, so that the subharmonic oscillation
can be predicted. Based on the small-signal model, design
guidelines are established, and the model is experimentally
verified.
11. SMALL-SIGNAL
MODELING
One major difference between peak current-mode control
and average current-mode control is that the inductor current
of the latter is averaged by a current compensator. Due
to the similarity of the two control methods, the modeling
technique similar to that of peak current-mode control [ 5 ] can
be applied to the modeling of average current-mode control.
The existence of the current compensator makes the modeling
of average current-mode control more complicated.
A . Modulator Gain
Because of the presence of the current compensator in
average current-mode control, as shown in Fig. 2 , the current
loop transfer characteristics are quite different from those of
peak current-mode control. In peak current-mode control, the
inductor current is summed with an external ramp and directly
compared with the control voltage. The modulator gain of peak
current-mode control is [ 5 ]

where S, is the slope of the external ramp, S, is the inductor

current on-time slope, and T, is the switching cycle.

0885-8993/93$03.00 0 1993 IEEE

TIW6:ol ai.: SMALL-SIGNAL MODELING OF AVERAGE CURRENT-MODE CONTROL

113

r
-AF

SMALL SIGNAL

1T,

Ws)

Fig. 2. Current compensator and modulator.

From Fig. 2, it can be seen that the inductor current

waveform has been changed by the compensator, and the
equivalent turn-on (t = DT,) slope of the modified waveform
Sk can be calculated as

" cG P H

Fig. 3. Small-signal model of average current-mode control.

where

The modulator gain of average current-mode control is determined by the sum of the external ramp slope and the turn-on
time slope of the modified current waveform:

B. Sampling Gain
In the small-signal sense, the current loop behaves as a
sampling system [5].According to sampling theory [6], the
phase shift of the system transfer function is always real at half
the sampling frequency (the sampling frequency of a currentmode control system is equal to the switching frequency).
When modeling peak current-mode control, the sampling
effect is approximated by the sampling gain [3] H e ( s ) , a
double RHP zero at half the switching frequency:

'IT

w, = -

Ts .

(9)

In average current-mode control, an integrator and a lead-lag

network are employed in the current loop. The zero is usually
placed before the power stage filter frequency to ensure the
stability of the current loop, so the phase shift of the integrator
is canceled by the zero at half the switching frequency.
The effect of the second pole on the current loop was
studied. Due to the nature of the sampling system, the current

loop gain always exhibits a 180" phase shift at half the

switching frequency no matter where the second pole is
placed. If the second pole is placed after half of the switching
frequency, it does not significantly affect the current loop gain.
Since the purpose of the second pole is to eliminate highfrequency noise, it should be placed after half of the switching
frequency.
If the second pole of the current compensator is placed after
half of the switching frequency, the sampling gain used in peak
current-mode control can be used in average current-mode
control. At high frequency, the characteristics of the current
loop of average current-mode control are almost the same as
those of peak current-mode control. Due to the existence of the
low-pass filter in the converter power stage, the voltage loop
does not behave as a sampling system, and the compensator
pole exists in the voltage loop.

C. Feedback and Feedfonvard Gain

The small-signal model of average current-mode control is
shown in Fig. 3, where
Wi

(I

+9

Although a current compensator exists in the current loop,

the switching ripple at the output of the compensator is still
comparable to the external ramp size, as shown in Fig. 4.
Furthermore, the compensator output is a function of the input
and output voltages and the pole-zero locations of the current
compensator. The duty cycle is affected by the perturbations
of input and output voltages.
The effect of the input and output voltage perturbations on
the duty cycle can be modeled by feedback and feedforward
gain terms k , and k f from input and output voltages 131.

114

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS. VOL. E, NO. 2, APRIL 1993

TABLE I
FEEDFORWARD
AND FEEDBACK
GAINSFOR AVERAGE
CURRENT-MODE
CONTROL
Buck
kf

- YD DE ' T- % (

k,

-E&

Boost

BuckBoost

-EL
L < - %1 (L
LL

EL(

DD'T

bPL

Fig. 4. Steady-state waveforms of average current-mode control

Referring to Fig. 2, the following relation can be obtained:

U,

= U, - G , ( s ) ( R i i ~
- w,)

(12)

where G,(s) is the current compensator transfer function

G c ( s )= G,(s)G,(s)

(13)

and om is the output of the current compensator. If the average

quantity is considered, (12) becomes
vc
(wm) = 21,

- K ( & ( ~ L-) U,)

(14)

where the quantities ( i ~ )and ( w m ) denote the average value

of z~ and w,, respectively. K is the dc gain of the current
compensator; it is finite for a real op-amp.
From Fig. 4, the following equation can be derived:
(om) = Seton

=o

Fig. 5. Simplified small-signal model for deriving feedforward gain k f .

and

a=

+AV,.

Substituting (15) into (14),

K(RZ(2L)- U,) = U , - Set,, - .+J,

Equation (16) gives the relationship between the average
inductor current and input and output voltages. By perturbing
(16) with respect to <ZL> and w,, the Gg to <;L> transfer
function can be obtained. The same transfer function can also
be derived from Fig. 5 , with k f as an unknown:

By comparing these two transfer functions, k f is obtained. k ,

can be obtained through the same procedure. Table I lists k f
and k , for three basic PWM converters employing average
current-mode control where

111. SMALL-SIGNAL
CHARACTERISTICS

By using the small-signal model derived in the previous

section, all of the small-signal characteristics can be generated
through simulations. Simplified analytical transfer functions
are also derived to gain physical insight and to facilitate the
design.
A buck converter was used as an example to show the smallsignal characteristics of the average current-mode control. All
of the characteristics are generated from the model shown in
Fig. 3 and are compared with those of peak current-mode
control. The power stage parameters of the buck converter
were
V, = 14 V
v, = 5 v
R = 1 R
L = 37.5 p H
C = 380 pF

TANG et al.: SMALL-SIGNAL MODELING OF AVERAGE CURRENT-MODE CONTROL

115

gain (dB)

gain (dB)
30,

u+

-lo
-20 I
1m

1.m

5.m

2.000

1435

.mlm
-'O

I
5m

xc

aa

l0.W 2
o.m

,.m

zm

Lm

l0.m

mm

1o.m

ar.m

Frequency(Hz)

Frequency (HZ)
phase(degree)

phase (degree)
I

lm

xa

1.m

zm

I"

l0.m

am

Im

zm

Fig. 6. Current loop gain with U ; as a running parameter.

R, = 20 m52
F, = 50 kHz.

A. Current Loop Gain

Current loop gain is defined as the loop gain measured at
the output of the duty cycle modulator with the current loop
closed. Its analytical expression is given in (21):

T ; ( s )=

l.m

zm

5.m

Fig. 7. Current loop gain with wT as a running parameter.

B. Control-to-Output Voltage Gain

The current loop elements value were

R; = 0.152
Ri = 2.2 kR
R f = 30.5 k52
C j , = 5.8 nF
Cf, = 220 pF.
By varying R1 and Cf,, different w; and w; were obtained.

FmRiV,

rxr

Frequency(Hz)

Frequency (Hz)

(1

The control-to-output voltage gain is defined as the controlto-output voltage transfer function of average current-mode
control with the current loop closed. Fig. 8 shows these
transfer functions with w; as the running parameter. It can be
seen from Fig. 8 that the control-to-output gains have a lowfrequency pole and a pair of double poles at half the switching
frequency, and the damping of the double poles is affected
by the integrator gain of the current compensator (it is also
affected by the extemal ramp slope, which is not shown in Fig.
8). The current compensator pole wp also exists in control-tooutput gain. An approximated expression of control-to-output
gain is given as follows:

6,

,.-

+ sRC)

- N -

"

[l+s(;+cRc)

+ sRcC)
Ri [1+ sR(C + Cx)]
R

(1

+aZLC]
where
1
c -- F,V,w;R;

It can be seen from (21) that the dc gain of the current loop is
affected by both the extemal ramp (appearing in F,) and the
integrator gain U ; ; its shape is affected by the compensator
zero w,. While in peak current-mode control, the shape of
the current loop gain is fixed, and the gain is only affected
by the slope of the extemal ramp; hence, there is more
freedom in designing the current loop for average currentmode control. Fig. 6 shows a set of current loop gains with
wi as a running parameter. The current loop gain with w, as
a running parameter is shown in Fig. 7. It can be seen from
Figs. 6 and 7 that the low-frequency portion of the current gain
is much higher than that of peak current-mode control [3]. It
means that there is less low-frequency error in the current loop
for average current-mode control.

and

t-

ItWnQp

where

From (25), it can be seen that the damping factor of the

double pole at half the switching frequency is affected by

116

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 8, NO. 2, APRIL 1993

gain (dB)
W

w
b
-.-.-..=..-

20.

10

w, -3.3ZE+5

\'

,I
a'
tm

\:.

- 7.55E+'$.<:..

wi

xo

xm

~.mam

10.m

w,m

20

Frequency (Hz)
phase (degree)

IM

PS

,m

an

ya

Frequency (Hz)

Fig. 8. Control-to-output voltage transfer function with

parameter.

,ma

2"

5ma

1 0 m

w m

Frequency (Hz)
dz

as a running

Fig. 9. Control-to-inductor current transfer function with

running parameter.

both the extemal ramp slope and the integrator gain w ; of

the current compensator. The approximation is very close to
the simulation results shown in Fig. 8.

'CI~

as a

gain (dB)
Jo

C. Control-to-Inductor Current Gain

The control-to-inductor current transfer function with the
current loop closed is shown in Fig. 9. It can be seen from
Fig. 9 that the gain characteristics are almost flat, except for a
small dip in the midband. An analytical approximation of the
transfer function for the buck converter is given in (26):

1
,m

5m

,aa

2 m

? o m zona

5aa

m m

'

Frequency (Hz)
phase (degree)

-=I

.<..
4 '

It can be seen from (26) that there is a pole-zero pair near

w
WR:
Frequency (Hz)

Fig. IO.

It should be noted that there is another pole-zero pair near

w = w,, in the control-to-inductor current gain, which is not
given in (26). These two pole-zero pairs produce the small
dip in the midband of the control-to-inductor current gain.
For most operating conditions, this dip is smaller than 2 dB.
By properly controlling the resonance at half the switching
frequency, a wide and flat control-to-inductor current transfer
function can be obtained.
The control-to-inductor current gain of peak current-mode
control is shown in Fig. 10, with the ratio of the external ramp
to the inductor current on-time slope as a running parameter.
Fig. 10 shows that it is impossible to obtain a wide and flat
control-to-inductor current gain with peak current-mode

Control-to-inductor current transfer function of peak current-mode

control.

D.Audiosusceptibility
Because of the inherent negative feedforward from the
input voltage, the audiosusceptibility of average current-mode
control with the current loop closed is smaller than that of
converter power stage. A set of audiosusceptibility of the buck
converter with average current-mode control is shown in Fig.
11. An approximate expression of it is given in (28):

CO R ( k f F m V g D )
(1 sR,C)
..vug
FmVugRiw; [l sR(C Cz)]

:'J

Fh(s).
(28)

TANG et al.: SMALL-SIGNAL MODELING OF AVERAGE CURRENT-MODE CONTROL

117

gain (dB)

gain (dB)

"

-20r

-Y
Experiment-

-,o
tm

am

xo

1.m

zm

5m

mam

Prediction

20.000

----

-20

Frequency(Hz)

Fig. 11. Audiosusceptibility with w, as a running parameter.

.-

Since kf has a negative value, it is possible to completely

null the circuit response to the input voltage perturbation by
selecting Se and w,, but kf and F, have nonlinear relations
with Se and w i , and it is difficult to find the exact values to null
the audiosusceptibility. While in peak current-mode control, it
is easy to choose an external ramp slope which totally nulls
the input perturbation.

IV. DESIGNGUIDELINES

93

45

wriment-

Prediction - - - 45

rm

a0

xo

i.m

zmo

5
.
m

i0.m

zo.rm

Frequency(Hz)

Fig. 12. Measurement and prediction of the current loop gain for a
buck converter.

After studying the small-signal characteristics of average

current-mode control, certain design guidelines have been
developed.
The current compensator can be designed as follows. First,
the second pole should be placed after half the switching
frequency. The zero should be placed at lesat one decade
before half the switching frequency. Second, the function of
the external ramp is similar to that of the sawtooth ramp in
voltage-mode control; this means that any sufficient large ramp
can be used as the external ramp. Third, for a given ramp,
choose the integrator gain wi which makes Q p = 1. It gives
proper damping on the resonant peak at half the switching
frequency.
By setting Q p in (25) equal to one

gain (de)

w
h

wi

-20

7.55E+4

Prediction - - - -

Exprimen-

im

The voltage loop design of average current-mode control is

similar to peak current-mode control.

V. EXPERIMENTAL
VERIFICATION
A buck converter was built with the same component
values as those given in the previous section. To measure
the current loop gain, a digital modulator [7] was used to
ensure that the correct sampled-data loop gain was obtained.
All other measurements were performed with conventional
analog measurement schemes.
The measured and predicted current loop gains are shown
in Fig. 12. Both the gain and phase measurement agree very
well with predictions up to half of the switching frequency.

am

PO

1.m

zm

5m

10.m

=.ox

Frequency (Hz)

Fig. 13. Measurement and prediction of control-to-outputvoltage gain for a

buck converter.

The control-to-output voltage and control-to-inductor current gains, measured with the current loop closed, are shown
in Figs. 13 and 14, respectively. The measurements again show
very good correlation with the theoretical results. The peak of
the gains at half the switching frequency clearly shows the
existence of two complex poles.
The measurement and predicted result of the audiosusceptibility of the buck converter with the current loop closed are
shown in Fig. 15. Again, the measurement and prediction agree
very well.

.
.-

118

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 8, NO. 2, APRIL 1993

gain (dB)

w,

im

YI)

?.m

zm

- 7.558+4\

saa

ro.mo

z0.m

10.m

w.m

Frequency (HZ)
phase (degree)

,80

Experiment-

-zn
lca

Prediction - - - w

%a

l.ao

zm

Iaa

Frequency (Hz)
Fig. 14. Measurement and prediction of the control-to-inductor current gain
for a buck converter.

The current loop gain of average current-mode control

always exhibits a 180 o phase shift at half the switching
frequency no matter where the second pole of the current
compensator is placed. If the pole is placed after half the
switching frequency, the noise picked up by the sensing
network is attenuated, while the stability of the system is not
affected.
The control-to-output voltage gain has more phase delay
than that of peak current-mode control because of the existence
of the second pole of the current compensator. The resonant
peak caused by the complex poles at half the switching
frequency can be controlled by selecting the gain of the current
compensator. In peak current-mode control, the resonant peak
can only be damped by the extemal ramp. This allows more
flexibility in the design of average current-mode control.
Based on the small-signal analysis, a design guideline is
proposed. By properly selecting the gain of the current compensator, subharmonic oscillation can be avoided. An almost
flat control-to-inductor current gain can be achieved when the
current compensator is properly designed. The accuracy of the
model is confirmed with the measurements of a buck converter.

REFERENCES

Prediction - - Q

Im

aa

ya

lm

2 m

la0

?om

am)

Frequency (Hz)
Fig. 15. Measurement and prediction of the audiosusceptibility for a
buck converter.

VI. CONCLUSIONS

In peak current-mode control, the peak inductor current is

sensed and compared with the control voltage derived from
the voltage loop. While in average current-mode control, it
is the average inductor which compares with the control
voltage. Hence, average current-mode control controls the
real averaged inductor current. This is particularly true when
the converter is operated in the discontinuous conduction
mode. When the buck converter employs average currentmode control, the output current, which equals the average
inductor current, is also controlled. It means that an ideal
current source is achieved. Likewise, in the case of a boost
converter, the average input current is controlled, which makes
it suitable for a power factor correction circuit.
Because of the existence of the current compensator in
the control loop, the small-signal characteristics of average
current-mode control are quite different from those of the
peak current-mode control. Due to the usage of an op-amp,
the current loop gain of the average current-mode control
possesses very high gain at low frequency. While in peak
current-mode control, the low-frequency gain of the current
loop is rather small.

[l] L. H. Dixon, Average current-mode control of switching power supplies, in Unitrode Power Supply Design Seminar Handbook, 1990.
[2] D. OSullivan, H. Spruyt, and A. Crausaz, PWM conductance control,
in IEEE Power Electron. Specialists Con5 Rec., 1988, pp. 351-359.
[3] A. S. Kislovski, Small-signal low-frequency analysis of a buck type
PWM conductance controller, in IEEE Power Electron. Specialists
Con$ Rec., 1990, pp. 88-95.
[4] A. R. Brown, Topics in the analysis, measurement, and design of highperformance switching regulator, Ph.D. dissertation, Califomia Inst.
Technol., Pasadena, May 1981.
[5] R. B. Ridley, A new small-signal model for current-mode control,
Ph.D. dissertation, Virginia Polytechnic Inst. State Univ., Blacksburg,
Nov. 1990.
[6] A. V. Oppenheim and R. W. Schafer, Digital Signal Processing. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1975.
[7] B. H. Cho and F. C. Lee, Measurement of loop gain with the digital
modulator, in IEEE Power Electron. Specialists Con5 Rec., 1984, pp.
363-373.

Wei Tang (S90) received the B.S. and M.S. degrees

from Tsinghua University, Beijing, P.R. China, in
1982 and 1985, respectively, both in electrical engineering. Since 1988 he has been working towards
the Ph.D. degree at the Bradley Department of
Electrical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg.
From 1985 to 1988 he worked as a Senior Engineer at the Research Center of Computer Applications, Chengdu, China. He is now a Research
Assistant at the Vireinia
Power Electronics Center.

His research interests include modeling, analysis, and control of the switching
power converter, and power factor correction.
Mr. Tang is a member of Eta Kappa Nu.

119

TANG et al.: SMALL-SIGNAL MODELING OF AVERAGE CURRENT-MODE CONTROL

Fred C. Lee (S72-M74-SM87-F90) received

the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the
National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, in 1968,
and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Duke University, Durham, NC, in 1971 and 1974, respectively.
From 1974 to 1977 he was employed as a member
of the Technical Staff at TRW Systems, Redondo
Beach, CA. He was responsible for designing power
converters for spacecraft power systems. He joined
Virginia Tech in 1977. He is presently the James S.
Tucker Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and the Director of the Virginia Power Electronics Center (VPEC).
In 1987 he was appointed as the director of the Technology Development
Center for Power Electronics of the Virginia Center for Innovative Technology.
He is the founder of the Centers Industry Partnership Program. To date,
62 companies from all over the world have subscribed to the program.
His research interests include high-frequency power conversion, distributed
power systems, space power systems, device characterization, and modeling
and control of converters and design optimization. During his career, he has
published over 80 refereed joumal papers, and more than 150 technical papers.
Dr. Lee has received nine best paper awards from various technical
conferences. He has been awarded ten patents, with five additional patents
pending. He has been an active consultant for over 20 companies in the
power electronics industries. He is currently a member of the AdCom of
the IEEE Power Electronics Society, and an Associate Editor of the IEEE
TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS . He was the Chairman
of the 1987 IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference. Dr. Lee is a
recipient of the Society of Automotive Engineering 1985 Ralph R. Teeter
Educational Award, the IEEE Power Electronics Society 1989 William E.
Newel1 Power Electronics Award, the 1990 PCIM Award for Leadership in
Power Electronics Education, and the Virginia Tech 1990 Alumni Award for
Research Excellence.

Raymond B. Ridley

(S90-M90) received the

B.S. degree from Boston University, Boston, MA,
in 1981 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,
Blacksburg, in 1986 and 1990, respectively, all in
electrical engineering.
From 1981 to 1984 he was employed as a Senior
Engineer in the Power Systems Group at Prime
Computer, where he worked on the design and
analysis of computer power supplies. His research
specialties include power converter control and analysis, high-frequency converters, and computer-aided design for power systems. He served as the Assistant Director of Virginia Power Electronics Center
from 1987 to 1991. Presently, he is a consultant in power electronics.