ISA Transactions 51 (2012) 673681

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ISA Transactions
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/isatrans

Adaptive terminal sliding-mode control strategy for DCDC buck converters

Hasan Komurcugil n
Computer Engineering Department, Eastern Mediterranean University, Gazi Magusa, North Cyprus, via Mersin 10, Turkey

a r t i c l e i n f o

abstract

Article history:
Received 2 January 2012
Received in revised form
22 June 2012
Accepted 17 July 2012
Available online 9 August 2012
This paper was recommended for publication by Jeff Pieper

This paper presents an adaptive terminal sliding mode control (ATSMC) strategy for DCDC buck
converters. The idea behind this strategy is to use the terminal sliding mode control (TSMC) approach to
assure nite time convergence of the output voltage error to the equilibrium point and integrate an
adaptive law to the TSMC strategy so as to achieve a dynamic sliding line during the load variations. In
addition, the inuence of the controller parameters on the performance of closed-loop system is
investigated. It is observed that the start up response of the output voltage becomes faster with
increasing value of the fractional power used in the sliding function. On the other hand, the transient
response of the output voltage, caused by the step change in the load, becomes faster with decreasing
the value of the fractional power. Therefore, the value of fractional power is to be chosen to make a
compromise between start up and transient responses of the converter. Performance of the proposed
ATSMC strategy has been tested through computer simulations and experiments. The simulation
results of the proposed ATSMC strategy are compared with the conventional SMC and TSMC strategies.
It is shown that the ATSMC exhibits a considerable improvement in terms of a faster output voltage
response during load changes.
& 2012 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Sliding-mode control
Terminal sliding-mode control
Finite time convergence
DCDC buck converter

1. Introduction
DCDC converters are power electronics devices which are
widely used in many applications including DC motor drives,
communication equipments, and power supplies for personal
computers [1]. The buck type DCDC converters are used in
applications where the required output voltage is smaller than
the input voltage. Since buck converters are inherently nonlinear
and time-varying systems due to their switching operation, the
design of high performance control strategy is usually a challenging issue. The main objective of the control strategy is to ensure
system stability in arbitrary operating condition with good
dynamic response in terms of rejection of input voltage changes,
load variations and parameter uncertainties. Nonlinear control
strategies are deemed to be better candidates in DCDC converter
applications than other linear feedback controllers. Various nonlinear control strategies for the buck converters have been
proposed to achieve these objectives [215]. Among these control
strategies, the sliding mode control (SMC) has received much
attention due to its major advantages such as guaranteed stability, robustness against parameter variations, fast dynamic
response and simplicity in implementation [24,68,10,11,14].
The design of an SMC consists of two steps: design of a sliding

Tel.: 90 392 6301363; fax: 90 392 3650711.

E-mail address: hasan.komurcugil@emu.edu.tr

surface and design of a control law [8]. Once a suitable sliding

surface and a suitable control law are designed, the system states
can be forced to move toward the sliding surface and slide on the
surface until the equilibrium (origin) point is reached.
The SMC introduced in [3] has the advantages of separate
switching action and the sliding action, but the computation
requirement of the inductors current reference function increases
the complexity of the controller. A simple and systematic
approach to the design of practical SMC has been presented
in [6]. The adaptive feedforward and feedback based SMC strategy
introduced in [7] has the advantages of adjusting the hysteresis
width according to the input voltage change and the sliding
coefcient according to the load change. The indirect SMC via
double integral sliding surface strategy introduced in [10] reduces
the steady-state error in the output voltage at the expense of
having additional two states in the sliding surface function. In
[13], a time-optimal based SMC has been introduced aiming to
improve the output voltage regulation of the converter subjected
to any disturbance. The SMC strategy in [14] is based on the
alternative model of the buck converter with bilinear terms.
In most SMC strategies proposed for the buck converters so far,
the most commonly used sliding surface is the linear sliding
surface which is based on linear combination of the system states
by using an appropriate time-invariant coefcient (commonly
termed as l). The use of such coefcient makes the sliding line
static during load variations resulting in a poor transient response
in the output voltage. Despite the transient response can be made

0019-0578/$ - see front matter & 2012 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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H. Komurcugil / ISA Transactions 51 (2012) 673681

faster by utilizing a larger valued coefcient in the linear sliding

surface function, the system states cannot converge to the
equilibrium point in nite time. Different from the conventional
SMC, the terminal sliding mode control (TSMC) has a nonlinear
sliding surface function [18]. The nonlinear sliding surface function has the ability to provide a terminal convergence (nite-time
convergence) of the output voltage error from an initial point to
the equilibrium point.
In this paper, an adaptive terminal sliding mode control
(ATSMC) strategy is proposed for the DCDC buck converters.
The idea behind this strategy is to use the TSMC for assuring nite
time convergence of the output voltage error to the equilibrium
point and integrate an adaptive law to the TSMC strategy so as to
make the sliding line dynamic during the load variations. Different from the linear sliding surface function in conventional SMC,
the output voltage error (x1) in the nonlinear sliding surface
function has a fractional power (commonly termed as g) in the
TSMC. Therefore, the convergence time of the output voltage
depends on the parameters l and g. The inuence of the fractional
power on the start up and the transient responses of the output
voltage, the inductor current and the state trajectory is investigated. Since the performance of the TSMC with xed l (i.e. static
sliding line) during load variations does not exhibit the desired
response, an adaptive terminal sliding mode control (ATSMC)
strategy has been employed in which sliding line is made
dynamic by making l load dependent. Finally, simulation and
experimental results are presented for verication.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, the
dynamic model of buck converter is given. Section 3 reviews the
conventional sliding mode control method for the buck converter.
In Section 4, the proposed adaptive terminal sliding mode control
was described for the buck converter. In Section 5, the simulation
and experimental results are presented and compared with the
conventional sliding mode control method. Finally, the conclusions are addressed in Section 6.

dvo
1
vo 
iL 

C
dt
R
Combining (1), (2), (3) and (4) gives
diL
1
uV in vo
L
dt

dvo
1
vo 
iL 

C
dt
R

where u is the control input which takes 1 for the ON state of the
switch and 0 for the OFF state. Let us dene the output voltage
error x1 and its derivative (rate of change of the output voltage
error) as
x1 vo V ref

x2 x_ 1 v_ o V_ ref v_ o

where x_ 1 denotes the derivative of x1, and Vref is the DC reference

for the output voltage.
By taking the time derivative of (6), the voltage error x1 and
the rate of change of voltage error x2 dynamics can be expressed
as
x_ 1 x2
x_ 2 

9
x2
o2o x1 o2o uV in V ref
RC

10

where o2o 1=LC.

3. Conventional sliding mode control

Let a linear sliding surface function S be expressed as
S lx1 x2 ,

l 40

11

where l is a time-invariant sliding coefcient. The dynamic

behavior of (11) without external disturbance on the sliding
surface is [16]

2. Dynamic model of the DC-DC buck converter

S lx1 x_ 1 0
Fig. 1 shows a DCDC buck converter. It consists of a DC input
voltage source (Vin), a controlled switch (Sw), a diode (D), a lter
inductor (L), lter capacitor (C), and a load resistor (R). Equations
describing the operation of the converter can be written for the
switching conditions ON and OFF, respectively, as

12

In the phase-plane (x1  x2 plane), S 0 represents a line, called

sliding line, passing through the origin with a slope equal to
m  l. The sliding mode (S0) is described by the following
rst-order equation:
x_ 1 lx1

diL
1
V in vo
L
dt

13

During the sliding mode, the output voltage error is expressed

as

dvo
1
vo 
iL 

C
dt
R

and
diL
vo

dt
L

SW

iL
iC

+
Vin

+
vo

Fig. 1. DCDC buck converter.

iR
R

x1 t x1 0elt

14

It should be noted that l must be positive for achieving the

system stability. This fact can be easily veried by substituting a
negative l quantity into (14) which results in x1(t) moving away
from zero.
In general, the SMC exhibits two modes: the reaching mode
and the sliding mode. While in the reaching mode, a reaching
control law is applied to drive the system states to the sliding line
rapidly. When the system states are on the sliding line, the system
is said to be in the sliding mode in which an equivalent control
law is applied to drive the system states, along the sliding line, to
the origin. When the state trajectory is above the sliding line, u0
(Sw is OFF) must be applied so as to direct the trajectory towards
the sliding line. Conversely, when the state trajectory is below the
sliding line, u 1 (Sw is ON) must be applied so that the trajectory
is directed towards the sliding line. The control law that adopts

H. Komurcugil / ISA Transactions 51 (2012) 673681

such switching can be dened as


1 if S o 0
1
u 1signS
2
0 if S 40

675

15

However, direct implementation of this control law causes the

converter to operate at an uncontrollable innite switching
frequency which is not desired in practice. Hence, it is required
to suppress the switching frequency into an acceptable range. In
order to accomplish this, a hysteresis modulation (HM) method
employing a hysteresis band with suitable switching boundaries
around the switching line is used as [6]
(
1 when S oh
u
16
0 when S 4 h
where h is the hysteresis bandwidth. When S4h, switch Sw will
turn OFF. Conversely, it will turn ON when So h. Such operation
limits the operating frequency of the switch.
When the system is in the sliding mode, the robustness of the
converter will be guaranteed and the dynamics of the converter
will depend on l. In order to ensure that the movement of the
error variables is maintained on the sliding line, the following
existence condition must be satised
SS_ o 0

17

The time derivative of (11) can be written as

S_ lx_ 1 x_ 2

18

Substituting (9) and (10) into (18) yields the following

inequalities [6]:


1
x2 o2o V in V ref x1 40 for S o 0 when u 1
l1 l
RC
19



1
x2 o2o V ref x1 o0
l2 l
RC

it has been proposed in [6] to set l as

for S 4 0 when u 0

20

Equations l1 0 and l2 0 dene two lines in the phase-plane

with the same slope passing through points P1 (Vin Vref,0) and
P2 ( Vref,0) on the x1 axis, respectively. The slope of these lines
is given by
m1 m2

o2o

Fig. 2. Regions of existence of the sliding mode for: (a) l 4 1/RC and (b) l o1/RC.

1
RC

22

However, despite the dynamic response can be made faster by

utilizing a large l in the sliding surface function, the system states
still cannot converge to the equilibrium point in nite time.

21

4. Adaptive terminal sliding mode control for buck converter

The regions of existence of the sliding mode for different l values

(l 41/RC and l o1/RC) are depicted in Fig. 2. It is clear that the
sliding line splits the phase-plane into two regions. In each region, the
state trajectory is directed towards the sliding line by an appropriate
switching action. The sliding mode occurs only on the portion of the
sliding line, S0, that covers both regions. This portion is within S1
and S2. It can be seen from Fig. 2(a) that the large l value causes a
reduction of sliding mode existence region. When the state trajectory
hits the sliding line in a point outside the sliding mode existence
region S1S2, it overshoots the sliding line which leads to an overshoot
in the output voltage. The x2 intercepts of the lines l1 and l2 are
Y 1 o2o V ref V in =l1=RC and Y 2 o2o V ref =l1=RC, respectively. On the other hand, when l is small, the state trajectory hits
the sliding line in a point inside the sliding mode existence region
S1S2, and it moves toward the origin as seen in Fig. 2(b). Note that
when l o1/RC, the slope of these lines is negative which changes the
x2 intercepts of the lines l1 and l2 as Y 2 o2o V ref =l1=RC and
Y 1 o2o V ref V in =l1=RC, respectively. It is evident from (14)
and Fig. 2 that the dynamic response of the buck converter depends
on the value of l. In order to ensure that l is large enough for fast
dynamic response and low enough to retain a large existence region,

Let a nonlinear sliding surface function for the buck converter

system dened in (9) and (10) be dened as

l1=RC

Sn lx1 x_ 1

23

where l 40, and 0 o(g q/p)o1 where p and q are positive odd
integers satisfying p 4q. When the system is in the terminal
sliding mode (Sn 0), its dynamics can be determined by the
following nonlinear differential equation:
g
x_ 1 lx1

24

Note that Eq. (24) reduces to x_ 1 lx1 for g 1, which is the

form of conventional SMC. It has been shown in [17] that x1 0 is
the terminal attractor of the system dened in (1). The term
terminal is referred to the equilibrium which can be reached in
nite time. Note that Eq. (24) can also be written as
dt 

dx1
lxg1

25

Taking integral of both sides of (25) and evaluating the

resulting equation on the closed interval (x1(0) a0, x1(ts)0)

676

gives the following equation [18]:



Z
x1 01g
1 0 dx1

ts 
l x1 0 xg1
l1g

H. Komurcugil / ISA Transactions 51 (2012) 673681

26

Eq. (26) means that when the system enters to the terminal
sliding mode at t tr with initial condition x1(0) a0, the system
state x1 converges to x1(ts) 0 in nite time and stay there for
t Zts. In other words, when the state trajectory hits the sliding
surface at time tr, the system state cannot leave the sliding line
meaning that the state trajectory will belong to the sliding line for
t Ztr. However, it is obvious from (26) that the convergence time,
ts, still depends on the parameters g and l. Therefore, these
parameters must be carefully selected to ensure the desired
response.

4.1. Selection of g
When x1 is near the equilibrium point (9x19o1), the fractional
g
power g q/p leads to 9x1 9 4 9x1 9. In such a case, the system state
g
with the nonlinear term x1 converges toward equilibrium point
more faster than the linear term x1. Especially, when g is too small
near the equilibrium point, the state trajectory moves toward the
equilibrium point as if it follows the bottom of a bowl rather than
following a straight line which results in a distorted inductor
current during load variations. In order to show the inuence of
parameter g on the dynamic performance of the TSMC, a sample
simulation study has been performed by using the parameters
Vin 10 V, Vref 5 V, L1 mH, C 1000 mF, R10 O, and
l 1/RC 100.
Fig. 3 shows the start-up responses of the output voltage, the
inductor current and the state trajectories of the converter with
different g values. It is clear from Fig. 3(a) and (b) that the output
voltage and the inductor current responses become faster with
increasing the value of g. The main reason of this comes from the
fact that the slope of the sliding line with g4 0.8182 is greater
than all other sliding line slopes as shown in Fig. 3(c) resulting in
a faster response as pointed out in (14). All the state trajectories
start from the point  Vref  5 V on the x1 axis (as vo(0) 0 V),
which agrees well with the intersection point of l2 shown in Fig. 2.
When the trajectory reaches the sliding line, it starts to slide
along it by making a zigzag movement. However, when it
approaches the equilibrium point (9x19 o1) it changes its direction and makes a movement similar to the bottom of a bowl. This
direction change is inversely proportional with the g value. This
means that any change in the direction becomes smaller when g
values get larger. This fact is clearly visible in Fig. 3(c).
Fig. 4 shows the responses of the output voltage and the
inductor current for a step change in R from 10 O to 2 O which
are obtained by the SMC method with g 1 and the TSMC method
with different g values. Unlike the start up case, it is interesting to
note that the output voltage and the inductor current responses
become faster with decreasing the value of g. Therefore, g value is
to be chosen to make a compromise between start up and transient
responses of the converter. It is well known that the current
dynamics is faster than the voltage dynamics. Since the transient
responses of the inductor current for different g values are superimposed, then only two responses are presented in Fig. 4(b).
4.2. Selection of l
It has been discussed before that l is usually set to 1/RC for a
good performance of the system. However, the TSMC with
constant l cannot exhibit the same transient performance when
the converter is subjected to a load change. The main reason of
this performance degrade is due to the static sliding line

Fig. 3. Simulated start up responses of the output voltage, the inductor current,
and the state trajectories obtained by the TSMC method with different g values:
(a) vo, (b) iL, and (c) state trajectories.

irrespective of the operating point change caused by the load

change. It is clear from (21) that l is inversely proportional to R.
Therefore, instead of xing it at l 1/RC with nominal load
resistance, its value should be adaptively changed when a load
change occurs. However, it is not possible to measure the load
resistance directly in a practical implementation. Therefore, the
instantaneous value of the load resistance can be estimated by
measuring the output voltage across and the current passing
through the load resistance as
vo
R^
iR

27

H. Komurcugil / ISA Transactions 51 (2012) 673681

677

If a control input is designed which ensures (28), then the

system will be forced towards the sliding surface and remains on
it until origin is reached asymptotically. Now, let
Vt 12S2n

29

be a Lyapunov function candidate for the system described in (9)

and (10). The time derivative of (29) can be written as
V_ t Sn S_ n o 0

30

Differentiating (23) with respect to time and using in (30), one

can obtain
g1
V_ t Sn S_ n Sn lgx1 x2 x_ 2 o 0

31

Substituting (10) into (31) and solving for u gives

ueq

x

2V
o in

RC

g1

o2o V ref x1 lgx1

x2

32

Eq. (32) is the equivalent control needed to keep the system

motion on the sliding surface under ideal terminal sliding mode.
However, the equivalent control may not be able to move the
system states from reaching mode to the sliding mode. Therefore,
an additional control action known as the switching control is
needed that should be applied to the system together with the
equivalent control. Hence, the total control input can be written
as
u

2V
o in

x

RC

g1

o2o V ref x1 lgx1


x2 KsignSn

Fig. 4. Simulated transient responses of the output voltage and the inductor
current due to a step change in R from 10 O to 2 O obtained by the SMC and the
TSMC methods with different g values: (a) vo and (b) iL.

Fig. 6. Sliding function with hysteresis band.

Fig. 5. Block diagram of the DCDC buck converter with the proposed ATSMC method.

Since the value of R is used to vary l in the TSMC, such control

results in an adaptive terminal sliding mode control (ATSMC). The
adaptation comes from the time variation of the l term in the
nonlinear terminal sliding mode. The block diagram of the DC-DC
buck converter with the proposed ATSMC method is depicted in
Fig. 5.
4.3. Stability analysis and sliding mode dynamics
The sufcient condition for the existence of the terminal
sliding mode is given by
Sn S_ n o 0

28

Fig. 7. Switching frequency for different input voltages.

33

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H. Komurcugil / ISA Transactions 51 (2012) 673681

where K denotes the switching control gain. Rewriting (10) as

x_ 2 

x2
o2o x1 o2o uV in V ref dt
RC

34

and substituting (33) into (34) and the resulting equation into
(31) yields
V_ t Sn S_ n KSn signSn Sn dto 0

35

where satises K 49d(t)9, and d(t) denotes the disturbances

caused by parametric variations in the system. Clearly, for both
Sn 40 and Sn o0, V_ t is always negative for all values of the
system states which means that the system has a nite-time
convergent stability irrespective of the disturbances in the system. This means that the ATSMC offers a strong robustness
against the variations in input voltage and reference output
voltage during the sliding mode. It should be noted that the
ATSMC method does not offer a strategy to estimate the domain
of attraction around the equilibrium point. Although, it is very
difcult to estimate the domain of attraction analytically, there
are some recent works that try to estimate it [19,20].
g1
Substituting (9) and (10) into S_ n lgx1 x_ 1 x_ 2 and using
Eq. (15) give the following inequalities that satisfy the existence
condition given in (28):

Fig. 8. Switching frequency for different output voltage references.

lgx1g1 x2 

x2
o2o V in V ref x1 4 0
RC

lgx1g1 x2 

x2
o2o V ref x1 o 0
RC

for S o 0 when u 1

for S 4 0 when u 0

36

37

Eqs. (36) and (37) describe the sliding mode dynamics of the
closed-loop system.

ATSMC
SMC
TSMC
SMC

State trajectory due

to the start up
State trajectory due
to the step change

TSMC
and
ATSMC

1.66ms

ATSMC

TSMC
and
State trajectory due ATSMC
to the start up
State trajectory due
to the step change

Fig. 9. Simulated start up and transient responses (due to a step change in R from 10 O to 2 O) of the output voltage, and the state trajectory obtained by the SMC, the
TSMC and the ATSMC methods with g 0.2: (a) vo, (b) magnied response of vo and iL obtained by ATSMC, (c) state trajectory obtained by the SMC and (d) state trajectory
obtained by the TSMC and the ATSMC.

H. Komurcugil / ISA Transactions 51 (2012) 673681

4.4. Switching frequency

The frequency at which a practical buck converter can be
switched is limited by such factors as hysteresis bandwidth, input
voltage, output voltage, and LC lter. Therefore, an estimate of the
switching frequency would be helpful in designing the system.
Consider a typical trajectory of the sliding function with hysteresis band depicted in Fig. 6. From the geometry of Fig. 6, we can
write the ON and OFF periods of switch Sw as
T ON

2h

S_

38

2h

S_

39

T OFF


where S_ n and S_ n are the time derivatives of Sn for ON and OFF
states of the switch Sw, respectively. The time derivative of (23)
can be written as

x2
g1
o2o uV in V ref x1
S_ n lgx1 x2 
RC

40

Assuming that the errors x1 and x2 are negligible in the steadystate, Eqs. (38) and (39) can be written as
T ON

T OFF

2h

o2o V in V ref
2h

o2o V ref

41

679

In order to investigate the inuence of other parameters, the

converters switching frequency is computed by using (43) with
L1 mH, C 1000 mF, and h100 for different input voltages and
different output voltage references. Figs. 7 and 8 show the
switching frequency (fs) for different input voltages (Vin) at
Vref 5 V and different output voltage references (Vref) at
Vin 10 V, respectively. It can be seen that fs increases with
increasing Vin. As for output voltage reference variation, it is
observed that fs decreases while Vref increases. Note that by
changing the hysteresis bandwidth, it is possible to keep the
switching frequency constant against input voltage variation at
the expense of additional control complexity requirements.

5. Simulation and experimental results

In order to demonstrate the performance of the proposed
ATSMC strategy, the DCDC buck converter system has been
tested by simulations and experiments. Simulations are carried
out using Simulink of Matlab with a step size of 2 ms. Experimental results were obtained from a hardware setup constructed
in the laboratory. The parameters of the system are Vin 10 V,
Vref 5 V, h80, L1 mH, and C 1000 mF.
Fig. 9 shows the simulated start up and transient responses of
the output voltage and the state trajectories obtained by SMC,
TSMC and ATSMC strategies. The value of g used in the TSMC and

42

Hence, the expression for the switching frequency can be

obtained as


o2 V ref
V ref
1
1
o
43
fs
T ON T OFF
2h
V in
Clearly, the switching frequency is inversely proportional to
the hysteresis bandwidth (h). The hysteresis bandwidth is chosen
so as to obtain a suitable switching frequency given in (43).

Fig. 10. Experimental responses of the output voltage and the inductor current for
start up and a step change in R from 10 O to 2 O: (a) start up and (b) step change.

Fig. 11. Experimental responses of the inductor current and the control input for
the step change in the load resistance from 10 O to 2 O: (a) responses of iL and u,
(b) magnied responses of iL and u for R 10 O and (c) magnied responses of iL
and u for R 2 O.

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H. Komurcugil / ISA Transactions 51 (2012) 673681

ATSMC strategies was 0.2 (q 1 and p 5). The load resistor was
set to R10 O during the start up. The transient responses are
due to a step change in R from 10 O to 2 O at t 0.08 s. It is
obvious from Fig. 9(a) that the output voltage tracks its reference
successfully in all cases. The start up response of the output
voltage obtained by the SMC is faster than that of obtained by the
TSMC and ATSMC. Conversely, the transient responses of the
output voltage obtained by the TSMC and ATSMC are faster than
that of obtained by the SMC. The ATSMC offers the fastest
transient response which shows that the controller acts very fast
in correcting the output voltage. Note that the TSMC and ATSMC
exhibit exactly the same response from the start up until the step
change occurs in the load resistance. The main reason of this
comes from the fact that both methods employ the same l value
until the load change takes place. After the load change occurs,
while the TSMC continues to operate with the same l value, the
ATSMC makes use of the adaptively computed l value. The
magnied response of the output voltage, due to the step change
in the load, together with the inductor current obtained by the
ATSMC method is shown in Fig. 9(b). The output voltage takes
approximately 1.66 ms to track its reference. Fig. 9(c) and (d)
shows the state trajectories that correspond to the simulation
case shown in Fig. 9(a). Note that both trajectories start from the
point  Vref  5 V on the x1 axis, since vo(0)0 V. In the start up,
the slope of the sliding line in Fig. 9(d) is smaller than that of in
Fig. 9(c). However, after the load is changed, the slope of the
sliding line in Fig. 9(d) becomes greater than that of in
Fig. 9(c) leading to a faster response in the output voltage.
Experimental results were also obtained for testing the dynamic
performance of the proposed ATSMC method under step changes in
the load, in the input voltage and in the reference output voltage.
Fig. 10 shows the experimental responses of the output voltage and
the inductor current for the start up and the step change in the load
resistance from 10 O to 2 O. It can be seen from Fig. 10(a) that the

Fig. 13. Experimental state trajectory in the steady-state.

start up responses of the output voltage and inductor current are in

good agreement with the simulation results shown in Fig. 9(a) and
Fig. 3(b), respectively. Fig. 10(b) shows the experimental result that
corresponds to the simulation result presented in Fig. 9(b). It took
about 2 ms for the controller to correct the output voltage at 5 V. The
small discrepancy between the simulation and experimental results
comes from the component tolerances, and non-ideal effects (e.g.,
nite time delay) in the practical system which cause the output
voltage to make slower transitions.
Fig. 11 shows the response of the inductor current and the
control input for the step change in the load resistance from 10 O
to 2 O. Fig. 11(a) shows the magnied response of the inductor
current that is shown in Fig. 10(b) and the control input. The
magnied responses of the control input for R 10 O and R2 O
are shown in Fig. 11(b) and (c), respectively. The switching
frequency of the converter is measured approximately as fs
1/64 ms 15.625 kHz. Note that one can obtain the same result by
using (43) with Vin 10 V, Vref 5 V, h80, L1 mH, and
C1000 mF. This shows that the switching frequency computation is fairly accurate.
Fig. 12 shows the response of the output voltage for step
changes in the reference output voltage (Vref) from 5 V to 7 V and
the input voltage (Vin) from 10 V to 8 V. It is clear from
Fig. 12(a) that the output voltage tracks its reference faster and
successfully. Also, as shown in Fig. 12(b), the output voltage is
almost not affected for the step change in the input voltage. The
results presented in Fig. 12 show that the ATSMC method is very
robust against input and reference voltage variations.
Fig. 13 shows the state trajectory in the steady-state.

6. Conclusions

Fig. 12. Experimental responses of the output voltage for step changes in the
reference output voltage and the input voltage: (a) response of vo for a step
change in Vref from 5 V to 7 V and (b) response of vo for a step change in Vin from
10 V to 8 V.

An adaptive terminal sliding mode control (ATSMC) strategy,

which assures nite time convergence of the output voltage error
to the equilibrium point, has been proposed for DCDC buck
converters. The inuence of the controller parameters on the performance of closed-loop system is investigated. It is observed that the
start up response of the output voltage becomes faster when the
value of the fractional power is increased. On the other hand, the
transient response of the output voltage caused by the step change in
the load resistance becomes faster when the value of the fractional
power is decreased. Therefore, one should consider a compromise
between start up and transient responses when choosing the value of
the fractional power. Simulation and experimental results show that
the ATSMC strategy, as compared to the conventional SMC and TSMC
strategies, is quite successful in obtaining very fast output voltage
responses to load disturbances.

H. Komurcugil / ISA Transactions 51 (2012) 673681

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