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Published in IET Power Electronics

Received on 27th August 2007
Revised on 7th November 2007
doi: 10.1049/iet-pel:20070366

ISSN 1755-4535

Modelling and dynamic characterisation of

peak-current-mode-controlled superboost
converter
T. Sammaljärvi1 F. Lakhdari2 M. Karppanen1 T. Suntio1
1
Department of Electrical Energy Engineering, Tampere University of Technology, PO Box 692, Tampere FI-33101, Finland
2
Department of Electronics, University Sciences and Technology of Oran, PO Box 1505, EL M’naouar, Oran, Algeria
E-mail: teuvo.suntio@tut.fi

Abstract: The fourth-order converter known as superboost converter is used in the space power systems
because of the continuous input and output currents it provides. Peak-current-mode control is applied to
reduce its resonant nature as well as to facilitate the overall system design. The small-signal models of such
a converter do not exist in the public domain literature and its dynamical features are not known. The
modelling based on consistent and easily applicable technique is introduced. The dynamic characterisation
shows that the converter may incorporate both resonant right-half-plane zeros and poles, which effectively
limits its usage in terms of usable duty ratio and also makes the control design challenging. The theoretical
analysis indicates that the usable duty-ratio range can be extended by selecting the values of the inductors
properly. Because of the nature of the inductor-current feedback, the open-loop converter has resonant
output features but the input is resonant free. The application of the output-voltage feedback recovers,
however, the resonant nature at the input boosting the converter sensitivity to input-filter instability.
Experimental evidence is provided to validate the theoretical predictions.

1 Introduction of interfacing converters, that is, step-down, step-up

The energy to maintain the operations in a spacecraft is
usually generated by means of solar arrays composing of
parallel and series-connected solar cells (Fig. 1) [1].
Because of the varying of solar irradiance, the energy
produced by the solar array is stored into a storage
battery from which the main bus or load is powered
as depicted in Fig. 1. The desired feature of the
interfacing converters is the continuous input and
output currents [2], which only the fourth- or higher-
order converters can provide [3]. The need of such
converters stems from the necessity to regulate the
input current of the converter interfacing the solar
array for obtaining optimal utilisation of the energy
[2], reducing the electromagnetic interference (EMI),
weight and costs of the converter. The level of battery
voltage in respect to the solar-array and main-bus
voltages would naturally determine the required type
or step-up/down. A variety of such topologies exists
as listed in [3]. The buck-type converter known as
superbuck [2] is often used to interface the solar
arrays to the battery, when the battery voltage is less
than the solar-array output voltage. Similarly, the
boost-type converter known as superboost [2] or two-
inductor boost [4, 5] (Fig. 2) is used to interface the
battery to the main bus, when the main-bus voltage is
higher than the battery voltage. In order to facilitate
the control and overall system design (i.e. reduction
of resonant behaviour, paralleling of modules, etc.),
the converters are usually provided with peak-current-
mode (PCM) control [6, 7].
The dynamics associated to a switched-mode
converter under direct-duty-ratio or voltage-mode
(VM) control can be captured accurately up
to half the switching frequency applying the

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Figure 1 System interfacing solar arrays, battery and load
in space applications
Figure 2 Superboost converter
state-space-averaging (SSA) method in continuous mode
(CCM) [8 –10] and its modified version in discontinuous
mode [10 –12], respectively. The CCM operation can be
modelled also equally applying the energy-conversion
method introduced in [13]. The averaged state space
in CCM can be simply obtained by computing the
required derivatives and output equations separately
for the main-switch on and off times, multiplying
those equations by the duty ratio (d ) and its
complement (d 0 ) and summing them together. The
small-signal dynamics can be obtained by developing
the proper partial derivatives of the averaged state
space at a certain operating point.
The PCM control [6, 7] is a derivative of the VM
control in dynamic sense, where the duty ratio is
generated based on the up-slope of the feedback
inductor current or currents. Thus the PCM small-
signal state space can be obtained from the small-
signal state space of the VM control substituting the
perturbed duty ratio by means of the duty-ratio
constraints describing the dynamic effect of the
different circuit variables and elements on the duty
ratio [14 –18].
The paper provides the average and small-signal
modelling of the PCM-controlled superboost
converter in CCM based on the consistent and easy-
to-apply methods introduced in [18] complying with
528 / IET Power Electron., 2008, Vol. 1, No. 4, pp. 527– 536
doi: 10.1049/iet-pel:20070366
the methods introduced also in [15, 17]. The internal
dynamics associated to the converter is investigated
based on the methods introduced in [19]. The
investigations show that the control dynamics of the
superboost converter may incorporate both a
resonant right-half-plane (RHP) zero and pole in
such a way that the zero locates at the lower
frequency than the pole. If the RHP pole appears,
the converter would be uncontrollable and unstable.
The theoretical investigations show that the existence
of the RHP pole can be controlled by means of the
ratio between the inductor values. Usually, the best
way to solve the stability problem is to limit the
maximum duty ratio properly. The existence of the
RHP zero would still limit the maximum control
bandwidth to the location of the zero or less than
that. The output-related open-loop dynamics of the
converter contains resonant behaviour but the pure
input dynamics is resonant free implying reduced
source interactions. The application of the output-
voltage feedback recovers, however, the resonant
behaviour. A 440 kHz superboost converter was
designed and characterised confirming the validity of
the proposed modelling technique.
The rest of the paper is organised as follows. The
general dynamic representation of the converter and
the source/load interactions are briefly introduced in
Section 2. The PCM modelling is provided in Section
3. The theoretical and experimental dynamic analyses
are provided in Sections 4 and 5. The conclusions are
drawn in Section 6.
2 General dynamic
representations
The open-loop dynamics of a switched-mode converter
can be represented by means of the transfer functions
constituting the G-parameter set defined in (1). The
meaning of the different transfer functions in (1) can
be
 concludedT according to the associated
 Tinput (i.e.
u^ in ^io ^c ) and output (i.e. ^iin u^ o ) vectors,
where ^c stands for the general control variable. The
set in (1) would represent the real internal dynamics
if the parameters are derived or measured by using an
ideal voltage source (Fig. 3, Zs ¼ 0) and an ideal
current sink (Fig. 3, ZL ¼ 1) as source and load as
depicted in Fig. 3, where the transfer functions inside
Figure 3 Linear two-port model of a converter with ideal
and non-ideal source and load
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the dashed line correspond directly to (1) [19] The input-to-output transfer function (Gio2o) plays a
2 3 special role in the converter: If Gio2o ’ 0 then the
    u^ in corresponding converter is close to source invariant
^iin Y Toio Gci 4 5 [i.e. GSco ¼ Gco ; Zoo
S
¼ Zoo , (3)], and the load
¼ ino ^io ð1Þ L
u^ o Gioo Zoo Gco does not affect the input admittance [Yino ¼ Yino ,
^c (2)] [19]. In addition, the special admittances
[Yin1 ; Yinsc (4)] and the open-loop [Yino (4)]
The formulas for the load and source interactions can be and closed-loop [Yinc (5)] input admittances
obtained by applying pure circuit theory. The application are the same, where L(s) stands for the output-
of the circuit theory is actually very straightforward voltage-loop gain defined explicitly in [19]. In
requiring no special knowledge. practice, this means that the source-imposed
instability or performance degradation cannot be
2.1 Load and source interactions studied by means of the output-voltage-loop gain in
such cases but the minor-loop-gain concept
The effect of the load (i.e. ZL in Fig. 3) and source (i.e. introduced in [20] has to be applied.
Zs in Fig. 3) can be found by computing ^io and u^ in from
Fig. 3, when the non-ideal load or source is connected as
instructed in detail in [19]. These procedures give the LðsÞ Gioo Gci
load- (2) and source-affected (3) sets of transfer Yinc ¼ Yino  ð5Þ
1 þ LðsÞ Gco
functions, where the special input admittances Yin21
(ideal input admittance) and Yin2sc (short-circuit input
admittance) are defined in (4) and known to be According to (2), the load interactions are mainly
invariant to load and state-of-feedback [19]. reflected into the converter dynamics via the open-
loop output impedance (Zo2o). Thus, small value of
  Zo2o means low-load interactions.
^iin
u^ o
2 3
G T ZL Toio Gco Toio 3 PCM modelling
Y þ ioo oio Gci þ
6 ino ZL þZoo ZL þZoo ZL þZoo 7
¼6 4 G Zoo Gco
7 Switched-mode converters are nonlinear systems by
5 nature. The dynamics associated to them can be
ioo

1þ(Zoo =ZL ) 1þ(Zoo =ZL ) 1þ(Zoo =ZL ) accurately captured up to half the switching frequency
2 3 by averaging the variables over one switching cycle
u^ in [9 – 12], and constructing the corresponding averaged
6^ 7
 4 jo 5 ð2Þ state-space representation from which the small-signal
representation can be solved at a certain operating
^c point by applying proper linearising technique [9]. The
pure circuit theory can be applied in CCM to
  construct the required derivatives and output
^iin
equations [9] making the basic modelling
u^ o straightforward. The method is known as SSA and
2 3 explained in detail in [9, 10].
Y
ino T oio G ci
6 1þZs Yino 1þZs Yino 1þZs Yino 7 The power stage of the converter remains the same
¼6
4 Gioo 1þZs Yinsc 1þZs Yin1
7
5 under different control modes, and the control
 Zoo Gco typically affects the way to produce the duty ratio.
1þZs Yino 1þZs Yino 1þZs Yino
2 3 Therefore it may be obvious that the dynamics
u^ ins associated to the new control mode can be derived
6^ 7 usually from the corresponding small-signal state
 4 io 5 ð3Þ space of the VM-controlled converter substituting
^c the perturbed duty ratio with its dynamic
representation known as duty-ratio constraints [17,
Gioo Gci 18]. The duty-ratio constraints represent the dynamic
Yin1 ¼ Yino  influence of the state (^iLi ; u^ Ci ), control (^c) and input
Gco (^uin ; ^io ) variables on the duty ratio as depicted in (6),
ð4Þ which is intentionally adapted for the use in the
G T
Yinsc ¼ Yino þ ioo oio modelling of the superboost converter. The basic
Zoo issue is naturally to find the description of the

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different gains of (6)

d^ ¼ Fm ð^ico  qL1^iL1  qL2^iL2  qC1 u^ C1  qC2 u^ C2

 qin u^ in  qo^io Þ ð6Þ

3.1 Superboost converter Figure 5 Combined inductor-current waveforms

The PCM-controlled superboost converter with the
relevant parameters and input/output conditions is
given in Fig. 4. The values of the inductors and
capacitors are only valid at the defined operation point
because of their heavy dependence on their currents
and voltages. The PCM-controlled converter cannot
operate at constant-current load at open loop because
of its current-output nature [18]. Therefore the
practical frequency-response measurements have to be
carried out at a resistive load (Fig. 4, RL ¼ 5 V) but
the modelling will be done assuming a pure constant-
constituting the comparator control
currents, kiLi l the time-averaged inductor currents and
DiL the difference between the peak and the average
currents (Fig. 5). According to [18], DiL can be
given by ðdd0 Ts =2ÞSni¼1 ðmi1 þ mi2 Þ, and consequently,
the comparator equation (7) by
^ico  mc dTs ¼ kiL1 l þ kiL2 l
dd0 Ts X
2

current load (Fig. 4, RL ¼ 1) in order to obtain the þ ðm þ mi2 Þ ð8Þ

2 i¼1 i1
internal models, which are imperative for
understanding the converter dynamics and analysing
its behaviour in a system [19]. Computing the inductor-current slopes from the actual
circuit (Fig. 4) and substituting them in (8) yields
The comparator equation (i.e. the control of the
comparator providing the reset information to the RS- ^ico  mc dTs ¼ kiL1 l þ kiL2 l
FF in Fig. 4) at the moment the duty ratio is  
established can be given by dd0 Ts ku1 l ku2 l
þ þ ð9Þ
2 L1 L2
^ico  mc dTs ¼ kiL1 l þ kiL2 l þ DiL ð7Þ

according to the notations in Fig. 5, where mi1 and mi2
denote the up and down slopes of the inductor
where ku1l and ku2l are defined by
ku1 l ¼ kuC1 l þ UD þ ðrC1 þ rd  rds ÞkiL1 l þ ðrd  rds ÞkiL2 l
ku2 l ¼ kuC1 l þ UD þ ðrd  rds ÞkiL1 l þ ðrd  rC1  rds ÞkiL2 l
ð10Þ

The coefficients of the duty-ratio constraints in (6) can

be solved from (9) by developing the proper partial
derivatives as instructed in [18]. This procedure yields

1
Fm ¼ 
Ts Mc þ ððD0  DÞTs =2Þ ðU1 =L1 Þ þ ðU2 =L2 Þ
 
DD0 Ts rC1 þ rd  rds rd  rds
qL1 ¼ 1 þ þ
2 L1 L2
 
DD0 Ts rd  rds rd  rC1  rds
qL2 ¼ 1 þ þ ð11Þ
2 L1 L2
DD0 Ts ðL1 þ L2 Þ
qC1 ¼
2L1 L2

Figure 4 PCM-controlled superboost converter qC2 ¼ qin ¼ qo ¼ 0

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doi: 10.1049/iet-pel:20070366
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U1 ¼ UC1 þ UD þ ðrC1 þ rd  rds ÞIL1 þ ðrd  rds ÞIL2 where R1 , R2 , R3 and I1 are as follows
U2 ¼ UC1 þ UD þ ðrd  rds ÞIL1 þ ðrd  rC1  rds ÞIL2
R1 ¼ rL1 þ Drds þ D0 rd þ D0 rC1
The formula of the duty-ratio gain (Fm) in (11) indicates R2 ¼ Drds þ D0 rd
that Fm would become infinite (i.e. the denominator will ð14Þ
R3 ¼ rL2 þ rC2 þ Drds þ DrC1 þ D0 rd
become zero), when the maximum duty ratio (Dmax)
defined in (12) is reached. When Mc ¼ 0, Dmax ¼ 0.5 I1 ¼ IL1 þ IL2
as in the conventional boost converter
and U1 and U2 as defined earlier in (11). The
L1 L2 corresponding operating point can be solved by means of
Dmax ¼ 0:5 þ M ð12Þ
2ðL1 U2 þ L2 U1 Þ c
Uin
Uo ¼  UD
Substituting the perturbed duty ratio with (6) D0
(qC2 ¼ qin ¼ qo ¼ 0 in (11)) in the VMC state space  2 
yields the small-signal state-space representation of the D D D 1
 02 rL1 þ rL2 þ 0 rC1 þ 02 rds þ 0 rd Io
PCM-controlled superboost converter as D D D D
2 3 2 R þF q U R2 þ Fm qL2 U1 UC2 ¼ Uo
d^iL1  1 m L1 1

6 dt 7 6 L1 L1 Uin
D D D 1 
6 7 6 UC1 ¼  U  r þ r þ r þ r I
6 d^i 7 6 R2 þ Fm qL1 U2 R3 þ Fm qL2 U2 D0 D
D02 L1 D0 C1 D02 ds D0 d o
6 L2 7 6 
6 dt 7 6 L2 L2
6 7 6 D
6 d^u 7 ¼ 6 D0 þ Fm qL1 I1 D  Fm qL2 I1 IL1 ¼ 0 Io
6 C1 7 6  D
6 dt 7 6 C1 C1
6 7 6 IL2 ¼ Io
4 d^u 5 4 1
C2
0 Io
dt C2 Iin ¼ IL1 þ IL2 ¼ ð15Þ
0 3 D0
D þ Fm qC1 U1
 0 7 2 3
L1 7 ^iL1 The set of transfer functions corresponding to (1) can be
D  Fm qC1 U2 1 7 6 ^i 7 naturally solved from (13) applying Laplace
 7 6 L2 7 transformation. The most convenient method is to use
L2 L2 7
76 7 a proper symbolic software packages such as, for
Fm qC1 I1 7 4 u^ C1 5
0 7 example, MATLABTM Symbolix Toolbox. The PCM
C1 5 u^ C2 transfer functions are typically given omitting the
0 0 parasitic elements but the inductor-current feedback
21 consisting of the sum of the currents does not remove
Fm U1 3 all the resonances, because the individual currents can
0
6 L1 L1 7 freely vary within the sum. This means that the open-
6 7
61 rC2 Fm U2 72 u^ 3 loop input dynamics of the superboost converter
6 7 in would be free of resonant behaviour, because the sum
6 L2 L2 7
þ6
L2 76 7
4 ^io 5 of the inductor currents is the input current with tight
6 F m I1 7 regulation. The output dynamics would contain
60 0  7 ^
6 C1 7 i resonant behaviour, because the current of L2 is
6 7 co
4 1 5 supplied to the output. The existence of the
0  0 resonances means that the parasitic elements would
C2 have significant effect on the converter dynamics and
  " # therefore they cannot be neglected.
^iin 1 1 0 0
¼ d
u^ o 0 0 0 1 þ rC2 C2 4 Theoretical analysis
dt
2 3 It is well known that a PCM-controlled converter has to
^iL1 2 3
6 ^i 7  0  u^ in be compensated by adding an artificial slope (Mc) to the
6 L2 7 0 0 6 7 inductor-current-feedback signal or subtracting it from
6 7þ 4 ^io 5 (13)
the control signal in order to extend the duty-ratio
4 u^ C1 5 0 0 0
^ico range beyond 0.5. The reason for the limited duty
u^ C2 ratio is the high small-signal duty-ratio gain at the

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maximum duty ratio (Dmax) defined earlier in (12). In R1 þ Fm ðU1 qL1  I1 qC1 Þ
order to extend the active duty ratio to 100%, the þ
L1 L2 C2
artificial compensation (Mc) has to be set according to
(12) to D02 þ Fm ðD0 U1 qC1 þ ðD0 qL1  R1 qC1 ÞI1
a4 ¼ ð18Þ
L1 L2 C1 C2
1 U U
Mc100% ¼ ð 1 þ 2 Þ ð16Þ
2 L1 L2 It has turned out that the converter may have also a
resonant RHP pole, which will locate at the frequency
which is approximately equal to Uo (L1 þ L2)/2L1 L2 slightly above the resonant RHP zero and depends on
according to (15). the operating point and the values of the inductors.
The RHP pole is the property of the determinant
The numerator of the control-to-output transfer shown in (18). The existence of the RHP pole can be
function (Gco) can be given as shown in (17), which detected by constructing the first row of Routh’s array
indicates the existence of a resonant RHP zero based on the coefficients ai of the determinant
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi polynomial (18) according to the detailed instructions
approximately at fRHPz ’ ð1=2pÞ D0 =L1 C1 . The
existence of the RHP zero indictates that the output- given in [21]. The first row can be given neglecting
voltage-loop gain has to be designed to have the first the parasitics as follows
crossover frequency before the location of the zero
a0 ¼ 1
Fm U2 =L2 C2 ðs2 sðDL1 I1 þC1 ðR2 U1 R1 U2 Þ=U2 L1 C1 Þ
þðD02 U2 þDD0 U1 ðDR1 þD0 R2 ÞI1 =U2 L1 C1 ÞÞ C2 Fm B
Gco ¼ a1 ¼
D L1 L2 C1 C2
ð17Þ EL1 L2 C1  AB
b0 ¼ 
L1 L2 C1 C2 B ð19Þ
where the determinant (D) is as follows  2 
Fm GB C2 þ E EL1 L2 C1  AB
b1 ¼ 
a0 s4 þ a1 s3 þ a2 s2 þ a3 s þ a4 L1 L2 C1 C2 EL1 L2 C1  AB
a0 ¼ 1 G
c0 ¼
R1 þ Fm U1 qL1 R2 þ Fm U2 qL2 Fm I1 qC1 L1 L2 C1 C2
a1 ¼ þ 
L1 L2 C1
where A, B, E and G are as follows
R1 R3 þ R1 Fm U2 qL2 þ R3 Fm U1 qL1
R2 ðR2 þ Fm U2 qL1 þ Fm U1 qL2 Þ 
a2 ¼
L1 L2 A ¼ L1 C1 þ L1 C2 D2 þ C2 L2 D02 þ Fm C2 UC1 qC1 þ I1

 L2 D0  L1 D
D0 ðD0 þ Fm ðU1 qC1 þ I1 qL1 ÞÞ  R1 Fm I1 qC1 
þ B ¼ C1 L1 þ L2 UC1  L1 L2 I1 qC1
L1 C1 
E ¼ UC1 C1 þ C2  L1 I1 qC1
1 D2  Fm ðDU2 qC1 þ ðR3 qC1 þ DqL1 ÞI1 Þ 
þ þ G ¼ D02 þ Fm D0 I1 þ UC1 qC1 ð20Þ
L2 C2 L2 C1
ðD2 þ D02 ÞR1 þ 2DD0 R2 þ Fm ðD2 qL1 þ DD0 qL2
The first (a0) and last (c0) elements of (19) are always
þðDR2 þ D0 R3 ÞqC1 ÞU1 positive. Therefore the other elements have to be
a3 ¼
L1 L2 C1 positive also for stability to exist. The sign of the
second element (a1) depends on B, which actually
Fm ðDD0 qL1 þ D02 qL2  ðDR1 þ D0 R2 ÞqC1 ÞU2 defines a minimum value (C12min) of C1 as IoDTs/
þ
L1 L2 C1 2Uo , when the optimal compensation (16) is applied.
Usually, C1  C12min and therefore a1 . 0 and
Fm ððDR2 þ D0 R3 ÞqL1  ðDR1 þ D0 R2 ÞqL2 B . 0. The third element (b0) is positive only if EL1
þðR1 R3 þ R22 ÞqC1 ÞI1 L2 C1 2 AB , 0. Typically, B and E are positive
þ numbers and therefore A has to be sufficiently large
L1 L2 C1 positive number for stability to exist. When applying

532 / IET Power Electron., 2008, Vol. 1, No. 4, pp. 527– 536 & The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2008
doi: 10.1049/iet-pel:20070366
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the optimal compensation (16), A can be given by The measured (solid line) and predicted (dashed line)
load and modulator-affected (GRco =Rs ) as well as the
predicted internal (Gco/Rs , dash-dot line) control-to-
A ¼ L1 C1 þ ððD2 L1 þ D02 L2 Þ output transfer functions are shown in Fig. 6. The
  compliance between the measured and predicted
D L1 L2 Io
þ þ ðD0 L2  DL1 ÞÞC2 ð21Þ responses is obvious. Fig. 6 indicates the existence of
2 L1 þ L2 D0 Uin Ts the resonant RHP zero as well as left-half-plane
(LHP) pole as predicted earlier because of the nature
which indicates that A . 0 if D 0 L2 2 DL1  0 or of feedback inductor current. The effect of the
D  L2/(L1 þ L2). Thus, the existence of the RHP resistive load is observable at the frequencies lower
pole can be controlled by choosing properly the ratio than the RHP zero and in the damping of the resonant
of L1 and L2 . If the inductors are equal then the RHP LHP pole. The input voltage was further decreased
pole would appear, when the duty ratio is 0.5 or from 5 to 3.6 V corresponding to the duty ratio of
slightly higher. The fourth element (b1) is positive 0.63. As a consequence, the open-loop converter
became unstable as shown in Fig. 7, where the
only if GB 2 C2 þ E(EL1 L2 C1 2 AB) , 0 because of frequency of the oscillations is the frequency of
the requirement of the third element. The sign of b1 the resonant pole (8.4 kHz). Fig. 8 predicts that the
can be addressed to the sign of S ¼ ðD02 þDD0 =2 þ internal resonant LHP pole (solid line) has moved to
DIo L1 =Uin Ts ÞCp  D02 C1 at D ¼ L2/(L1 þ L2), where
Cp ¼ C1C2/(C1 þ C2): the stability would exist if
S , 0. Without parasitics S is typically greater than
zero, and consequently, the converter unstable at
D  L2/(L1 þ L2). The parasitics would, however,
have a positive effect stabilising the converter. The
formula of S indicates that the increase in the value of
C1 would extend the range of active duty-ratio range.
In practice, the determinant defined in (18) can be
used for assessing the active duty-ratio range of the
converter with specified circuit parameters more in
detail. The appearance of the RHP pole can be
naturally prevented by limiting the duty ratio
accordingly (i.e. Dmax ’ L2/(L1 þ L2)) by means of the
pulsewidth modulation integrated circuit.
Figure 6 Measured (solid line) and predicted (dashed line)
load and modulator-affected (GRco /R s) and predicted
5 Experimental analysis internal modulator-affected (G co /R s ) (dash-dot line)
The experimental dynamic analysis of the superboost control-to-output transfer functions
converter (Fig. 4) is carried out by using Venable
Industries’ frequency response analyser Model 3120
with an impedance measurement kit. The data
obtained with the analyser are imported into
MATLABTM for efficient figure handling.

5.1 Open-loop dynamics

A PCM-controlled converter cannot operate at open
loop at a constant-current load because of its current-
output nature [18] but a resistive load (i.e. RL ¼ 5 V,
Fig. 4) has to be used. Thus, all the other measured
transfer functions except the output impedance are
resistive-load affected, and consequently, the internal
transfer functions have to be solved applying the
information given in (2) and (3). In addition, the
control-input-related transfer functions (i.e. Gco and
Gci) include the effect of the inductor-current sensing
resistor (Rs ¼ 0.1 V). The duty ratio of the defined Figure 7 Open-loop instability because of the resonant pole
operating point is 0.51. at 8.4 kHz

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Figure 8 Predicted internal modulator-affected control-to-
output transfer functions when the resonant pole at LHP
(solid line) and at RHP (dashed line)
RHP (dashed line) but the damping effect of the load
resistor keeps the resonant pole still at the imaginary
axis (i.e. Fig. 7; sinusoidal oscillation). Further
decrease of the input voltage would move also the
load-affected resonant pole to RHP. The RHP zero at
6.8 kHz indictates that the first crossover frequency
has to be designed to be less than 6.8 kHz for stability
to exist.
The measured internal (solid line) and predicted
(dashed line) output impedances are shown in Fig. 9
indicating the existence of resonant LHP zero and
pole and a good match between the measured and
predicted responses. The positive phase at the vicinity
of the resonances indicates sensitivity to capacitive
load [19].
The measured (solid line) and predicted (dashed line)
load-affected (GRioo ) as well as the predicted internal
(Gio2o , dash-dot line) input-to-output transfer
functions are shown in Fig. 10 indicating that Gio2o is
not small and consequently, the special load/source-
Figure 9 Measured (solid line) and predicted (dashed line)
open-loop output impedances
534 / IET Power Electron., 2008, Vol. 1, No. 4, pp. 527– 536
doi: 10.1049/iet-pel:20070366
Figure 10 Measured (solid line) and predicted (dashed line)
load-affected (GRio2o) and predicted internal (Gio2o) input-
to-output transfer functions
interaction conditions described in Section 2 would
not be valid.
5.2 Closed-loop dynamics
The proportional-integral-derivative controller was
designed yielding the output-voltage loop gain as
shown in Fig. 11 (solid line: measured, dashed line:
predicted) with the first crossover frequency of
6.0 kHz and the corresponding phase margin of 458.
The corresponding gain margin is only 4 dB, which is
actually too small for robust stability. The stability of
the converter cannot be observed anymore based on
the Bode plot of Fig. 11 but the corresponding
Nyquist plot (Fig. 12) has to be constructed verifying
the stability of the converter.
R
The measured load-affected closed-loop (Zinc , solid
R
line) and open-loop (Zino , dashed line) input
impedances are shown in Fig. 13. The open-loop
impedance is clearly resonant free as discussed in
Figure 11 Measured (solid line) and predicted (dashed line)
output-voltage loop gains as Bode plot
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Figure 12 Measured output-voltage loop gain as Nyquist
plot, where the solid line represents the positive
frequencies and the dashed line the negative frequencies
The arrows show the direction of increasing frequency
Section 1. The application of the output-voltage
feedback has created the resonant nature in the input
impedance, which means increased sensitivity, for
example to the EMI-filter interactions as discussed in
detail in [20].
The measured internal closed-loop (solid line) and
open-loop (dashed line) output impedances are shown
in Fig. 14 indicating that the output-voltage feedback
has improved the output impedance even beyond its
crossover frequency because of the shape of the
control-to-output transfer functions (Fig. 6). The
converter was subjected to the constant-current-type
load change from 0.5 to 1.8 A with the slew rate of
2.5 A/ms. The corresponding output-voltage response
is shown in Fig. 15, which is typical to a PCM
converter with the rather long set-up time ([19]). The
effect of the low-phase margin (i.e. 458) is observable
after the first dip.
Figure 13 Measured closed-loop (solid line) and open-loop
(dashed line) input impedances
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www.ietdl.org
Figure 14 Measured closed-loop (solid line) and open-loop
(dashed line) output impedances
Figure 15 Measured output-voltage response to a
constant-current load change from 0.5 to 1.8 A (2.5 A/ms)
6 Conclusions
PCM-controlled superboost or two-inductor boost
converter is used in the spacecraft power system
interfacing the storage battery to the main bus. The
continuous input and output currents make the
converter attractive for reducing the EMI noise and
consequently, the costs of the noise filtering. The
dynamical features of such a converter are not
reported earlier in the public domain literature and
may not be known among the designers.
The paper provided the average and small-signal
modelling of the converter in CCM. According to the
investigations, the superboost converter has similar
steady-state features as the conventional boost
converter but is dynamically more demanding than
that: the existence of the resonant RHP zero limits
the first voltage-loop crossover frequency to the
frequency of the zero similarly as in the conventional
boost converter. The converter may, however, have
also a resonant RHP pole locating at a slightly higher
frequency than the zero. This means that the
converter will become uncontrollable and unstable if
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doi: 10.1049/iet-pel:20070366
www.ietdl.org
the RHP pole appears. The investigations show that the
appearance of the RHP pole can be controlled by design:
usually the inductors are of equal size for the costs
reasons. This means that the effective duty-ratio range
is up to 0.5. The duty-ratio range can be extended
designing the inductors according to Dmax ’ L2/
(L1 þ L2). In practice, the maximum duty ratio is
recommended to be limited to Dmax for ensuring
robust stability of the converter.
The open-loop input impedance of the converter is
resonant free but the application of the output-voltage
feedback recovers the resonant behaviour and
consequently, makes the converter more sensitive to
EMI-filter interactions as the open-loop dynamics
implies.
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