Optimal design and control of coupled-inductors step-up dc-dc converter

Step-up dc-dc converters are natural candidates for interfacing in a feasible way renewable resource to electric power grid, since they guarantee both high step-up gain and high efficiency. Unfortunately, a systemic design of these converters is not easy, since many parameters related each other heavily affect the dynamic behavior and the efficiency of the converter. An optimization procedure is proposed for choosing the fundamental parameters of both converter and control law based upon sliding control technique. Sliding mode control has been selected for its well known properties of robustness against disturbances and modeling uncertainties. The core of the procedure is an analytical model of the power losses which in the optimization algorithm is the goal function. Some considerations are specifically performed with respect to the sliding mode existence. The numerical results reported in the paper permit to confirm the feasibility and the goodness of the proposed design and control methodology.