LAUSR

Abstract This paper is concerned with the design and robust control synthesis of a two-stage cascaded DC–DC boost converter. Its objective is to provide a comprehensive analysis on the salient topics that need to be addressed in order to give rise to a finely regulated converter with robustness and optimal performance being the primal characteristics. That said, the design of the converter commences with the selection of the components. This is achieved by the proposal of an optimization approach aimed to incorporate requirements that reflect bandwidth and damping in addition to conventional ripple considerations. As far as the control design is concerned the model of the converter is admitted to a polytopic representation that is capable of capturing uncertainty and the effects of nonlinear dynamics which are inherent in cascaded step-up topologies. This polytopic representation forms the basis of the control design procedure which employs an LMI-based formulation that allows to derive state-feedback control laws that adhere to strict performance specifications, militate the implications of nonlinearities, guarantee stability over a wide range of operating points and avoid saturation of the control signals. The veracity of the converter design and controller synthesis are corroborated both with numerical simulations and experimental results taken from a 400 W prototype converter.