A Robust Continuous-Time MPC of a DC-DC Boost Converter Interfaced with a Grid-Connected Photovoltaic System

The main function of the DC-DC converter in a grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system is to regulate the terminal voltage of the PV arrays to ensure delivering the maximum power to the grid. The purpose of this paper is to design and practically implement a robust continuous-time model predictive control (CTMPC) for a dc-dc boost converter, feeding a three-phase inverter of a grid-connected PV system to regulate the PV output voltage. In CTMPC, the system behavior is predicted based on Taylor series expansion, raising concerns about the prediction accuracy in the presence of parametric uncertainty and unknown external disturbances. To overcome this drawback, a disturbance observer is designed and combined with CTMPC to enhance the steady-state performance in the presence of model uncertainty and unknown disturbance such as the PV current, which varies nonlinearly with the operating point. An interesting feature is that the composite controller reduces to a conventional PI controller plus a predictive term that allows further improvement of the dynamic performance over the whole operating range. The effectiveness of the proposed controller was tested numerically and validated experimentally with the consideration of the grid-connected PV inverter system and its controller.