Stability analysis and control of DC-DC converters using nonlinear methodologies

PhD ThesisSwitched mode DC-DC converters exhibit a variety of complex behaviours in power electronics systems, such as sudden changes in operating region, bifurcation and chaotic operation. These unexpected random-like behaviours lead the converter to function outside of the normal periodic operation, increasing the potential to generate electromagnetic interference degrading conversion efficiency and in the worst-case scenario a loss of control leading to catastrophic failure. The rapidly growing market for switched mode power DC-DC converters demands more functionality at lower cost. In order to achieve this, DC-DC converters must operate reliably at all load conditions including boundary conditions. Over the last decade researchers have focused on these boundary conditions as well as nonlinear phenomena in power switching converters, leading to different theoretical and analytical approaches. However, the most interesting results are based on abstract mathematical forms, which cannot be directly applied to the design of practical systems for industrial applications. In this thesis, an analytic methodology for DC-DC converters is used to fully determine the inherent nonlinear dynamics. System stability can be indicated by the derived Monodromy matrix which includes comprehensive information concerning converter parameters and the control loop. This methodology can be applied in further stability analysis, such as of the influence of parasitic parameters or the effect of constant power load, and can furthermore be extended to interleaved operating converters to study the interaction effect of switching operations. From this analysis, advanced control algorithms are also developed to guarantee the satisfactory performance of the converter, avoiding nonlinear behaviours such as fast- and slowscale bifurcations. The numerical and analytical results validate the theoretical analysis, and experimental results with an interleaved boost converter verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), China Scholarship Council (CSC), and school of Electrical and Electronic Engineerin

Physics through the 1990s: Plasmas and fluids

The volume contains recommendations for programs in, and government support of, plasma and fluid physics. Four broad areas are covered: the physics of fluids, general plasma physics, fusion, and space and astrophysical plasmas. In the first section, the accomplishments of fluid physics and a detailed review of its sub-fields, such as combustion, non-Newtonian fluids, turbulence, aerodynamics, and geophysical fluid dynamics, are described. The general plasma physics section deals with the wide scope of the theoretical concepts involved in plasma research, and with the machines; intense beam systems, collective and laser-driven accelerators, and the associated diagnostics. The section on the fusion plasma research program examines confinement and heating systems, such as Tokamaks, magnetic mirrors, and inertial-confinement systems, and several others. Finally, theory and experiment in space and astrophysical plasma research is detailed, ranging from the laboratory to the solar system and beyond. A glossary is included

Many-core architectures with time predictable execution Support for hard real-time applications

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 183-193).Hybrid control systems are a growing domain of application. They are pervasive and their complexity is increasing rapidly. Distributed control systems for future "Intelligent Grid" and renewable energy generation systems are demanding high-performance, hard real-time computation, and more programmability. General-purpose computer systems are primarily designed to process data and not to interact with physical processes as required by these systems. Generic general-purpose architectures even with the use of real-time operating systems fail to meet the hard realtime constraints of hybrid system dynamics. ASIC, FPGA, or traditional embedded design approaches to these systems often result in expensive, complicated systems that are hard to program, reuse, or maintain. In this thesis, we propose a domain-specific architecture template targeting hybrid control system applications. Using power electronics control applications, we present new modeling techniques, synthesis methodologies, and a parameterizable computer architecture for these large distributed control systems. We propose a new system modeling approach, called Adaptive Hybrid Automaton, based on previous work in control system theory, that uses a mixed-model abstractions and lends itself well to digital processing. We develop a domain-specific architecture based on this modeling that uses heterogeneous processing units and predictable execution, called MARTHA. We develop a hard real-time aware router architecture to enable deterministic on-chip interconnect network communication. We present several algorithms for scheduling task-based applications onto these types of heterogeneous architectures. We create Heracles, an open-source, functional, parameterized, synthesizable many-core system design toolkit, that can be used to explore future multi/many-core processors with different topologies, routing schemes, processing elements or cores, and memory system organizations. Using the Heracles design tool we build a prototype of the proposed architecture using a state-of-the-art FPGA-based platform, and deploy and test it in actual physical power electronics systems. We develop and release an open-source, small representative set of power electronics system applications that can be used for hard real-time application benchmarking.by Michel A. Kinsy.Ph.D