Design of Sliding Mode Control for Power Converters

Sliding mode control (SMC) is one of the powerful nonlinear control methods suitable for controlling power converters. Clearly, the design of continuous‐time SMC is based on the sliding surface function design, sliding coefficient selection, control input selection, chattering reduction, and modulation technique. For the sake of simplicity, the design of SMC is explained for the second‐order DC–DC buck converter and fourth‐order DC–DC Cuk converter. A modulation technique produces the gate signals needed for the semiconductor switches in a power converter leading to a switched output waveform so as to adjust the amplitude, frequency, and phase as desired. Generally, the SMC design relies on two significant steps: selection of sliding surface function and design of control input. Chattering is the major shortcoming of applying SMC to real applications in industry. The chattering mitigation techniques are also discussed.