A new perspective for modeling power electronics converters: complementarity framework

The switching behavior of power converters with “ideal” electronic devices (EDs) makes it difficult to define a switched model that describes the dynamics of the converter in all possible operating conditions, i.e., a “complete” model. Indeed, simplifying assumptions on the sequences of modes are usually adopted, also in order to obtain averaged models and discrete–time maps. In this paper, we show how the complementarity framework can be used to represent complete switched models of a wide class of power converters, with EDs having characteristics represented by piecewise-affine (even complicated) relations. The model equations can be written in an easy and compact way without the enumeration of all converter modes, eventually formalizing the procedure to an algorithm. The complementarity model can be used to perform transient simulations and time-domain analysis. Mathematical tools coming from nonlinear programming allow to simulate numerically the transient behavior of even complex power converters. Also rigorous time-domain analysis is possible without excluding pathological situations like, for instance, inconsistent initial conditions and simultaneous switchings. Basic converter topologies are used as examples to show the construction procedure for the complementarity models and their usefulness for simulating the dynamic evolution also for nontrivial operating conditions.