Model predictive control strategy for a the power of the heating inverter through appropriate switching.

The
solar-based series-resonant inverter in predictive control algorithm, based on the state-space model, predicts
the output and manipulated variables in advance. The desired trajectory
domestic heating is then tracked very efficiently. The proposed control strategy also main-
M. Nawaz, M.A. Saqib✉ and S.A.R. Kashif tains a constant DC voltage at the input of the heating inverter that is
needed for a series resonant load connected at the output. Results
validate the effectiveness of the presented technique.
The model predictive control (MPC) technique for a solar-based series-
resonant inverter conventionally used in domestic heating is explored.
The photovoltaic energy system (PVES) converts the solar energy into
DC power AC power
electrical energy where DC voltages of different cells are linked at a
common bus. A Cuk-converter is used to interface the PVES with the
DC load bus and the heating inverter. These heating inverters are repla-
cing gas cookers in restaurants, guest rooms, and domestic- and com-
mercial-kitchens for cooking of various foods. A number of control battery Cuk regulator inverter resonant
solar cells load
algorithms have been employed to control the power of the heating
inverter but they have certain limitations; especially they do not MPC
predict the future response of the circuit. The MPC, an advanced
control approach, has the potential to estimate the future behaviour of
the model in a predictive manner. Hence, to control the power of the res- Fig. 2 Power conversion
onant inverter connected with a 3.36 kW heating load, MPC is applied.
The simulation results verify the validity of the power control of a solar-
Configuration: The structure of a series-resonant inverter fed by a
based series-resonant inverter using the MPC algorithm.
stand-alone photovoltaic energy system is drawn in equivalent circuit
diagram and shown in Fig. 3. In this arrangement, filter capacitor con-
Introduction: Induction heating (IH) is considered a clean way of heat nected at the output of the DC bus is replaced by a constant voltage
treatment over other methods. Electrical energy is converted from DC to source. The passive elements (i.e. L and C) are connected in series at
high-frequency AC through a resonant inverter. The generated AC at the the output of the inverter and this combination forms a series resonance.
inverter output is then utilised in different heating applications [1].
Conventionally, the input source of an IH is a non-renewable electric
I
power source. A solar-based energy system is an optimum choice to
convert the energy from photovoltaic to electrical form and then into
the heat energy. A limited work is done by the utilisation of solar A C L
cells in IH [2]. In this Letter, a stand-alone solar modules-based resonant
VL
inverter scheme is presented for cooking of various foods in commercial iL
and domestic kitchens. The structure of the IH is depicted in Fig. 1. The Vdc R
key elements in this formation are solar modules (cells), DC bus bar,
battery, Cuk-regulator, heating inverter and resonant load circuit. The
major task in a resonant inverter is to control the output power with VC C
an efficient control strategy. Numerous techniques such as phase-shift D B
modulation, pulse-density modulation and frequency modulation with
proportional-integral (PI) controller have been employed for the
power control of the heating load [3, 4]. However, these control tech- Fig. 3 Schematic diagram of a series-resonant inverter
niques do not predict the response of the system in advance; hence, a
feed-forward model predictive control (MPC) strategy is proposed for
Mathematical development: The state-space model of the system is
the presented model.
given by:
⎡ ⎤

 R 1


− − 1
d iL ⎢ L⎥ iL
=⎣ L ⎦ + L Vdc (1)
dt Cv 1 vC
0 0
C


sun  iL
solar cells DC bus bar y= 1 0 (2)
vC

where iL is the load current, vC is the voltage across capacitor and Vdc is
DC voltage at the input of the inverter.
The heating power can be expressed in terms of load current and is
heating inverter
Cuk-regulator

given by:

P(t ) = i2L · R (3)

heating coil capacitor

Control algorithm: MPC is a forward-looking type control technique in

Fig. 1 Solar-based IH structure
MPC is an advanced concept in modern control that optimises the
process variables not only at present time but also considers these for
future course of time. In a conventional field oriented PI controller,
only current process variables are observed while in an MPC strategy
both current as well as future variables of a system are considered for
the control action. In addition, MPC offers several advantages over
PID control such as easy tuning, good reference tracking, more robust
behaviour and suitable for non-linear process etc. [5, 6].
Proposed concept: The generation of electrical power from the photo-
voltaic cells, followed by the conversion of the electrical power from
DC to AC, is illustrated in Fig. 2. A Cuk-converter is used to regulate
which the manipulated variables are computed in advance and operates
the process in a predictive manner. It works principally on the receding
horizon strategy where control error is minimised not only at the current
time but also at many steps ahead from the current time. The state-space
model is used to develop the predictive control algorithm.
For a linear time-invariant system, the discrete-time state-space model
is written as:
x[k + 1] = Ax[k ] + Bu[k ] (4)
y[k ] = Cx[k ] + Du[k ] (5)
where, x[k] is the state vector and y[k] is the output vector. The major
benefit of the discrete-time representation is its easy computation on a
digital computer. In MPC, the state variables are estimated by successive

ELECTRONICS LETTERS 13th April 2017 Vol. 53 No. 8 pp. 556–558

calculations of the state equations using elements of future control accordingly. The MPC has tracked the desired load current efficiently.
sequence. The respective control and incremental control signals are also shown
Then output variable can be predicted as: in Fig. 4. One can see clearly that when reference current is tracked
and the control signal has achieved the steady-state value then the
y = Gx[k ] + HDu (6) incremental control signal approached zero.
where, Fig. 5 presents the tracking performance of the MPC with a varying
 T reference value at different time instants. Initially, load current’s set
Du = Du[k ]T Du[k + 1]T · · · Du[k + Hc − 1]T , point value is changed from 0 to 40 A, then to 70 A and finally it is
 T dropped to 30 A. The reference step values are tracked accurately by
G = CA CA2 CA3 · · · CANp , and the MPC and it is seen that the actual current is a closer match to the
⎡ .. ⎤ reference current. The simulation results clearly validate the suggested
⎢ CB 0 0 . 0 ⎥ control algorithm.
⎢ .. ⎥
⎢ CAB CB 0 . 0 ⎥
⎢ ⎥ Conclusion: This Letter has presented a stand-alone solar modules-
H =⎢ .. ⎥
⎢ CA B 2
CAB CB . 0 ⎥ based IH for cooking of foods. A Cuk-regulator is used at the input of
⎢ ⎥
⎢ .. .. .. .. ⎥ the inverter. The discrete-time MPC algorithm is applied to regulate
⎣ . . . . 0 ⎦
and control the heating power of the load. Based on the prediction of
CANp −1 B CANp −2 B CANp −3 B . . . CANp −Nc B manipulated and output variables, MPC has adjusted the duty cycle of
the Cuk-regulator in such a way that the smooth responses are achieved.
Np and Nc are prediction and control horizon.
The presented control algorithm can also be applied to other resonant
The cost function ‘Cf’ is defined as:
inverter topologies that demand a well-controlled output.
Cf = [iLs − iL ][iLs − iL ]T + DVdc
T
ŔDVdc (7)
where DVdc = Vdc,k − Vdc,k−1 , iLs denotes the reference trajectory, iL is © The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2017
Submitted: 24 December 2016 E-first: 14 March 2017
the actual output and Ŕ is the weight matrix.
doi: 10.1049/el.2016.4703
One or more of the Figures in this Letter are available in colour online.
140
reference load current, A M. Nawaz, M.A. Saqib and S.A.R. Kashif (Department of Electrical
120 actual load current, A Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore,
100 control signal , V Pakistan)
incremental control signal, V
80 ✉ E-mail: saqib@uet.edu.pk
60
References
40
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20

10

0
0 50 100 150 200 250
time, samples

Fig. 5 Reference tracking response

Results and discussions: The results of a 3.36 kW heating load are illus-
trated in Figs. 4 and 5. The circuit parameters are: R = 3 Ω, L = 25 μH,
C = 1440 nF, resonant frequency fr = 26.5 kHz, and sampling time
Ts = 50 μs. In MPC, overshoot may occur in a high order system if
prediction horizon is too short. Conversely, slow control response will
result if prediction horizon is very long. A middle-range value of pre-
diction horizon gives fast control with a minor overshoot. The
optimum parameters of MPC are selected to get the smooth response
of the model. These parameters are: Nc = 5, Np = 20 and Ŕ = 0.2. The
solar modules are stacked in series at the input to get 48 V. The reference
load current iLrms is set at 70 A as given in Fig. 4. The response of the
model is predicted and through optimised cost function the manipulated
variable is adjusted. The pulses are given to the Cuk-converter

ELECTRONICS LETTERS 13th April 2017 Vol. 53 No. 8 pp. 556–558