Digital Control of DC-DC Converters Employing Wide Band Gap (WBG) Power Devices

DC-DC converters are used at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory to power electromagnets. The electromagnets guide the photon beams, therefore the control system of the DC-DC converters should be highly accurate to provide minimum spatial spread of the beam. Currently the converters have all been regulated by analog control systems. An upgrade to digital control system is being evaluated to resolve the aging and obsolescence issues.

This paper describes the design and evaluation of a digital control system to regulate the output current and reduce noise coupled in the system. A digital controller is first designed based on the small signal model of the converter. Experimental data of the output current is analyzed. Digital filters are then designed to reduce the noise in the output current. The complete control system is then simulated and results are evaluated. Wide Band Gap (WBG) power devices enable the development of smaller and more durable power converters with higher performance and less power consumptions than traditional silicon devices. Performance of the digital controlled DC-DC converters using WBG power switching devices including silicon carbide (SiC) power MOSFETs and gallium nitride (GaN) power transistors will be evaluated, in comparison with the converters using traditional silicon power switching devices.