Sliding Mode Control of Single-Phase UPS Inverters Using a Three-Level Hysteresis

Switching Function
Osman Kkrer

Hasan Kmrcgil

Alper Doganalp

Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Department
Eastern Mediterranean University
Gazimagusa, Mersin 10
TURKEY
osman.kukrer@emu.edu.tr

Computer Engineering Department

School of Computing and Technology

Eastern Mediterranean University

Gazimagusa, Mersin 10
TURKEY
hasan.komurcugil@emu.edu.tr

Eastern Mediterranean University

Gazimagusa, Mersin 10
TURKEY
alper.doganalp@emu.edu.tr

and disadvantages. In general, the feedback gains in these

methods are selected that yield, as closely as possible, the
desired system performance.
Continuous-time control strategies proposed in the
literature for single-phase UPS inverters based on the sliding
mode control technique have many drawbacks. In [12]
control based on a two-level hysteresis type switching
function does not take into account the three-level nature of
the inverter output voltage. The approach in [13] is
complicated by the fact that the filter inductors current is
chosen as a state variable, requiring computation of its
reference function. Furthermore, implementation of the
three-level switching function is based on the computation of
separate sliding surfaces for each inverter leg, with the
associated hardware complexity. In [14] separate control
loops are designed for the inductor current and the output
voltage.
In this study, a new approach to the sliding mode control
of single-phase UPS inverters is introduced. A three-level
switching function is utilised to directly control the inverter
switches. Therefore, considerable simplification is achieved
compared to existing approaches.

Abstract A new approach to the sliding mode control of singlephase UPS inverters is introduced in continuous-time. A threelevel hysteresis switching function is used to directly control the
inverter switches. The theoretical and predicted switching
frequency expressions are given. The performance of the
proposed control method has been tested through computer
simulations using different loads (a load which draws a squarewave current, diode bridge rectifier load, and triac-controlled
resistive load). Simulation results verify the correct operation of
the proposed control approach. Also, the switching frequency
prediction is seen to be quite accurate.

I. INTRODUCTION
An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is always adopted
to deliver power to critical loads such as communication
systems, medical equipment, data processing systems, and
computers in case of an utility power failure. The output
voltage waveform of a high performance UPS must be
sinusoidal, with specified frequency and amplitude, with low
total harmonic distortion (THD) for linear and nonlinear
loads. In addition to this requirement, an UPS system must
also have a good disturbance rejection, a good voltage
regulation, and a fast dynamic and transient response for
sudden changes at load.
In order to achieve these requirements, many control
methods [1-11] have been proposed in the literature. The
widespread availability of low cost microprocessors has led
researchers to investigate discrete-time control methods, such
as repetitive-based control [1-3], sliding-mode control [4, 5],
and deadbeat control [6-8] to improve the performance of
UPS systems. However, response times of such control
methods are limited by microcontroller speed and give rise to
considerable distortion with nonlinear loads.
It is well known that continuous-time control methods are
much faster and lead to much less distortion. The control
methods presented in [9, 10] employ two feedback control
loops. The inner loop is used for current control and the outer
loop is used for voltage control. Although these methods
exhibit good performance, the design of the feedback control
loops is complicated. However, it is shown in [11] that the
integral controller employed in the outer loop is redundant,
and its elimination leads to zero output impedance of the
inverter, with the result that the output voltage is unaffected
by the load, provided that the inverter PWM output is not
saturated. Each of these methods has its particular advantages
1-4244-0136-4/06/$20.00 '2006 IEEE

II. SLIDING MODE CONTROL WITH THREE-LEVEL

HYSTERESIS SWITCHING FUNCTION
Fig. 1 shows a single-phase UPS inverter. Considering as
state variables the output voltage error and its derivative, the
system behaviour can be described by the following
equations
x&1 = x 2
(1)
x& 2 = 02 ( x1 + uVs + DVs )

where

x& denotes the derivative of

(2)
x,

x1 = v o v o* ,

x 2 = v&o v&o* , 0 = 1 / LC and

*
L dio
LC dv&o
1
v o*
(3)
V s dt V s
V s dt
In (2) D is considered as a disturbance term. The reference
for the output voltage is chosen as v o* = V m sin(t ) . The

D=

switching line is defined as = x1 + x 2 ( > 0) . The

sliding mode ( = 0 ) is described by the first order equation
x&1 = x1 with solution x1 (t ) = x1 (0)e t . Obviously, if

331

+
T1

T3

i0

Vs

uVs
T2

T4

v0

Fig. 1 A single-phase UPS inverter.

T1

+1

+1

-h
h
-h

T2

T3

+1

-1

T4

Fig. 2 (a) The three-level hysteresis switching function. (b) Implementation as two-level hysteresis functions.

increasing V s . In the vicinity of the origin where the errors

increases, the state variables moving on the sliding surface

will be fast. For stability the following existence condition
for the reaching mode must be satisfied: & < 0 . Now,
taking the derivative of ,
V
V
1
x1 + x 2 + s u + s D
& =
(4)
LC
LC
LC

are small ( x1 0, x 2 0 ), we must have D(t ) < 1 or

L

di o
dv& *
+ v o* + LC o < V s
dt
dt

(7)

which reduces to the following approximate form when

0 >> ,

Letting u = sign( ) , then for stability we must have

[ x1 + LCx 2 + Vs (1 + D)] > 0
(5)
<0
[ x1 + LCx 2 + Vs (1 + D)] < 0
(6)
>0
The region defined by the inequalities in (5) and (6) is timedependent, as the disturbance D is a function of time.
Furthermore, it is difficult to determine the trajectories of the
system because of the time-varying inputs in (3). Hence, it is
quite difficult to ascertain the stability of the reaching mode.
However, the choice of the control u given above is dictated
by the fact that the inverter output voltage has two nonzero
levels ( V s ). Therefore, stability can only be mitigated by

di o V s V m
(8)
<
dt
L
In order to prevent chattering during the sliding mode and in
the steady state, which gives rise to a very high switching
frequency, the switching law u = sign( ) should be
replaced by a three-level hysteresis function such as in Fig.
2(a). This hysteresis function can be implemented as two
separate functions from which the switching control signals
for the inverter transistors are directly derived (Fig. 2 (b)).
The hysteresis band is represented by 2h .
332

Fig. 3 Simulink model of the UPS inverter with the proposed control method.

the average at this value of m is calculated as 1.234, which is

not unreasonably high.

III. SWITCHING FREQUENCY COMPUTATION

A practical system cannot switch at an infinite frequency.
Therefore, an estimate of the switching frequency would be
helpful in designing the system. The on and off periods can
be fairly accurately predicted by assuming that the errors x1
and x2 are negligible. The calculation here is further
simplified by assuming that dio / dt = 0 (which is true for a
square-wave load current except at the switching instants).
Then, equation (3) and the three-level input function in Fig.2
(a) imply
2V
f s (t ) = 0 s m sin(t ) m 2 sin 2 (t )
(9)
h
where m is defined as
V
2
m = m (1 2 )
(10)
Vs
0
Equation (9) is plotted in Fig. 4. The maximum value of the
switching frequency is
02V s
(m m 2 ) 0 < m < 0.5

f s , max = 4h 2
(11)
0 Vs

0. 5 < m < 1

4h
The average switching frequency can be determined as
2V 2
1

f s , av = 0 s m m 2
(12)
h
2

The parameter m has been chosen as 0.665 in the simulation

studies. The ratio of the maximum switching frequency to

IV. COMPUTER SIMULATIONS

250

100

200

80

150

60

100

40

50

20

0
0.060
-50

0.065

0.070

0.075

0
0.080
-20

-100

-40

-150

-60

-200

-80

-250

Load current io, A

Output voltage vo, V

A suitably designed sliding-mode controlled inverter has

been simulated using Simulink. The parameters of the system
are V s = 300 V, V m = 200 V, L = 250 H, C = 100 F,
h = 0.15 V/s. The block diagram of the simulation model is
shown in Fig. 3. The block named Three-level hysteresis
implements the hysteresis function as two separate functions
from which the switching control signals for the inverter
transistors are directly derived.
Fig. 4 shows the output voltage and the load current

-100
Time, s

Fig. 4 Output voltage response to a square-wave load current.

333

80

250
25000

f s (Hz)

200

60

150

20000

40
Output voltage vo, V

15000

10000

5000

20

50
0
0.060
-50

0.065

0.070

0
0.080

0.075

-20

Load current io, A

100

-100

0.060

-40

t (s)

0
0.065

0.070

0.075

-150
0.080

-60

-200
-250

Fig. 5 Computed and predicted switching frequency of the

inverter.

-80
Time, s

Fig. 7 Output voltage response to a triac-controlled resistive

load.

waveforms for a nonlinear load which draws a square-wave

load current. It can be observed that the response of the
voltage to sudden load current changes is quite fast. Note that
the inverter remains stable despite the very large rate of
change of the load current. The total harmonic distortion
(THD) of the output voltage was computed as 3.178% and
the fundamental amplitude as 195.93V. It is clear that there
exists a small steady-state error in the output voltage due to
the small deviation of the switching frequency from its
nominal value. However, it can be observed from (9) that
this steady-state error can be minimized further if the
hysteresis band h is decreased. Fig. 5 shows the theoretical
(eqn.(7)) and computed switching frequency in one output
cycle. The switching frequency is computed by low-pass
filtering the output of a one-shot pulse generator driven by
the rectified inverter output voltage v i = uV s . Note that the
f s prediction is quite accurate. The difference between the
computed and theoretical switching frequencies (except at
the load current transitions) is caused by the low-pass filter.
Fig. 6 shows the output voltage and the load current
waveforms for a diode bridge rectifier, with a 780F
capacitor in parallel with an 80 resistor, nonlinear load
case. The THD of the output voltage was computed as
0.5601% and the fundamental amplitude as 196.85V.

Fig. 7 shows the output voltage and the load current

waveforms for a triac-controlled resistive load ( R = 5 ),
with firing angles of 86 o and 266 o in the positive and
negative half-cycles, respectively. The THD of the output
voltage was computed as 1.2646% and the fundamental
amplitude as 196.38V. The sliding function and the state
trajectory in the phase plane in one output cycle for this load
case are shown in Fig. 8 and Fig. 9, respectively.
600000

Sliding function sigma

400000

200000

0
0.060

200

0.070

-600000
Time, s

Fig. 8 Sliding function .

15

500000

10

400000

0
0.060
-50

0.065

0.070

0.075

0
0.080
-5

200000
100000
x1
0
-20

-100

-15

-10

-5

10

-100000

-10
-150

-200000

-15

-200

x2

300000
Load current io, A

Output voltage vo, V

100
5

-300000

-250

0.080

-400000

150

50

0.075

-200000

20

250

0.065

-20

-400000

Time, s

-500000

Fig. 6 Output voltage response to a bridge rectifier load.

Fig. 9 State trajectory in the phase plane.

334

15

20

[10] M. J. Ryan, E.W. Brumsickle, and R.D. Lorenz,

Control topology options for single-phase UPS
inverters, IEEE Trans. On Industrial Electronics, Vol.
33, pp. 493-501, 1997.
[11] O. Kkrer, H. Kmrcgil, and N.S. Bayndr, Control
strategy for single-phase UPS inverters, IEE
Proceedings - Electric Power Applications, Vol. 150,
pp. 743-746, Nov. 2003.
[12] M. Carpita and M.Marchesoni, Experimental Study of
a Power Conditioning System Using Sliding Mode
Control,IEEE Trans. Power Electron., Vol.11, No.4,
pp.731-742,1996.
[13] S.J.Chiang, T.L.Tai and T.S.Lee, Variable Structure
Control of UPS Inverters, IEE Proc.-Electr. Power
Appl., Vol.145, No.6, pp.559-567, 1998.
[14] L. Malesani, L. Rosetto, G.Spiazzi and A Zuccato, An
AC Power Supply With Sliding-Mode Control, IEEE
Industry Appl. Magazine, pp.32-38, Sept./Oct.1996.

Figs. 8 and 9 demonstrate the existence of the sliding mode.

It can be seen from Fig. 9 that the designed sliding mode
controller can drive the state trajectory toward the sliding
line. The trajectory reaches the designed sliding line and then
approaches the origin by chattering around the switching line
with amplitude dependent on the hysteresis band.
V. CONCLUSIONS
A new approach to the sliding mode control of singlephase UPS inverters is proposed, where the control signals
for the inverter switches are obtained directly from a threelevel hysteresis switching function. The method to estimate
the switching frequency is presented. Simulation results
show that the method is quite successful in obtaining very
fast output voltage response to various nonlinear load
disturbances. Harmonic distortion is also seen to be
reasonably low.
VI. REFERENCES
[l] Y.-Y. Tzou, R.-S. Ou, S.-L. Jung, and M.-Y. Chang,
High-performance programmable ac power source with
low-harmonic distortion using DSP-based repetitive
control technique, IEEE Trans. On Power Electronics,
Vol. 12, pp. 715-725, July 1997.
[2] K. Zhang, Y. Kang, J. Xiong, and J. Chen, Direct
repetitive control of SPWM inverter for UPS purpose,
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J.R. Pinheiro, A modified discrete control law for UPS
applications, IEEE Trans. On Power Electronics, Vol.
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[4] S.-L Jung, and Y.-Y. Tzou, Discrete sliding-mode
control of a PWM inverter for sinusoidal output
waveform synthesis with optimal sliding curve, IEEE
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1996.
[5] T.-L. Tai and J.-S. Chen, UPS inverter design using
discrete-time sliding-mode control scheme, IEEE
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February 2002.
[6] A. Kawamura, R. Chuarayaratip, and T. Haneyoshi,
Deadbeat control of PWM inverter with modified pulse
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On Industrial Electronics, Vol. 35, pp. 295-300, 1988.
[7] C. Hua, Two-level switching pattern deadbeat DSP
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method for single-phase UPS inverters with
compensation of computation delay, IEE Proceedings Electric Power Applications, Vol. 146, pp. 123-128,
January 1999.
[9] N.M. Abdel-Rahim and J. E. Quaicoe, Analysis and
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