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PI and Sliding Mode Control of a Cuk Converter

Zengshi Chen
Abstract Proportional-integral (PI) and sliding mode controls (SMC) are combined to regulate a
fourth-order Cuk converter in continuous conduction mode. A closed-loop system is obtained with
the aid of the equivalent control method. Based on the Routh-Hurwitz stability criterion and root
locus, the appropriate PI gains are obtained and a stable and robust system suitable for large signal
variations is achieved. The minimum or non-minimum phase behavior of the closed-loop system and
the transients of the closed-loop system under step variations of various circuit parameters are
analyzed. Under a wide range of operating points, the Cuk converter under the proposed controller
has a load voltage tracking accuracy within 0.05 V with a moderate maximum switching frequency
of not greater than 100 KHz. The merits and shortcomings of the proposed controller are compared
with some other controllers.
Index TermsPI, SMC, closed-loop, transient, phase, Cuk, equivalent control, Routh-Hurwitz,
root locus, stability, robustness
I. INTRODUCTION
Cuk converters capable of operating in either step-up or step-down mode are mainly applied to DC power
supplies [1]. Topology, application, performances, dynamics, modeling and control are the common
research topics for Cuk converters.
The classic Cuk circuit topology has often been modified for more functions or better performances. As
for performances, the research on the Cuk converters is concentrated on lowering switching or conduction
loss, reducing component sizes, improving system efficiency, mitigating voltage or current stress, speeding
up transient responses, etc. A systematic approach based on the synchronous switch scheme is used to
generate various Cuk and other DC-DC converters [2]. The voltage boost ability of an enhanced Cuk
converter is increased significantly due to the switched capacitor and self-lift techniques [3]. A bridgeless
rectifier derived from the conventional Cuk converter has low input current distortion and low conduction
losses [4]. A new synthesis procedure can create new soft switching Cuk and other converters [5]. A few
simple switching structures are inserted in a classical Cuk converter, leading to less energy in the magnetic

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field [6]. A Cuk converter featuring clamping action and so on overcomes the limitations of the
conventional Cuk converter [7]. The Sepic and Cuk topologies are combined together to reduce the circuit
components and to share the load current [8]. The capacitive idling converters derived from the Cuk
topology increases the switching frequency while maintaining high efficiency [9].
As for applications, the Cuk converters is widely used in the industries such as wind energy [10],
photovoltaic power system [11], electrical vehicle [12, 13], radar transmission and receiving [14], light
emitting diode driver [15], telecommunication systems [16], energy harvesting from exercise bicycles [17],
and compressor and motor controllers [18, 19].
Dynamics, modeling, stability and controls of the Cuk converters have been studied with great efforts.
Sustained slow-scale oscillation, bifurcation and chaos phenomena are reported and controlled for Cuk
converters [20-22]. A systematic approach based on Graft scheme for modeling the Cuk and other
converters is developed [23]. The small signal models of the Cuk and other converters are readily derived
in terms of h parameter (for buck family) and g parameter (for boost family) [24]. Complementarity
formalism is explored for modeling of a Cuk converter in discontinuous conduction modes [25]. Stability
aspects of the open-loop and closed-loop of the Cuk converter are analyzed [26]. The controls that have
been applied to Cuk converters include model predictive control [27], passivity-based control [28], neural
networks and state space averaging [29], fuzzy logic and scaling factor [30], nonlinear H-infinity control
and nonlinear carrier control [31, 32], direct control method [33], particle swarm optimization, genetic
algorithm and optimum LQR controller [34-36], nonlinear robust control with radial basis functions [37]
and sliding mode control. With these controllers, the performance satisfactions such as fast response,
stability, robustness, improvement of chaos behavior, and wide range of operating points are reported.
SMC is popular to converters [38]. The application of SMC to DC-DC converters can be traced back to
1983 [39] and 1985 [40]. The SMC design theory and application examples are available in [38]. SMC
offers several benefits, namely, large signal stability, robustness, good dynamic response, system order
reduction and simple implementation [41]. SMC has been applied to Cuk converters. With SMC, a Cukbased inverter can use much smaller, more reliable non-electrolytic capacitors [42]. A Cuk converter is
controlled to operate in sliding mode with the switching surface as the linear combination of the four state
variable errors [43]. As a practical approach for industries, proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control is

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intensively applied to converters. A system under both PID control and SMC embraces better performances.
There is a demand for a guideline for analyzing such closed-loop systems [44]. Recently, the PI and SMC
controller has been applied to a non-inverting buck-boost converter and a boost converter with nonminimum phase behaviors [45, 46]. This paper shows that this method can be similarly applied to a Cuk
converter to achieve satisfactory performances. Due to the higher-order nature of the Cuk converter, there
are an infinite number of solutions for PI gains. To obtain the appropriate PI gains and analyze the system
performances, the advanced tools in modern control systems are required.
This paper is organized as follows. The Cuk converter model is developed in Section II. The controller
is designed in Section III. The transients are analyzed in Section IV. The simulation and results are reported
in Section V. The various controllers are compared in Section VI. The conclusion is made in Section VII.
II. CUK CONVERTER MODEL
A typical Cuk converter and its operating modes can be found in [47]. It consists of an input voltage source
E, a MOSFET switch M, an anti-parallel diode d, a freewheeling diode D, a capacitor C1 for transferring
energy, a capacitor C2 for storing energy, two inductors L1 and L2, and a load resistor R. Let v1 and v2 be
the voltages across C1 and C2, respectively. Let i1 and i2 be the currents through L1 and L2, respectively. u is
SMC signal applied at the gate of M. When u is 1, the circuit is in charging mode. When u is 0, the circuit
is in discharging mode. As shown in [47], the equations for the Cuk converter are

i1'

1
[ E (1 u )v1 ]
L1

(1)

v1'

1
[ui2 (1 u )i1 ]
C1

(2)

i2'
v2'

1
(uv1 v2 )
L2

1
v
(i2 2 )
C2
R

(3)

(4)

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III. CONTROLLER DESIGN

A. Equilibrium Points
The equilibrium points of the Cuk converter corresponding to a constant value of the average control
input is obtained by letting the right hand side of Eqs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 be zero while the control variable is set
to be u=U where U is a constant [47]. Let i1d, v1d, i2d, and vd be the equilibrium values of i1, v1, i2, and v2,
respectively. Then, one has

i1' d 0 , v1' d 0 , i2' d 0 and vd' 0 . Plugging i1d, v1d, i2d, and vd into Eqs.

1, 2, 3 and 4 and solving them for i1d, v1d, i2d, and U in terms of vd render

(i1d , v1d , i 2 d ,U ) (

v d2
v
vd
, E v d , d ,
)
ER
R E vd

(5)

Eq. 5 provides i1d, v1d, and i2d as the functions of vd in the steady state. i1d is the feed-forward input current
for the converter if the open loop control is used.
B. Closed-Loop Control
The control goal is to track a constant voltage. The control structure for the converter is shown in Fig. 1
where i* is the feedback reference current, vd is the reference voltage, E, v2, i1 and u are defined previously,
and e is the error between vd and v2. i1 is a positive feedback signal due to the structure of the sliding mode
controller as shown in Eq. 8. v2 and i1 are measured in reality.

Fig. 1. PI and sliding mode control for the Cuk converter.

B.1 Voltage Loop
A voltage error can be caused by disturbance or uncertainty if the Cuk converter is under open loop
control. A PI voltage controller can eliminate the error. With e=vd-v, the current generated by the PI

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controller is ic K p e K i

edt where K
0

and Ki are the proportional and integral gains, respectively.

The overall reference current for the current loop is

i* i1d ic .

(6)

B.2 Current Loop

The switching manifold for sliding mode current control is designed as

s i1 i * .

(7)

u 0.5(1 sign( s )) 1 if s 0 or 0 if s 0.

(8)

The control signal is

The existence condition of sliding mode can be derived with a candidate Lyapunov function [38]. Let this
function be

P 0.5s 2 0

if s 0 .

(9)

Differentiating Eq. 7 yields

1
E
s ' (1 u ) v i* ' .
L
L

(10)

With Eq. 10, the derivative of P is

P' ss '

1
| s | (| 2 E 2 L1i* 'v1 | v1 ).
2L

(11)

The sufficient condition for P ' 0 is

| 2 E 2 L1i* 'v1 | v1 0 .

(12)

In the steady state, one has L1i*' =0 due to constant i*, v2 vd , v1d v1 , and v2 E v1 0 due to Eq.
5. The inequality 12 leads to

0 E L1i * ' E v 2 .

(13)

v2 is negative and |v2| can be greater than or less than E. The Cuk converter amplifies or scales down the
input voltage E with the opposite polarity. The inequality 13 defines an attraction domain of the sliding
manifold. Because the control in Eq. 8 contains no control gains to be adjusted, the domain of attraction
(the inequality 13) is predetermined by the system architecture. In the steady state, the inequality 13 is

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fulfilled by the definition of a Cuk converter. The derivation of Eq. 13 implicitly validates Eq. 8 since it
results in a stable system.
B.3 Closed-loop Analysis
One can use the equivalent control method to analyze a discontinuous system [38]. Once the system is in
sliding mode, s=0 and s'=0 are true. A continuous equivalent control ueq replaces the discontinuous control
u in s'=0. Solving s'=0 for ueq renders

ueq

L1i*' E v1
.
v1

(14)

Via the inequality 13 and Eq. 14, one easily obtains 0<ueq<1. Plugging i1=i* and ueq into Eq. 2 yields

i*

C1v1v1 ( E v1 L1i*' )i2

.
E L1i*'

(15)

i* contains the integral term of the voltage error. The practical way is to rearrange the dynamics equations
and eliminate the integral term by differentiation. Both sides of Eq. 15 are derived with respect to time,
resulting in

E L i i

*' 2 *'

( L1C1v1v1 L1i2v1 )i*'' L12i2 i*' [ L1i2v1 L1 v1 2 E i2

2

L1C1v12 L1C1v1v1'' ]i*' E E v1 i2 EC1v12 EC1v1v1 Ei2v1'

(16)

Solving Eq. 4 for i2 and differentiating it render

i2' C 2 v 2''

v 2'
.
R

(17)

Substituting ueq and i2 into Eq. 3 renders

v1 E v2

L2 '
v2 L2C2v2'' L1i*' .
R

(18)

Differentiating Eq. 18 once and twice with respect to time renders

v1' v2'

L2 ''
v2 L2C2v2( 3) L1i*'' ,
R

(19)

v1'' v2''

L2 (3)
v2 L2C2v24 L1i *''' .
R

(20)

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Differentiating Eq. 6 once, twice and three times with respect to time renders

i *' K p (vd' v2' ) K i (vd v2 ) ,

(21)

i *'' K p (vd'' v2'' ) K i (vd' v2' ) ,

(22)

i *''' K p (vd''' v2''' ) K i (vd'' v2'' ) .

(23)

Eq. 16 is a highly nonlinear equation in terms of v2, vd and their derivatives of different orders. Linearizing
Eq. 16 with respect to v2, vd and their derivatives of different orders around their equilibrium points and
carrying on a controller design are a practical approach. Let ve be the equilibrium point of vd and v2. Let v2
and vd be the perturbations of v2 and vd. One has v2=v2+ve, vd=vd+ve, v2'=v2', vd'=vd', v2''=v2'', vd''=vd'',
'

'

''

v2'''=v2''', vd'''=vd''' and v2(4)=v2(4). Plugging them into Eqs. from 17 to 23, substituting i2 , i2 , v1 , v1 , v1 ,

i *' , i*'' and i*''' into Eq. 16, dropping any term with the power of v2, vd, v2', vd', v2'', vd'', v2''', vd''' or
v2(4) that is greater than 1, dropping any product of some of v2, vd, v2', vd', v2'', vd'', v2''', vd''', v2(4)
and any of these variables with a higher power render a linear ordinary differential equation as

a 4 v 2( 4) a3 v 2( 3) a 2 v 2'' a1v 2' a 0 v 2 b3 v d(3) b2 v d'' b1v d' b0 v d .

where a 0 E K i , a1 E K p
2

a2 [

L1 Eve2 K p
R

L1ve2 K i 2 Eve
,
R

EC1 ( E ve ) L1 K i Eve C 2 EC1 ( E ve )

a 3 EC1 ( E ve ) L1 K p

(24)

Eve L2
],
R2

Eve L2 C 2 EC1 ( E ve ) L2
, a 4 EL2 C1C 2 ( E ve ) ,
R

L1ve2 K p
L1ve2
b0 E K i , b1 E K p
, b2
EC1 ( E ve ) L1 K i , and
R
R
2

b3 EC1 ( E ve ) L1 K p .
Let V2 (q ) and Vd (q ) be the Laplace transforms of v 2 (t ) and v d (t ) , respectively. q is the Laplace
variable. Let

v 2( 3) (0 ) , v2'' (0 ) , v 2' (0 ) , v2 (0 ) , v d'' (0 ) , v d' (0 ) and v d (0 ) be 0. 0 is

the left hand limit of the 0 time point. The Laplace transform of Eq. 24 is

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V 2 ( q )
b3 q 3 b2 q 2 b1 q b0
.

Vd (q ) a 4 q 4 a3 q 3 a 2 q 2 a1 q a 0

(25)

As shown by Eq. 5, the system represented by Eqs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 has an equilibrium point of

(i1 , v1 , i2 , v 2 ) (

v d2
v
, E v d , d , ve ). The trajectories of a nonlinear system in a small neighborhood
ER
R

of an equilibrium point is expected to be close to the trajectories of its linearization about that point if the
origin of the linearized state equation is a hyperbolic equilibrium point [48]. Proper PI gains guarantee that
the equilibrium point is hyperbolic.
B.4 Stabilization With Routh Hurwitz Criterion and Root Locus
There are two control design parameters K p and K i but Eq. 25 has four poles. Hence the pole
placement cannot be used. Instead,

K p and K i can be found with the help of Routh-Hurwitz stability

theorem. Corresponding to each pair of K p and K i capable of stabilizing the converter, the four poles and
three zeros of Eq. 25 can be obtained and the better poles and zeros for better converter performances can
be pursued. The Routh array is

q 4 a4
q 3 a3

a2

a0

a1

q h1
q1 h3

h2
0

0 where h1
0

q 0 h4

h a a 3 h2
a3a2 a4 a1
, h2 a 0 , h3 1 1
, and h4 a 0 . To have a
a3
h1

stable system, one must have a4 0 , a3 0 , h1 0 , h3 0 and h4 0 . a4 0 is always true.

Solving a3 0 renders

Kp

Ev e L2 C 2 EC1 ( E ve ) L2
.
REL1C1 ( E ve )

(26)

Solving h4 0 renders

Ki 0 .

(27)

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It is extremely difficult to provide an analytical solution for h1 >0 and h3 >0. Therefore, the numerical
method is used to find the solutions to h1 0 and h3 0 with the preconditions of Kp and Ki satisfying
Eqs. 26 and 27. There are an infinite number of solutions for Kp and Ki. The parameters of the Cuk
converter used in this research are inherited from [47] and are listed in Table 1. Plugging the parameters
into Eqs. 26 renders Kp<0.122. The functions h1 and h3 with respect to -0.2<Kp<0.15 and -30<Kp<5 are
plotted. The observation shows that roughly -0.05<Kp<0.122 and -25< Ki <0 will satisfy h1 0 and

h3 0 . Corresponding to this range of PI gains, the four poles of Eq. 25 are plotted in Fig. 2. All the poles
are in the left hand phase plane. Eq. 25 is stable. When Kp is close to -0.05 or 0.122, some poles are close to
the imaginary axis. The text labels for Kp in the area near the rightmost side of the real axis means that with
a fixed Ki value, Kp starts from -0.05 and ends with .09. The resultant root locus both starts and ends close
to the imaginary axis. In the other areas, the text labels for Kp means that the whole segment of that root
locus takes that Kp value, and the text labels for Ki means that under a fixed Kp, the segment of that root
locus starts with Ki=-25 and ends with Ki=-0.1. A real pole gets closer to the imaginary axis when Kp
increases. A pair of complex conjugated poles first gets farther from and later gets closer to the imaginary
axis when Kp increases. The other two poles start and end close to the imaginary axis. The values in the
mid ranges of Kp and Ki can make these two poles farther from the imaginary axis. The values in the mid
ranges of Kp and Ki should be used so that all the four poles are in a moderate position that is not very far
from or very close to the imaginary axis.
The six root loci for a fixed Kp and a range of Ki or a fixed Ki and a range of Kp are shown in Fig. 3: a)
the root loci for Kp=-0.05 and -25Ki-0.1 are displayed in the left pane of the first row; b) the root loci for
Kp=-0.01 and -25Ki-0.1 are displayed in the left pane of the second row; c) the root loci for Kp=0.09 and
-25Ki-0.1 are displayed in the left pane of the third row; d) the root loci for -0.05 Kp0.09 and Ki=-25
are displayed in the right pane of the first row; e) the root loci for -0.05 Kp0.09 and Ki=-12.5 are
displayed in the right pane of the second row; f) the root loci for -0.05 Kp0.09 and Ki=-0.1 are displayed
in the right pane of the third row. The root locus of a pole is in black, green, blue or red. The invisible root
loci are magnified in the box areas. The analysis for b) is given as an example. When Ki is in the low value
range, there are a pair of complex conjugated poles in green and red and a pair of complex conjugated poles

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in black and blue. The loci in black and blue reach the point k1 and the loci in red and green reach the point
k3 at Ki1=-12.1. Afterwards, the poles become real. After the loci in blue and red reach the point k2 at Ki2=14.2, the poles with the blue and red loci become a pair of complex conjugated poles while the poles with
the black and green loci are still real. Apparently, for Ki2KiKi1, the four poles are real. To have a
compromise, for Kp=-0.01, the four real poles at Ki= Ki1 are recommended because all the poles can be on
or to the left side of the point k3 although Kp=-0.01 and Ki=-13 listed in Table 1 still guarantee the four real
poles and are used in this paper.
Table 1: Cuk converter parameters
L1

L2

C1

C2

vd (ve)

Kp

Ki

30 mH

30 mH

150 F

50 F

100 V

10

-200 V

-0.01

-13

Fig. 2. Root loci for roughly -0.05<Kp<0.122 and -25< Ki <0.

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Fig. 3. Root loci for a fixed Kp and a range of Ki or vice versa.

IV. TRANSIENTS
A. Minimum or Non-minimum Phases
Consider a stable and strictly proper system (i.e., the number of zeros are less than the number of poles):
if all its zeros are in the left half phase plane, it is in the minimum phase; if it has one or more zeros in the
right half phase plane, it is in the non-minimum phase [49]. With three zeros and four poles, Eq. 25 is a
stable and strictly proper system. If Eq. 25 has three zeros in the left half phase plane, the Cuk converter

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will have a minimum phase. Otherwise, the Cuk converter will have a non-minimum phase. In the later
simulation, the poles and zeros of Eq. 25 will be given corresponding to a pair of Kp and Ki and the phase
characteristic of the system is verified.
B. Transients with Step Changes of Input Voltage
To predict the transients caused by step changes of input voltage is of interest since such variation is
often encountered in reality. Differentiating Eq. 15 for v2, vd and E with respect to time and linearizing it
render

a4v2( 4) a3v2( 3) a2v2'' a1v2' a0v2 p2 E'' p1E' .

where p1

(28)

Eeve
, and p2 EeC1 ( Ee ve ) . Eq. 28 has the same poles as Eq. 25. A zero of Eq. 28 is
R

0. The other zero of Eq. 28 is ve /[ RC1 ( Ee ve )] and negative. Due to the zero on the imaginary axis, the
theory for predicting a phase behavior cannot be applied to Eq. 28. Let V2 (q ) and

(q)

be the Laplace

transforms of v2 (t ) and E (t ) , respectively. Plugging the parametric values in Table 1 into Eq. 28
renders

V 2 ( q )
3q 2 1000q
.

(q ) 6.75 10 6 q 4 0.01785q 3 12.055q 2 2540q 130000

(29)

The simulation shows that v2 has an overshoot when E (t ) changes from a low value to a high value
and v2 has an undershoot when E (t ) changes from a high value to a low value. Hence, when E steps
up, an overshoot of v2 is seen and when E steps down, an undershoot of v2 is seen.
C. Transients with Step Changes of Load Resistance
To predict the transients caused by step changes of load resistance is also useful since it is common in
practice. Differentiating Eq. 15 for v2, vd and R with respect to time and linearizing it render

a 4 v 2( 4) a3 v 2( 3) a 2 v 2'' a1v 2' a 0 v 2 r2 R'' r1 R' .

(30)

12

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where r1

Eeve2
L2 Ee ve2
,
and
. Let V2 ( q ) and (q ) be the Laplace transforms of v2 (t ) and
r

2
Re2
Re3

R (t ) , respectively. Plugging the parametric values in Table 1 into Eq. 30 renders

V2 (q )
30q 2 10000q
.

(q) 6.75 10 6 q 4 0.01785q 3 12.055q 2 2540q 130000

(31)

The simulation shows that when v 2 has an overshoot when R (t ) changes from a low value to a high
value and v 2 has an undershoot when E (t ) changes from a high value to a low value. Therefore, when
R steps up, an overshoot of v2 occurs and when E steps down, an undershoot of v2 occurs.
V.

SIMULATION

A. Proportional-Integral Gain Selection

One should compromise noise suppression, stability and response speed for pole selection as shown in
[46]. The pole situation of Eq. 25 for a stable Cuk converter can be: a) four real and negative poles; b) two
real and negative poles and a pair of complex conjugated poles with negative and real parts; c) two pairs of
complex conjugated poles with negative and real parts. As observed in Section III.B.4, when either Kp or Ki
is fixed and the other one varies, some poles move closer to the imaginary axis and the remaining ones
move away from the imaginary axis first and sometimes move closer to the imaginary axis later. Therefore,
if Kp is fixed, Ki with a value in the mid range may be selected and vice versa. The values of Kp and Ki in
their mid ranges are preferred. In this way, the four poles could be in the moderate positions so that no pole
is too far or too close to the imaginary axis. Ideally, the four real and negative poles are desired so that the
system response has no oscillation or overshoot. The values of these poles affect the zeros and thus the
phase behavior. As shown later on, one or more zeros that are in the right half phase plane can be generated
for the converter with a dominant real and negative pole, resulting in an over-damped and non-minimum
phase response.
B. Validation Circuit
A Cuk converter with the proposed controller is constructed with SimPowerSystems of Simulink
Toolbox. The converter is operated in the continuous mode. The non-ideal circuit factors are considered.

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The equivalent series resistances for C1, C2, L1 and L2 are assumed to be 0.01 . The MOSFET switch
and diode D are the same as used in [46]. To show the capability of the controller, the feedforward input
current i1d is disabled. To implement the controller, the system requirements shall be evaluated, the
appropriate Cuk converter parameters shall be selected, the appropriate PI gains shall be generated via
Routh-Hurwithz stability criterion and generalized root locus, and Eqs. 10, 11, and 12 shall be coded.

Fig. 4. The response of the Cuk converter under step variation of the reference voltage.

14

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C. Results
Due to the limitation of the presentation volume, only the system response for the step change of the
reference voltage is simulated. The undershoot, overshoot, minimum phase, or non-minimum phase of a
transient of the output voltage is analyzed. The minimum sliding mode pulse width is 10 s or the
maximum sliding mode switching frequency is 100 KHz. If the switching frequency is too low (e.g., less
than 1 KHz), the proposed controller will fail to function. A system on a wide pulse is almost under openloop control and diverges. The lower the switching frequency, the more apparent the current ripples. As the
switching frequency increases, the pulse width decreases, and the results echo the analysis. The initial
conditions of i1(0)= i2(0)=0 A and v1(0)= v2(0)=0 V are used for all the simulations. To show robustness of
the closed-loop system under the proposed controller, the Cuk parameters C1, C2, L1 and L2 are perturbed
to be half their original values. The same PI gains Kp=-0.01 and Ki=-13 are used.
According to III.B.4.b), Kp=-0.01 and Ki=-13 are used so that the four real and negative poles are
generated if the nominal values of the capacitors and inductors are used. With the new capacitance and
inductance values, Eq. 25 becomes

V 2 ( q )
0.0003375q 3 0.16125q 2 160q 130000
.

Vd (q ) 8.4375 10 7 q 4 0.0044625q 3 5.58875q 2 3320q 130000

(32)

The four poles are (-3822.7, -712.1+672.2i, -712.1-672.2i, -42) and the three zeros are (458.5+816.5i, 458.5-816.5i, -439.3). Since the dominant pole is -42, the transients characterized by critical or overdamping is expected and oscillation in a transient should be invisible. Two zeros are in the right half phase
plane. The system response to a step reference voltage is expected to have a non-minimum phase behavior.
vd=-200 from 0 to 0.1 seconds, vd=-50 from 0.1 to 0.2 seconds, and vd=-200 from 0.2 to 0.3 seconds are
tracked. Fig. 4 shows the plots of the responses of i1 in the first pane, i2 in the second pane, v1 in the third
pane, v2 in the fourth pane and u in the last pane. The currents and voltages converge to the equilibrium
points. In the steady state, the voltage error for v2 is between 0.05 V. u switches between 0 and 1. For
brevity, only the transient of v2 is studied. Fig. 5 shows the transient u and v2.
a) In the first 0.5 milliseconds (ms), u equals 1 and v2 is 0 V due to the zero initial energy on C1, C2, and L2.
Starting at the time point of 0.5 ms, v2 decreases and monotonically converges to vd=-200 V without an
overshoot since the dominant pole of Eq. 25 is real and negative.

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b) From the time point 0.1 s to the time point 0.1002 s, u equals 0 and v2 increases since C2 is being
discharged. Starting at the time point of 0.1002 s, v2 experiences an undershoot since Eq. 25 is in the nonminimum phase. v2 goes in the wrong direction, gets less than vd=-200 V, reaches the minimum value and
converges to vd=-50 V without an overshoot since the dominant pole of Eq. 25 is real and negative.
c) From the time point 0.2 s to the time point 0.2005 s, u equals 1 and v2 decreases until it hits a minimum
value Va since C2 is being charged. Starting at the time point of 0.2005 s, v2 experiences an undershoot
since Eq. 25 is in the non-minimum phase. v2 goes in the wrong direction, gets greater than Va, reaches the
maximum value and converges to vd=-200 V without an overshoot since the dominant pole of Eq. 25 is real
and negative.
The above demo is for an over-damped and non-minimum phase example. If one uses the median values
of Kp and Ki (Kp=0.036 and Ki=-12.5) with the same parametric values, one will have two pairs of complex
conjugated poles with negative real parts and three zeros that are all in the right half phase plane. Hence the
oscillation and undershoot will be seen in the transient responses. However, the simulation results for
Kp=0.036 and Ki=-12.5 are not reported.

Fig. 5. The transients of the Cuk converter under step variation of the reference voltage.

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VI. COMPARISON WITH SOME OTHER CONTROLLERS

The conventional PID controller based on averaging state space model is popular in industries for Cuk
converters. Although the author does not report the simulation results of the same Cuk converter under the
conventional PID controller, it is meaningful to compare the conventional PID controller and the PI and
sliding mode controller (PI&SMC). It is found out that the Cuk converter under both controllers has similar
system responses such as stability, robustness, insensitivity, rising time, output ripples, settling time,
transient amplitude, overall behavior of a transient (overshoot or undershoot) and the phase structure
(minimum or non-minimum) of a transient. However, PI&SMC has several advantages: 1) A PWM
modulator is spared since SMC directly acts as the input signals to the gates of semiconductor switches. 2)
Switching efficiency of IJBT switches might be improved due to variable pulse width of SMC. Since the
pulse width is variable, it can be several times the minimum switching pulse width that is the reciprocal of
the maximum switching frequency. For high power applications, less frequent switching reduces power
loss since more power is lost in the switching mode than in the conducting mode for IJBT switches. In
contrast, the pulse width is fixed for the modulator under the conventional PID controller. 3) Only two PI
gains are used, compared to at least four PID gains of the conventional PID controller. Hence, if PI&SMC
replaces the conventional PID controller, it will simplify the controller and make its use easier and more
practical. 4) The modeling procedure of the Cuk converter in the state space is straightforward, compared
to the averaged state space small signal model method. The closed-loop analysis via equivalent control is
concise. The PI gains are easily procured. 5) The PI gains obtained for PI&SMC are suitable for the
conventional PID controller and hence provide a tuning guide for the conventional PID controller. 6)
Generous gain and phase margins seem to be easily generated (with the circuit parameters in this paper,
they are 31.2 dB and 91 degrees) compared to the conventional PID controller. Designers often struggle to
obtain a phase margin of more than 50 degrees for a Cuk converter under the conventional PID controller.
There are many complex nonlinear controllers such as neural network, fuzzy logic, H-infinity, feedback
state linearization, input-output linearization, flatness, passivity-based control, dynamic feedback control
by input-output linearization, exact tracking, and error passivity feedback. A Cuk converter may perform
satisfactorily under these controllers but an expensive DSP implementation and a pulse modulator would be
required. To design or understand these nonlinear controllers may require advanced control knowledge for

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an implementer or user. However, as shown in this paper, only elementary modern control theories that are
taught in every introductory control course are required for PI&SMC design. It may be hard to generalize
some nonlinear controllers to most DC-DC controllers. However, PI&SMC can be applied to buck, boost,
buck-boost, Cuk, Sepic, Zeta, quadratic and many other DC-DC converters. An important answer for
PI&SMC to be an alternative design method to the other controllers could be that discontinuous sliding
mode control signals are naturally fit for the discontinuous nature of Cuk converters and can be
inexpensively implemented with microcontroller technology. One disadvantage of PI&SMC is output
voltage chattering. One can select appropriate inductance or capacitance value, increase maximum
switching frequency or design some auxiliary filters to reduce chattering.
VII. CONCLUSION
This paper provides an analytical solution to a Cuk converter under PI and SMC. Via equivalent
control, a fourth-order closed-loop nonlinear ordinary differential equation is obtained and linearized.
Through Routh-Hurwitz stability criterion and generalized root loci, the appropriate PI gains for generating
an over-damped or under-damped system can be found. Dependent on the locations of the zeros, the
closed-loop system can have a minimum or non-minimum phase behavior. The transients of the load
voltage caused by step changes of various circuit parameters are predictable. With a validation circuit, the
simulation results show high accuracy of the controller for tracking a reference voltage, strong system
robustness and fast transient responses. The proposed controller is compared with some other controllers.
The future work includes a study for the solutions that can result in a critically damped closed-loop system
with a minimum phase, detailed analysis of all the transients, microprocessor implementation of the
proposed controller, and quantitative comparison of this controller with many existing nonlinear controllers
for controlling a Cuk converter.
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Zengshi Chen received the Ph.D. degree in systems and controls at The Ohio State
University in 2006. He is a research scientist for some universities and corporations.
His research interests include discontinuous ordinary or partial differential systems,
sliding mode control, nonlinear control, friction and their applications to various
machines generating, converting and storing energy.

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