A Review on Model Predictive Control and its Applications in Power Electronics

Model Predictive Control (MPC) has established itself as a reliable control strategy due to its flexibility and high performance. Although the first applications of MPC date back to the 80's, its use in the field of power electronic converters has grown significantly only in recent years. Within this field, the advantages introduced by MPC include inherently multivariable design, improved dynamic performance, and possibility of accounting for constraints on input and output variables. The aim of this work is to summarize and analyze several applications of MPC presented over last years in the field of power electronics. The main features of MPC are first discussed, with a focus on both Finite Control Set MPC and Explicit MPC methods. Then, a summary of different issues and corresponding solutions is reported, together with a list of applications and results obtained on different converters and loads controlled via MPC. Finally, motivations for MPC use in powertrain applications are discussed, and a brief summary of powertrain configurations and related issues are presented.

I. Introduction

In recent years, Model Predictive Control (MPC) has acquired popularity as a reliable control strategy. By properly using the system model to predict the output response, MPC techniques allow to choose the optimal control action that minimizes a desired cost function. Within the power electronic field, MPC has recently been recognized as a viable alternative to classic schemes based on PID laws. For such applications, the advantages introduced by MPC are the higher dynamic performance with respect to PID, the possibility of performing a multivariable controller design, the inclusions of constraints on input and output variables, and the possibility of including nonlinearities in both the model and the constraints. Although the need for an accurate model may represent a drawback in some applications, it is remarked how in power electronics reliable model of converters, loads, and motors are usually available for control design.