Comparison of Control Strategies Performances Based on a PID Controller and on an ann Controller to Stabilize a Misaligned Wireless Resonant Converter

Two different control strategies are proposed to regulate the working frequency of a wireless DC-DC resonant converter (used for the Inductive Wireless Power Transfer (IWPT)) in order to stabilize the output voltage when misalignments occur in the inductive coils. The two strategies are based, respectively, on a Proportional-Integrative-Derivative (PID) controller and on a feedforward Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The ways to design the two controllers are shown. The performances of the PID and ANN controller are compared in Simulink environment, underlining their strengths and weaknesses. The ANN controller is designed considering two different tools to generate the data used to train and test the artificial network, showing the impact of the choice on the control strategy performances. A hybrid solution is also proposed, where the ANN is used to improve the performances of the PID controller.