Advanced DC Voltage Control Technique for Converters: Achieving Superior Speed and Stability with Model Predictive Control

Among different converter topologies, the active front-end (AFE) rectifier has been widely used in recent research for generating controlled output DC power. Simultaneously, model predictive control (MPC) has emerged as a prominent and actively researched topic, particularly for its applications in development of advanced control strategies. In this paper, a control method is presented that leverages the predictive capability of MPC to achieve the desired reference power through the DC power generated by the AFE rectifier. A new exponential function has been introduced in the proposed control method as a dynamic reference power for the MPC. This reference power can be updated according to the DC-link voltage requirements for an effective DC voltage regulation. Finally, the performance of the proposed control method is compared with the performance of the conventional PI-based control method and preceding MPC-based control techniques, to validate its superiority over the existing control methods. Implemented and verified in Matlab Simulink, this technique shows five-time faster recovery and zero steady state error.