Identification of DC-DC switching converters characteristics for control systems design using interval mathematics

In this paper the problem of identifying DC-DC switching converters characteristics in the presence of parameters uncertainties is dealt with. An interval mathematics (IM) approach is adopted to evaluate the interval extensions of DC conversion ratio and AC frequency response of switching converters, to be used in control systems design, accounting for the joint action of all the uncertainty sources. The analysis of a DC-DC quadratic converter is considered, with a discussion of various techniques for minimizing the IM overestimate of true sensitivity. The differences between the results obtained using both averaging-based and exact models are highlighted and the most remarkable computational aspects connected to IM-based numerical computing are emphasized.