A Comparative performance evaluation of a complex-order PI controller for DC–DC converters

Switched-mode DC–DC converters are required to maintain constant output under uncertainties and variations in input voltage and load. The controller’s robustness is crucial in such systems, and hence various controllers have been proposed in the past few decades for DC–DC converter control. Fractional order PID controllers have attracted the attention of researchers due to their robustness and flexibility in control of power converters. Such controllers use fractional orders of integration and differentiation. Complex order controllers are the generalized form of the fractional order PID controllers and have complex orders of integration and differentiation. These controllers are very robust in the control of nonlinear systems with time-varying parameters. But complex order controllers have been very sparingly used in power electronic control. This paper proposes a complex order PI controller with a complex order integrator for controlling DC–DC buck and boost converters. The complex PID controller has four parameters to be tuned. The complex order PI controller is designed by optimization using the metaheuristic Cohort Intelligence algorithm. The results are compared with that of a fractional-order PID controller. It was observed that the complex PI controller gave a better response than the FOPID controller and was more robust to parameter variations.