A Load Adaptive Cascade PI Controller for Buck Converters Operating in Wide Load Range in Cathodic Protection Systems

This paper proposes a simple cascade PI controller for Buck converter to be used in impressed current cathodic protection (ICCP) systems which aim to operate in wide voltage and current ranges for any load condition. The Buck converter with cascade controller structure is a frequently used topology in ICCP systems to prevent buried steel pipelines from corrosion. Changes in the environment in which the pipe is embedded force the converter to operate at wide load and voltage ranges. However, in average current mode controllers, the gain of the current loop varies significantly with the load. At light loads, the inner current loop slows down dramatically and may stay behind the outer voltage loop. In order to solve these issues and to maintain the regulation of the pipeline voltage and the average load current, this paper presents a simple cascade PI controller whose coefficients are adapted to the changing load. The small signal analysis of the Buck converter in both continuous conduction mode (CCM) and discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) is performed and variables determining the transfer characteristics are examined. For the proposed controller, a design criteria based on circuit parameters have been established. With the parameters obtained by the proposed method, a sample cascade controller is designed and compared with classical PI controller in simulation. Also, a digitally controlled 100-W converter prototype is built to validate the performance.