Circle-based criteria for performance evaluation of controlled dc-dc switching converters

An experimental method is proposed to estimate all design specifications represented by circles in the Nyquist plane (e.g., phase margin, sensitivity, and closed-loop bandwidth) in case of closed-loop dc/dc switching converters. The method is based on the complete root contour (CRC) analysis in the root locus plane. All typical specifications for controller design are experimentally checked in case of a boost converter, using only input/output data. The main innovation of this paper is the automatic and systematic application of the CRC method to controlled dc-dc converters. The classic relay-based structure for an experimental estimation of the critical parameters (autotune variation) is compared with a different technique, called sinusoidal autotune variation, more efficient in the case of nonlow-pass systems. Index Terms--Circle criteria, performance evaluation, phase margin, switching converters.