Basic Principles of MPC for Power Converters: Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Practice

This article presents the basic principles of operation for model predictive control (MPC), a control methodology that opens a new world of opportunities. MPC is a powerful technique that can fulfill the increased performance and higher efficiency demands of power converters today. The main features of this technique are presented as well as the MPC strategy and basic elements. The two main MPC methods for power converters [continuous-control-set MPC (CCS-MPC) and finite-control-set MPC (FCS-MPC)] are described, and their application to a voltage-source inverter (VSI) is shown to illustrate their capabilities. This article tries to bridge the gap between the powerful but sometimes abstract techniques developed by researchers in the control community and the empirical approach of power electronics practitioners.