MCU Controlled DC-DC Buck/Boost Converter for Supercapacitors

Sammanfattning: This work is focused on DC to DC conversion, what is a crucial function to enable the use of supercapacitors for energy storage. A theoretical study and comparison of methods, algorithms and techniques for software controlled DC-DC converters have been used to develop a system what can step up or down a DC variable voltage and transform it into a steady state voltage. As a result a new control theory based on Bang-Bang control has been developed with an ARM LPC1768 processor. It was implemented to solve the commercial converters problems because they cannot work with supercapacitors due to their low internal resistance. The outcome is a device what can provide a programmable voltage between 4.5 V and 25 V, hardware can support up to 6 A and it is able to control the operating current owing through the converter. It can be used with the supercapacitors as shown in this work but it can also be used as a general platform for voltage and energy conversion. Furthermore, the designed hardware has the potential to work with smart grids via Ethernet connector, solar panels with MPPT algorithms and, at last, manage energy between dierent kinds of DC voltage sources and devices.