Linear-Non-Linear Control (LnLc) for DC-DC Buck

Converters: Stability and Transient Response

Analysis.
A. Barrado, A. Lzaro, J. Pleite, R. Vzquez, J. Vzquez, E. Olas.
Power Electronics System Group (GSEP)
Departamento de Tecnologa Electrnica
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Avda. de la Universidad 30, 28911, Legans, Madrid, SPAIN
Tel.: 34-91-6249188 FAX: 34-91-6249430
E-mail: barrado@ing.uc3m.es
www.uc3m.es/gsep
Abstract Power supplies for last generation of microprocessors
and DSPs must present low output voltage and fast transient
response. The Linear-Non-Linear control (LnLc control) was
presented as a solution to improve the transient response in DCDC buck converters. However, once the LnLc control has been
analyzed, other important performances have been found such
us, improving the stability of the system, improving the
efficiency, reducing of the recovery time, making independent the
bandwidth and the switching frequency; reaching all these
performances with an easy implementation.
In this paper, the features of the Linear-Non-Linear control are
described. It will be shown, how the LnLc improves the stability
of a DC-DC buck converter modifying the open loop gain and
phase as a function of the load current steps. To show this
behavior the control transfer function (GLnLc) has been deduced.
Several experimental results have been obtained in a
synchronous rectifier buck converter to check its behavior. Thus,
the novel LnLc control has been compared with the conventional
voltage control under different conditions. Finally, the control
transfer function has been obtained experimentally.
Keywords: DC-DC converter, fast transient response, low
output voltage, high current slew rate, Linear-Non-Linear control,
stability.

I. INTRODUCTION
Last generation of Microprocessors and DSPs require high
current slew rates, fast transient response together with low
output voltage [1]. Different solutions have been presented in
recent years [2-3]. Regarding with the transient response, some
of them are based on improving the linear control [4] and other
solutions introduce the non-linear control. Among the nonlinear solutions two different ways can be distinguished. Those
in which the non-linear control operates all the time like
hysteresis control and V2 control [5], and those in which the
non-linear control works in a short period of time. Finally, this
last way can be implemented either modifying the power block
[6] or modifying the control gain [7].

0-7803-8269-2/04/$17.00 (C) 2004 IEEE.

1329

The Linear-Non-Linear control belongs to those converters

in which the Non Linear control works in a short period of
time, along the switching period, modifying the control gain of
the converter.
This type of control, its operation and theirs applications
were presented in several papers [8-9]. In this paper the
stability of the LnLc control under fixed load conditions and
under load currents steps will be studied. To achieve this goal,
the small signal transfer function of the LnLc control has been
obtained using the Describing Function Method.
Finally, a battery of experimental results will be presented
to verify the analytical results.
II. LNLC CONTROL FEATURES
The LnLc control tries to combine the best features of the
slow linear controls (voltage mode control and the current
mode controls), and the fast non-linear controls (hysteretic
control and V2 control). These advantages can be summarized
as follow: Good load and line regulation in steady-state
operation; low output voltage ripple; switching frequency
independent of the filter parasitics; optimized transient
response under load current steps; transient response
independent of the load current steps amplitude; good stability
in transient-state operation; and easy to design and to
implement.
Regarding the transient response under load current steps,
the aim of the LnLc control is to obtain, in the converter, the
final current value from the previous steady-state current value
as soon as possible, once a load current step appears.
In Fig. 1a and 1b, the behavior of a strictly linear control
and a Non-linear control is shown, respectively, applied on a
typical Buck converter. A strictly linear control is that, in
which the saturation of the duty cycle only can be got during a
brief instant of time; therefore an analysis by means of classical
techniques for linear control can be applied. However, the Nonlinear control requires specific techniques for Non-linear
systems.

In any case, analyzing the Fig. 1, the equation (1) can be

obtained for a buck converter:

Vi
L

(d (t ) D ) dt

M1

(1)

V0

Vi

IL(t) represents the inductor current variation as a function

of the time. Vi represents the input voltage. L is the inductance
of the Buck converter, d(t) is the duty cycle as a function of the
time. D0 is the duty cycle before the load current step (nominal
duty cycle).

+
-

M2

Driver

Z2

_
Q

Pulse Modulator
Comp.

Io

R
1

1
D0
DL

D0

IL

IL

ULT

V0

VRef

Threshold
Logic
ULT
UHT

Non-Linear Control

(a)

UHT

(b)

IL

Figure 2. Synchronous rectification buck converter and blocks diagram of

the Linear-Non Linear Control.

t=0

+
Error Amp.

Linear Control

Duty Cycle
Saturation
Logic
0

Z1

_+

(d (t ) D0 )dt

d(t)

L/NL

DH

Q
S

Multiplexor

d(t)
1

Ro

+
_

I L (t ) =

Fig. 3), the Threshold Logic block set the multiplexer selection
input (L/NL) to 0 and the linear control regulates the converter.

(a)
But, if output voltage exceeds the limits, the input L/NL is
set to 1 and the converter results under a Non-linear control
(Fig. 3d). The Duty Cycle Saturation Logic block forces to 1
the duty cycle if LT is surpassed, and set the duty cycle to 0 if
output voltage is above the higher threshold, HT (see figures 3c
and 3d).

Io

d(t)
1

(1 D ) dt

d(t)

D0

IL

IL

The Non-linear control block operates on the output of the

control circuit, figure 2; therefore, the Non-linear control
circuitry does not modify the voltage of the regulator capacitors
(Z1 and Z2 in the linear control). These voltages only evolve
according to output voltage. So no instability is produced when
output voltage returns under the level HT or LT and the linear
control has to regulate the converter again.

IL
t

t=0

(b)
Figure 1. Duty Cycle waveform under a positive load current step in
a typical Buck converter. a) Linear Control Without Saturation. b)
LnLc Control.

iO

Taking into account, the gray areas shown in figure 1 are

equal, and represent the integral in equation 1, it is possible to
obtain that, for identical conditions, a Buck converter with
LnLc control completes the gray area, fig. 1b, in less time that
the same Buck converter with a Linear control, fig. 1a. This is
due to the LnLc control saturates the duty cycle from the
instant of the load current step beginning to the instant in which
the inductor current reaches the new final value.

a)

How the duty cycle change suddenly in LnLc control, this

one can be classified like a Non-linear control.

c)

III.

PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION OF THE LNLC CONTROL

vO

1330

HT

b)
LT

d)

In Fig. 2a a synchronous rectifier buck converter with LnLc

control is represented. The LnLc combines a linear and a Nonlinear control. While output voltage remains inside the
threshold band, between the levels HT and LT (gray band in

(Nominal value)

duty cycle
D
L / NL

Figure 3. Multiplexer selection input (L/NL), duty cycle and output voltage
evolution under load current steps.

Definitively, this type of control tries to get two main goals:

good stability and low voltage ripple when the load current is
fixed, as well as a fast transient response and stability, under
load current steps.

B1 ( ) =

2
2 Vi
1 Use
2
2
2
2
Use Eo Use + Eo Use
G L ( ) cos( ) Eo sin
Eo

E 0

(7)
and is the phase introduced by the linear gain GL(j).

SMALL-SIGNAL TRANSFER FUNCTION

IV.

Verror
Use
0

A. Describing Function Method

In order to analyze the LnLc control the Describing
Function Method has been selected [10]. This method is
applied a Non-Linear systems.

Uie

Taking into account these definitions, it is possible to

obtain the describing function of the LnLc control (GLnLc(s))
[11]. This function represents the LnLc control gain when
Eo>Use and Eo<Uie, and therefore when Vo is out the
threshold band.
G LnLc ( s ) =

A1 ( ) 2 + B1 ( ) 2

EoVi

Verror
where:

A1
B1

1 = tan 1

j1

+1

-1

2-1

2
t

dLnLc
1
D L0
0

(b)

dLnLc
1
DL0

Uie

0 Use

Verror

(c)
Figure 4.

a) Control block Input voltage. b) Duty cycle. c) Transfer

function of the LnLc control block

In Fig. 5 the GLnLc(s) plot is shown. From this figure some

conclusions can be obtained. When Vo goes out the threshold
band, because a load current step appears, the Non-linear
control of the LnLc control is activated. This is equivalent to
say that Eo>Use (Eo/Use>1). For these conditions, the LnLc
control reacts increasing the modulus of the gain and
decreasing the phase of the gain.
GLnLc (s)
1
Use

GL (s)
0

(a)

Basically, the Describing Function Method tries to obtain

the describing function, which is a linear function that depends
on the input amplitude and the frequency. This function can be
treated as a linear function for the analysis and it provides an
approximation to the behavior of the Non-Linear system. To
get this, it is assumed that the input to the Non-Linear system is
a sine with amplitude EO and frequency . The output of the
non-linear system is then a periodic function, in which only the
first sinusoidal component (the fundamental) of the Fourier
series is used to define the describing function gain. For the
application presented in this paper, the Describing Function
Method is enough accurate, easy to apply and the results give
clear information about the circuit.
B. LnLc Small Signal Transfer Function
In order to study the LnLc small signal transfer function has
been needed to define some parameters such as: Use and Uie
which represent the normalization of UHT and ULT with respect
to Vo, respectively (see fig.2, 3 and 4, Use=UHT-Vo; Uie=ULTVo; usually Use=Uie); and V error ( t ) = Eo sin( t ) (2). In Fig.
4b and 4c the duty cycle variation can be seen. Also, it is
defined G L ( ) = A( s ) Fm (3), where GL() is the linear
control gain while Verror is between Use and Uie
(Uie<Eo<Use); A(s) is the amplifier error and compensation
gain; and Fm the modulator gain.

Eo

(4)

Eo
Use

1
0

1 < 0

(5)

Eo
Use
2

A1() and B1() represent the sin(nt) amplitude and

cos(nt) amplitude for the first harmonic in Fourier Series. Its
value is:
2G L ( )Vi sin( ) 2
1 Use
2
2
A1 ( ) =
+ Uie Eo Use
Eo sin
Eo
Eo

(6)

1331

<0

Figure 5. Modulus and phase of the LnLc control gain versus normalized
error , Ec.(4). a) Modulus. b) Phase (<0).

As consequence, the gain of the system increases reacting

drastically against the perturbation, and at the same time, it

reduces the phase, increasing the Phase Margin, and improving

the stability of the whole converter. For Eo/Use<2, the
modulus of the LnLc gain increases since the duty cycle
contributed by the Non-Linear control is higher than the duty
cycle contributed by the linear control, saturating the duty cycle
to 1. However, if Eo/Use>2, the modulus of the gain decrease
due to GLnLc() is inversely proportional to Eo, (see Ec.4, 6 and
7), being from Eo/Use=2 the prevailing effect.
V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

TABLE I.

Vi

THE MAIN DESIGN PARAMETERS OF THE PROTOTYPES.

iO
C

S2

RL

250 kHz
7 H
10 mF
5V
1.5 V
16A
21A

OUTPUT CAPACITOR (C)

INPUT VOLTAGE
OUTPUT VOLTAGE
MAXIMUM LOAD CURRENT STEP
MAXIMUM LOAD CURRENT

Vref
0

Linear Control
1

Non Linear Control

Duty Cycle
SaturationReset Logic

CONTROL

As was to be expected, with stable converter the output

voltage ripple is very low, figure 8a. However, with a unstable
converter the output voltage ripple is huge, 0.6V over 1.5V,
figure 8b.
30mV

Vo
Vo

The BL converter has been shown in figure 6. The BLnL

converter is composed by the same circuit shown in figure 6
but adding the Non-Linear control, figure 7.
L

RL

VO

BUCK

Driver

Io

iO
C

S2

Vi

0.6V

Vo

Z2

Z1

Vo

Vref

CONTROL

Threshold
Logic

Figure 7. Buck converter with the proposed Linear-non-Linear control:

BLnL

In order to check the performances of the linear-Non-linear

control, the buck converter prototype has been tested with two
different controls. So, experimental results are presented for
two cases: Buck converter with a conventional Linear control:
BL; Buck converter with the proposed Linear-non-Linear
control: BLnL.

S1

Z2

Z1

Driver

L / NL

SWITCHING FREQUENCY
MAIN INDUCTANCE (L)

VO

BUCK

MUX

A synchronous rectification buck converter has been built

with the specifications shown in table I.

S1

Io

Linear Control

Figure 6. Buck converter with a conventional Linear control: BL.

Figure 8 shows the output voltage ripple, the output voltage

and the load current waveforms, in a buck converter with linear
control, BL, (fig.6) and with load current fixed. Figure 8a
indicates these waveforms when Z1 and Z2 have been chosen to
do the converter stable. Figure 8b indicates the obtained
waveforms when Z1 and Z2 have been chosen to do the
converter unstable.

1332

Figure 8. Output voltage ripple, output voltage and output current, with fixed
load current. a) Stable control in BL. b) Unstable control in BL.

Figure 9 shows the output voltage ripple, the output voltage

and the load current waveforms, in a buck converter with
linear-non-linear control, BLnL, (fig.7), and with load current
fixed.

The figure 9a presents the obtained waveforms for the same

Z1 and Z2 used to obtain the plot shown in figure 8b, and
therefore, with a linear control unstable. It is possible to see,
that the output voltage ripple has been drastically reduced
(more than 20 times), due the Non-Linear control operation.
30mV

Vo

30mV

Vo

Vo

Io

Vo
a

Io

Vo

30mV

Vo

Vo

30mV

Io

Vo
b

Io

Figure 10. Output voltage ripple, output voltage and output current, with
load current steps. a) Slow control in BL. b) Slow control in BLnL.

Figure 9. Output voltage ripple, output voltage and output current, with
fixed load current. a) BLnL with Unstable Linear control. b) BLnL without
compensator in Linear control.

Vo

30mV

Vo

To validate the important influence of the Non-Linear

control, the Z1 impedance has been removed. If Z1 is removed,
then the error amplifier in the linear control works like a
comparator. The obtained waveforms are shown in figure 9b.
Even with these conditions, the output voltage ripple fulfills
specifications (30mV). In this case, the LnLc control operates
like a hysteretic control.
Therefore, these figures show that if the Non-linear control
is added to the linear control, creating the LnLc control, the
converter is stabilized, keeping the output voltage ripple inside
the 2%, even in the most unfavorable case, Fig. 9b, without
compensator.

Io
a

Vo

30mV

Vo

In figures 10 and 11, the BL and BLnL converters are

compared when load current steps are applied in the outputs.
Firstly, we can notice in figure 10, that if the linear
compensator (Z1, Z2) has been selected to obtain a slow control
with a small bandwidth, the BL converter presents high spikes
when the load current change, figure 10a. However, with the
same compensator, the BLnL converter reacts quickly, due the
Non-Linear Control, reaching an important reduction of both
the peak voltage and the time of the spikes.

1333

Io
b

Figure 11. Output voltage ripple, output voltage and output current, with
load current steps. a) Fast control in BL. b) Fast control in BLnL.

The waveforms shown in figure 11 have been obtained with

a linear compensator (Z1, Z2), which provides a fast control
with a bigger bandwidth. The obtained respond in both cases
are similar, although a little bit better for the BLnL converter.

Vo

0.6V

The circuit shown in figure 13 has been built to check the

equation (4), GLnLc(s). The linear control, the non-linear
control, and a signal conditioner amplifier compose this circuit.
The goals of the signal conditioner amplifier are: providing a
modulus and a phase depending of the frequency; and inverting
the input signal, since the UC3843A does not allow to accede
to the error amplifier positive input.
100

|GLnLc |

Vo

Theoretical

10

Io

Measured
1

0.1

0.1

10

Eo/Use

100

1000

100

1000

Vo

30mV

0.01

GLnLc

Theoretical

-20

Vo

Measured

-40

-60

Io

-80
0.01

These figures have shown that the bandwidth of the linear

control does not affect to the transient response of the converter
when LnLc is used. Furthermore, it has been proved, that
although the linear control design was unstable, the whole
system gets to be stabilized if the Non Linear control is added.

Comp.

Linear Control

-20

Plot
1
2
3
4
5
6

11
1.001
1.01
1.001
1.1
2

2
6

fc

103

Frecuency (Hz))

104

105

PWM

Multiplexor
6

UC3843A

6
4

-50

-100

L/NL
Threshold
Logic

+_

Usup
Uinf

E o Use

100

_
+

R3

20

-40

Error Amp.

VRef

40

Phase ( L LnLc(s)) (Grados)

60

R4
_+

Verror

Figure 15 represents the theoretical Bode plots obtained of

the BLnL converter, shown in fig. 7, as a function of the
normalized error, and using the checked GLnLc(s) gain.

(db)

Waveforms in figure 12 shown the obtained respond if in

both converters (BL and BLnL) Z1 is removed. In the BL
converter oscillations are produced, and therefore specification
are not fulfill. However, the obtained waveforms in the BLnL
converter are very close to the waveforms shown in figure 11b,
when a fast control is used.

R2

10

E
Eo/Use

The obtained results are shown in figure 14. This figure

shows how the theoretical and measured modulus and phase of
the LnLc control gain versus normalized error (Eo/Use) are
very close. By means of these results the equation (4) is
validated.

||LLnLc(s)|

Figure 12. Output voltage ripple, output voltage and output current, with
load current steps. a) Unstable BL. b) BLnL with Unstable linear control.

R1 _

Figure 14. Modulus and phase of the LnLc control gain versus normalized
error: Theoretical and Measured.

C1

0.1

Duty Cycle
Saturation
Logic

No-Linear Control

-150

-180

< -180

-200
102

103

10 4

105

Frecuency ( Hz))

Figure 13. Circuit built to test the GLnLc(s) gain (equation 4)

Figure 15. Theoretical Bode plot of the BLnL converter (figure 7).

1334

In this figure the stabilizer effect of the LnLc can be

noticed. From an unstable system, plot 1, with Eo/Use<1
(phase margin lower than zero), the system becomes stable
when the Eo/Use>1, plots 2 to 6, coinciding with the obtained
theoretical and measured results, figure 14.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, the main features of the Linear-Non-Linear
control have been presented. The LnLc control tries to combine
the best performances of the slow linear controls (voltage mode
control and the current mode controls), and the fast non-linear
controls (hysteretic control and V2 control). Also, the operation
principle has been described.
The usefulness of the describing function method in order
to obtain the describing function has been presented. The
describing function is a linear function that represents the LnLc
control. On the describing function can be applied the classical
linear stability techniques, allowing to study the LnLc control
from the stability point of view. The obtained experimental
results have validated the theoretical results.
From the analysis of this function and the experimental
results the following conclusions have been obtained: when the
Vo is inside the threshold band the LnLc control works like a
linear control, keeping the converter stability and low output
voltage ripple; when the Vo goes out the threshold band, the
LnLc control reacts drastically against the perturbation
produced by the load current steps, removing it, and, at the
same time, improving the stability of the whole converter. If
the converter with linear control becomes a little bit unstable
the LnLc control is able to stabilize it; if the converter with
linear control becomes totally unstable the LnLc control is able
to stabilize it, operating like a hysteretic control.
In conclusion, the LnLc reduces the output voltage recovery
time; and it improves the transient response making it
independent of the linear control bandwidth. Furthermore, this
type of control guarantees the stability of the converter under
load current steps, derating, and bad designs of the linear
control. Finally, its implementation is very easy.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work has been supported by the Ministry of Science
and Technology (Spain) by means of the research project
ALDIRA (Code of PN: DPI2001-0748).

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[5]

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