PHD-EE THESIS DEFENSE "ADVANCED ROBUST HYBRID NONLINEAR CONTROL STRATEGIES FOR DC MICROGRID AND ELECTRIC VEHICLE SYSTEMS"
Date: March 13, 2026 Time: 09:00 AM Location: EE Reading Room
Speaker: Hafiz Mian Muhammad Adil Supervisor: Dr. Hassan Abbas Khan
Global concerns over the environment and climate change have led to an increased focus on greener and more sustainable energy and mobility solutions. In this regard, Direct Current Microgrids (DCMGs) and Electric Vehicles (EVs) are likely to contribute significantly towards the transition to renewable-based systems and in reducing dependence on fossil fuels. The seamless integration of renewable energy sources and the sustainable operation of DCMGs and EVs depend on the operational performance of the power electronic interfaces involved in managing the energy exchange among renewable sources, energy storage devices, and power loads. However, these systems face uncertainties such as source intermittencies, load variations, and external disturbances, necessitating the use of robust control strategies. As power electronic interfaces belong to the class of switched dynamical systems, modern control methods such as backstepping, sliding mode, and synergetic control are preferred over classical control approaches. In this thesis, based on four hybrid approaches that merge the features of different nonlinear control methods, several novel hybrid nonlinear control strategies are proposed for converter-dominated DCMG and EV systems. These strategies incorporate a range of advancements, including integral action, non-singular fast terminal macro-variables, barrier-based adaptation, and tangent-function-based switching. Together, these enhancements lead to improved system dynamics, including faster settling times, minimal steady-state error, and robustness to uncertainties under various operating conditions. The first part of this thesis presents novel hybrid nonlinear control strategies that integrate supertwisting sliding mode control and synergetic control for Constant Power Load (CPL)-fed converter systems in DCMGs, which often suffer from instability due to negative incremental impedance characteristics. The second part evaluates these hybrid nonlinear control approaches for on-board and off-board power converter systems, enabling multi-mode operations in EVs, including Grid-to-Vehicle (G2V), Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G), Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V), and Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) operations. The final part focuses on the design and application of hybrid nonlinear control strategies combining supertwisting sliding mode, backstepping, and synergetic control methods for the seamless integration of Hybrid Energy Storage Systems (HESSs) in DCMGs and EVs. The performance of the proposed novel control strategies is validated through both simulation and Controller Hardware-in-the-Loop (CHIL) experiments, with their parameters tuned using metaheuristic algorithms, thereby eliminating the need for empirical adjustments. Overall, this work advances hybrid nonlinear control strategies for improving the operational performance of DCMGs and EVs, contributing to a more eco-friendly and sustainable energy and mobility ecosystem.
13
Mar
Date: March 13, 2026
Time: 09:00 AM
Location: EE Reading Room
Speaker: Hafiz Mian Muhammad Adil
Supervisor: Dr. Hassan Abbas Khan