Abstract
Sliding mode control (SMC) has emerged as a robust and adaptive strategy for grid-tied inverters. It has unique attributes which make it an appropriate control choice under increasingly complex power systems. However, there are a limited number of review articles which comprehensively explore the true potential of SMC for grid-tied inverter applications. This systematic review has been structured to explore SMC techniques with respect to certain challenges, i.e., stability challenges, unbalanced conditions, low inertia scenarios, and harmonics distortion. The classification of various SMC techniques is presented with respect to their control law and sliding surfaces design. The comparative analysis indicates the dominance of artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted control systems, which represent a paradigm shift in modern-era control systems. Key performance matrices, i.e., total harmonics distortion (THD) reduction, tracking accuracy, and response time, etc. are compared across various SMC techniques. Moreover, this review identifies possible research gaps regarding the conceptual integration of quantum computing with SMC. Furthermore, several future directions are presented in this article to make SMC more robust and reliable for the next generation of AI-dominated grid-tied inverter applications.
Keywords
AI-based controllers, grid-tied inverter, hybrid SMC strategies, islanding resilience, low-inertia grids, quantum computing, sliding mode control, weak grid conditions
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
7-1-2026
Article Number
3052
Volume
19
Issue
13
Publication Title
Energies
Publisher
MDPI
School
School of Engineering
RAS ID
99679
Funding Information
This research work was supported and funded by School of Engineering, Edith Cowan University, Australia and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia under grant number G1007461.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Gondal, T. M., Aziz, A., Habibi, D., & Ahmad, I. (2026). Sliding mode control in grid-tied inverters: Techniques, applications, and future directions. Energies, 19(13), Article 3052. https://doi.org/10.3390/en19133052