Single Stage Solar PV Array Fed Field Oriented

Controlled Induction Motor Drive for Water Pump

Utkarsh Sharma, Shailendra Dwivedi and Chinmay Jain and Bhim Singh
Electrical Engineering Department
Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi
Email: utkarsh.kota@hotmail.com, er.dwivedi88@gmail.com
chinmay31jain@gmail.com and bsingh@ee.iitd.ac.in

Abstract—This paper deals with three phase induction
motor drive (IMD) using field oriented control (FOC)
for water pumping fed by solar PV array. It is includes
solar PV array, a voltage source inverter (VSI) and a
motor-pump assembly. The aim is to extract maximum
power from the PV array as well as control the mo-
tor in rotor reference frame. The soft start feature is
used for the initial start-up of pump. For extraction of
maximum power, an adaptive incremental conductance
method is used. The tangent of the power versus voltage
curve is tracked for good estimation of maximum power
point(MPP). The vector control provides smooth start-
up and starting current is reduced. Proposed system is
designed and simulated in MATLAB/Simulink software.
Simulated results are demonstrated for verification of the
system.
Index Terms—MPPT, solar PV, field oriented control,
water pumping
I. I NTRODUCTION
With rampant utilization of fossil fuels, there
has been a need for exploration of renewable en-
ergy sources. Wind and solar energy are the most
suitable candidates for the replacement of conven-
tional energy sources [1]. Solar energy is cheap
and abundant in Indian subcontinent and can be
utilized in stand-alone systems effectively. In rural
areas which fall short of electricity or where grid is
unpredictable, solar energy can be used for stand-
alone water pumping systems. Recently there has
been a lot of emphasis on solar PV fed irrigation,
industrial and household pumping systems [2]–[8].
Up till now due to the high investment cost of
solar PV panels, their application was quite slow.
Major difficulty with the SPVs is the non linear
power versus voltage characteristics. It depends on
many aspects such as PV structure, solar radiation,
and ambient temperature. Moreover, the overall effi-
ciency of the system is quite low. However, recently
Indian government has started giving substantial
amount of subsidies for solar photo-voltaic water
pumping systems. Despite of the low irradiation to
power output ratio SPVs are now being utilized
for standalone applications. Efficient MPP track-
ing algorithm help to overcome the characteristic
problems of the SPVs. There have been online and
offline tracking algorithms for MPPT [9]–[13]. Most
effective online is the adaptive incremental conduc-
tance method (AINC). In this work a cost effective
solution for solar PV based water pumping system
has been presented. It consists of solar PV array, a
voltage source converter, dc link capacitor and three
phase IMD. Solar PV array is built up using series
and parallel connections for matching the required
power, voltage and current rating of the motor. Here
a voltage source inverter(VSI) directly converts DC
power to AC power, thereby eliminating an interme-
diate DC-DC converter and its cost. It also makes
the whole system size is reduced since there is no
inductor. Three phase IMD is used because of its
simple, cheap, rugged and brushless construction. It
can withstand harsh atmospheric conditions as well.
It is operated using vector control which improvises
its performance over the scaler variable frequency
drive [14]–[17]. MPP is tracked by decreasing the
frequency in current source region and increasing
the frequency in voltage source region. In the
first section, basic introduction is given indicating
the importance and utility of SPV water pumping
system. Section two presents the design of the
components of the system followed by third section
which constitutes the proposed control scheme. In
section four simulated results and characteristics are Voc = 32.9 V Short circuit current of one cell is as
presented and discussed. Section five concludes the Isc = 8.21 A, Therefore
paper with merits of the proposed system.
N s = Vocpanel /Voccell = 400/32.9 ' 12 modules
II. D ESIGN OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM (3)
Current of the module is determined by
System configuration is shown in Fig. 1 for the
SPV based water pumping system. It consists of Impp = Pmpp /(0.8 × Voc ) = 7.41 A (4)
solar PV array followed by VSI and three phase
IMD. An adaptive incremental conductance method The PV modules connected in parallel are calculated
searches for the MPP which decides the reference as,
speed for the vector control algorithm.
Impp = Np × Isc , thus Np = 1 module (5)
So connecting 12 modules in series and 1 modules
S1 S3 S5
in parallel, a 2.4 kW solar PV array is designed.
A
B IM Pump
The designed data are given in Appendix.
Cdc
C
Solar PV
S4 S6 S2

ia ,ib, ic
B. Design of DC Link Capacitor
MPPT
Vpv Ipv
6 to S1 to S6
The DC bus capacitor is estimated as
Speed Sensor
Algorithm
Hysteresis
Controller
1
isd*
ia*,ib*,ic* Cdc [Vdc2 − Vdc1
2
] = 3αV It (6)
abc
2
4 Lr dq
3PL2misd
ω* isq* 1
⇒ Cdc [4002 − 3752 ] = 3 ∗ 1.2 ∗ 133 ∗ 8.2 ∗ 0.005
ωactual 2
Cdc = 2023 µF
Fig. 1. Field oriented control scheme with Solar PV source
where Vdc is the reference DC bus voltage of VSI,
α is the overloading factor , Vdc1 is minimum DC
A. Design of Solar PV Generator link voltage, I is the per phase current of IMD and
For this work, a three phase induction motor of t is the time duration in which voltage reduces to
2.2 kW power rating is selected. The solar array minimum allowable DC link voltage. The capacitor
is designed for a 2.4 kW peak power capacity value is selected as 2000 µF.
considering losses in the system. Maximum power C. Design of the pump
that can be drawn from the system is
For a centrifugal pump proportionality constant
Pmp = (Ns ∗ Vmp ) × (Np ∗ Imp ) = 2.4 kW (1) is given as
TL
where Vmpp is the voltage of a module at MPP, K pump = (7)
ωr2
Impp is the current of a module at MPP, Pmpp is the
maximum power of a module at MPP and Ns and TL is the rated torque offered by the three phase
Np are series and parallel connected PV modules. IMD and ωr is the rated rotational speed of the rotor
It has been observed that Voc and Isc at peak power in rad/sec. Rated torque of the motor is 14.69 N-m
are 85% of its original values [18]. The Pmpp is and rated speed is 149.79 rad/sec. Therefore, Kpump
generally achieved under this condition as, is as,
14.69
Pmp = Ns ∗0.85×Voc ∗Np ∗0.85×Isc = 2.4 kW (2) Kpump = = 6.55 ∗ 10−4 N − m/(rad/s)2
149.792
Designing the open circuit voltage of the panel as Using above calculation proportionality constant is
400 V. The open circuit voltage of single module is selected to be 6.55 × 10−4 N − m/(rad/s)2
III. C ONTROL SCHEME FOR PROPOSED SYSTEM Maximum Power
Point
Power
dP
The proposed system is a single stage sys- 0
dV
tem which consists of only one power converter. Current source Voltage source
region
Here two algorithms are implemented for maximum region

power point tracking (MPPT) and FOC of the cage dP dP

0 0
dV dV
IM respectively. MPPT algorithm calculates the
reference speed to be fed into FOC algorithm and
which inturn determines the switching strategy for
the VSI.
Voltage

A. Adaptive Incremental Conductance method for

Fig. 2. Incremental Conductance approach utilizing the slope of P-V
MPPT tracking curve
Solar PV array has non-linear power versus volt-
age characteristics. There have been various online Start

as well as offline tracking algorithms in the literature Read Vpv(k), Ipv(k),Vpv(k-1),

[13]. The simplest method is perturb and observe Ipv(k-1),F(k)

mechanism. In this method, the reference quantity

which can be voltage, duty ratio or frequency is Calculate dP, dV, dI

perturbed until there is a positive change in the

power. It suffers from inefficient performance at No
dP>0

MPP due to continuous perturbation and power loss Yes

associated with it. AINC method takes advantage dV>0

Yes dV>0
Yes
of the varying tangent of the power versus voltage No No

curve. The slope of the curve is zero, negative and dI>0

Yes
dI>0
Yes
dI>0
Yes
dI>0
Yes
No No No
positive at MPP, right side and left side of MPP No

Fref=F Fref=F-∆f
respectively. Fref=F-∆f Fref=F+∆f

Pk = Vk × Ik (8)
Fref=F-∆f Fref=F Fref=F+∆f Fref=F+∆f

dP dIk
= Ik + Vk ∗ =0 (9)
dVk dVk Fig. 3. Frequency change according to the INC algorithm

from above equation it is clear that at MPP the slope

of the P-V characteristic should be zero. B. Field oriented control of IMD
dIk Ik Torque reference Tr∗ is derived from the error in
=− (10)
dVk Vk reference speed and actual speed of the IMD. The
where Vk and Ik are the instantaneous voltage and actual speed can be sensed from tachogenerator or
currents. In Fig. 2 on the right side of MPP, slope is can be estimated from sensorless algorithms. Differ-
negative which suggests that dV dIk
< − VIkk and on the ence in both the speeds is fed to PI controller which
k
dIk minimizes the error and provides torque reference.
left side slope is positive meaning dV k
> − VIkk . At
∗ ∗
MPP slope is zero means that dV dIk
= − VIkk . Based on Te(n) = Te(n−1) +Kp [ωe(n) −ωe(n−1) ]+Ki ωe(n) (11)
k
the AINC approach Fig. 3 shows method to perturb where, K , K are proportional and integral gains
p i
the reference frequency to be given to FOC algo- of PI controller respectively. Current component
rithm. Inputs to the MPPT algorithm are sampled corresponding to the torque(ie∗ ) can be derived from
qs
PV voltage and current. Moreover, with decrease in the reference torque T ∗ which is the output of PI
e
slope the step in frequency is also reduced for better controller [16] as,
dynamic performance and minimizing power losses
∗
[19] as shown in Fig. 4. ie∗
qs = KT Te (12)
 Two phase stator currents (i∗α , i∗β ) are trans-
Frequency
Step size formed into three phase stator reference currents
F4 (i∗as , i∗bs , i∗cs ) using Clark’s transformation as,
F3 i∗as = i∗β (19)
F √
2
1 3 ∗
F1 i∗bs = − i∗β − i (20)
2 √ 2 α
S S S S
1 2 3 4
1 3 ∗
Slope of the PV curve i∗cs = − i∗β + i (21)
2 2 α
Fig. 4. Variation of step size with increase in slope These reference stator currents (i∗as , i∗bs , i∗cs ) and ac-
tual stator currents (ias , ibs , ics ) subtracted and the
error is given to hysteresis current controller. The
where KT = 3P4L r
Lm ψr
, Lr is inductance of rotor, P current controller generates the gating for the VSI
being the number of stator poles in drive, Lm is which eventually drives the motor.
the mutual inductance. ψr is the rated flux of the
motor. Component of the current corresponding to IV. R ESULTS AND D ISCUSSION
e∗
the stator input flux (ids ) is calculated by dividing The proposed configuration for pump extracting
the rated flux ψr with mutual inductance Lm of IM power from SPV array is modeled and simulated
as, in MATLAB/SIMULINK using simpower systems
e∗ ψr
ids = (13) toolbox. In this section, performance of the drive is
Lm analyzed in starting, steady state and with varying
At speeds higher than the rated synchronous speed solar radiation based on the simulated results. Sim-
of IM field weakening technique is used as, ulated results show that the systems performs quite
ωbase e satisfactorily.
ie∗
ds = i (14)
ωr∗ dsmax A. Starting characteristics of the system
At speeds higher than the synchronous speed of Starting characteristics of the solar PV fed IMD
motor, i∗sq increases and flux needs to be reduced are shown in Fig. 5. The DC link voltage of the
in order to reduce the stator current. This mode is system which is also the PV voltage is maintained
called field weakening thereby reducing the stress at maximum power point. The drive is fed power
on the motor winding. d-q axis currents which are from PV while extracting the maximum power from
rotating at synchronous speed (ie∗ e∗
ds , iqs ) are trans-
the PV array. The reference speed is decided by the
formed into stationary two phase stator reference MPPT algorithm and FOC controls the switching of
currents (i∗α , i∗β ) using inverse Park transformation VSI for the set reference speed at solar irradiation of
as, 1000 W/m2 . Soft starting is used upto the speed of
600 rpm, beyond which MPPT algorithm takes over
i∗α = −ie∗ e∗
qs sin θe + ids cos θe (15) the reference speed calculation. DC link voltage
i∗β = ie∗ e∗
qs cos θe + ids sin θe (16) stabilizes at 0.4 s to Vmp .
where, ωe is the speed of the rotor field and θe is B. Steady State Response of the System
the rotor-field angle with respect to the stator a-axis. Fig. 6 shows the steady state performance char-
Sum of rotor speed in electrical rad/sec and slip acteristics of the proposed system. The DC link
speed gives the ωe . θe can be found by integrating voltage and PV current are at its maximum value.
ωe . The Motor currents, torque, reference frequency,
Lm speed of drive are shown at steady state for a
ωsl = isq (17)
τ λrd radiation of 1000 W/m2 . The speed and torque of
Z Z the drive are determined by the power output from
θe = ωe dt = (ωr + ωsl ) dt = θr + θsl (18) the PV array.

Fig. 5. Starting Performance Characteristics of the System at 1000
W/m2
Fig. 6. Steady state performance response of the system at 1000
W/m2
C. Characteristics of the System with Varying Ra-
diation
In Figs. 7 and 8 radiation is decreased from 1000
W/m2 to 600 W/m2 and vice-versa. In Fig. 7 at
t = 3 s the radiation falls and current from PV
reduces while there is not much significant drop in
PV voltage. At low radiation, maximum power that
can be extracted becomes less and hence there is
a reduction in the reference frequency of the drive.
Since torque is a function of rotor speed, there is a
dip in the torque output, thereby reducing the water-
flow from pump. The motor currents maintain their
sinusoidal nature. In Fig. 8 at t = 6 s radiation in-
creases from 600 W/m2 to 1000 W/m2 . The torque,
speed and reference frequency again increases to
the values corresponding to 1000 W/m2 . Figs. (7 -
8) suggest that with varying radiation drive is able
to track the MPP hence feeding maximum possible
power from the PV array to motor.
Fig. 7. Radiation decrease characteristics of the system from 1000
W/m2 to 600 W/m2
V. C ONCLUSION
A single stage scheme for solar PV array fed
induction motor drive utilizing benefits of FOC
has been proposed. A novel approach based on
AINC for calculating the reference speed has been
implemented utilizing the curvature of the P-V
characteristic of solar PV array. SPV array has been
operated at maximum power even at variation in
the atmospheric conditions. The pump has been
modeled using affinity law and performance has
been simulated. Simulated results show that the
induction motor drive performs satisfactorily during
starting, dynamic and steady state conditions.

Fig. 8. Radiation increase characteristics of the system from 600
W/m2 to 1000 W/m2
A PPENDIX
A. Solar PV Array
Voc of the Array = 400 V. Isc of the Array = 8.21
A. Single module Voc = 32.9 V, Isc = 8.21 A, Vmp
= 26.3 V, Imp = 7.61 A, Number of series cell in
each module= 54, Ns = 12, Np = 1.
B. Induction motor parameters
2.2 kW(3HP), 230 V, 8.2 A, 50 Hz three phase,
1430 rpm, 4 pole, Rs = 0.603 Ω, Rr = 0.7 Ω, Xs =
1.007 Ω, Xr = 0.9212 Ω, Xm = 23.56 Ω.
R EFERENCES
[1] R. Foster, M. Ghassemi, and A. Cota, Solar energy: renewable
energy and the environment. CRC Press, 2009.
[2] S. Jain, A. K. Thopukara, R. Karampuri, and V. Somasekhar, “A
single-stage photovoltaic system for a dual-inverter-fed open-
end winding induction motor drive for pumping applications,”
IEEE Trans. on Pwr. Electron., vol. 30, no. 9, pp. 4809–4818,
2015.
[3] M. A. Razzak, A. S. K. Chowdhury, and K. Salam, “Induction
motor drive system using push-pull converter and three-phase
spwm inverter fed from solar photovoltaic panel,” in Pwr
and Energy Systems Conf.: Towards Sustainable Energy, 2014.
IEEE, 2014, pp. 1–6.
[4] J. V. Mapurunga Caracas, G. de Carvalho Farias, L. F. Mor-
eira Teixeira, and L. A. de Souza Ribeiro, “Implementation of
a high-efficiency, high-lifetime, and low-cost converter for an
autonomous photovoltaic water pumping system,” IEEE Trans.
on Pwr. Electron., vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 631–641, 2014.
[5] R. Kumar and B. Singh, “Bldc motor driven solar pv array fed
water pumping system employing zeta converter,” in 2014 IEEE
6th India Int. Conference on Pwr Electron. (IICPE). IEEE,
2014, pp. 1–6.
[6] N. B. Yousuf, K. M. Salim, R. Haider, M. R. Alam, and F. B.
Zia, “Development of a three phase induction motor controller
for solar powered water pump,” in 2012 2nd Int. Conf. on the
Developments in Renewable Energy Tech. (ICDRET). IEEE,
2012, pp. 1–5.
[7] S. Bhat, A. Pittet, and B. Sonde, “Performance optimization
of induction motor-pump system using photovoltaic energy
source,” IEEE Trans. on Ind. App., no. 6, pp. 995–1000, 1987.
[8] E. Muljadi, “Pv water pumping with a peak-power tracker using
a simple six-step square-wave inverter,” IEEE Trans. on Ind.
App., vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 714–721, 1997.
[9] B. Subudhi and R. Pradhan, “A comparative study on maxi-
mum power point tracking techniques for photovoltaic power
systems,” IEEE Trans. on Sust. Energy, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 89–98,
2013.
[10] G. J. Kish, J. J. Lee, and P. Lehn, “Modelling and control
of photovoltaic panels utilising the incremental conductance
method for maximum power point tracking,” IET Renewable
Pwr. Gen., vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 259–266, 2012.
[11] Y. Jiang, J. A. A. Qahouq, T. Haskew et al., “Adaptive step size
with adaptive-perturbation-frequency digital mppt controller for
a single-sensor photovoltaic solar system,” IEEE Trans. on Pwr.
Electron., vol. 28, no. 7, pp. 3195–3205, 2013.
[12] S. Zhang, Z. Xu, Y. Li, and Y. Ni, “Optimization of mppt step
size in stand-alone solar pumping systems,” in IEEE Pwr. Engg.
Soc. Gen. Meet., 2006.
[13] D. S. Morales, “Maximum power point tracking algorithms
for photovoltaic applications,” Faculty of Electron., Comm. and
Automation, Finlândia, Tese para grau de mestre em Ciências
e Tecnologias, 2010.
[14] D. Casadei, F. Profumo, G. Serra, and A. Tani, “Foc and dtc:
two viable schemes for induction motors torque control,” IEEE
Trans. on Pwr. Electron., vol. 17, no. 5, pp. 779–787, 2002.
[15] B. K. Bose, Power electronics and motor drives: advances and
trends. Academic press, 2010.
[16] N. Mohan, Advanced Electric Drives: Analysis, Control, and
Modeling Using MATLAB/Simulink. John Wiley & Sons, 2014.
[17] R. Krishnan, Electric Motor Drives, Modeling and Analysis.
Prentice Hall, Inc, 2001.
[18] S. Shongwe and M. Hanif, “Comparative analysis of different
single-diode pv modeling methods,” IEEE Journal of Photo-
voltaics, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 938–946, 2015.
[19] G. Heng, X. Zheng, L. You-Chun, and W. Hui, “A novel
maximum power point tracking strategy for stand-alone solar
pumping systems,” in IEEE/PES Transm. and Dist. Conf. and
Exhibition: Asia and Pacific, 2005, pp. 1–5.
[20] K. Bimal, “Bose,” Modern power electronics and AC drives,
2002.
[21] P. Vas, Vector control of AC machines. Oxford University
Press, USA, 1990, vol. 22.
[22] V. Peter, “Sensorless vector and direct torque control,” 1998.