UNIVERSIDAD POLITÉCNICA DE MADRID

ESCUELA TÉCNICA SUPERIOR DE INGENIEROS DE TELECOMUNICACIÓN

MÁSTER UNIVERSITARIO EN ENERGÍA SOLAR FOTOVOLTAICA

TRABAJO FIN DE MÁSTER

DIRECT COUPLING OF A PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM

TO MOTORS FOR AGRICULTURAL PROCESSING:
MILLING FIRST STEPS

NATALIA COTRINO JIMÉNEZ

MADRID, ESPAÑA2018
Título: Direct coupling of a photovoltaic system to
motors for agricultural processing: Milling
first steps

Alumno: Natalia Cotrino

Tutor: Miguel Ángel Egido

Cotutor: Jesús Fraile Ardanuy

Tribunal:
Presidente: Juan Carlos Miñano Domínguez
Vocal: Estefanía Caamaño Martín
Secretario: Jesús Fraile Ardanuy
1er Suplente: Antonio Martí Vega
2er Suplente: César Tablero Crespo
3er Suplente: Eduardo Lorenzo Pigueiras

Fecha de lectura y defensa:

Calificación
ABSTRACT:

Improving smallholders agricultural processing technology and the availability of energy to them
has been proven to be an effective way to reduce poverty, improve food security and the
productive use of energy. Additionally, food processing such as milling, or grinding can be
arduous and time-consuming tasks that are mainly done by women. Reducing the time required
in these tasks has shown gender empowerment, by giving women more productive time to use in
other economic endeavors or education
In many of these projects, photovoltaic (PV) installations have been used but have shown low
reliability due in part because of the use of sophisticated elements that complicate maintenance
and repairs. There is also hesitation in using PV for these applications due to the high initial
investment costs and high-power demands.
The objective of this project is to develop a direct coupling system between a PV generator
(PVG) and a three-phase motor. The system must use commercially available elements, be battery-
less and consume around 0.7-1.5 kW. This coupling is meant to be a prototype solution for other
agriculture food processing labors that have similar power consumptions such as grinding and
pulping.
The design of the coupling system (FC-PVG) took as a model the solar pumping configuration
that has shown to be a reliable, mature and economically viable technology. The mill was
characterized by the lock rotor and free rotor method. A PI control was programmed in the FC to
maintain the operating voltage (𝑂𝑂𝑂𝑂) as near as possible to the maximum power point (𝑃𝑃𝑚𝑚 ). Lastly,
the operation of the mill was analyzed to obtain improvement criteria.
The testing of the mill showed that the voltage requirement is one of the most important factors
due to the correlation with the torque. The PI control had a very small range of functionality due
to the high consumption of the mill and the small power characteristics of the motor.
Due to the results, it is recommended that the PVG voltage should be designed to match the
maximum plausible voltage admitted by the FC. The PI system is not enough and should be paired
with a constant speed control mode during the passing of clouds. The mill needs to be smaller
and/or have a more efficient internal mechanism (stone mill) to increase the control range of the
PI system.

KEY WORDS:

Direct Coupling, Solar Milling, PV, Photovoltaic

 VIII. Acknowledgment ........................................................6
CONTENT IX. References...................................................................6
X. Appendix ....................................................................7
Content .................................................................................... 0
A. Motor Equivalent Circuit ............................................7
Glossary ................................................................................... 0
1) Serie resistance .......................................................7
I. Introduction ..................................................................... 1
2) Free Rotor Test: ......................................................7
II. State of the Art............................................................ 2
3) Lock Rotor Test ......................................................7
A. Solar Milling............................................................... 2
4) Parameters result ....................................................7
1) Multifunctional Platforms in Mauritania [4]: ......... 2
B. Voltage Range ............................................................7
2) Village Infrastructure Angels (VIA): ..................... 2
C. U/F Relationship .........................................................8
3) AgriSol 750W: ....................................................... 2
D. Frequency Converter Characterization .......................8
4) Grain Mill BOSS Pro Farina: ................................. 2
E. Torque Calculation .....................................................8
5) Grain Mill Solar Milling: ....................................... 2
F. Future Work ................................................................9
B. Manual Labor: ............................................................ 2
C. Diesel Powered Milled: .............................................. 2
III. Initial Design .............................................................. 2
IV. Materials ..................................................................... 3
A. Solar Mill .................................................................... 3
1) Motor: .................................................................... 3
2) PV Generator: ........................................................ 3
3) Mill:........................................................................ 3
4) Frequency Converter .............................................. 3
B. Measuring Equipment ................................................ 3
V. Methods ...................................................................... 3
A. Frequency Converter Testing ..................................... 3
1) Voltage Range ........................................................ 3
2) U/F Relationship .................................................... 4
B. Performance Analysis ................................................. 4
1) General setup.......................................................... 4
2) Torque Calculation ................................................. 4
VI. Discussion & Results .................................................. 4
A. General Design ........................................................... 4
B. Frequency Converter testing ....................................... 4
C. Performance Analysis ................................................. 4
D. Measuring ................................................................... 5
E. Motor Equivalent Circuit ............................................ 5
1) Series Resistance .................................................... 5
2) Free Rotor Test....................................................... 5
3) Lock Rotor Test ..................................................... 5
4) Torque Calculation ................................................. 6
VII. Conclusion .................................................................. 6
GLOSSARY

Symbol Description

PV Photovoltaic
PVG Photovoltaic Generator
FC Frequency Converter
PI Proportional Integral control algorithm
OV Operating Voltage
𝑃𝑚𝑝𝑝 Maximum Power Point
𝑉𝑚𝑝𝑝 Voltage of the maximum power point
𝐼𝑚𝑝𝑝 Current at the maximum power point
PWM Pulse width modulation
MDG Millennium Development Goals
SDG Sustainable Development Goals
O&M Operation and Maintenance
MFP Multifunctional Platform
MV Measured Variable
SP Set point
FBK Feedback signal
𝑉𝑛 Nominal voltage
𝐼𝑛 Nominal current
𝑃𝑛 Nominal power
𝑁𝑠 Number of modules in series
T Torque
w Angular velocity
NOCT Normal Operating Cell Temperature
𝑃0 Absorbed power by a motor
𝐼0 No load current
𝑅´𝑐 Resistance in the rotor
𝑋𝜇 Magnetizing reactance
𝑅𝑓𝑒 Core resistance
𝑅1 Resistance of the stator
𝑅2 Resistance of the rotor
𝑋1 Reactance of the stator
𝑋2 Reactance of the rotor
𝑃𝑓𝑒 Power looses due to the core
𝑃𝑐𝑢 Power loses due to copper winding
𝑃𝑚 Mechanical loses
𝑃𝑓𝑤 Power loses due to friction windage
𝑉𝑏𝑢𝑠 Bus bar voltage
𝑉𝑅𝑀𝑆 Root Mean Square Voltage (effective value)
𝑉𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 Peak voltage of a sinusoidal wave

Direct coupling of a photovoltaic system to
motors for agricultural processing:
Milling first steps
Natalia Cotrino Jimenez
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación,
Máster Universitario en Energía Solar Fotovoltaica, Madrid, España, 2017
Abstract — Improving smallholders agricultural processing has
been verified an effective way to reduce poverty and to enhance
food security. Additionally, manual food processing such as
milling is arduous and time-consuming. These manual labors are
mainly done by women; therefore, advances liberate women and
augment gender equality.
The objective of this project is to develop a direct coupling
system between a Photovoltaic Generator (PVG) and a three-
phase induction motor through a conventional frequency
converter drive (FC). The system must use commercially available
devices, be battery-less and consume around 0.7-1.5 kW. This
coupling is meant to be a prototype solution for other agriculture
food processing labors that have similar power consumptions such
as grinding and pulping.
The design of the coupling system (FC-PVG) took as a model,
the solar pumping configuration that has shown to be a reliable,
mature and economical technology. A Proportional Integral (PI)
controller algorithm was programmed in the FC to maintain the
Direct Current (DC) operating voltage (𝑶𝑶𝑽𝑽) as near as possible to
the maximum power point (𝑷𝑷𝒎𝒎𝒑𝒑𝒑𝒑) and the maximum power point
voltage (𝑽𝑽𝒎𝒎𝒑𝒑𝒑𝒑) . The 𝑽𝑽𝒎𝒎𝒑𝒑𝒑𝒑 must be specified to sustain the torque
requirements of the mill and a minimum amplitude to produce a
230VAC 50 Hz signal through the pulse width modulation (PWM)
technology used by the FC. Lastly, the operation of the mill was
analyzed to obtain improvement criteria. According to the results,
it is recommended that the PVG voltage should be designed to
match the maximum plausible voltage admitted by the FC. The PI
system is not enough and should be paired with a constant speed
control mode during the
passing of clouds.
Index Terms—Direct Coupling, Solar Milling, PV, Photovoltaic
I. INTRODUCTION
D eveloping sustainable agricultural processing for
smallholders is an effective way to reduce poverty and
hunger [1], and improve the water-energy-food nexus [2]. The
previous is primarily because 40% of the population that lives
in poverty depends on agriculture [3]. In addition, food
processing such as manual milling, grinding and others are
arduous and time-consuming tasks that are mainly done by
women and girls. Reducing the time required for these tasks has
shown gender empowerment, by giving women more
productive time to use in other economic endeavors or
education [4] [5]. Therefore, the design of new equipment
driven by renewable energy is recurrent in projects related to
the UN´s Millennium Development Goals (MDG) [4], and
1
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) [6] as well as other
projects in developing countries to improve social and
economic conditions.
Most off-grid rural processing equipment is run with fuel
engines. The minimum size of a commercial fuel engine is
around 3kW, which in many cases is an excessive amount of
energy consumption for a small farming family [7]. In addition,
fuel dependency (especial in remote locations) is expensive and
with its fluctuating market endangers productivity and
competitiveness [8]. Seeing that most rural activities are done
in day hours and that there is an energy gap that can be more
efficiently filled with PV than with diesel engines, the
application of PV with agricultural processing makes sense.
Even though the idea of PV powering agriculture matches,
there are technical challenges to resolve before it can become a
reliable source of energy. In past experiences of PV projects,
there are an important amount of installations that fall into
disuse due to [4], [9], [10], [11]:
• Uncommercial available equipment
• Management policies
• Lack of technical formation and poor operation and
maintenance (O&M)
• Bad dimensioning of the power requirements and
general bad performance.
• High starting currents
• Deep discharges tend to reduce battery life
The purpose of this project is to use a commercially available
and economical FC instead of a PV inverter and develop a
control algorithm that maintains the OV close to the maximum
power point voltage (𝑉𝑉𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑝𝑝 ). The improvement with this
proposal is to avoid the installation of batteries to establish a
fixed DC OV required for a conventional inverter. Batteries
tend to be a very expensive part of PV projects, as well as the
weakest link.
In addition, it must use a three-phase induction motor.
Primarily because it is available in any market, it is cheap and
robust; but also because the use of single-phase motors in past
experiences has shown poor performance due to the starting
circuit, dynamo, low power and others [4] [5] [11].
The objective of this paper was to design and construct a PV
Mill using the previous criteria. Further on, to develop
improvement criteria for future developments.
This paper gives a brief social and technical context in the

introduction; compiles the current PV milling equipment
available, as well as a description of the manual milling labor
(to assets the energy and power needs). Next, establishes the
basic design of the FC-PVG coupling and PI Control.
Subsequently, describes the measuring methodology to be
implemented in the performance analyzes. And finally, a brief
performance analyzes that results in improvement criteria.
II. STATE OF THE ART
A. Solar Milling
In the following section a description of functional and/or
commercially available solar mills is presented.
1) Multifunctional Platforms in Mauritania [4]:
A multifunctional platform (MFP) is a building that contains
different types of electric devices that offer different services
and has its own energy generating equipment. Usually, it
contains a freezer, a mill and a charging area, which are
energized by PV, batteries and sometimes a hybrid
configuration with diesel.
The first generation of milling stations contained a 24VDC
motor and produced 130kg/day. The reports of these mills
describe a poor general performance, low milling capacity and
malfunction due to failures in the DC motor. Because of this
experience, the second generation of mills had 600W, 230 V
three-phase induction motors, and a milling capacity of 30kg/h
(approx. 180 kg/day).
2) Village Infrastructure Angels (VIA):
VIA improves small communities’ infrastructure, especially
the agricultural processing. One of their projects is an energy
station that can be connected to different agricultural processing
equipment including a mill. The configuration is similar to the
previous, except it contains a power outlet that allows different
machinery to be connected.
This energy station usually uses a 120 to 240 VAC inverter of
750 to 2500W and 150-500 W for small mills. According to
VIAs experience, the inverters used in these applications must
be 3 to 5 times bigger to the nominal power demand due to the
high starting currents. This over dimensioning results in bigger
costs and less efficiency [1] [5] [12].
3) AgriSol 750W:
This grain mill has the production capacity of 25-50 kg/h
(approx. 150 kg/day max), using a 750W 24 VDC motor. The
manufacture establishes that the battery and the brushes of the
DC motor must be replaced every 2 to 5 years. The PVG is
made up of 4-8 x 125W 24 DC. Cost approx. 2900€ [10] [13].
4) Grain Mill BOSS Pro Farina:
The Boss pro Farina is composed by a 500 mm stone mill
directly coupled to a 3 phase 750W induction motor. The PVG
has a capacity of 900 W. The hourly output is 45-160 kg
depending on the type of grain (960 kg/day max). This mill has
a direct drive system but allows the addition of batteries if
requested. Additionally, the manufacture has high experience in
the field. Cost approx. 5000€ [10].
2
5) Grain Mill Solar Milling:
This mill uses a 750W 3-phase asynchronous motor directly
coupled with a 500 mm stone mill. The PVG has a capacity of
750 W and has the option to connect a diesel system or batteries
as an alternative energy source. It can mill 35-150 kg/ hour and
costs approximately 4000€ [10] [14].
B. Manual Labor:
Manual milling has a power consumption of 80 W, over an
4-hour work shift. it can take up to 2 hours to mill 1 kilogram
of grain [5].
C. Diesel Powered Milled:
Diesel power mills are usually directly coupled to the engine,
and therefor there is no production of electricity. They usually
are around 2000-3000 W and have a very high milling capacity.
They are typically installed as milling centers in villages with
more than 100 households even though in regions such as
Africa and South Pacific there are many small rural
communities under 50 households. This means that external
smaller villages are obligated to move to this milling center.
Transportation can cost the same as the milling fee; the other
option is to walk to the location which increases the time
consumption of the task.
Processing tariffs in these centers can be around 0.03€/kg
(South Pacific) [5].
III. INITIAL DESIGN
By analyzing the current technologies used for PV milling
and the traditional manual process, it is possible to determine
the technical requirements the mill must aim to achieve. It was
also important to consider the social context and past
experience reports to understand the mayor challenges of this
technology.
After seeing that the market general requirement was around
150 kg/day; the capacity of the mill as a parameter should be
designed towards this number. Commercial mills with the
previous capacity have power requirements of 1 HP which
means that the motor should be around 750W.
Past experience reports showed that single phase motors and
batteries where causing the mills to malfunction. This combined
with the fact that commercial FC are mostly for three phase
motors suggested that these motors were a better design
approach.
Next, it was necessary to determine the basic FC coupling
characteristics. Since PV pumping is a successful technology,
these first steps would be to adapt this technology to the mill
requirements. This meant using a direct coupling FC-PVG and
controlling the OV through a PID or PI control.
The general market has FC of 230 or 400 V that match the
delta and star configuration of commercial induction motors.
This meant that the general system had to be based on a 230V
or 400 V design. To minimize the size of the PVG a 230V
system was chosen, meaning a 230 V FC and a delta
configuration for the motor.
The previous gave the general outline of the design; a three-
phase motor of 1 HP in delta configuration with a 230V FC that
 3

met the current and voltage requirements of the motor and had
a PID control system.
The PVG would be connected to the input of the FC. The DC
current would pass through the FC rectifier1 with a minor
voltage drop and generate the DC bus. The previous meant that
the OV of the PVG would be equivalent to the bus voltage Fig. 2: PI Control System
(𝑉𝑉𝑏𝑏𝑢𝑢𝑠𝑠) of the FC. Then the DC to AC inverter technology of the
FC would change the DC voltage into a square voltage signal IV. MATERIALS
and generate the AC current required.
The limitation of the PWM technology is that the maximum A. Solar Mill
amplitude of the signal generated depends on the available bus 1) Motor:
voltage (𝑉𝑉𝑏𝑏𝑢𝑢𝑠𝑠) meaning that the OV, 𝑉𝑉𝑏𝑏𝑢𝑢𝑠𝑠 and 𝑉𝑉𝑚𝑚𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 should be Nominal voltage (𝑉𝑉𝑛𝑛 ) 230 V with a delta configuration to
designed with a sufficient amplitude to generate the AC output reduce the voltage requirement. Nominal current (𝐼𝐼𝑛𝑛): 4.7 A;
needed by the motor. frequency(𝑓𝑓𝑛𝑛): 50 Hz; power (𝑃𝑃𝑛𝑛): 1100 W; nominal speed
(𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛): 1380 rpm
2) PV Generator:
𝑁𝑁𝑠𝑠= 45 𝑃𝑃𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑝𝑝 = 3825 Wp; 𝑉𝑉𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑝𝑝= 252 V; 𝐼𝐼𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑝𝑝 = 15.2A; 𝑇𝑇𝑁𝑁𝑂𝑂𝐶𝐶:
47ºC. Manufacture by Isofotón
3) Mill:
A small hammer mill manufactured by Gruber Hermanos SA

Fig. 1: General system overview

The crucial difference between PV inverter and the FC is that

inverters are designed to have a stable output voltage and
frequency to match grid like characteristics, while FC have the
sufficient control and electronic technology to change the width
of the voltage square signal to meet with a desired (fixed or
variable) frequency and voltage output. The advantage of
Fig. 3 Mechanical Hammer Mill
variable outputs is that control mechanisms are possible. By
controlling the voltage in the motor, it is possible to control the 4) Frequency Converter
𝑉𝑉𝑏𝑏𝑢𝑢𝑠𝑠 and therefore the OV. This mean the PVG can be designed Manufacture by ABB; model: ACS355-01E-09A8-2, 1 phase
to have a 𝑉𝑉𝑚𝑚𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 that fits the power and voltage requirements of
𝑉𝑉𝑖𝑖𝑛𝑛 : 200-240 VAC3;𝐼𝐼𝑖𝑖𝑛𝑛 𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑎𝑥𝑥 : 21 A
the motor. The control system should establish OV equal to this
desired 𝑉𝑉𝑚𝑚𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 and maintain the power needs of the mill. For this B. Measuring Equipment
the PI control was chosen. - Fluke 434 Three phase quality Analyzer
The PI control algorithm is a loop feedback mechanism - Zimmer LMG500 Precision Power Analyzer
designed to maintain a Measured Variable (MV) in a desired
value called the Set Point (SP). It is done by constantly V. METHODS
calculating an error value between the MV and the SP and then
applies a correction based on a proportional and integral term. A. Frequency Converter Testing
The proportional term applies a direct and instant correction to To determine the 𝑉𝑉𝑚𝑚𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 and OV the following test were
the difference between the SP and MV while the integral term conducted:
accounts for a correction of an accumulative error over time. In
this case the MV is 𝑉𝑉𝑏𝑏𝑢𝑢𝑠𝑠 and the SP is the 𝑉𝑉𝑚𝑚𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 of the PVG2. 1) Voltage Range
Most commercial FC contain a PI macro that can be used to To establish the minimum voltage that the PVG needed to
control the motor. By establishing the motor control to the supply the FC, the FC was connected to a power source and the
scalar frequency-voltage mode, the FC varies the frequency to mill’s motor. The FC motor control was set at scalar U/F and
change the voltage of the motor and consequently the 𝑉𝑉𝑏𝑏𝑢𝑢𝑠𝑠. As the frequency at 50Hz. Using the power source, the fed voltage
a result, the FC can control the OV by controlling the voltage was varied until the voltage in the motor reach the nominal
(equivalent to frequency) of the motor. voltage (230VAC). Using the FC, the voltage in the motor was
measured for different input DC voltages.

1 2
The rectifier is a component that FC use to change the usual AC input A fix set point would be the Vmpp at a specific condition, but it is possible
current into an internal DC bus. In this design this is not applicable since the to be more precise using a variable set point that fluctuates due to irradiance
input is already DC. and temperature.
3
Maximum allowed voltage in DC will be equivalent to the peak voltage of
the AC single, being 𝑉𝑉𝐷𝐷𝐶𝐶𝑖𝑖𝑛𝑛 = 340 𝑉𝑉.

The maximum DC voltage that the FC could withstand4 was
determined by assuming that this voltage would be equivalent
to the peak voltage of a power supply with an effective value
equal to the maximum allowed voltage established in the
datasheet. The following is important to determine the 𝑉𝑉𝑂𝑂𝐶𝐶 of
the PVG.
𝑉𝑉𝑅𝑅𝑀𝑀𝑆𝑆 = √2 𝑉𝑉𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑎𝑎𝑘𝑘 (1)
2) U/F Relationship
The PI control model required the FC to maintain a constant
U/F relation (scalar control mode) because the variation of the
frequency must be proportional to the voltage. This test was
done using a power source that fed the FC with 320 V DC. The
FC was connected to the mill’s motor and was set to scalar
frequency U/F motor control. The operating frequency was
varied from 0-50Hz and for each frequency the voltage in the
motor was measured and recorded.
B. Performance Analysis
The following are done to analyze the performance of the mill
and construct further design requirements.
1) General setup
To analyze the performance of the mill a power analyzer
would be used to measure the power, voltage, and current
consumption of each phase of the motor and the DC
consumption of the FC. The FC would be used to measure the
𝑉𝑉𝑏𝑏𝑢𝑢𝑠𝑠 and monitor the PI control system. With the equivalent
circuit of the motor and through calculations, the torque was to
be determined (see Appendix X.F).
2) Torque Calculation
The torque is one of the most important variables because a
mill’s torque curve is very spiky and oscillates between a very
wide range of values. To properly dimension the FC-PVG
coupling it is crucial to establish the maximum torque
requirement and the minimum torque value at which the mill
gets stuck and stop. Further on, translate this in to a voltage and
current/irradiance values to establish operating limits and
design criteria, but above all power requirements.
Due to the difficulties of installing a torque meter to the main
shaft of the mill it was necessary to determine a method to
calculate the torque (T). By calculating the power loses it was
plausible to determine the useful power in the mill and therefore
using the power torque equation (P=Tw) the torque could be
calculated.
To do this power lose analysis it was necessary to determine
the motors equivalent circuit. This required the use of the Lock
Rotor Tests and Free Rotor Test as well as measuring its series
resistance (see Appendix X.A).
VI. DISCUSSION & RESULTS
A. General Design
Analyzing the commercially available PV mills, past
experience reports, commercial availability and the objectives
of this project, the PV mill should have a 750 W 230VAC 3 phase
44
Most commercial FC are designed to be fed AC currents.
4
motor in a delta configuration with a FC of 230V. The FC
should match the general plate specification of the motor and
support the maximum current of the PVG.
The mill is intended to be a solution for small farming
communities that have no grid connections. Since most modern
modules have 𝐼𝐼𝑚𝑚𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 around 10 A and seeing that the nominal
current of a motor in the specified power range is around 4 to 7
A, the PVG can be constructed with only one branch of
modules. The design limitation of the PVG would be the
voltage requirements, meaning the number of modules in series.
B. Frequency Converter testing
By testing the FC voltage ranges we found that the maximum
allowed voltage is not the specified in the datasheet. In this case
it could withstand a higher voltage which is favorable due to the
results of the performance analysis. Because of this, it is
necessary to determine the voltage ranges of the specific FC. It
is very important for the PVG to be able to sustain an operating
voltage that allows the FC to produce a modulated signal with
an effective value equivalent to the nominal voltage of the
motor at its nominal frequency. The previous because motor
torques are maximum at nominal values and a lower voltage
means a lower torque squared (𝑉𝑉 ∝ 𝑇𝑇2) and therefore the higher
the voltage the better the performance.
The characterization of the U/F was primarily done to verify
the correct response of the motor to the FC motor control. It is
especially important for this relationship to be as constant as
possible to achieve a correct PI control as well as consistent
torque measurements. The test determined that the relationship
was constant and had a slope of 4.65 as expected. The data is
shown in Appendix X.C.
250
y = 4.60x + 0.06
Motor Voltage [V]
200 R² = 1.00
150
100
50
0
0 20 40
Frequency [Hz]
Fig. 4 U/F Relationship
C. Performance Analysis
The performance of the mill was very poor and difficult to
measure. The general experience was that the mill would start
with a very high irradiance, and the PI system would maintain
the OV at the established voltage (theorical 𝑉𝑉𝑚𝑚𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 ). The moment
any alteration (such as clouds) appeared the PI would be unable
to restart the mill or maintain it working. Even though the
performance was not optimal, it showed the PI control in good
5
Nominal Voltage (230) / 50 Hz = 4.6

stable irradiance conditions would control the OV and make the
mill work.
The mill showed that a small voltage drop would result in an
important drop of the torque. The torque would be insufficient
to break the grain which resulted in a complete stop. Since the
mill’s milling cavity would be full, restarting the mill using the
PI controller was impossible and the power requirement was too
big forcing the user to stop and clean the milling cavity before
restarting.
By further analyzing the performance, we concluded that the
voltage control range was too small. Since this specific FC
maximum datasheet allowed voltage was 320VDC, the PVG
dimensioned had a VOC of 300V, which meant a Vmpp around
240Vdc. This gave the control system a very small range in
which it could vary the frequency without the mill stopping.
The former because the nominal voltage was 230 V, meaning
that PVG was operating in the high-slope part of the IV curve
where a small voltage change means a high current and power
change. In terms of performance, this meant a dramatic power
lose, or dramatic torque lose and a very unstable working region
(see Appendix X.D).
Because of this, we submitted the FC to a higher DC voltage
and found that it would work at 400 VDC, which would make
the PVG have a Vmpp of 340 V (optimal) that would improve
performance and torque stability.
It is important to highlight that the torque is a crucial variable
which must be kept as close to the maximum as possible. Since
the maximum torque conditions are designed to be at the
nominal frequency and voltage, the FC must be capable to
modulate these values loosely, so the PI control can work and
PVG operates in the stable area of the IV curve (see Appendix
X.D).
In conclusion, the maximum voltage allowed by the FC
should be 400 VDC, which gives a bigger range of functionality
to the mill and the PI control system. Since the FC has to be for
230VAC, it is not easy to determine by seeing the datasheet that
the FC can withstand this voltage but in our experience the FC
has enough protective technology to be tested without
destroying the equipment. It is possible to obtain FC that are
designed for solar pumping, that have MPPT and other more
applicable technologies that may be easier to adjust the required
voltage range.
As we stated earlier, the PI control was able to maintain the
OV at the set voltage, but if a variation occurred, it would not
be able to maintain the operation of the mill. This is because the
PI control is designed for steady state operations; since the sun
is far from being steady this control system is insufficient.
Therefore, future work should try to pair the PI control with a
constant torque or speed control mode. At low irradiance the
FC could switch from scalar control to constant torque control
and maintain the mill rotating to avoid the stop of the mill and
later the high-power demand of restarting with a full milling
cavity.
The hammer mill technology proved to be incompatible with
PV because when the mill stopped due to a cloud, the milling
cavity would be filled with maize and therefore the hammer
would have a very high inertia to pull through. For future work
5
this technology should be changed to a stone mill technology.
The stones in these mills would store kinetic energy due to their
high inertia and because of the feeding system of the mill cavity
there would probably be less stops.
D. Measuring
As described previously, measuring was one of the most
difficult tasks. Primarily due to the high quantity of harmonics
created by the modulation technology of the FC and the wide
range of variables that had to be measured in the same time
scale. The torque is by far the hardest variable to measure, and
in this test, there was no successful measurement of the torque.
To improve the measurement of the output voltage of the FC.
it is crucial to filter the signal to the third harmonic.
The measurement of the torque was challenging because it
required a very precise construction of the power lose curve and
subsequently a very accurate measurement of the angular
velocity. In addition, all these variables had to be coordinated
with the power, voltage and current measurements done by the
power analyzer. That was not plausible with the available
equipment.
A possible solution is to use the FC to measure the torque.
With this particular FC, this would mean measuring the 𝑉𝑉𝑏𝑏𝑢𝑢𝑠𝑠
directly from the PVG because the analog output would be
programmed to be the T and not the 𝑉𝑉𝑏𝑏𝑢𝑢𝑠𝑠 (for further
information see Appendix X.F ). In case of having more than
one analog output this task would be easy.
E. Motor Equivalent Circuit
1) Series Resistance
The measurements of all three resistances were consistent and
had the same magnitude of 9.3 Ω.
2) Free Rotor Test
The test described the behavior shown in Fig. 5. All results are
tabled in Appendix X.A.
90
80
70
Power (W)
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 20000 40000 60000
Voltage (V2)
Fig. 5 Obtain measurements showing the mechanical and core power loses
(Pfe +Pm) versus the square voltage
Using a polynomial tendency, 𝑃𝑃𝑚𝑚 = 15.62 W, which resulted in
𝑃𝑃𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑒 = 66.33 W. Using the equations established in Appendix
X.A; 𝑅𝑅𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑒 = 2393Ω and 𝑋𝑋𝜇𝜇 = 122Ω.
3) Lock Rotor Test
The reactance and resistance of the motor where found to be
𝑅𝑅𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 = 15.6 Ω , & 𝑅𝑅2 = 6.3 Ω.

4) Torque Calculation
The power lose analysis was very time consuming. In practice,
measuring the torque through this method was not practical
with the equipment and personnel available. For further
information see Appendix X.E.
VII. CONCLUSION
The PV mill should be composed of a 750 W 230VAC 3 phase
motor directly coupled with a commercial FC of an input
voltage of 200-240V that must have as a minimum a PI and
constant torque control macro. It is also recommended for
performance analysis that the FC has as many analog outputs as
possible. The crucial design element for the PVG is the voltage.
The 𝑉𝑉𝑚𝑚𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 should be approximately 320 V and the 𝑉𝑉𝑜𝑜𝑐𝑐 should be
very near 400 V. Consequently, using commercial 300W
panels, the PVG can be composed of 10-12 modules in series.
Additionally, it is very likely that stone mills are a better
technology than hammer mills for this application.
The torque and the voltage are the most crucial design
parameters of this type of application.
For further work, to facilitate the torque measurement, it is
practical to use FC by programing the torque to be an analog
output signal. This would allow the power analyzer to measure
all the variables.
The PI control can be switched to a constant torque control
mode when there is a drop of irradiance (a cloud). A calibrate
cell can be used as the signal source and that small current can
be fed to the FC as an analog input. When the current drops to
a certain point, the FC could automatically change to torque
control mode, which would maintain the mill spinning until the
perturbance passes. Another possible improvement is to tune
the PI control using the Ziegler-Nichols method that can be
easily performed in the field.
VIII. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I would like to thank my family for their support and my
teachers for their guidance, especially my tutor Miguel Angel
Egido and Jesús Fraile Ardanuy. I would also like to give
gratitude for their help to Benito Artaloytia, Miguel Alonso
Abella, Carlos Veganzones, Jaime Rodriguez, Juan Carlos
Zamorano and everyone who has helped me in this journey.
IX. REFERENCES
[1] USAID, United States Agency of International
Development, "Powering Agriculture: An Energy
Grand Challenge for Development," Powering
Agriculture, Washington DC, 2016.
[2] FAO, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations, "Walking the Nexus Talk: Assesing the
Water-Energy-Food-Nexus," Enviromental and
Natural Resources Working Paper, no. 58, 2014.
[3] UN, United Nations, "Food Security and Nutrition and
Sustainable Agriculture," United Nations, 2015.
[Online]. Available:
6
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/topics/foodagri
culture. [Accessed 25 January 2018].
[4] N. K. Dia, A. A. Bayod Rñujula, N. Mamoudou, C. Sidi
Ethmane and B. Ould Bilal, "Field Study of
multifunctional platforms in Mauritiania," Energy for
Sustainable Development, vol. 23, pp. 130-140, 2014.
[5] S. Craine, "Capacity Building for Solar Agro-
Processing in the Pacific," International Renewable
Energy Agency (IRENA), 2014.
[6] Naciones Unidas, "Food security and nutrition and
sustainable agriculture," Naciones Unidas, 2015.
[Online]. Available:
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/topics/foodagri
culture. [Accessed 25 Enero 2018].
[7] E. Beshada, M. Bux and T. Waldenmaien, "Design and
Optimization of a Photovoltaic Powered Grain Mill,"
Agricultural Engineering International: CIGR Journal,
vol. VIII, Abril 2006.
[8] giz, Deutsche Gesellshaftt fur Internationale
Zusammenarbeit; Poverty oriented basica energy
service (HERA), "Modern Energy Service for Modern
Agriculture," GIZ-HERA, Alemania, 2011.
[9] M. C. Fedrizzi, A. U. Brito, T. A. Melendez and R.
Zilles, "Condicionamiento de potencia e motobombas
nacionais em sistemas fotovoltaicos de
bombeamiento," Revista Brasileira de Energia Solar,
vol. II, no. 2, pp. 129-137, Diciembre 2011.
[10] D. G. f. I. Z. giz, H. Olk and J. Mundt, "Photovoltaics
for Productive Use Applications," giz, Deutsche
Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit,
Eschborn, 2016.
[11] G. Wegner and D. G. f. I. Z. giz, "(Challenges of)
Productive use promotion in Senegal," giz, Deutsche
Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit , 2011.
[12] VIA, Village Infrastructure Angels, "Village
Infrastructure Angels," Village Infrastructure Angels,
[Online]. Available:
http://www.villageinfrastructure.org/projects/.
[Accessed 15 04 2017].
[13] "Project Support Services," Project Support Services,
[Online]. Available: http://psspng.com/. [Accessed 20
05 2017].
[14] Solar Milling, "Solar Milling," Solar Milling, [Online].
Available: http://solarmilling.com/small-scale/.
[Accessed 20 Septiembre 2017].
[15] J. Fraile Mora, Máquinas Eléctricas, Madrid: McGrawn
HIll, 2003.
 7

X. APPENDIX
3) Lock Rotor Test
A. Motor Equivalent Circuit
The rotor is locked so that the slip is maximum. The voltage
To obtain the values of the variables needed to calculate the is increased until the short circuit current (𝐼𝐼𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 ) equals 𝐼𝐼𝑛𝑛.
torque it was necessary to firstly construct the motor equivalent Because there is no rotation there are 𝑃𝑃𝑚𝑚. Because 𝑅𝑅𝑐𝑐 = 0 it can
circuit: be assumed that the current is minimal in the parallel circuit and
it can be discarded. This allows the estimation of the reactance
and the resistance of the rotor.

𝑃𝑃𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐
cos 𝜑𝜑𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 =
𝑉𝑉1𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝐼𝐼1𝑛𝑛
Fig. 6: Equivalent circuit for an induction motor [15]
𝑉𝑉1𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐
(4)
1) Serie resistance 𝑅𝑅𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 = 𝑅𝑅1 + 𝑅𝑅´2 = cos 𝜑𝜑𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐
The three resistances of the motor windings (𝑅𝑅1) were 𝐼𝐼1𝑛𝑛
measures and averaged. All resistance must have the same 𝑉𝑉1𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐
magnitude so that the motor is in equilibrium. 𝑋𝑋𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 = 𝑋𝑋1 + 𝑋𝑋´2 = sin 𝜑𝜑𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐
𝐼𝐼1𝑛𝑛
2) Free Rotor Test:
The motor is fed with varying voltages, no load is applied (5)
𝑋𝑋1 = 𝑋𝑋´2
and the absorbed power (𝑃𝑃0) and current (𝐼𝐼0) are measured. A
graph power versus voltage squared is constructed using the
measured data. At nominal voltage, the rotor must be rotating 4) Parameters result
very near to the synchronous speed, meaning that the slip is
nearly zero. Because of this, the resistance in the rotor (𝑅𝑅´𝑐𝑐) Vn (V) 230
will be much bigger than the resistance in the core (𝑅𝑅𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑒) and I0 (A) 1.89
the magnetizing reactance (𝑋𝑋𝜇𝜇) making it possible to discard
Pfe (W) 66.33
the secondary circuit. When the graph intersects the y-axis the
power consumption will be due to mechanical loses (𝑃𝑃𝑚𝑚) and Pm (W) 15.62
the exceeding power will be due to loses in the core (𝑃𝑃𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑒). CosΦ 0.05
Using the measurements at nominal voltage it is possible to
Φ 1.52
determine 𝑅𝑅𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑒 and 𝑋𝑋𝜇𝜇.
Ife (A) 0.10
𝑃𝑃𝑂𝑂 = 𝑃𝑃𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑒 + 𝑃𝑃𝑚𝑚 + 𝑃𝑃𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑢 Rfe (Ω) 2392.70
𝑃𝑃𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑒 Im (A) 1.89
cos 𝜑𝜑0 = Xm (Ω) 121.61
3𝑉𝑉 1𝑛𝑛 𝐼𝐼 0
𝐼𝐼𝑜𝑜 cos 𝜑𝜑0 = 𝐼𝐼𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑒 Table 2. Calculated Results
𝑉𝑉1𝑛𝑛
𝑅𝑅𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑒 = (2)
𝐼𝐼𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑒
𝐼𝐼𝑜𝑜 sin 𝜑𝜑0 = 𝐼𝐼𝜇𝜇 B. Voltage Range
𝑉𝑉1𝑛𝑛
𝑋𝑋𝜇𝜇 = (3)
𝐼𝐼𝜇𝜇 f (Hz) VIN (V) Vmotor (V)
50 200 x
50 210 x
VL (V) IL (A) P0 (W) Pcu1 (W) Pfe + Pm (W) 50 220 x
229 3.28 182 100.05 81.95
50 230 x
211 2.57 123 61.43 61.57
50 240 171
190 2.01 85 37.57 47.43
50 250 178
172 1.68 66 26.25 39.75
50 260 185
151 1.4 51 18.23 32.77
50 270 192
132 1.19 40 13.17 26.83
50 280 199
111 0.98 30 8.93 21.07
50 290 207
92 0.81 24 6.10 17.90
50 300 214
Table 1. Measurements obtained in the free rotor test 50 310 221
 8

50 320 228
Table 3. Measurements obtained in test
done to determine minimum DC voltage

C. U/F Relationship

f (Hz) VIN (V) Vmotor (V)

0 0 0
1 5 0.6
1.5 7 0.9
2.2 10 1.2
4.8 22 1.9
9.3 43 2.5
14.2 65 2.8 Fig. 7 Voltage Operational Region
16.9 78 2.9
E. Torque Calculation
20.9 96 3
The basic idea to calculate the torque was to determine the
27.2 125 3.1
power loses in the mill and motor through the following
30 138 3.1 equation.
40 184 3.1
50 230 3.2 𝑃𝑃𝑂𝑂 = 𝑃𝑃𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑒 + 𝑃𝑃𝑓𝑓𝑤𝑤 + 𝑃𝑃𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑢 (6)

Table 4. Measurements obtained in the U/F relationship test 𝑃𝑃𝑂𝑂 − 𝑃𝑃𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑢 = 𝑃𝑃𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑒 + 𝑃𝑃𝑓𝑓𝑤𝑤

D. Frequency Converter Characterization
When using the scalar control mode, the voltage-frequency
relationship in the motor maintains constant, which means that
the magnetic field become constant, producing a constant
torque region. Augmenting the frequency pass nominal values
will weakened the field. Therefore, the PI control system will
work best below 50Hz and consequently below 230V AC.
Considering the behavior of a PVG (the IV curve); 230 VAC
should represent the Vmpp, and since the Vmpp is
approximately 80% of Voc, the PVG should have a Voc of 400
V DC. Which in result means that the FC should be able to
withstand this voltage.
This will ensure that the control PI works in a steady region. If
we use voltage above Vmpp the PVG will enter in the high slope
region of the VI curve resulting in high rates of voltage changes
which would disrupt the control system. It would also diminish
the torque. If the voltage drops to low the power produced by
Equation 6 describes the power consumption (𝑃𝑃𝑂𝑂 ) of the mill
with no load. The loses in the coper winding (𝑃𝑃𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑢) are know
through the determined variables of the motor’s equivalent
circuit. The unknow variable are the loses dependent of the
velocity of the motor; 𝑃𝑃𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑒 + 𝑃𝑃𝑓𝑓𝑤𝑤 . 𝑃𝑃𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑒 represent the loses in the
core and 𝑃𝑃𝑓𝑓𝑤𝑤 mechanical friction loses.
By running the mill with no loads at different angular speeds
using the FC, with the scalar U/F mode it was possible to
construct a graph that would determine the loses for each
frequency. The results where:
Pfw+Pfe MIN
Max Linear (Pfw+Pfe)
250
200
150
Power [W]

the PVG will not be sufficient to move the mill.

100
y = 4.0932x - 9.3766
R² = 0.9954
50

0
0 20 40 60
Freq. (Hz)
Fig. 8. Power loses of the free load mill at different working frequencies.

With the previous values determined, these loses could then be

used to determine the true power used by the mill and then the
torque when the mill had load:
 9

𝑃𝑃𝑂𝑂 = 𝑃𝑃𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑒 + 𝑃𝑃𝑓𝑓𝑤𝑤 + 𝑃𝑃𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑢 + 𝑃𝑃𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙 (7)

𝑃𝑃𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑖𝑙𝑙 = 𝑃𝑃𝑜𝑜 − (𝑃𝑃𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑒 + 𝑃𝑃𝑓𝑓𝑤𝑤 + 𝑃𝑃𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑢)𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑠𝑠

𝑃𝑃𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙 = 𝑇𝑇𝑤𝑤 (8)

Therefore, by measuring the angular velocity of the shaft, the

torque could be obtained.

In the practice this method could not be implemented because

the measurement of the angular velocity was not continuous but
discreet, and therefore coordinating that measurement was a
very difficult and unpractical task.
F. Future Work
The performance was evaluated using a power analyzer with 4
channels. 1 channel was established as group A and was
programed to measure the DC current and voltage of the PVG
(internally calculating the power and energy consumption). The
other 3 channels were configurated as group B to measure the
line current and voltage of the motor after the FC. Group B’s
power and energy consumption could not be internally
calculated because of the specific delta configuration of the
motor. Additionally, group B was programmed to filter the
measured signals over 175 Hz to eliminate the harmonic
distortion.
Fig. 10 Future configuration
Another important improvement that could be done is to add an
additional calibrated cell as an analog input signal to the FC. It
would be necessary to determine at which irradiance the mill
would stop, translate that into the equivalent current, and
program that input as the control signal to which switch to
torque control.
Additionally, if the frequency converter has two analog outputs,
since one is used to signal the 𝑉𝑉𝑏𝑏𝑢𝑢𝑠𝑠 for the PI control; the other
can be programed as a signal of the torque measurement, having
an easier methodology to measure the torque.

Fig. 9 Current measuring configuration

To improve the measurement methodology using the same

available equipment the following configuration is proposed:
Configurating channel 1 and 2 into group A, the first channel
would continue to measure the PVGs voltage and current. The
second could measure the current of a calibrated cell to measure
irradiance and the voltage from a thermostat to measure
temperature. Group B through Aron configuration could
continue measuring the line voltage and current of the three
phases of the motor.