2017 Nirma University International Conference on Engineering (NUiCONE)

Design and Implementation of

Solar Pumping System with
Induction Motor and Submersible Pump
Archan P. Parikh1,
P. N. Tekwani2 (Senior Member-IEEE), Vinod Patel3
Department of Electrical Engineering DGM, R&D Department
Institute of Technology, Nirma University AMTECH Electronics (I) Ltd.
Ahmedabad, INDIA Gandhinagar, INDIA
3
1
[email protected] [email protected]
2
[email protected]

Abstract— Solar Water Pumping System (SWPS) is reduce initial cost, as inverter is not required.
becoming increasingly popular in remote areas where However, regular maintenance is required as
grid is not available or unreliable. This system is problems occur in commutator and brushes. By
mainly used for irrigation purpose in farming and using ac motor, initial cost increases, but by V/F
household purposes. In the proposed system, control, energy efficient solutions can be obtained.
induction motor along with submersible pump of 1.5
Usually in any solar application, it is recommended
kW is used. On the basis of motor rating, solar panel
rating is decided to be 1.8 kW considering losses in to use battery back-up system. Whereas, battery
the system. In this paper the main focus is to design back-up is not required in the pumping system as
boost-converter which boosts the voltage obtained the water obtained from water source is stored in
from solar panel. This boost voltage acts as a dc-link storage tank. If any additional water is available,
voltage for three-phase inverter. Three-phase inverter then it can be stored in other tank or capacity of the
is developed to convert dc voltage into ac voltage. tank is increased or higher capacity of tank is
This ac voltage generated is given to induction motor designed so additional water can be stored [1].
which runs the submersible pump. Maximum Power In the proposed system, output voltage from the
Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithm is implemented to
solar panel gets boosted to dc-link voltage which
obtain maximum power from the solar panel under
different solar irradiation and temperature. In this acts as a voltage source for three-phase inverter
topology, incremental conductance method is used to which runs motor-pump set [2]. Application of this
obtain maximum power from solar panel. Modulation system is gaining momentum, especially in the
index of inverter is controlled by Sine-Triangle Pulse areas where grid is not available easily [3]. For
Width Modulation (SPWM) technique. SPWM along design of this system, selection of solar panel and
with V/F scheme is implemented for the control of its rating is important, as the efficiency of solar
inverter which results in the control of speed of panel is less [4]. Now to obtain maximum power
induction motor when the output from solar panel from solar panel MPPT algorithm is to be
changes. Design and simulation verification of the
implemented. There are various methods to track
system is performed in PSIM software. After
satisfactory results obtained through simulation maximum power. On the basis of efficiency and
studies, hardware setup is also tested on resistive reliability, incremental conductance method is used
load. to track maximum power from a solar panel [5-8].
The Fig. 1 shows the basic block diagram of
Keywords — DC-DC Boost-Converter; Induction solar pumping system. The output voltage obtained
Motor Drive; Inverter; Maximum Power Point from solar panel is in the form of dc. With the
Tracking (MPPT); Solar Water Pumping System effect of change in solar radiation and temperature,

I. INTRODUCTION
Solar pumping system is gaining momentum in
the areas where grid is unreliable or unavailable.
This system overcomes the problems faced in other
technologies like diesel generator sets. The main
advantage of this system is that it is pollution free
and running or maintenance cost is quite low. In
this system, dc voltage obtained from solar panel is
used to run either a dc motor-pump or induction
motor-pump set. The dc motor-pump set is used to Fig. 1 Basic block diagram of solar pumping system

978-1-5386-1747-2/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE

output voltage available from solar panel is in the Where Dmin = Minimum duty cycle
range of 190 V to 290 V. This voltage is boosted to Dmin = 0.53 (5)
600 V dc which acts as a dc-link voltage for the
inverter [9]. Here, for variable speed operation of ∗
= (6)
induction motor, V/F control technique is ∆∗
Where,
implemented [10].
Vimax = Maximum input voltage
Once the design of boost-converter and inverter
∆i = Ripple in inductor current
is carried out, and ratings and specifications are
fs = Switching frequency
decided, simulation of the system is carried out.
Then hardware is implemented and tested on ∗ .
resistive load [11]. Once system is tested, = (7)
. ∗
performance of the system can be optimized by
having minor changes [12]. For high-power L = 4.5 mH (8)
applications, three-level of five-level (multi-level)
inverter based V/F drives can also be considered Hence, from above calculation the value of
[13-14]. A different class of boost-converters is inductor obtained is of 4.5 mH.
also proposed in literature, mainly used as front-
end converter (FEC) for ac-dc applications [15-16].
III. MPPT ALGORITHM
Basically there are two problems with output
II. BOOST-CONVERTER of solar panel:-
In this topology, motor-pump set of 1.5 kW 1. The output of solar panel is very less, as the
power is used. As a result solar panel rating is efficiency of solar panel is 10% to 15%.
taken 1.20 to 1.25 times higher i.e., 1.8 kW. Rating 2. The output of solar panel changes with the
of one solar panel is 210 W, hence by connecting 9 change in weather conditions i.e., output is less
panels in series, the desired output of 1.8 kW is during cloudy conditions and output keeps
obtained. Considering the solar irradiation and changing throughout the day. In morning and
temperature, output voltage available from solar evening times, it is less compared to noon time
array is in the range of 190 V to 290 V. To run a when maximum output from panel is available.
three-phase motor-pump dc-link of 600 V is It is also seen that I-V and P-V characteristics
required. To obtain this voltage boost-converter is of solar cell are not linear. Hence, there is one point
used. on the graph where maximum power from the solar
panel can be tracked. To obtain this maximum
A. Specification of boost converter power point, incremental conductance method is
x Output Power, Po : 1.5 kW used.
x Output Voltage, Vout : 600 V dc Fig. 2 shows the closed-loop control of boost-
x Load Current, IL : 5.15 A converter. Closed-loop control of boost-converter is
x Input Voltage, Vin : 190 – 290 V obtained with MPPT algorithm. Here voltage and
x Switching Frequency, fsw : 16 kHz current from the solar panel are sensed and given to
the MPPT algorithm. Reference voltage (Vref) is
generated from the algorithm, which is the
B. Design of Inductor
compared with triangular wave of 16 kHz
The steps for inductor design are as shown below:
frequency which controls the duty cycle of switch.
As a result, the dc-link voltage remains constant.
Vout = Vin (1)

Where,
Vout = Output voltage of the boost-converter
Vin = Input voltage of the boost-converter
D = Duty cycle of the boost-converter

600 = 190 (2)

Where Dmax = Maximum duty cycle

Dmax = 0.68 (3)

600 = 290 (4) Fig. 2 Closed-loop control of boost-converter

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 IV. INVERTER with triangular wave. Resultant PWM pulses are
Inverter is used to convert dc voltage into ac given to IGBT of boost-converter as gate signals.
voltage. The 600 V dc obtained from boost- As a result dc-link voltage remains constant even
converter acts as a dc-link voltage for inverter. This though there is change in the output voltage of the
dc is converted into ac. In inverter, Sine-Triangle solar panel.
Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM) technique is
used to give pulses to IGBTs of the inverter. PWM
pulses are generated with the help of sine-triangle
comparison. Here, triangle will be as carrier signal,
and sine will be reference signal. Output of the
inverter changes or controlled by changing the
modulation index.
Fig. 3 shows the inverter with SPWM
technique. Ratings of IGBTs used in this inverter
are 1200 V, 40 A. To control the speed of induction
motor, V/F control is implemented.
Fig. 4 Closed-loop control of solar pumping system
In V/F control, the V/F ratio is maintained
constant so that air gap flux remains constant. As dc-link is maintained constant, three-phase
Hence, the speed of induction motor can be inverter converts the dc voltage into ac voltage. By
controlled by controlling voltage and frequency in changing the modulation index of inverter, output
the same ratio, which provides constant maximum of inverter can be controlled. In this system V/F
torque at any given operating speed (voltage boost method is implemented along with Sine-Triangle
in the inverter is recommended at lower operating PWM technique to control the speed of an
speeds). In recent times, almost every application induction motor when the power obtained from
related to induction motor uses this technology. solar panel is very less. When the power is less dc-
The main advantage of using induction motor with link voltage will be decreased, as a result frequency
V/F control is that, induction motor does not draw of motor decreases and hence speed of motor
the high current at starting. In general, by changing decreases.
the stator voltage rms value and the frequency in Here, closed-loop control is obtained by TMS
the same proportion, V/F control of induction 320F28069 digital signal processor (DSP). All the
motor is achieved. sensing and closed-loop computations are done
through this controller. For voltage, it is given to
Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) of the
controller through dc voltage sensing and levelling
circuit. The maximum dc voltage is converted into
3.3 V and other voltage levels are in linear relation
to this. Over voltage protection is also provided
through this segment only.
Here, dc-link voltage is also sensed. If the dc-
link voltage exceeds more than 650 V, then again
DSP pin will go low and display will display output
over voltage fault.
For current sensing, Hall Effect sensor are
used which give output of 4 V with respect to the
peak value of the current. After getting this 4 V, the
output is again converted into 3.3 V format and the
processed signal is provided to the ADC for further
closed-loop computations. With this sensing and
levelling circuit, analog over current protection is
also provided to avoid damage to the power
Fig. 3 Three-phase inverter with Sine-Triangle PWM devices.
Here, current sensing is done with the help of
V. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROPOSED TOPOLOGY Hall Effect Sensor. When there is no turn, it gives
output in the form of 4 V, when current is 50 A.
Fig. 4 shows the block diagram of the
When there are two turns, then sensor gives output
topology with control strategy. Here, voltage and
of 4 V at 12.5 A. In this system, two turns are taken
current from the solar panel are sensed and given to
as current of the system would not exceed more
MPPT algorithm. Reference voltage generated by
than 10 A. Trip signal set for the over current as 7.5
the MPPT algorithm is processed through a PI
A.
controller and limiter. The signal is then compared

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 Thermistor of 20 kΩ is taken to sense the
temperature of the IGBTs. Thermistor is mounted
on the heat sink. In control card, the maximum
allowable temperature is set to be 87 qC. So if the
temperature increases more than 87 qC, the
temperature fault will be displayed on the display.
Hence, through closed-loop control, input over
voltage, output over voltage, input over current
protections are provided.

VI. SIMULATION RESULTS

Fig. 7 Reference voltage generated by MPPT and solar panel voltage
Fig. 5 to 10 show the simulation results of the Scale: Reference voltage: X-axis: 0.5s/div., Y-axis: 0.2/div.
topology as shown in fig. 4. Simulation result in Solar panel voltage: X-axis:0.5 s/div., Y-axis:50 V/div.
fig. 5 shows the dc-link voltage and output of the
solar panel, respectively. Fig. 6 shows the pulses
obtained by comparing the reference voltage
generated by MPPT algorithm with triangular
wave. Also with respect to the pulses, the charging
and discharging of inductor current is shown.
During the ON-time, the inductor current reaches to
its maximum value, and during OFF-time, the
inductor current reaches to its minimum value.
Fig. 7 shows the reference voltage generated
by MPPT algorithm. The solar panel voltage tries
to track the path of reference voltage to obtain the
maximum power from the solar panel. Fig. 8 shows Fig. 8 Output voltage and output current of the inverter
Scale: Output voltage: X-axis: 0.5 s/div., Y-axis: 500 V/div.
the output voltage and output current of the Output current: X-axis: 0.5 s/div., Y-axis: 5 A/div.
inverter. The rms values of the voltage and the
current, respectively are 415 V and 3.4 A. Fig. 9 shows the Sine-Triangle comparison. It
also shows the gate pulses of two IGBTs of the
same leg (complementary fashion of the gate
pulses). As shown in the figure, both gate pulses
are complementary to each other. In practice, a
dead band of 1μs is provided between the gate
pulses of the two complementary IGBTs. Fig. 10
shows the frequency and speed of induction motor.
As shown in the figure, frequency is around 40 Hz
and so corresponding speed is 2400 rpm for the 2
pole motor.

Fig. 5 Solar panel voltage and dc-link voltage

Scale: X-axis: 1 s/div., Y-axis: 200 V/div.

Fig. 9 Sine-Triangle comparison and gate pulses to IGBTs of

inverter
Fig.6 Gate pulses of IGBT and inductor current Scale: Sine: X-axis: 2 ms/div., Y-axis: 0.5/div.
Scale: pulses: X-axis: 0.2 ms/div., Y-axis: 0.2/div. Triangle: X-axis: 2 ms/div., Y-axis: 0.5/div.
Inductor current: X-axis: 0.2 ms/div., Y-axis: 0.5 A/div. G1: X-axis: 2 ms/div., Y-axis: 0.2/div.
G4: X-axis: 2 ms/div., Y-axis: 0.2/div.

4
 Fig. 13 shows the output voltage and output
current at 50 Hz operation. The rms value of
voltage is 285 V and output current is 0.60 A. As
evident from the figure, both voltage and current
are in phase with each other, hence power factor is
unity. This topology is tested on resistive load. Fig.
14 shows the pulses to IGBT of inverter. Fig. 15
shows the output voltage and output current at 30
Hz frequency, i.e. V/F control algorithm is working
successfully.

Fig. 10 Frequency and speed of induction motor

Scale: frequency: X-axis: 0.5 s/div., Y-axis: 10 Hz/div.
Speed: X-axis: 0.5 s/div., Y-axis: 500 rpm/div.

VII. HARDWARE RESULTS

Fig. 11 to 14 show the hardware results of the
selected topology. Fig. 11 shows the dc-link
voltage and solar panel voltage. It is depicted from
the fig. 11 that the dc-link voltage remains constant
at 592 V when output voltage available from the
solar panel is 285 V. Fig. 12 shows the voltage
across the IGBT of the boost-converter. Switching Fig. 13 Output voltage and output current of inverter at 50 Hz
Scale: Output voltage: X-axis:10 ms/div., Y-axis:500 V/div.
frequency of the IGBT is 16 kHz. Output current: X-axis: 10 ms/div., Y-axis: 1 A/div.

Fig. 11 dc-link voltage and solar panel voltage Fig. 14 Pulses of IGBT of inverter
Scale: X-axis: 5 μs/div., Y-axis: 200 V/div. Scale: X-axis: 100 μs/div., Y-axis: 10 V/div.

Fig. 12 Voltage across the IGBT of the boost-converter Fig. 15 Output voltage and output current of inverter at 30 Hz
Scale: X-axis: 20 μs/div., Y-axis: 200 V/div. Scale: Output voltage: X-axis: 10 ms/div., Y-axis: 500 V/div.
Output current: X-axis: 10 ms/div., Y-axis: 1 A/div.

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