A control of stand-alone photovoltaic Water
Pumping Systems
Vu Hoang Phuong1, Le Viet Hung2, Nguyen Dinh Ngoc1, Tran Anh Dung1, Nguyen Van Dua1
1
Hanoi University of science and technology, Ha Noi
2
Institude for Hydro Power and Renewable Energy, Ha Noi
AbstractThe stand-alone photovoltaic (PV) water pumping
system is one of most important of renewable energy applications
especially in rural areas and islands, where it is difficult or even
impossible to use classical energies to fed water pumping system
[1]. In a PV pumping system, DC voltage of photovoltaic (PV)
array is converted into three-phase AC voltage by a voltage
source inverter without DC/DC converter to drive inductor
motor (IM) for the water pumping. That called a single-stage
inverter makes the PV pumping system increase in efficiency and
decrease in cost [2]. The previous studies have used vector
control method for induction motors and integrated with
maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm to generate
speed reference [3][5][5]. This solution has high performance, but
it is complex and difficult to implement in microprocessor. As a
result, it is not suitable for low power stand-alone photovoltaic
Water Pumping Systems in practice.
This paper presents a scalar control strategy to drive
inductor motor (IM) following torque-speed characteristic of the
centrifugal pump in the stand - alone PV water pumping system.
The control strategy, a simple methodology because of not being
depend on motor parameters, is integrated with hybrid MPPT
algorithm to generate frequency references so that the system
tracks maximum power point of the PV array. The correctness of
the proposed control algorithm is proved by Matlab/Simulink
under different operation conditions of PV array.
Keywords MPPT; solar PV; scalar control; stand-alone
photovoltaic water pumping
I. INTRODUCTION
With the agriculture countries in Asia as Viet Nam, water
is very importance element in producing crop time. Many
applications are created to support this purpose. Recently,
agriculturist apply electrical water pumping system for feeding
water into the agricultural areas. It is very helpful with the
areas where electricity is available, but it is not available for
non-electricity areas such as some rural areas and islands,
where electrical water pumps are unavailable or low-quality.
With renewable energy revolution later, solar energy is apply
widely in more applications, and it is also a good solution for
the areas where water pump system is required. Therefore, this
stand-alone solar pumping systems have received considerable
attention.
In most of these past studies, the DC/DC and DC/AC
power conversion schemes are used, these systems are called
two-stage inverters. MPPT process is carried out by additional
DC/DC converter. With this power conversion stages, it
decreases the total efficiency of the system and increases the
cost. We can optimize it by decreasing the number of power
conversion stages and the number of components involved in
each stage [6]. In a PV pumping system, DC voltage of PV
array is converted into three-phase AC voltage by a voltage
source inverter by a DC-AC inverter without DC/DC
converter to drive the water pump. That called a single-stage
inverter makes the PV pumping system. Although it is
complex, it will increase in efficiency and decrease in cost.
We have more different method which is proposed for
inductor motor, such as: scalar control, vector control, direct
torque control The scalar controller method called as V/f
control method is very popular with industrial application. The
previous studies have used vector control method for
induction motors and integrated with MPPT algorithm to
generate speed reference. This solution has high performance,
but it is complex and difficult to implement in microprocessor.
However, the PV pumping system dont require high dynamic
performance and install it easy in the microcontroller. It need
to be robust with perturbation, can be tracking the maximum
power point (MPP) of the PV system to improve efficiency of
the system. Therefore, the control structure is constituted by
combining scalar control with a novel hybrid MPP tracking
algorithm to give the best result. This paper presents a scalar
control strategy to drive IM following torque-speed
characteristic of the centrifugal pump in the stand - alone PV
water pumping. The control strategy, a simple methodology
because of not being depended on motor parameters, is
integrated with hybrid MPPT algorithm to generate frequency
references so that the system tracks maximum power point of
the PV array.
II. TOPOLOGY
System configuration is shown in Fig. 1 for the PV water
pumping system. It consists of solar PV array followed by a
Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) and a three phases IM. A novel
hybrid MPP tracking algorithm searches for the MPP which
decides the reference speed for the scalar control algorithm
and remain it in a couple of time.
 Pmp N s *0,8*Voc * N p *0,8* I sc 2kW (2)
Designing the open circuit voltage of the panel as 525(V).
I dc The open circuit voltage of single module is Voc 43.5 V ,
PV Array IM
Centrifugal the short circuit current is I sc 4.9 A . Therefore:
Cdc Pump
Vocpanel 525
U dc Ns 12 (3)
Voccell 43.5
6
The current of module is determined by:
Pmpp 2k
Isolation
2
I mpp 4.8( A) (4)
6 0.8*Voc 0.8*525
SVM
PV module is connect parallel: I mpp N p * I sc ,
us us
Calculation I sc 4.9 A ,thus N p 1
U f So we will have 12 serial module and 1 parallel module to
U/f obtained the PV array power as 2.4kW
f*
B. Design of DC Link Capacitor
Ramp The capacity of Capacitor is calculated by:
*
f
U dc 1
MPPT
Cdc Vdc2 Vdc2 1 3VIt (5)
2
I dc
Here: Vdc is the reference DC bus voltage of VSI; Vdc1 is
minimum DC link voltage; is the overloading factor; V and
Fig. 1. A scalar control and MPPT algorithm with the stand-alone PV water I are voltage and current per phase of IM; t is time duration in
pumping system which voltage decrease to minimum allowable DC link
230
voltage. I 5 A ;U 133V
A. Design of Solar PV Generator 3
Cdc 5252 500 2 3*1.2 *133*5* 0.005 Cdc 934 F
1
Parameters is chosen as follow:
2
Induction motor parameters:
We will choose 2 serial capacitor with value of each
1.86 KW (2.5HP), 50 Hz three phase, 1430 rpm, 4 pole, capacitor is 450 F / 450V .
Line-to-line Voltage: 230V C. Design of power switching device
Motor current: 5A
Resistor of stator and rotor: Rs 0.603, Rr 0.7 The current which go through the switch has value as the
current per phase IM: Itbv 5 A
Reactance of stator, rotor, mutual induction:
X s 1.007, X r 0.9212, X m 23.56 Choosing the overloading current factor K i 2 , we
Parameters of a module in Solar PV Array: calculate the current which go through the switch:
Open circuit voltage Voc 43.5V
I v Ki * I tbv 2*5 10 A
Short circuit current I sc 4.9A
Voltage and current at MPP: Vmp 35V , I mp 4.58A At one time, 2 serial switches in a branch just have only a
Number of series cell in each module= 72 ON-switch, the other switch is OFF. So the maximum inverse
As request, we use a three phase induction motor of voltage of the switch is capacitor voltage: U ng max 525 V
1.86kW power rating. So solar PV is designed with power be
2kW capacity considering losses of the system. The maximum Choosing the overloading voltage factor K u 1.5
power can be obtained from the system:
So: U v K u .U ng max 1,5*525 788 V
Pmp N s *Vmp * N p * I mp 2kW
(1) With above work voltage and current condition, we will
Here, Vmpp is voltage of module at MPP, I mpp is current of choose switch is power module as FNA23512A of
FAIRCHILD.
module at MPP, Pmpp is maximum power of module, N s ; N p
is the number of serial and parallel PV module. It has been D. Design of diode
observed that Voc and I sc at peak power are 80% of Voc and In this circuit, a diode install serially with PV array to
I sc values [3]. So Pmpp is calculated by the equation: against reverse DC source (PV array). So diode voltage is
equal with capacitor voltage. As the above calculation, diode
voltage is calculated by:
U diode K u *U ng max 1,5*520 788 V
The diode current is equal with PV current. Choosing the
overloading current factor K i 2 :
I diode Ki .I PV 2*4.9 9.8 A
So, we will choose diode: (1200V/30A) MUR
III. STRATEGY
A. Torque-Speed Characteristic of the Centrifugal Pump
When the centrifugal pump is started, a breakaway torque
is over about 10%25% of the nominal torque to overcome the
static friction. A nonlinear relationship of a summation of two
terms is assumed for this breakaway torque similar to that
given in for a dc motor. The first is an exponentially decaying
term representing the transition from static to kinetic friction
and the second is a constant term representing Coulomb
friction. Adding the breakaway torque, the resultant torque-
speed relationship will be as illustrated in (6) showing very
good agreement with the measured torque-speed characteristic
[2]. This measured torque-speed relationship is shown in Fig.2
TP k1.w2 sign w . k2 .e k3 w
k4
Fig. 2. Torque-Speed Characteristic of the Centrifugal Pump
. Therefore, the operating point of the PV array can be
controlled by the output frequency of the inverter. The MPP is
tracked by means of increasing frequency in the voltage
source region and decreasing frequency in the current source
region.
1) Classical MPPT methods
Classical MPPT method is an algorithm, which uses a
single criterion to track the MPP, based on the output
characteristics of the PV array.
Several MPPT methods have used, such as constant
voltage method (CV) [7], Perturb and Observe method (P&O)
[5] and Incremental Conductance method (INC) [5] [8] [9].
According to CV method, the MPP is tracked
approximate to a constant value, it only changes weakly when
weather varies. With a stand- alone PV water pumping system,
the output frequency increases when the PV terminal voltage
is higher than the reference value. Otherwise, the output
frequency decreases. The output frequency is specified by:
f (n 1) f V (n) Vref
f (n) f (n 1) V ( n) Vref (7)
f (n 1) f V ( n) Vref
Where f is the step size of the output frequency; Vref is
the MPP voltage.
Advantages of this method are such as: quick response
(6) and robust to disturbance. But it is hard to keep the reference
value Vref exactly equal to the actual MPP voltage, so the
tracked point often deviates from MPP during operation.
Because of the easy operation, P&O has used popularly in
MPPT algorithm. The output frequency is decided following:
f ( n) f (n 1) f ( n)
f (n 1) P ( n) P(n 1) (8)
f ( n)
f (n 1) P(n) P(n 1)
When the weather condition does not change quickly,
P&O will track MPP point well. However, if the solar
radiation changes fast, this method will regulate fail the speed
and even causes the system be out of the operation.
INC method is used to overcome disadvantages of P&O
method with rapidly changing weather condition. In a stand-
alone PV water pumping system, INC method is applied by:

With this torque-speed relationship, additional, this f (n 1) I /V I/ V 0 (at MPP)

problem is balancing energy (keeping energy at tracking f ( n) f (n 1) f I /V I/ V 0 (9)
point) without improving control quality, so a Scalar Control
has been proposed for this application. f (n 1) f I /V I/ V 0

B. Maximum power point tracking strategy for proposed
system
In a stand-alone PV water pumping system, the pump
uses power directly from the PV array. When the rotor speed
of the pump increases (i.e., the output frequency of the
inverter increases) and the voltage of PV array decreases
Theoretically, the INC method using system can operate
at MPP with an improved dynamics, but this method must use
divisional calculation to calculate value of I/V+I/V, it is not
suitable for a fixed-point MCU-based controller [5].
Furthermore, when the solar radiation increases quickly,
causing the increment of current and voltage, namely I >0
and V >0, the frequency is wrongly decreased according to
(4). Therefore, it is necessary to use a novel hybrid MPPT The overall system efficiency is as good as the MC
control strategy. method and the stability is as good as CV method.
2) The Novel hybrid MPPT control method
1 period n periods 1 period
The Novel hybrid MPPT control method is proposed to
improve the stability and dynamics of system. This hybrid
MPPT control strategy include two parts: the judgment of
speed-up or speed-down frequency and the selection of step MC method CV method MC method
size of frequency. Determining MPP and
Vref
Remaining output voltage as
Vref
Determining MPP and
Vref

a) The proposed algorithm

The system with the hybrid method is basically controlled
in CV method while its Vref is period updated by Multi- Fig. 5. The novel hybrid MPPT method
criterion method (MC). b) Selection step size of the output frequency
MC method bases on same principle of INC criterion, Step size of output frequency (f) is very important
however, it doesnt use divisional calculation as INC method during controlling periods, it affects to dynamics and stability
and it checks the signs of P, V directly to track the MPP qualities of system. A large step size leads to quick dynamic
and a new variable I is used to judge the change of the solar response but a large oscillation around the MPP. A small step
radiation to improve the system dynamics [10]. size leads to a good stability, but it takes a long time to
Start approach the MPP. In order to combine the merits of large and
small step size, the step size is selected, it base on the voltage
Vref, f
of the PV array:
Measure V(k);F(k)
k (V1 Vref ) f min Vref V1
f f min V1 Vref V2 (10)
Y V(k)==Vref k (Vref V2 ) Vref V2

N
In order to reduce the vibration oscillation around the
MPP, the minimum step size is selected when the voltage is
V(k)>Vref
Y N within V1 and V2. Outside (V1; V2), the operating point of the
system is away from the MPP, the larger the step size is
F=F(k) F= F(k)+f F= F(k)-f selected. So the convergence time to the MPP is shortened.
fmin is determined on the basis of system parameters and
Fig. 3. Frequency change according to the CV algorithm MCU capabilities [10]. The optimization value of fmin is
calculated by (11):
Start 2 N . f rate .Vad 2 N . f rate .Vad
f min max (11)
Mesuare Vpv(k), Ipv(k), K I .I mpp KV (Vo Vmpp )
Vpv (k-1), Ipv(k-1), F(k)

Calculate P, V,I
With system parameters in this paper and the used MCU
capabilities, we selected fmin= 0.01Hz.
Y P=0

N IV. SIMULATION RESULTS

N P>0 Y
The proposed configuration for pump extracting power
V>0 Y V>0 Y from PV arrays is modeled and simulated in
N N
MATLAB/SIMULINK. In this section, performance of the
drive is analyzed in varying solar radiation, temperature based
I>0 Y I>0 I>0 I>0 Y on the simulated results. Simulated results show that the
N N Y N systems perform quite satisfactorily.
Fref=F(k) Fref=F(k)-f Fref=F(k)-f Fref=F(k)+f Fref=F(k)+f Fref=F(k)-f Fref=F(k)+f
A. Characteristics of the System with varying temperature
In Fig. 6, the temperature is increased from 298.15 (K) to
Fig. 4. Frequency change according to the MC algorithm 313.15 (K) at 6 second, radiation remain G= 1000 (W/m2) in
all time.

Fig. 6. Current, Voltage and Power of PV after tracking
In this simulation, the system implement MC method for
5s at the first time, after that, the system will begin the
process: implement CV tracking method for 4s to keep the PV
at maximum power point, and MC method for 2s to determine
MPP.
We can see that PV voltage is tracked to MPP voltage
after 4.5s. This voltage is so accurate with MPP voltage in
real. At t=6s, the temperature increase from 298.15 (K) to
313.15 (K), so it make the curve change a little of bit.
According the theory, MPP voltage must be decrease.
However, at this time, CV method activate, so it keep MPP
voltage be no change. It also helps the frequency not to change
so much when the weather change fast. After 9s, MC
algorithm continuous activate, CV algorithm is stopped to
determine new MPP.
Fig. 7. Frequency, stator current, torque and speed of the pump
At t=6s, the temperature increase from 298.15 (K) to
313.15 (K), the speed, torque, stator current and frequency
pump is reduced soft and not be changed much at that time.
B. Characteristics of the System with varying Radiation
The radiation is increased from 600 W/m2 to 1000 W/m2
and temperature is hold T=298.15 (K)
Fig. 8. Current, Voltage and Power of PV after tracking
The tracking MPP time is about 4s. At t=6s, radiation
increase from 600 to 1000 W/m2 ,current, voltage is change
soft and is established quickly, the voltage value is hold at
MPP which MC determine, and current increase follow the
theory. The voltage, current, power simulation value is
approximate value of the real MPP at the different weather
conditions.
Fig. 9. Frequency, stator current, torque and speed of pump motor
Fig. 9 show that frequency, stator current, torque and
speed increase while radiation increase from 600 to 1000
W/m2.
V. CONCLUSION
This paper has presented a control of stand-alone
photovoltaic Water Pumping Systems. This system include: a
single stage scheme for solar PV array fed induction motor
drive utilizing benefits of a scalar control strategy has been
proposed, a novel hybrid MPPT for determine reference speed
corresponding the P-V characteristic of solar PV array and
remain it for a long time. PV array has been operated at
maximum power in the atmospheric conditions. The pump has
been used affinity law and performance has been simulated.
Simulated results show that the induction motor drive
performs satisfactorily during starting, dynamic and steady
state conditions.

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