Solar Powered Water Pumping System with Induction Motor for Off-Grid Application

This paper introduces a comprehensive solar photovoltaic (PV) array-based water pumping system employing an induction motor drive (IMD). The system is designed in two stages to ensure efficient operation. The first stage incorporates a boost converter to elevate the PV array output voltage and maximize the power extraction by dynamically adjusting the duty ratio through a perturb and observe (P&O) algorithm. Whereas the second stage, DC to AC conversion for IMD is integrated with the water pumping system. Scalar control provides an easy implementation, but it exhibits poor dynamic response and dependent speed and torque characteristics. To mitigate the poor dynamic response of scalar control, vector control has been implemented to enhance dynamic performance. The vector control provides independent torque-speed performance similar to a separately excited DC machine. The system’s performance is thoroughly evaluated under various dynamic conditions, including variable irradiances. The control schemes have been implemented using MATLAB/Simulink and validated in real time using OPAL-RT 5600.