Predictive Current Control of an Induction Machine for Solar Pumping Application

In this paper, a solar-pumping system based on a single-stage photovoltaic generation topology is presented. A standard two-level three-phase inverter is connected between an array of solar panels and a centrifugal pump. The inverter is operated to extract the maximum power available from the PV system and the pump is driven by a cage induction machine. A predictive control strategy is used to regulate the AC machine currents. Simulations considering changes in the solar irradiance are presented showing the feasibility of the proposed control scheme.