Optimization for a Photovoltaic Pumping System Using Indirect Field Oriented Control of Induction Motor

Due to the increase in electricity and diesel costs, solar photovoltaic pumping systems have become a good solution, especially in rural areas. This work presents a standalone photovoltaic (PV) water pumping system (PVWPS) driven by an induction motor without energy storage to improve the pumping system’s performance. First, a comparison is made between two types: perturb and observe (P&O) method and incremental conductance (INC) MPPT method with a variable step size that is automatically adjusted. Studying these two techniques helps to understand which one can result in a system with less oscillation and greater efficiency when tracking the maximum power point from the PV panel under sudden irradiation conditions. This MPPT works on the operating duty cycle of the boost converter. Then, that converter combines with a voltage source inverter (VSI) to convert DC power to AC power. Second, we use indirect field-oriented control (IRFOC), which drives the three-phase of an induction motor in turn to run the centrifugal pump. The simulation results of this work were obtained using the MATLAB Simulink platform.

A field-oriented control (FOC) method using the virtual currents for the induction motor drive

<span lang="EN-US">An improving field-oriented control technique without current sensors is proposed to control rotor speed for an induction motor drive. The estimated stator currents based on the slip frequency are used instead of feedback current signals in the FOC loop. The reference signals and the estimated currents through computation steps are used to generate the control voltage for the switching inverter. Simulations were performed in Matlab/Simulink environment at rated speed and low-speed range to demonstrate the method's feasibility. Through simulation results, the FOC method using virtual sensors has proved its effectiveness in ensuring the stable operation of the IMD over a wide speed range.</span>