th

THE 9 INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ADVANCED TOPICS IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

May 7-9, 2015
Bucharest, Romania

Characterization of Photovoltaic Pumping System

Model Without Battery Storage by Matlab/Simulink
A. Boussaibo1,2,3, M. Kamta1, J. Kayem2, D. Toader3, S. Haragus3, A. Maghet3
1
University of Ngaoundere/ Cameroon, IUT, Department of Electrical Engineering
2
University of Ngaoundere/ Cameroon, ENSAI, Department of Process Engineering
3
Polytechnic University of Timisoara/ Romania, Fundamental of Physics for Engineers Department
boussaibo@yahoo.fr, martin_kamta@yahoo.fr, gjkayem@yahoo.fr, dumitru.toader@upt.ro, haraguss@yahoo.com,
maghetadrian@yahoo.com

Abstract: Under normal operating conditions, the flow rate of a
solar pump fed by a photovoltaic array follows the variations of
the irradiance. However, the flow rate of a photovoltaic pumping
system coupled to a water filtration unit should be constant
under a constant pressure. So, the combination of solar batteries
with a photovoltaic array is required. This paper presents a
specific structure of the P & O algorithm for controlling a boost
converter inserted between the photovoltaic array without
batteries and the driving motor of a centrifugal pump. The
simulation results in MATLAB/SIMULINK with ode23t solver
show that blocking of the duty ratio of the control pulses of the
boost converter enables to maintain a constant output voltage,
even if the irradiance varies. Thus, for a duty ratio locked
between 0.79 and 0.9, the output voltage of 236 V is obtained, for
a flow rate of 1.08 l/s under a pressure of 5.8 bars.
Keywords: Modelling, MPPT control algorithm, PWM, PV
pumping system.
I. INTRODUCTION
In this work we chose to explore the possibility of
transferring the maximum power of the PV generator to a
centrifugal pump in charge of feed a filtration unit with fixed
water flow and pressure. And secondly, we study the behavior
of the entire system without battery storage.
The use of electric pumps in rural areas in sub-saharan
Africa remains hampered by the lack of connected grid power
supply. In this part of the continent 92% of the rural
populations have no access to electricity [1]. The lack of
electricity supply in the rural area is due to the prohibitive
cost of extending the existing electrical network [2].
In the interest of improving the living conditions of the
populations, the research for alternative energy resources has
become a priority [3]. The Sahel solar energy potential solar
energy is estimated at 7 kWh/m2/day [4]. The use of this
solar resource is well suited for the production of electricity
in rural areas and especially isolated villages [4-5]. However,
one of the major drawbacks of photovoltaic generator is the
dependence on weather conditions which have a very random
behavior and sometimes very severe for photovoltaic
modules. The use of storage batteries becomes costly in the
short or long term because of their life very closely linked to
the conditions of use.
Several studies are being conducted to improve the
efficiency of photovoltaic systems. The maxi-mum power
transfer is the most studied by various authors [6]. Maximum
power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms are well developed
for the control of static converters, which couples the PV
generator and the load. Among these algorithms, the most
common are perturb and observe (P&O), incremental
conductance, fuzzy logic, etc. [7-8].
The control of the switches of the inverter is implemented
by pulse width modulation (PWM) to allow the pump to run
at low speed but with high torque through constant V/f ratio
when the generator power decreases. However, it is important
to use this law in water filtration application which requires
fixed water flow and pressure in a specific interval. In this
paper we propose a PV pumping system that on one hand will
allow the operator to set the flow rate and pressure required
and, on the other hand to maintain a nearly constant voltage at
the input of the inverter without using a storage DC battery.
The system is modeled and simulated in the MATLAB
environment.
II. SIMULINK MODEL OF THE PV GENERATOR
The photovoltaic generator has a strongly nonlinear I-V
characteristic as a direct result of the behavior of
semiconductor junctions which are the basis of its realization
[9]. A standard model of a PV cell is shown in Fig. 1, where
Icc models the photovoltaic generated current, D is the
Schottky diode and Rs and Rsh are series, respectively shunt
resistors modeling cell power losses.
Fig. 1. PV cell model

978-1-4799-7514-3/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE 774

 The photocurrent Icc depends on the irradiance G and The saturation current Is of the diode is related to
temperature T [10] as follows: temperature according to the following relation [10]:
G
I cc = [I cco + ct (T − T0 )] (1) 3/ n
G0 §T · § − qE g § 1 1 ··
I s = I s0 ¨¨ ¸¸ ⋅ exp¨ ⋅ ¨¨ − ¸¸ ¸ (6)
where ct is the cell temperature coefficient, T is the cell ¨ nk ¸
© T0 ¹ © © T T0 ¹ ¹
temperature, T0 is the temperature in STC, G is the irradiance
on the cell plane and G0 the irradiance in STC. The diode
The STC reverse saturation current Is0 is computed by
current is given by the following formula [11]:
solving the system obtained considering (4) at short-circuit,
respectively open-circuit conditions.
ª § V + Rs I cell · º
I d = I s «exp¨¨ cell ¸¸ − 1» (2) The diagram in Fig. 2 shows the Simulink model of a
«¬ © Vt ¹ »¼ single module based on these equations; Rs and Is are resolved
with Vt = nkT / q , where k is the Boltzmann constant, T in a Matfile.
the cell temperature in Kelvin, n is the ideality factor of the
diode, q is the electron charge and Is is the diode reverse
saturation current.
The output current generated by the cell results from
Kirchhoff's law as
I cell = I cc − I d − I sh (3)

The voltage produced by a single cell is less then unity and

usually many PV cells are connected is series to form a PV
module. In our case the number Ncs of cells in series per Fig. 2. Simulink model of the PV module
module is 36, according to the manufacturer's specifications
For our application the PV generator results by connecting
as presented in Table 1.
9 modules in parallel to form a subarray, and then connecting
For a module consisting of many cell the module shunt
in series 3 such subarrays.
resistance can be neglected without causing significant errors
in the system simulation. Denoting with Ipv and Vpv the
module current, respectively voltage, it follows that III. SIMPOWER SYSTEM MODEL OF THE
BOOST CONVERTER
ª § V pv + Rs I pv · º
I pv = I cc − I s «exp¨¨ ¸ − 1»
¸
(4)
«¬ © Vt ⋅ N cs The boost converter is needed to efficiently convert a DC
¹ »¼
voltage from a lower level to a higher level [11]. For a
lossless converter the port variables are related to the duty
Rs being the series resistance of the module.
ratio d by the relations
TABLE I Vin
Vout = (7)
NAMEPLATE DATA OF THE USED PV MODULE 1− d

I out = (1 − d )I in
Photovoltaic H750 Helios module parameters
(8)
Short-circuit current at STC 4.01 A
Open circuit voltage at STC 21.6 V The values of inductance L, respectively the capacitance C
Current at MPP 3.47 A of the converter are calculated at the boundary operation
Voltage at MPP 17. 3 V conditions of the circuit as follows:
Maximum power at STC 60 Wp
Number of series-connected cells 36 Vin
L=d (9)
f ⋅ ΔI
As Rs is not a sheet given data, it should be computed.
Assuming initially a value for n between 1 and 2, Rs is I
C = d out (10)
obtained by solving (4), where the current and voltage are f ⋅ ΔV
replaced by their values at the maximum power point:
The boost converter has been modeled using
§ I cc − I pm · SimPowerSystem blocks as shown in Fig.3. The command
ln¨¨ ¸
¸ V signal is obtained through a comparator having as inputs a
Is (5)
Rs = N cs ⋅ Vt ⋅ © ¹ − pm saw-tooth signal of frequency f = 100 kHz and the duty ratio
I pm I pm d supplied by the MPPT control algorithm, respectively.

775
 Theoretically, the maximum values of the current and purpose, a locking interval was imposed to the values of the
voltage generated by the PV generator are 20.82 A and 51.9 duty ratio. In this chart, the locking of the duty ratio is made
V respectively. Using (9) and (10), it results L = 30 ȝH and C through the DL and DH values which are respectively the
= 470 ȝF. lower limit and the upper limit of the range of variation.

V. SIMPOWERSYSTEM MODEL OF THE INVERTER

One of the objectives of this work is to allow the choice of

the rotational speed of the induction motor by setting the
frequency of the supply voltage. One approach to implement
variable frequency is to use pulse width modulation (PWM)
Fig. 3. Simulink model of the boost converter technique to control the switching bridge of the inverter. To
maintain a constant torque the PWM control principle must
assure that V/f = const. To implement this condition both V
Initialization
and f are to be adjusted, as in the following formula:
Read P
V m (11)
= = const
ȴP=P-P_old
f Δθ
N ȴP>0 Y

N D_old>D Y N D_old<D Y

D_new=D-ȴD D_new=D+ȴD D_new=D-ȴD D_new=D+ȴD

N Y N Y
D<DL D>DH

D=DL D=DH

Fig. 5. Simulink model of the inverter

Fig. 4. Flow chart of the used MPPT algorithm

IV. THE MPPT ALGORITHM

The most simple, flexible, and therefore frequently used

algorithm for tracking the maximum power-point (MPPT) is
the Perturb and Observe (P & O) algorithm [13, 14]. This is
Fig. 6. PWM implementation to control the inverter
also the one we chose to use in this project. Like the name
suggests, it is based on the perturbation of the system by
where m is the amplitude modulation index, m = V/Vdc, Vdc
increasing or decreasing a voltage reference [15] or by acting
being the input voltage of inverter [17], and ǻș is the angle of
directly on the duty ratio of the DC-DC converter and
phase voltage vector's rotation increment, which is modified
correcting it by observing the variation of the output power.
during each PWM underflow interruption. We chose an
The algorithm we developed, as shown in Fig.4, allows us
IGBT-based single-phase sinusoidal, pulse width modulated,
to achieve two objectives:
voltage source inverter. Again, we use SimPowerSystem
- it allows the system to operate at MPP by regularly
blocks to model the inverter, as shown in Fig.5. The voltage
adjusting the duty cycle. Through a loop, it reads the
amplitude and the effective frequency of the power supply are
instantaneous power delivered by the generator. This power is
obtained by modulating the duty ratio of a pulse train, as
then compared with a previous value and the duty ratio is
shown in Fig. 6.
increased or decreased, depending on the sign of the result. If
To reduce the harmonic content in the output voltage of the
the measured value of the power P of the generator is greater
inverter, a filter is required. The parameters of a LC filter,
than the previous value P_old, the algorithm control keep the
considering a fundamental frequency of 50 Hz, are 1 H and
same direction of previous disturbance, if not, the disturbance
350 ȝF, respectively. In the implementation, the frequency
of previous cycle is reverse.
variation can be operated by a microcontroller which receives
- the algorithm should maintain a continuous voltage
a reference frequency through a keyboard.
across the boost converter at a nearly constant value. For this

776
 VI. MODELING THE MOTOR-PUMP SUBSYSTEM

The pumping operation is performed by a centrifugal pump

driven by a single-phase induction motor.
A. Single-phase induction motor
For modeling the single-phase induction motor we chose
from the SimPowerSystems library the "capacitor-start"
configuration.
The sheet data of the single phase induction motor we use
are: 230 V, 50 Hz, 2.8 A, 2820 rpm. The number of poles is Fig.8. Full mode
two.
B. Centrifugal Pump The global efficiency will be computed according to the
relation
For a centrifugal pump the relation between the head H and
the flow rate Q is approximated by the quadratic law η = ηboost ⋅ ηinverter ⋅ η motor ⋅ η pump
(14)
H= a0 ω2r − a1ωr Q − a2 Q 2
(12)
VIII. SIMULATION RESULTS
where Ȧr is the shaft angular velocity and a0, a1 respectively
a2 are empirical parameters. The I-V and P-V characteristics of the PV generator are
The mechanical power P is related to H and Q as shown in Fig.9 and Fig.10 respectively, assuming STC (G =
1000 W/m2, t = 20 oC). The open-circuit voltage obtained at
ρgHQ the terminals of the generator is equal to 64.8 V while the
P= (13)
η short-circuit current is equal to 32.08 A. This open-circuit
voltage is equal to that obtained by Kamta and al. [19] using
where ȡ is the water density (kg/m3), g is the gravity the same model of PV module. Also it can be seen that the
acceleration (m/s2) and Ș is the pump efficiency.
maximum power available is 1.5 kW.
For this application we assume the following hydraulic
Fig. 11 shows the terminal voltage of the PV generator. We
data: maximum flow rate 80 l/min, maximum total head 22 m,
specifically choose to assign to the terminal voltage of the PV
maximum suction head 7 m, maximum pressure 6 bar.
generator a random distribution to study the systems behavior
The pump and the hydraulic circuit are modeled using
under severe weather conditions. This voltage varies between
Simscape, as shown in Fig.7. The hydraulic inlet port is
a minimum value of 38.88 V and a maximum value of 55.22
connected to a reservoir modeling the well, while the outlet is
V.
connected to a tank that stores water under constant pressure.

30
Current (A)

20

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Voltage (V)

Fig. 9. I-V characteristic for the PV generator

1500

Fig. 7. Motor-Pump Simulink-Simscape model

Power (W)

1000

500
VII. THE COMPLETE SYSTEM
Fig. 8 presents the full model of the proposed pumping 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Voltage (V)
system. The simulation of the model is operated with ode23t
solver and variable step size in MATLAB/Simulink.
PowerGui was necessary for the electrical blocks. Fig. 10. P-V Characteristic for the PV generator

777
 56 20

54 15
52
10
50

Current (A)
Voltage (V)

48 5

46 0

44
-5
42
-10
40

38 -15
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Time (s) Time (s)

Fig. 11. Output voltage of PV generator as function of time Fig. 14. Current absorbed by the load as function of time

1000 At startup, the amplitude reaches a value of 18 A which is

about 6 times the rated value of 2.8¥2 A given on the
800
nameplate of the pump used. This result is consistent with the
work of Subramanian and al. [20] which situates this ratio
Voltage (V)

600

400
between 6 and 7. However, this starting current can be
significantly reduced by starting the motor with a low value
200
of the duty cycle.
0
Figures 15, 16 and 17 show the influence of the variation of
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
. Time (s) the frequency on the electromagnetic torque, pressure and
flow rate respectively. The curves were obtained at
Fig. 12. Boost converter's output voltage as function of time
frequencies of 50 Hz, 45 Hz and 40 Hz respectively. The
corresponding modulation indexes are 0.98, 0.88 and 0.78.
Accordingly, Fig.12 shows the output voltage of the boost-
From Fig. 15 we realize that despite the change in frequency,
converter.
due to the V/f = const law the three curves are almost
For the MPPT algorithm the duty ratio d is stepped by
superposed. From Fig. 16 and 17 it results that when the
0.0044 increments. The systematic lock of the duty ratio in
motor runs at rated frequency the water pressure is around 5.8
the range 0.79 - 0.9 maintains the boost-converter output
bar for a flow of 1.08 l/s. At 45 Hz the pressure drops to
voltage at a mean value of 236.5 V. An output capacitor of
around 4.6 bar and the flow rate drops to 0.87 l/s. Also, when
350 ȝF was necessary to ensure continuity of the boost-
the frequency decreases the system takes more time to reach
converter output voltage during the ON time of the switch. If
steady state.
d < 0.79 then the boost-converter average output voltage
becomes less than 220 V, that is the rated voltage for the
induction motor. If d > 0.9 then the output voltage of the 15
50 Hz
boost-converter becomes very unstable. 10
45 Hz
40 Hz
By applying the boost-converter output voltage at the input 5
Torque (Nm)

of the inverter, an AC voltage of 231 V amplitude, as shown 0

in Fig. 13, with an index modulation of 0.98, is obtained. The -5
low-pass filter at the output of the inverter permits to obtain a
-10
sinusoidal voltage with a frequency of 50 Hz, in accordance
with the nominal operating frequency of the motor used in
-15
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Times (s)

this work. As shown in Fig. 14, the steady-state load current

Fig. 15. Electromagnetic Torque with frequency as parameter
varies sinusoid ally at 50 Hz.

500 6
400

300 5 50 Hz

200
4
45 Hz
Pressure (bar)
Voltage (V)

100

0 3
40 Hz
-100

-200 2

-300
1
-400

-500
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Time (s)
Time (s)

Fig. 13. The output voltage of the inverter as function of time Fig. 16. Impact of frequency variation on pressure

778
 1.2
50 Hz tant pressure without combining solar batteries with the PV
1 45 Hz system. This has applications for membrane filtration of
0.8 brackish water.
A model of the photovoltaic pumping system without
Flow (l/s)

40 Hz
0.6
batteries have been designed and simulated in MATLAB /
0.4
SIMULINK. This model includes a boost converter controlled
0.2 by a specific P&O algorithm, a single-phase inverter
0 controlled with PWM and an AC motor which drives a
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Time (s) hydraulic centrifugal pump.
Fig. 17. : Impact of frequency variation on flow rate Simulation results show that the systematic locking of the
duty ratio of the boost converter and the scalar PWM control
6 0.8
(V/f=C) of the inverter can produce water with a constant
5.5
flow rate and under constant pressure during a sunny day.
5 0.6
Flow
The numerical model designed allows for any pumping
Pressure (bar)

4.5 Flow (l/s )

4 Pressure 0.4 system, determination of optimal values for motor rotation

3.5 speed, pressure and flow pumping system thus offers the
3 0.2 possibility of determining all necessary parameters to achieve
2.5
an efficient system pumping.
2 0
1500 1750 2000 2250 2500 2750 3000

ACKNOLEDGMENTS
Speed (rpm)

Fig. 18. Pressure and Flow-Speed characteristics

We are gratefully to those who supported this work: the
Power Absorbed (VA)

1500
Eugen Ionescu 2013 Program, the "Politehnica" University of
1000 Timisoara/Romania, and the University of Ngaoundere/
500
Cameroon, ENSAI, Department of Process Engineering.

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

2
x 10
-3
Time (s) REFERENCES
[1] ENDA (Énergie, Environnement et Développement), Rapport annuel,
Volume (m )
3

1.5
1 [2]
0.5
0
0 0.5 1 1.5
Time (s)
Fig. 19. Power absorbed and water volume
From Fig. 18 it may be observed that by decreasing the
speed from its nominal value it is possible to determine the
speed and pressure at which the flow of pumped water is zero.
In this case the lower-limit speed is 1530 rpm, with a
corresponding pressure of 2.25 bar.
Fig. 19 shows the power consumption and the volume of
water pumped into the tank. We realize that when steady state
is reached, the power absorbed by the pump fluctuates around
554.9 VA. This power is less than that prescribed by the
manufacturer which is theoretically equal to 644 VA. This
difference of about 89.1 VA is justified by the fact that the
maximum voltage that our generator applies to the motor
terminals is less than that required by the pump in nominal
operation. After three seconds of operation, the volume of
water pumped is about 1.7x10-3 m3. When the steady state is
reached, the overall efficiency of the system is 42.06 %.
IX. CONCLUSION
This work presents an approach for maintaining the outlet
of a centrifugal pump at a constant water flow under a cons-
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