IEEE INDICON 2015 1570196795

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BLDC Motor Driven Water Pump Fed by Solar
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Photovoltaic Array Using Boost Converter
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10   Rajan Kumar, Student Member, IEEE Bhim Singh, Fellow, IEEE
11   Department of Electrical Engineering Department of Electrical Engineering
12   Indian Institute of Technology Delhi Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
13   Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016, India Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016, India
14   sonkar.rajankumar36@gmail.com bsingh@ee.iitd.ac.in
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17   Abstract—This paper deals with the development of a simple, limitations of the induction motor are not favorable for SPV
18   cost-effective, efficient, reliable and eco-friendly water pumping array based water pumping such as requirement of complex
system utilizing a DC-DC boost converter as an intermediate control and prone to overheating if the voltage is too low [4].
19   power conditioning unit in solar photovoltaic (SPV) array fed In the last decade, brushless DC (BLDC) motors have begun
20   brushless DC (BLDC) motor driven water pump. The power to replace induction motors for small scale pumping
21   optimization of SPV array and limiting starting inrush current of applications [5] due to its higher efficiency as compared to an
22   the BLDC motor are two major functions of the boost converter. induction motor, long life, high reliability, low radio
23   The starting inrush current is bounded without any additional frequency interference and noise and no maintenance [6-7],
24   circuitry or control. The boost converter, over the various
hence adapted in this work. The BLDC motor used in SPV
25   prevalent DC-DC converters, offers many privileges in SPV
array based applications. The voltage source inverter (VSI) is
array based applications so far requires additional control
26   circuitry and sensors to facilitate the speed control, resulting in
used to perform electronic commutation of the BLDC motor
27   which is operated with the pulses of fundamental frequency, the increased complexity, cost, weight and size of the system
28   avoiding switching losses caused by the high frequency switching [5, 8-9]. Moreover, the voltage source inverter (VSI), feeding
29   pulses. Furthermore, the speed of BLDC motor is controlled the BLDC motor is operated with the high frequency PWM
30   through the variable DC link voltage resulting in the absolute pulses, resulting in an increased switching losses. In this work,
31   elimination of sensors required for speed control. The proposed speed of the BLDC motor is controlled through the variable
32   water pumping system is modeled, designed and simulated in DC link voltage, hence no additional sensors are required for
33   MATLAB/Simulink and its various performances indices are speed control. Furthermore, the VSI is operated, by electronic
analyzed, under the practical operating conditions, which commutation, with the pulses of fundamental frequency,
34   manifests its suitability for water pumping. which minimizes the switching losses.
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36   Keywords—Boost converter; Solar photovoltaic array; The power optimization or so called maximum power
37   Brushless DC motor; Power optimization; Voltage source inverter; point tracking (MPPT) is mandatory for efficient utilization of
38   Electronic commutation. SPV array. The numerous literature is available on MPPT
39   techniques [10-12]. A DC-DC converter, as an intermediate
power conditioning unit, is commonly used between the SPV
40   I. INTRODUCTION
array and the VSI to perform MPPT. The non-isolated DC-DC
41   Drastic reduction in the cost of solar photovoltaic (SPV) buck, boost, buck-boost, Cuk and SEPIC (Single Ended
42   modules, power electronic devices and digital signal Primary Inductor Converter) have been analyzed in [12] in
43   processors, rigorous environment protection acts imposed by context of MPPT and concluded that buck-boost converter is
44   the government, and rapid consumption of conventional fossil the best selection for SPV array system. The buck-boost
45   fuel resources which are going to be last in the near future, converter is also introduced in SPV array based BLDC motor
46   have motivated the researchers, industrialists and consumers driven water pump for MPPT in [7] and thoroughly justified.
47   towards the use of SPV technology. This emerging and most Although the buck-boost converter and its other topologies
48   promising power generation technology is everlasting, viz. Cuk, SEPIC, Zeta, Luo, CSC (Canonical switching cell)
49   environment friendly, and has no maintenance and running converter etc. [4, 6, 8, 13] operate with their best efficiency,
50   cost [1-2]. Among the various applications of SPV array based very poor switch utilization and high stress on semiconductor
51   power generation, water pumping is becoming more attractive devices contribute to their main drawbacks [13]. On the other
for farm irrigation specially in the inaccessible rural areas, hand, aforesaid topologies have the highest values of reactive
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household drinking water supply, fish farms, swimming pools components resulting in an increased cost, size and weight.
53   and water supply to the industries. Therefore neither the classical buck-boost converter nor any of
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The induction motors are widely used to drive a water its other derived topologies are adapted in this work.
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56   pump due to its robustness, low cost, ability to operate in It is also reported in [12] that the classical buck and boost
57   hazardous and contaminated areas, availability in local converter possess a bounded MPPT region, hence unable to
60   markets, and lower maintenance cost [3]. Some of the optimize the power under varying loading conditions. In this
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62   978-1-4673-6540-6/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE
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work, the boost converter is adapted. The SPV array is
selected such that its MPP always occurs within the bounded
MPP region of the boost converter so that the power is always
optimized regardless of the variation in solar irradiance and
loading conditions. Selection of the SPV array and the BLDC
motor also ensures the optimum design of the boost converter.
The desired features of boost converter such as good switch
utilization, high conversion efficiency, low stress on
semiconductor devices and least number of reactive
components have attracted towards its use in SPV array based
water pump. In addition, inductor of the boost converter
inherently acts as an input ripple filter, eliminating the
requirement of external filtering unlike the buck and buck-
boost converter which necessitate the external ripple filter for
desired functionalities of the system. The boost converter is
perpetually operated in continuous conduction mode (CCM)
irrespective of variation in the weather condition, offering the
reduced stress on its power devices and components.
The favorable selection of SPV array and proper control of
boost converter through MPPT algorithm also assure the
limited starting inrush current of the BLDC motor without any
additional control or circuitry, offering the simplicity,
compactness and cost-effectiveness. The proposed water
pumping system is designed to operate successfully even at
20% solar irradiance of the standard one. The system is
modeled, designed and simulated in MATLAB/Simulink and
its various starting, dynamic and steady state performances are
analyzed, under the practical operating conditions, which
manifests its suitability for water pumping.
II. PROPOSED SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
Fig.1 shows the configuration of the proposed SPV array
based boost converter fed BLDC motor driven water pump.
From left to right, the proposed system consists of a SPV
array, a boost converter, a VSI, a BLDC motor coupled to a
water pump. An incremental conductance (INC) MPPT
method is used for power optimization of the SPV array. The
pulse generator generates switching signals for the boost
converter by comparing the optimum value of duty cycle,
generated by the MPPT algorithm, with the high frequency
Fig.1 Configuration of the SPV array – boost converter fed BLDC motor driven water pump.
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saw-tooth carrier signal. The high switching frequency results
in a low value of the components. The Hall-effect sensors
mounted on the BLDC motor generates three Hall signals
following the rotor position, which are further converted, by
electronic commutation, into six fundamental frequency
switching pulses to operate the VSI. The design and control of
proposed system are elaborated in following sections.
III. DESIGN OF PROPOSED SYSTEM
The various operating stages of the configuration shown in
Fig.1 such as the SPV array, the boost converter and the water
pump are designed such that a satisfactory operation is always
accomplished under any kind of variation in solar irradiance.
The technical specifications of a selected BLDC motor of 1.32
kW rated power are indicated in Table I. The other stages of
the proposed system are designed accordingly, as follows.
A. Design of Solar PV Array
A solar PV array of 1.62 kW peak power capacity,
somewhat more than required by the motor, is selected so that
the performance of the system is not affected by the losses
associated with the converters and the motor. The parameters
of the SPV array are estimated at the standard solar irradiance
of 1000 W/m2. A PV module HB-1290, manufactured by HBL
Power System Ltd. [14] with peak power of 90 W is
considered to design a SPV array of required capacity. The
voltage of the SPV array at MPP is selected in view of the DC
voltage rating of the BLDC motor same as the DC link voltage
of the VSI. Table II summarizes the estimation of the various
parameters to design a SPV array of appropriate size.
B. Design of Boost Converter
The SPV array voltage at MPP, vpv = 153 V appears as the
input voltage source whereas DC link voltage of VSI, vdc =
310 V appears as the output voltage of the boost converter.
The duty ratio, D of boost converter is estimated as [4, 13],
Vdc − v pv 310 − 153
D= = = 0.506 (1)
Vdc 310
 TABLE I TABLE III
SPECIFICATIONS OF BLDC MOTOR DESIGN OF BOOST CONVERTER
Power, P 1.32 kW Expression Design data Selected
Parameter Value
value
Speed, Nr 3000 rpm
D = 0.506
DC voltage, Vdc 310 V
D * v pv vpv = 153 V
No. of poles, P 4
Moment of inertia, J 2.9 kg.cm2 f sw ΔI L fsw = 20 kHz 5.97
L 6 mH
Np = 2 mH
Current, Is 4.3 A
IL = Np*Im
Voltage constant, Ke 78 V/krpm Im = 5.4 A
Torque constant, Kt 0.74 Nm/A ΔIL = 6% of IL
phase/phase resistance, Rs 3.58 Ω ω = 2 *π * f = P=4
phase/phase inductance, Ls 9.13 mH 2 * π * Nr * P Nr = 3000 rpm
C 120 Vdc = 310 V 446.6 500 μF
TABLE II * I dc Idc= 5.22 A μF
DESIGN OF SOLAR PV ARRAY C=
6 * ω * ΔVdc ΔVdc=1% of Vdc
For a PV Module
* 6th harmonic component of the motor voltage appears on the DC link of VSI
Numbers of cells in a module 36
Open circuit voltage 21 V
TABLE IV
Short circuit current 6.4 A SWITCHING STATES OF VSI BASED ON HALL-EFFECT SIGNAL STATES
Voltage at MPP, Vm 17 V Hall Signals Switching States
θ(o)
Current at MPP, Im 5.4 A H3 H2 H1 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6
For a PV array NA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Voltage at MPP, Vmpp = vpv 153 V 0-60 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0
Power at MPP, Pmpp = ppv 1620 W 60-120 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1
Current at MPP, Impp = ipv Pmpp/Vmpp = 1620/153 = 10.6 A 120-180 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1
Numbers of modules in series, Ns Vmpp/Vm = 153/17 = 9 180-240 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0
Numbers of modules in parallel, Np Impp/Im = 10.6/5.4 = 1.963 ≈ 2 240-300 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0
300-360 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0
NA 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
where Vdc = 310 V is an average value of the DC link voltage
of the VSI. where Kp is proportionality constant and ωr is the rated speed
On the other hand, neglecting the boost converter losses, an of selected BLDC motor in rad/sec.
average current flowing through the DC link, Idc is
approximated as, IV. CONTROL OF PROPOSED SYSTEM
Pmpp 1620 In the proposed system, SPV array is controlled through
I dc = = = 5.22 A (2) the INC-MPPT and VSI is controlled through the electronic
Vdc 310 commutation of BLDC motor, which are elaborated in the
The SPV array current, ipv flows through the inductor, L. The following sections.
design of inductor, L [4, 13] and DC link capacitor, C [7] is
summarized in Table III, where fsw is the switching frequency A. Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT)
of boost converter; IL is an average current flowing through The MPPT technique is mostly used to optimize the
the inductor; ΔIL is an amount of ripple permitted in the efficiency in SPV based applications. An INC type of MPPT
current flowing through the inductor; ΔVdc is the ripple method [10-11] is used in this work because of its high
permitted in the voltage across the DC link of VSI; ω and f are precision of tracking even under the rapid change in the
the VSI output voltage frequencies in rad/sec. and Hz weather conditions. The perturbation size is selected as 0.001
respectively; P is the number of poles in the BLDC motor and such that the oscillation around the peak power point is
Nr is the rated speed of the motor. The values of converter avoided. The permissible starting current of the BLDC motor
parameters are selected such that the performance of the is ensured under all the possible variation in the solar
proposed system is not deteriorated even under the lower solar irradiance by starting the tracking from initial duty ratio of
irradiance also. zero.

C. Design of Water Pump B. Electronic Commutation of BLDC Motor

A water pump, acting as a load, is coupled to the shaft of The switching signals for the VSI are generated through
BLDC motor. This pump is designed by its power-speed the electronic commutation of the BLDC motor [6]. Following
characteristics [7, 15] as, the rotor position, the Hall sensors provide three Hall-effect
signals on 60° span. These Hall-effect signals are logically
P 1320 converted into six switching pulses used to operate the VSI.
Kp = = = 4.25*10−5 W/(rad/sec)3 (3)
ωr3 ( 2 * π *3000 / 60 )
3
Table-IV shows the switching states of VSI for each set of

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Hall-effect signal states. The conduction of only two switches
at a time results in a reduced conduction losses.

V. SIMULATED PERFORMANCE OF PROPOSED SYSTEM

The performance of the proposed SPV powered BLDC
motor-pump is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink environment
using its Sim-power-system toolbox. The starting, dynamic
and steady state performances are evaluated using the
simulated results as shown in Figs. 2-7. These results verify
the satisfactory performance of the proposed system even
under the rapid variation in weather condition.

A. Starting and Steady State Performances of Proposed

System at Solar Irradiance of 1000 W/m2
The various performance indices of SPV array, boost Fig.2 Starting and steady state performance of SPV array at 1000 W/m2
converter and BLDC motor under starting and steady state at
the standard solar irradiance of 1000 W/m2 are illustrated in
Figs. 2-4, and elaborated in the following sub-sections. All the
indices reach their rated values at this solar irradiance.
1) Performance of SPV array: Fig. 2 shows the SPV array
indices vpv, ipv and ppv along with the solar irradiance, S. These
indices correspond to the operation of the SPV array at MPP
as ppv reaches 1620 W at steady state condition. Proper
selection of the perturbation size avoids the oscillation around
the peak power point. On the other hand, tracking time is
intentionally increased so that the BLDC motor has a
permissible starting current.
2) Performance of boost converter: Fig. 3 presents the
behavior of boost converter at 1000 W/m2. The inductor
current, iL, DC link voltage, vdc, voltage stress on the switch,
vSW, and current stress on the switch, iSW, are presented. It is
observed from waveforms that the converter operates in CCM,
resulting in a limited stress on the semiconductor devices. The
peak voltage and current stress on the switch are observed as
310 V and 10.8 A respectively. Moreover, vdc reaches the rated Fig.3 Starting and steady state performance of boost converter at 1000 W/m2
DC voltage of BLDC motor i.e. 310 V.
3) Performance of BLDC motor-pump: The starting and
steady state behaviors of the BLDC motor–pump at 1000
W/m2 are shown in Fig. 4. All the motor indices such as the
back EMF, ea, the stator current, isa, the speed, N, the electro-
magnetic torque, Te and the load torque offered by pump, TL
reach their rated values under steady state condition as MPP is
tracked. The motor draws its rated current of 4.3 A, and attains
its rated speed of 3000 rpm, resulting in the water pumping
with full capacity. A small pulsation in Te results from the
electronic commutation of the BLDC motor. The starting
current of BLDC motor is bounded within the permissible
range hence the motor has a soft start.

B. Dynamic Performances of Proposed System

The various performance indices of SPV array, boost
converter and BLDC motor subjected to the rapid variation in
solar irradiance are illustrated in Figs. 5-7, and elaborated in
the following sub-sections. To demonstrate the dynamic
behavior, solar irradiance is varied from 200 W/m2 to 1000 Fig.4 Starting and steady state performance of BLDC motor - pump at 1000
W/m2 at 0.3 sec. W/m2

4

Fig.5 Dynamic performance of SPV array
Fig.6 Dynamic performance of boost converter
Fig.7 Dynamic performance of BLDC motor - pump
1) Performance of SPV array: Fig. 5 shows the SPV array
indices vpv, ipv and ppv along with the solar irradiance, S
subjected to the rapid variation in solar irradiance from 200
W/m2 to 1000 W/m2. The SPV array, at MPP, changes its
operating point from 212 W to 1620 W.
5
2) Performance of boost converter: Fig. 6 presents the
dynamic behavior of boost converter. The inductor current, iL,
DC link voltage, vdc, voltage stress on the switch, vSW, and
current stress on the switch, iSW, are presented. It is observed
from waveforms that the converter always operates in CCM
irrespective of the variation in solar irradiance. The DC link
voltage, vdc alters from 128 V to 310 V as the solar irradiance
alters from 200 W/m2 to 1000 W/m2. Likewise, the other
indices also follow the variation in solar irradiance.
3) Performance of BLDC motor-pump: Fig. 7 exhibits the
dynamic behaviors of the BLDC motor–pump. The BLDC
motor is started at the 20% of standard solar irradiance i.e. 200
W/m2. The starting current of BLDC motor is bounded within
the permissible range hence the motor has a soft start at 200
W/m2 also. All the motor indices such as the back EMF, ea,
the stator current, isa, the speed, N, the electro-magnetic
torque, Te and the load torque offered by pump, TL follow the
variation in solar irradiance and reach their steady state values
as MPP is tracked. The current drawn by the motor increases
from 1.3 A to 4.3 A. Similarly, the speed increases from 1440
rpm to 3000 rpm. The speed of 1440 rpm is sufficient to pump
the water, although not with the full capacity. This
performance implies that the proposed water pumping system
operates successfully even at the 20% of standard solar
irradiance.
C. Efficiency Estimation of Proposed System
A very good efficiency is obtained for the proposed water
pumping system. Table V shows the efficiency estimation of
the SPV array fed BLDC motor-pump, subjected to the
variation in weather condition, where η is efficiency of the
overall system, excluding SPV array. Hence this efficiency
estimation includes the efficiency of MPPT algorithm, boost
converter, VSI and BLDC motor - pump. An efficiency of
79.7% is obtained at the minimum solar irradiance of 200
W/m2. As the irradiance increases beyond 500 W/m2, the
efficiency of the system gets over 80%.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
The solar PV array based BLDC motor driven water
pumping system employing a DC-DC boost converter has
been proposed and its applicability has been affirmed by
performance evaluations under the practical operating
conditions. The integration of boost converter and BLDC
motor into the SPV array for water pumping has been emerged
as a feasible solution in context of simplicity, economical,
compactness, efficiency, reliability and availability. The
performance analysis has demonstrated the claimed novel
features of proposed system such as MPPT with boost
converter by proper design of SPV array; speed control of
BLDC motor by variable DC link voltage and soft starting of
the motor by wisely tracking the MPP, both without any
control circuits and sensing elements; and electronic
commutation with fundamental frequency switching. Besides
these, successful operation even at 20% of solar irradiance has
revealed that the proposed system is undoubtedly acceptable
for water pumping.
 TABLE V [5] M. Ouada, M.S. Meridjet and N. Talbi, “Optimization Photovoltaic
EFFICIENCY ESTIMATION OF PROPOSED SYSTEM Pumping System Based BLDC Using Fuzzy Logic MPPT
Control,” International Renewable and Sustainable Energy Conference
S (W/m2) ppv (W) P (W) η (%) (IRSEC), pp.27-31, 7-9 March 2013.
200 212 169 79.7 [6] B. Singh and V. Bist, “A BL-CSC Converter-Fed BLDC Motor Drive
300 380 303 79.7 With Power Factor Correction,” IEEE Transactions on Industrial
400 560 447 79.8 Electronics, vol. 62, no. 1, pp. 172-183, Jan. 2015.
500 741 593 80.0 [7] Rajan Kumar and Bhim Singh, “Buck-boost converter fed BLDC motor
600 923 740 80.2 drive for solar PV array based water pumping,” IEEE International
700 1103 887 80.4 Conference on Power Electronics, Drives and Energy Systems (PEDES),
800 1285 1034 80.5 16-19 Dec. 2014, pp. 1-6.
900 1466 1181 80.6 [8] R. Parackal and R.A. Koshy, “PV powered zeta converter fed BLDC
1000 1620 1320 81.5 drive,” Annual International Conference on Emerging Research Areas:
Magnetics, Machines and Drives (AICERA/iCMMD), 24-26 July 2014,
pp.1-5.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT [9] S.A.KH. Mozaffari Niapour, S. Danyali, M.B.B. Sharifian and M.R.
Feyzi, “Brushless DC Motor Drives Supplied by PV Power System
Authors are very thankful to Department of Science and Based on Z-Source Inverter and FL-IC MPPT Controller,” Energy
Technology (DST), Govt. of India, for supporting this work Conversion and Management, vol. 52, no. 8–9, pp. 3043-3059, August
2011.
under Grant Number: RP02926.
[10] Boualem Bendib, Hocine Belmili and Fateh Krim, “A survey of the most
used MPPT methods: Conventional and advanced algorithms applied for
photovoltaic systems,” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol.
45, pp. 637-648, May 2015.
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