Solar photovoltaic array fed single-stage sensorless vector control of induction motor drive for water pumping applications

This paper proposes a novel photovoltaic (PV) array-fed induction motor (IM) drive in irrigation applications. The energy conversion includes a single-stage conversion procedure. The output voltage obtained from the PV array is given to the conventional voltage source inverter (VSI), which uses a sensorless vector control approach to drive the IM. A novel approach in vector control with the reduced number of sensors is attempted to improve the performance and handle proper energy conversion. The novel vector control approach incorporates modified maximum power extraction (MPE) algorithms. The system assimilates the single-stage VSI to operate effectively, making the IM-pump drive work superior to other methods. The paper compares the proposed single-stage conversion process exposed to different MPE algorithms, such as P&O and PSO, with the proposed MPSO algorithm. The validation of the proposed system is accomplished through both simulations in MATLAB/SIMULINK and experimental results. The simulation results compare all three MPE algorithms and conclude that MPSO employed for novel vector control extracts maximum power with an accuracy not less than 99.5% subjected to different partial shading conditions. The experimental results validate the proposed MPE algorithm for the induction motor pump drive and obtain maximum power attainment with an accuracy of 98.2% without partial shading effect and 90.84% and 88.89% for partial shading conditions. The overall efficiency of the proposed system varies from 81.2 to 73.4% for different insolation conditions.