Loss Models of Photovoltaic Water Pumping Systems

N.K.Lujara J.D. van Wyk P.N. Materu

Dept. of Electrical Engineering
University of Dar es Salaam
P.O. Box 35131
Dar es Salaam
Tanzania
e-mad: lujara@ee.dsm.ac.tz
Industrial Electronics Technology Dept. of Electrical Engineering
Research Group University of Dar es Salaam
Rand Aflikaans University P.O. Box 35131
P.O. Box 524 Dar es Salaam
2006 Auckland park, Johannesburg Tanzania
Republic of South Africa e-mail: matenr@ud.co.tz

e-mail: jdvw@ingl.rau.ac.za

Abstract: The paper presents loss models of
photovoltaic (PV) dc and ac motor drive water
pumping systems (WPS). The dc and ac motors are
fed by power electronic converters with or without
maximum power tracking. The models are
developed with the objective of maximizing the
conversion efficiency from the solar irradiation to
the potential energy of water by taking into
account the variations in the pumping head at a
given insolation.
The efficiency of the array, the pump and the
motor are found to be the most critical parameters
for the performance of the systems. In addition,
matching of the drive system and the load with the
insolation characteristic of the solar array is found
to be critical, since maximum system efficiency
occurs at a specific head, which varies as the
insolation changes.
1.Introduction
Low system efficiency is a critical problem in
photovoltaic (PV) applications due to the low
efficiency of solar cells. Despite this shortcoming,
stand-alone PV systems, have proven to be
economical and reliable choices in some applications
such as telecommunications, vaccine retiigeration and
water pumping in remote locations.
Water pumping systems based on permanent magnet
dc motor and induction motor drive are discussed.
Induction motors are rugged, physically small, cheap
and require little maintenance, making them suitable
for PV applications in remote locations. Permanent
magnet dc motors on the other hand, have been
favoured over other types of dc motors in photovoltaic
applications [l-41,since no extra power is required for
field excitation and consequently the energy generated
by the array is partially saved. A comparison of the
system efficiency for the two types of drives is
presented through simulation and experimental
verification.
2. System set-uD
Figures 1 and 2 show the system set-up in a block
diagram form for a permanent magnet dc motor and
induction motor drive, respectively. The dc motor
drive system consists of a permanent magnet dc
motor, a 0.35 kW PV array and a progressive cavity
pump. The motor is rated OShp, 4.8 A, 90 V and 1750
rpm. The pump ratings are: minimum starting torque
of 3 Nm, maximum head of 150 m and maximum
speed of 1200 rpm. A dc-dc converter used as a
Maximum Power Tracker (MPT) is interfaced
between the PV array and the motor as shown in
figure l(b) to force the array to operate at maximum
power point.

In this paper efficiency of dc and ac motor drive

photovoltaic water pumping systems are determined
from the point of view of optimizing the power
delivered by the pump by taking into account the
variations in the System head. The methodology used
is to determine losses and therefore efficiency of each
sub-system and ultimately evaluation of the overall
system efficiency.

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 PV PMDC
PUMP
P = Irradiation power
ARRAY MOTOR

(a) A = Array cross-section area

Vp = Array output voltage

I p = Array output current

(b)
Figure 1: Direct-coupled PMDC motor PV water
pumping system (a) Without MPT (b) With MPT
Vpand I p are determined from the V-I characteristic
curve of the PV array.
B. DC-DC converter and inverter

INDmm
PV
INvERlER 0 Capacitor losses
ARRAY MOlW

Figure 2: Direct-coupled IM motor drive water C. Permanent magnet dc motor

pumping system (a) Without MPT @) With MPT

The losses in the permanent magnet dc motor

3. System modelling comprise of:
0 Copper losses
Loss modelling is performed for the various sub- 0 Corelosses
systems, namely: the dc-dc converter, the inverter, the
permanent magnet dc motor and the induction motor. Brush losses
The models can be found in [5,6]. The efficiency Of Mechanical losses and
the array and the pump are established from the
output and input power of these sub-systems. 0 Stray load losses

A. PV array D. Induction motor

The efficiency of the array is obtained from; Losses in the induction motor (IM)
are classified as;
0 Stator copper losses
(1)
0 Rotor winding losses
Where; 0 Corelosses
P=S.A (2)

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 0 Stray load losses the IM drive was due the difference in the operating
speed in the two systems. It is also noted that the
0 Mechanical losses efficiency of the induction motor is much lower than
that of the PMDC motor, because the induction motor
is a commercial motor optimized for 60 Hz operation
E. Pump and not for solar water pumping applications. It is a
special induction motor developed to be lowered in
boreholes with a very large airgap. This special design
The use of a volumetric pump such as progressive makes it to have an abnormal high stator resistance
cavity pump is recommended in water pumping where and consequently high stator losses.
high pressure is required to pump water fiom deep
wells [4].The efficiency of the pump is evaluated
fiom; Table 1: Sub-systems efficiency in the PMDC motor
I
D drive WPS with MPT
77p =f (3)
Head (m) EFFICIENCY(“7)
Where;

Po = Motor power output 45 1 6.15 1 98.58 I 82.95 I 31.81 I

= Motor power input Table 2: Sub-systems efficiency in the IM motor drive
WPS with MPT
4 = Total losses in the motor

@I
I I I
P,,= Q h g p* * (4) H(m) EFFICIENCY (“7)
Pp = Pump poweroutput
Q = Flow rate 99.43 94.49 23.08 26.33

h = Head
g = Acceleration due to gravity
B. Overall efficiency of the PV PMDC motor drive
p = Density of water water tunping system

4. Results’ The simulated and experimental overall efficiency of

the PMDC motor drive water pumping system at an
insolation of 1225 W/m*, with and without MPT are
A. Sub-systems efficiency shown in figures 3 and 4, respectively. There is good
correlation between the measured and the simulated
values with the error margin not exceeding 5%.
Tables 1 and 2 show the efficiencies of various sub-
systems in both drives at heads of 15 and 45 metres
respectively. The efficiencies are determined with the
pumping systems operated with a boost converter
used as a MPT at a constant insolation of 1225 W/m2.
This insolation was chosen as reference, since this is
the maximum insolation at the equator, so that the
result indicate what would happen at the maximum
possible insolation. The array is connected such as to
provide an open circuit voltage, V, = 39 V and a
short circuit current, I, = 8.1 A. The simulated results
are obtained using MathCad.
The difference in the pump efficiency at the same
head in Table 1 and 2 for the PMDC motor drive and

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 qp = pump efficiency

The experimental efficiency is obtained using (7) as

shown below,
D

Where,

Pp is the pump power output obtained from (4). The

head and the flow rate are measured. is the array
2
20
input power obtained from the product of the reference
‘10 30 40 50 60 insolation and the cross sectional area of the array.
-
HEAD (m)
- SIMULATION C. Overall efficiency of the IM motor drive water
EXPERIMENTAL, pumDing system

Figures 5 and 6 show the experimental and simulated

Figure 3: Efficiency of the PMDC motor drive system overall efficiency of the PWM inverter-fed induction
without MPT motor drive water pumping system, without and with
a MPT, respectively at an insolation of 1225 W/m2.
The overall simulated efficiency is obtained from the
product of the individual sub-system efficiencies as
I I 1 . 1
I previously explained.

0.48 1 -I
$
g
h
0.36
Fa---
iz -
k
U 0.24

0.12 - -
. HEAD(m)
- SIMULATION I I I I 1
EXPERIMENTAL 21 27 33 39 45

- SIMULATION
(m)

Figure 4: Efficiency of the PMDC motor drive with 0 EXPERIMFNTAL

MPT

The simulated efficiency is obtained using ( 5 ) and (6) Figure 5 : Efficiency ofthe IM drive system without
for the system with and without maximum power MPT
tracker, respectively.
‘I=
‘Ia ‘Impt -77, ‘?p (5)
‘I“‘Ia ‘Im * ‘Ip (6)
Where;
qa = array efficiency
qmpt= efficiency of maximum power tracker
‘I,, = motor efficiency

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BE 0.24
- -
? motor drive, ought to be fitted with maximum
0.12 - -
I I I I
Figure 6: Efficiency of the IM drive system with MPT
D. Head at maximum system efficiency against
insolation
The relationship between the insolation and the head
at which maximum system efficiency occurs is shown
in figure 7 for the PMDC motor drive and the IM
drive water pumping systems, respectively. The
results were obtained by connecting the array to
provide an open circuit voltage, V, = 58 V at a short
circuit current, I, = 4 A, for the PMDC motor drive.
The values for the I M drive were V, = 156 V and I,
= 2.375 A. It is observed that in both drives the
optimal operating point varies linearly with the
insolation.
Figure 7: Head at which maximum efficiency occurs
against insolation (a) PMDC motor drive (b) IM
drive
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In the dc motor drive, the efficiency of the
system is enhanced by 65% at a head of 60
metres to 150 % at a head of 10 metres by
including a dc-dc converter in the system at an
insolation of 1225 W/mz. It is therefore
recommended that PV systems based on PMDC
power trackers in order to maximize efficiency of
the array and system. The choice of MPT shall
depend on the operatinghead.
In the PWM inverter fed induction motor drive
water pumping system, there is efficiency
increment ranging between 16%-57% in the
head-operating region when a MPT is included in
the system at an insolation of 1225 W/m2.
However, for sites with small insolation
variations, these systems may be designed to
operate at maximum power point without MPT. It
is thus, recommended that, these systems be
designed without MPT provided that there is
proper matching of the array, drive and the load.
The operating head at which system efficiency
is a maximum for both dc and ac motors driven
by a rotary pump without MPT, varies linearly
with the insolation. For maximum system
efficiency therefore, insolation studies on a
particular site are required for estimating the
average insolation range to assist in the
establishment of the range of the design head.
For the PMDC motor drive, matching of the
pump and array to the rest of the components is
critical to the performance of the system. For the
IM drive, the motor efficiency is an additional
critical parameter.
6. References
[l] J.A. Roger, "Theory of direct coupling
between dc motors and photovoltaic solar
arrays" Solar Energy vol. 23, 1979, pp 193-
198
[2] J. Appelbaum, "Starting and steady state
characteristics of dc motor powered by solar
cell generators'' IEEE Transactions on
Energy Conversion, vol. EC-1, no. 1, March
1986, pp 17-25
[3] J.Appelbaum "Performance characteristics of
a permanent magnet dc motor powered by
solar cells" Solar Cells, vo1.17, 1986, pp
343-363
[4] W.R. Anis, R.P Mertens, R.J. Oversrtaeten
"Coupling of a volumetxic pump to a
969
 photovoltaic array” Solar cells, vol. 14, 1985,
pp 27-42
[5] N.K. Lujara, J.D. van Wyk, P.N. Materu
“Power electronics loss models of dc-dc
converter in PV applications” IEEE
International Symposium in Industrial
Electronics, Pretoria, 7-10 July, 1998, pp 35-
39
[6] N.K. Lujara, “Computer aided design of
systems for solar powered water pumping by
photovoltaics” D.Zg thesis, Rand Afrikaans
University, January 1999, Ch.2 pp 47-55,
Ch.3 pp 85-94, Ch.4 pp 131-141.

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