A Solar Photovoltaic Array and Grid Source-Fed Brushless DC Motor Drive for Water-Pumping Applications

Abstract

This article presents a brushless DC motor drive using a solar photovoltaic (PV) array and grid. Solar PV array-fed drive systems typically need a DC–DC converter stage in order to optimize the solar PV array-generated power utilizing a maximum power point (MPP) tracking technique. In this work, a boost DC–DC converter is used for MPP tracking purposes. This work utilizes an incremental conductance (INC) MPP-tracking algorithm. A bridgeless asymmetrical converter without a bridge rectifier is used at the grid side to improve power quality at supply mains. The presented asymmetrical converter is an amalgamation of a second order (buck boost) with a fourth-order (Cuk) converter, which lowers the net system’s order. The input inductor of the Cuk converter manages the input current profile and, thus, eradicates the need for the filter at the grid mains. The bridgeless asymmetrical converter comes with several advantages, such as rectifier removal, component reduction, and input filter elimination. The performance of the brushless DC motor is examined in this article in all three scenarios: first, when grid and solar energy are both present; second, when solar energy is the only source of energy; and third, when grid energy is the only source of energy. The dual-source-based brushless DC motor drive system has been developed on matrix-laboratory/Simulink. The results are deployed and discussed to verify the drive-system performance. The article also presents a detailed stability analysis and mathematical modeling of the presented power-quality converter and MPP tracking converter to verify different converters’ stability using a bode diagram and a pole-zero plot.