This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been
fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JESTPE.2017.2699918, IEEE Journal
of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics
JESTPE-2016-12-0617.R2
Single Stage Solar PV Fed Brushless DC Motor
Driven Water Pump
Rajan Kumar, Member, IEEE, and Bhim Singh, Fellow, IEEE
Abstract—In order to optimize the solar photovoltaic (PV)
generated power using a maximum power point tracking (MPPT)
technique, a DC-DC conversion stage is usually required in solar
PV fed water pumping which is driven by a brushless DC
(BLDC) motor. This power conversion stage leads to an increased
cost, size, complexity and reduced efficiency. As a unique
solution, this work addresses a single stage solar PV energy
conversion system feeding a BLDC motor-pump, which
eliminates the DC-DC conversion stage. A simple control
technique capable of operating the solar PV array at its peak
power using a common voltage source inverter (VSI), is proposed
for BLDC motor control. The proposed control eliminates the
BLDC motor phase current sensors. No supplementary control is
associated for the speed control of motor-pump and its soft start.
The speed is controlled through the optimum power of solar PV
array. The suitability of proposed system is manifested through
its performance evaluation using MATLAB/Simulink based
simulated results and experimental validation on a developed
prototype, under the practical operating conditions.
Index Terms—MPPT, Solar PV array, BLDC motor, Water
pump, VSI, Soft starting, Speed control.
I. INTRODUCTION
T HE foreseen global energy crisis in near future due to the
rapid depletion of conventional fossil fuel resources [1]
and a consistently diminishing costs of solar photovoltaic (PV)
modules, power electronic devices and microprocessors [2-3],
motivate the researchers and industrialists towards an effective
utilization of solar PV technology. Among the various
applications of solar PV energy, a standalone PV powered
water pumping system seems to be the most promising and
attractive in various areas such as rural farm irrigation, urban
street watering, and fish farms [4].
Modernization of human community and developing
utilization of electric motors have exponentially enlarged the
need for electrical energy. The motors comprise more than
40% of overall electric power expenditure [5]. Therefore, a
motor plays prominent role to realize a solar PV based energy-
efficient and cost-effective water pumping. An efficient motor
drastically minimizes the number of solar modules for a given
power demand and hence its capital cost. The DC motors are
mostly used in a low power solar PV water pumping [6]. The
DC motor with brushes possesses a low efficiency, and it
This work was supported by the Department of Science and Technology
(DST), Government of India, under Grant RP02926.
The authors are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian
Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi 110016 India (e-mail:
sonkar.rajankumar36@gmail.com; bsingh@ee.iitd.ac.in).
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1
requires regular maintenance due to the sliding brush contacts
and the commutator. An induction motor based PV pumping
system is reliable, rugged and maintenance-free with better
efficiency and offers more flexibilities for control in
comparison to DC motors [5-7]. The brushless DC (BLDC)
motor is identified as a better substitute of the DC motor and
an induction motor for PV fed water pumping. This motor is
compact, rugged and efficient in comparison to an AC motor
[8]. Moreover, a BLDC motor possesses several merits such as
reliability, least maintenance requirement, a wide range of
speed, easy-to-drive and simple control [9-12]. Therefore, this
motor has received increased attention for water pumping in
the last decade owing to its various merits which constitute the
attractive features particularly for this application.
Figs. 1 and 2 present the schematics of the conventional
brushless DC motor drives for PV-water pumping [8, 13-14].
As shown in Fig. 1, the maximum power point tracking
(MPPT) [15-21] is performed by a DC-DC converter. Two
phase currents are required to be sensed for motor control [8].
Another conventional topology which claims to eliminate the
phase current sensors is presented in Fig. 2 [13]. A DC-DC
converter, as usual, is deployed to optimize the operating
power of a PV array, speed control of a BLDC motor-pump,
and soft starting. The speed control is performed through a
variable voltage at the DC bus of voltage source inverter
(VSI). However, a bulky capacitor is required at the DC link
due to adopting a fundamental frequency operation of VSI. A
Z-source inverter (ZSI) replaces the DC-DC converter in [14],
other components of Fig. 1 remaining unchanged, asserting a
single stage solution. However, the sensing of motor phase
currents and DC bus voltage is still required. On the way of
sensor reduction, recently, the position sensor-free BLDC
motor drive has been reported in [22-23] for the same
application. However, those utility models are based on a two-
stage power conversion.
The aforementioned conventional topologies adopt two-
stage solar energy conversion system, which essentially
require an intermediate DC-DC converter to optimize the
operating power point of a PV array. This power conversion
causes an increased cost, size, complexity and reduced
efficiency. As a unique solution of the aforementioned
problems, the present work proposes a single stage solar
energy conversion system which completely eliminates the
DC-DC conversion stage. It is capable of operating the solar
PV array at its peak power using the same VSI used for motor
control. In addition, it constitutes the attractive merits of
conventional topology shown in Fig.2, such as the elimination
of BLDC motor phase current sensing and soft starting. The
speed of BLDC motor is controlled through the optimum
power of solar PV array. The bulky capacitor at the DC link is
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JESTPE.2017.2699918, IEEE Journal
of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics
JESTPE-2016-12-0617.R2
replaced with a low valued capacitor using a pulse width
modulation (PWM) switching of VSI. As of now, a single
stage PV system has been proposed for an induction motor
driven water pump [5, 24-26]. No attention has been paid
towards BLDC motor drive for such a system. A replacement
of an induction motor with BLDC motor in solar PV water
pumping, offers following merits in terms of simplicity, cost-
effectiveness and compactness.
Fig.1 Conventional BLDC motor drive with phase current sensors for water
pumping based on a two stage solar PV energy conversion system.
Fig.2 Conventional BLDC motor drive without phase current sensors for
water pumping based on a two stage solar PV energy conversion system.
Fig.3 Proposed water pumping based on a single stage solar PV energy
conversion system.
• The proposed solution as a BLDC motor driven solar water
pumping system, offers a high efficiency power conversion
in comparison with that of an induction motor driven
system. The efficiency of an induction motor diminishes
under light loading as the excitation losses dominate. Thus,
it causes reduced volume of water delivery under bad
weather condition as compared to a BLDC motor, wherein
no excitation loss takes place owing to its permanent
magnet excitation.
• A high efficiency BLDC motor substantially reduces the
size of PV array and hence its installation cost. In other
words, the number of required PV modules is less with a
BLDC motor as compared to that with an induction motor.
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2
• The BLDC motor has high power factor, which leads to a
reduced capacity of the used VSI. This feature helps in
cost-minimization of PV pumping systems.
• Being a rectangular current fed motor, the BLDC motor
offers a high DC bus voltage utilization, in comparison
with an induction motor. This feature also reduces the
voltage rating of DC bus capacitor and the switching
devices of VSI.
• Unlike an induction motor, the speed of a BLDC motor is
not limited by power frequency. Therefore, the rated speed
of a BLDC motor can be designed higher, which is
beneficial to increase the capacity and decreasing the size.
This leads to a compact solar PV water pumping system.
• The proposed speed control technique for BLDC motor is
much simpler than that of an induction motor. No
additional VSI and phase current sensing are involved in
the proposed control, unlike the speed control of an
induction motor [5, 24-26]. The method suggested in [5,
25] uses two voltage source inverters. Thus, the aforesaid
distinguished features of proposed control, make the solar
PV based water pumping system further simple, cost-
effective and compact.
The system under study is first designed by selecting a
BLDC motor-pump set and a PV array such that it
successfully operates under all the possible variations in
weather conditions, and then demonstrated through its steady
state, starting and dynamic functionalities, using MATLAB
based simulation and an experimental system. It operates
satisfactorily under the desired circumstances without
sacrificing its performances, specially the MPP operation of
PV array.
II. CONFIGURATION AND PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
Fig. 3 illustrates the proposed brushless DC motor-water
pumping based on a single stage solar PV energy conversion
system. The solar PV array is directly connected to a VSI
which feeds the BLDC motor-pump. A diode in series with the
PV array prevents the flow of reverse current. A small DC link
capacitor is connected to enable a power transfer from PV
array to the BLDC motor-pump. An incremental conductance
(INC) MPPT technique is adopted for optimum utilization of
solar PV array. This technique uses PV voltage and current as
the feedback signals to generate an optimum duty ratio,
corresponding to the maximum power of solar PV array. The
motor has three inbuilt Hall sensors to accomplish the
electronic commutation.
III. SYSTEM DESIGN AND SPECIFICATIONS
An appropriate design and specifications of BLDC motor-
pump and solar PV array play a significant role in the desired
operation of a water pump. A 6-pole, 3000 rpm, 3.45 kW
BLDC motor is chosen to drive the water pump. The detailed
specifications of BLDC motor are shown in Table I. The PV
array, DC link capacitor and BLDC motor are selected such
that functioning of the system is not deteriorated even by
sudden disturbances in the atmospheric conditions.
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JESTPE-2016-12-0617.R2
TABLE I
BLDC MOTOR SPECIFICATIONS
Power, Pm 3.45 kW
Speed, N 3000 rpm
No. of poles, P 6 current, which is given as,
Resistance, Rs 0.92 Ω
Inductance, Ls 2.8 mH
Motor torque constant, Kt 0.74 Nm/A
Motor voltage constant, Ke 78 V/krpm
Moment of inertia, J 20.8 kg.cm2
TABLE II
SOLAR PV ARRAY DESIGN
Specifications of PV Module
Open circuit voltage, Vo
Short circuit current, Io
MPP voltage, Vm
MPP current, Im
Design of PV Array
Power at MPP, Pmpp
MPP voltage, Vmpp
MPP current, Impp
Numbers of series connected modules, Ns
Numbers of parallel connected modules, Np
Short circuit current, Isc
Open circuit voltage, Voc
A. Estimation of Parameters of Solar Photovoltaic Array
A PV array with a maximum power capacity of 4 kW at
standard atmospheric condition (1000 W/m2; 25°C) is
designed as per the ratings of a selected BLDC motor-pump.
The operating power capacity of selected PV array is
sufficient to run the motor-pump system at its rated condition,
in addition to compensate the power losses associated with the
VSI and motor-pump. A PV module with 36 cells connected
in series is considered to make a PV array of the relevant size.
Since a solar cell has an open circuit voltage in the range of
0.5 V-0.6 V at standard atmospheric condition [27], it is
assumed that a module generates 36 0.55 = 19.8 V as its
open circuit voltage. The voltage of a module at MPP is
around 71%-78% of the open circuit voltage [28]. Therefore, it
is estimated as, 19.8 0.78 = 15.44 V.
The PV array voltage required at the DC link of VSI to run
the selected BLDC motor-pump at its rated torque and speed
is 310 V. It is obvious that the voltage of PV array at MPP
should be 310 V. Thus, the numbers of series connected
modules are approximated as, 310/15.44 ≈ 20. Since the
required maximum power capacity of the PV array is 4000 W,
the PV current at MPP is estimated as, 4000/310 = 12.9 A. As
per the design, this current is generated by the three modules
connected in parallel, provided each module has an MPP
current of 12.9/3 = 4.3 A. It is generally found to be between
78% and 92% of short circuit current [28]. The short circuit
current of each module is therefore estimated as 4.3/0.9 ≈ 4.8
A. Ultimately, 60 modules each with PV voltage and current
of 15.44 V and 4.3 A at MPP, are connected (20 in series and
3 in parallel) to design the PV array of 310 V, 12.9 A and 4
kW at MPP. The detailed design parameters are tabulated in
Table II.
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of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics
3
B. Design of DC Link Capacitor
A small capacitor connected across the PV array serves as
the DC link capacitor of VSI. This capacitor carries the ripple
iC = ipv - idc (1)
where ipv = 12.9 A, which is the PV array current at MPP, and
idc is the DC link current of VSI.
The worst condition is presumed, at which idc is zero, to
estimate the ripple content in the capacitor current, i.e.
iC = iC,max = ipv = 12.9 A (2)
19.8 V
The capacitor required is then given by [25],
4.8 A
iC,max 12.9 (3)
C= = = 81.4 ≈ 100 µF
15.44 V fSW ×∆vpv 10000 × (19.8 × 20) × 0.04
4.3 A
where fSW is the switching frequency of VSI and ∆vpv is the
4 kW ripple content in PV voltage, which is considered as 4% of
310 V open circuit voltage.
12.9 A The switching frequency, fSW is selected in view of the
20 component size, system response, noise disruption and
3 conversion efficiency. These factors are directly affected by
14.4 A the switching frequency. A high switching frequency results in
396 V a reduction in the size of DC link capacitor. It also improves
the transient response, and avoids the frequency bands in
which noise would be disruptive. On the other hand, a high
frequency switching of the VSI, causes a low conversion
efficiency. The switching loss increases with increasing
switching frequency due to the high number or constant
energy switching events in a period. Considering the
abovementioned pros and cons of higher switching frequency,
it is optimally selected as 10 kHz. Finally, a capacitor of 100
µF, 400 V is connected, as the DC link capacitor of VSI. This
value is quite low in comparison with the existing topologies
[13].
IV. CONTROL APPROACH
The proposed system has its control classified into four
major parts; control of solar PV array operating point through
an MPPT technique, BLDC motor electronic commutation,
switching pulse generation for VSI, and controlling the speed
of BLDC motor. The control structure is presented in Fig. 4.
A. Maximum Power Point Tracking
An INC-MPPT approach [17, 19-20, 28] is adopted to track
the optimum operating point of solar PV array. The flow-
diagram of this algorithm is shown in Fig. 4. vpv and ipv are the
present samples whereas vpv0 and ipv0 are the previous samples
of PV voltage and current, respectively. The dvpv and dipv
denote the incremental PV voltage and current corresponding
to the two consecutive sampling instants. The INC-MPPT
technique states that the power slope of the PV array
characteristics is null at MPP (dppv/dvpv = 0), negative at right
of MPP and positive at left of MPP [17]. As a result, the MPP
is found with regard to an incremental conductance as,
p pv = v pv × i pv (4)
dp pv di pv
= i pv + v pv × =0 (5)
dv pv dv pv
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JESTPE-2016-12-0617.R2 4

transformed into the six fundamental frequency pulses (S1'-

S6'), which decide the switching states of VSI. The only two
pulses are high at any instant, resulting in a low conduction
loss.
C. Switching Pulse Generation for VSI
The pulses for switching the devices of VSI are generated
by linking the output indices of two controls discussed above.
An optimum duty ratio, D generated by the execution of INC-
MPPT is compared with a high frequency sawtooth carrier
wave in order to get a high frequency PWM pulse, as shown in
Fig. 4. To modulate the six fundamental frequency pulses (S1'-
S6') generated through an electronic commutation, an AND
logic is used. The AND logic gate receives a high frequency
PWM pulse and a fundamental frequency pulse (S1') as inputs
and ultimately provides, at the output, a PWM switching pulse
(S1) for upper switch of the first leg. Similarly, switching
pulses for the remaining switches of VSI are generated using
AND gates. A high output (ON) results in only if both inputs
to the AND gate are high. Therefore, the AND gate alters only
the ON period of a fundamental frequency pulse with the
frequency of saw-tooth wave. Thus, the control of proposed
water pumping system is realized by compounding the INC-
MPPT algorithm and electronic commutation.
D. Speed Control of Brushless DC Motor-Pump
The speed is governed by an available maximum power
from the solar PV array. Any variation in the atmospheric
conditions, causes a variation in the power output from PV
array and hence in the speed of BLDC motor. In fact, an
optimum duty ratio (generated by MPPT algorithm), acting as
a duty ratio for the VSI, regulates input voltage to the motor
by chopping action of the VSI. Ultimately, the motor input
voltage regulates the operating speed. As the duty ratio is
varied by the MPPT algorithm, following the atmospheric
condition, the speed of the motor is adjusted accordingly. In
addition, fundamental frequency of the six pulses (S1'-S6')
varies due to the variation in the frequency of Hall signals (as
the speed varies), resulting in a variation in the switching
frequency. This is caused by altering the pulsewidth of S1'-S6'
using AND logic.
di pv i pv (6)
=- at MPP V. SIMULATED PERFORMANCE
dv pv v pv
di pv i pv The proposed water pumping system is modeled and its
>- at the left of MPP (7)
performance is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink under
dv pv v pv
various steady state, starting and other dynamic conditions.
di pv i pv (8) Simulated results demonstrate the worthiness of proposed
<- at the right of MPP
dv pv v pv system as shown in Figs. 5-8.
In view of the simplicity, a duty cycle control is adopted to A. Steady State and Starting Performances at 1000 W/m2
realize the INC-MPPT. This method directly uses duty cycle, The steady state and starting responses of the BLDC motor-
D as the control variable. The duty cycle, D is perturbed with pump and PV array, are shown in Fig. 5 and described in the
fixed perturbation size and rate according to the power slope following sub-sections.
until the operating point of solar PV array reaches MPP.
1) Solar PV Array Performances: Fig.5 (a) exhibits the
B. Electronic Commutation of Brushless DC Motor voltage, vpv, current, ipv and power, ppv of solar PV array at an
By means of an electronic commutation, a symmetrical irradiance, S of 1 kW/m2. These indices demonstrate a fine
direct current is drawn from the DC bus of VSI for 120° and tracking of the MPP. The initial duty cycle and its step size are
placed at the centre of back-EMF (Electro-motive Force). chosen properly (0.5 and 0.001 respectively) to obtain a safe
Three Hall sensors generate a set of Hall signals (H1-H3) at an starting of the motor. At steady state, D is one and no
interval of 60º in accordance with the rotor position [10, 12- modulation in pulsewidth of the six fundamental frequency
13], as shown in Fig.4. Using a decoder, these signals are pulses take place.

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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JESTPE.2017.2699918, IEEE Journal
of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics
JESTPE-2016-12-0617.R2
(a) (b)
Fig.5 Steady state and starting performance of (a) PV array and (b) motor-
2
pump, of proposed system at 1 kW/m .
(a) (b)
Fig.6 Steady state and starting response of (a) PV array and (b) motor-pump,
of proposed system at 200 W/m . 2
2) Brushless DC Motor-Pump Performance: The various
indices of BLDC motor viz. back emf, ea; winding current, isa;
speed, N; torque, Te and load (water pump) torque, TL are
depicted in Fig. 5(b). The motor develops a rated torque, and
the pump is operated at its full speed. Moreover, the response
of isa reveals that starting current is controlled and the motor is
started smoothly. A small ripple in the torque appears because
of phase current commutation and phase current sensor-less
operation of the motor. This causes acoustics and vibration in
the motor, in general, at low speed. At higher speed range,
there is no significance of these physical phenomena, as then
the motor gains a sufficient kinetic energy because of its
inertia and speed. The proposed system is also designed to run
the motor-pump at higher speed range (above 1100 rpm, even
up to the solar irradiance of 200 W/m2) in order to accomplish
a successful water pumping. Thus, the aforesaid physical
phenomena have not much influence in the proposed
application. Moreover, the motor-pump is usually installed in
an isolated area e.g. agricultural field or it is submerged, and
hence there is no disturbance in the surroundings due to the
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5
noise. Therefore, this level of commutation ripple is quite
acceptable for water pumping application.
The various techniques for the reduction of commutation
torque ripple have been reported in the literature [29]-[32]. A
reduction in the torque ripple certainly may lead to an
enhancement in the efficiency of the motor. However, the
various solutions reported till date, add more hardware into the
system such as motor phase current sensors [29]-[30] and
front-end converters [31]-[32]. These cause an increase in
expenditure and complexity of the system. Moreover, the
torque ripple becomes uncontrollable at higher speed range.
Thus, no improvement in the efficiency is observed at higher
speed, even with the best ripple elimination method [30]. The
torque ripple is eliminated at lower speed range only, and
hence an improvement in the efficiency is observed within the
defined range of speed. The proposed solar PV fed water
pumping system is supposed to run the BLDC motor at above
1100 rpm, which is a minimum speed required to pump the
water. The system slightly compromises with the efficiency at
lower speed (by allowing the commutation torque ripple), in
order to minimize the hardware complexity, control
sophistication, cost and volume of the system. Being a highly
efficient motor, the BLDC motor offers a good amount of
water delivery even at low speed range in comparison with a
brushed DC or an induction motor.
B. Steady State and Starting Performances at 200 W/m2
A potential of the proposed water pumping system to
perform even at 20% irradiance of the standard one is shown
in Fig. 6. The steady state and starting behaviors are discussed
in the following sub-sections.
1) Solar PV Array Performance: As presented in Fig. 6(a),
the MPP is well tracked at 200 W/m2 also. An optimum duty
ratio is generated which is further used to control the motor-
pump speed by adjusting the duty ratio of VSI.
2) Brushless DC Motor-Pump Performance: A speed of at
least 1100 rpm is required to be attained by a motor to pump
the water. Here, the motor-pump attains a higher speed than
1100 rpm as shown in Fig. 6(b), validating a successful
pumping at 20% irradiance level. The motor speed is governed
by the optimum PV array power. Moreover, a soft starting is
observed under such circumstances.
C. Dynamic Performance
Fig. 7 demonstrates that the system exhibits an excellent
dynamic operation under the varying irradiance condition.
Following sub-sections demonstrate the performances of the
solar PV array and the motor-pump.
1) Solar PV Array Performance: As shown in Fig. 7(a),
the irradiance level is reduced from 1000 W/m2 to 500 W/m2
and increased back to 1000 W/m2. The PV array power is
optimized successfully under the considered dynamics. An
optimum duty ratio is generated for each irradiance level
which participates in the control of motor-pump speed.
2) BLDC Motor-Pump Performance: Any variation in the
atmospheric condition is strictly followed by the motor
indices, as shown in Fig. 7(b). A smooth dynamic
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of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics
JESTPE-2016-12-0617.R2 6

performance of the motor is preserved. The motor-pump speed
is governed by the PV array power, and adjusted through the
optimum duty ratio by controlling the motor input voltage.
(a)
responds properly as per the available power from the PV
array. Being a high efficiency motor, the BLDC motor offers a
good amount of water delivery even at low input power.
VI. EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION
The developed prototype consists of an AMETEK make
solar array simulator, SEMIKRON make VSI, dSPACE 1104
controller, Motor Power Company make brushless DC motor,
and Benn make DC generator. The pump load is realized by a
BLDC motor driven DC generator which feeds a resistive
load. Tests are conducted on a 1.16 kW, 3000 rpm-BLDC
motor, supplied by a solar array simulator which is set at 1355
Wp. A current sensor (LA-55P) and a voltage sensor (LV-
25P) are used for maximum power point control. The sensed
signals are converted into the digital form through the analog
to digital converters (ADCs) and transmitted to the DSP-
dSPACE 1104 for execution process. The Hall signals are
directly transmitted via the digital I/O pins to carry out an
electronic commutation and motor control. Finally, the gate
pulses are received again through the I/O pins. To isolate the
gate drivers from the real time controller, the optocoupler ICs
(6N136) are used in an opto-isolation circuit. Fig. 9 presents a
photograph of the developed experimental system. The
experimental performances of the proposed topology are
analyzed in the following sections.

Fig. 9 Experimental test bench of the proposed system.

(b)
Fig.7 Dynamic performance of (a) PV array and (b) BLDC motor-pump, of
proposed water pumping system.

(a) (b)
Fig. 10 Test results for vpv-ppv & vpv-ipv characteristics of solar PV array at (a)
1 kW/m2 (b) 200 W/m2.

A. INC MPP Tracking

At 1000 W/m2, a PV array of 13551355 Wp feeds a 1.16 kW-
motor. The irradiance is altered from 1000 W/m2 to 200 W/m2
(a) (b) to test the behavior of the system. The ppv-vpv and ipv-vpv
Fig. 8 Responses of (a) PV array and (b) BLDC motor, under partial shading characteristics are recorded and shown in Figs. 10 (a) (at 1000
W/m2) and (b) (200 W/m2). The recorded curves demonstrate
D. Performance Under Partial Shading
the successful
successful MPPT by exhibiting the tracking efficiency
Under partial shading conditions, an output power from the above 99%.
PV array is reduced. Nevertheless, the motor-pump is able to
deliver the water with the said PV array, operating at an MPP. B. Performance Under Steady State at 1000 W/m2
The responses of PV array and BLDC motor-
motor-pump
pump under such The waveforms shown in Fig. 11 validate, at 1000 W/m2,
condition are presented in Fig. 8.8. The BLDC motor-pump the performances of PV array and motor-pump under steady

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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JESTPE.2017.2699918, IEEE Journal
of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics
JESTPE-2016-12-0617.R2
state condition. As shown in Fig. 11(a), the PV array is
operated at its peak power and the corresponding value of a
duty ratio is one. The motor draws its rated current of 4.2 A
and the pump is run at its rated speed of 3000 rpm as shown in
Fig. 11(b). Furthermore, Fig. 11(c) shows the corresponding
Hall sensor indices with the motor speed, and Fig. 11(d)
shows the Hall signals and a switching pulse of the VSI. No
modulation in the six fundamental frequency pulses takes
place. It is observed that the frequencies of Hall signals are
100 Hz, corresponding to 3000 rpm.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Fig. 11 Test results of proposed system at 1000 W/m2 under steady state
condition (a) PV array indices (b) BLDC motor indices (c) Hall sensor indices
(d) Hall signals and switching pulse
(a) (b)
Fig. 12 Test results of BLDC motor at 200 W/m2 under steady state condition
(a) BLDC motor indices (b) Hall signals and switching pulse
(a) (b)
Fig. 13 Test results of proposed system under dynamic variation in irradiance
from (a) 400 W/m2 to 1 kW/m2 and (b) 1 kW/m2 to 400 W/m2.
C. Steady State Performance of BLDC Motor at 200 W/m2
Fig.12 presents the test results of BLDC motor at 200
W/m2 under steady state condition. The motor-pump attains
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7
1100 rpm, as depicted in Fig.12(a), which is an enough speed
for water pumping. Furthermore, Fig.12(b) shows the Hall
signals and a switching pulse of the VSI. The pulse width of
the six fundamental frequency pulses is modulated according
to a duty ratio generated by the MPPT technique. It is
observed that the frequencies of Hall signals are
corresponding to 1100 rpm and the switching frequency
components are reflected in the waveforms of stator currents.
D. Performance Under Dynamic Condition
Test results of the proposed water pumping system under
the dynamically varying irradiance are presented in Fig.13.
The vpv, ipv, isa and N are recorded under this condition. As the
irradiance increases from 400 W/m2 to 1000 W/m2, PV array
and BLDC motor-pump attain the rated values of their various
indices (vpv = 275 V, ipv = 4.8 A, isa = 4.3 A and N = 3000
rpm), corresponding to MPP, as shown in Fig. 13(a).
Similarly, Fig. 13(b) shows the behaviour of PV array and
BLDC motor indices, as the irradiance drops from 1 kW/m2 to
400 W/m2. All these indices reach their steady state values
corresponding to 400 W/m2 (vpv = 265 V, ipv = 2 A, isa = 2.75
A and N = 1745 rpm). The motor-pump speed is smoothly
controlled by the duty ratio at each irradiance level. Therefore,
a successful operation is validated under dynamic condition.
E. Starting Performance
Fig. 14 reveals the test results of proposed system under
starting condition at a standard solar irradiance of 1000 W/m2.
The main objective is to demonstrate that the motor is safely
started. The initial duty ratio is set to 0.5 to rotate the motor at
starting. Fig. 14, exhibiting the various PV array and BLDC
motor indices, verifies the soft starting by controlling the
starting current.
Fig. 14 Test results of proposed system under starting condition at 1 kW/m2
VII. COMPARISON OF CONVENTIONAL AND PROPOSED
SYSTEM
There are several benefits of the proposed system over the
conventional schemes. A comprehensive comparison of these
systems is tabulated in Table III. The proposed one appears
superior in every aspect. Moreover, efficiency of the
conventional and proposed schemes at various irradiance
levels, under the identical operating conditions, is estimated
based on the experimental measurements. Although the power
losses in the water pump are not included in the efficiency
calculation. The efficiencies of these schemes are compared
and graphically represented in Fig. 15. Regardless of the
operating conditions, the proposed system seems more
efficient than its conventional counterparts.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JESTPE.2017.2699918, IEEE Journal
of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics
JESTPE-2016-12-0617.R2 8

TABLE III [3] P. Vithayasrichareon, G. Mills and I. F. MacGill, “Impact of Electric

COMPARISON OF PROPOSED AND CONVENTIONAL SCHEMES Vehicles and Solar PV on Future Generation Portfolio Investment,”
IEEE Trans. Sustain. Energy, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 899-908, July 2015.
Scheme Conventional-I Conventional-II Proposed [4] A. K. Mishra and B. Singh, “A single stage solar PV array based water
Attributes (Fig.1) (Fig.2) (Fig.3) pumping system using SRM drive,” IEEE Ind. Appl. Soc. Annu.
DC-DC converter Yes Yes No Meeting, Portland, OR, 2016, pp. 1-8.
[5] S. Jain, A.K. Thopukara, R. Karampuri and V.T. Somasekhar, “A
1-Voltage & 1-Voltage & 1-Voltage &
PV array Single-Stage Photovoltaic System for a Dual-Inverter-Fed Open-End
Sensors 1-Current 1-Current 1-Current
1-Voltage, 2- Winding Induction Motor Drive for Pumping Applications,” IEEE
BLDC motor 3- Hall 3- Hall Trans. Power Electron., vol. 30, no. 9, pp. 4809 - 4818, Sept. 2015.
Current & 3-Hall
DC bus capacitance High High Low [6] S.S. Chandel, M. Nagaraju Naik and Rahul Chandel, “Review of solar
BLDC motor Control Complex Simple Simple photovoltaic water pumping system technology for irrigation and
Efficiency Low Medium High community drinking water supplies,” Renewable Sustain. Energy Rev.,
vol. 49, pp. 1084-1099, Sept. 2015.
Compactness Low Medium High
[7] Vimal Chand Sontake and Vilas R. Kalamkar, “Solar photovoltaic water
Cost High Medium Low pumping system - A comprehensive review,” Renewable Sustain.
Energy Rev., vol. 59, pp. 1038-1067, June 2016.
[8] Essam E. Aboul Zahab, Aziza M. Zaki and Mohamed M. El-sotouhy,
“Design and control of a standalone PV water pumping system,” J.
Elect. Syst. Inform. Technol., Early Access.
[9] Y. Zhou, D. Zhang, X. Chen and Q. Lin, “Sensorless Direct Torque
Control for Saliency Permanent Magnet Brushless DC Motors,” IEEE
Trans. Energy Convers., vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 446-454, June 2016.
[10] V. Bist and B. Singh, “A Brushless DC Motor Drive With Power Factor
Correction Using Isolated Zeta Converter,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Informat.,
vol.10, no.4, pp.2064-2072, Nov.2014.
Fig. 15 Efficiency comparison of proposed and conventional schemes
[11] S. Wang and A. C. Lee, “A 12-Step Sensorless Drive for Brushless DC
VIII. CONCLUSIONS Motors Based on Back-EMF Differences,” IEEE Trans. Energy
Convers., vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 646-654, June 2015.
The proposed BLDC motor driven water pumping based on [12] P. K. Singh, B. Singh and V. Bist, “Brushless DC motor drive with
a single stage solar PV generation has been validated through power factor regulation using Landsman converter,” IET Power
a demonstration of its various steady state, starting and Electron., vol. 9, no. 5, pp. 900-910, Apr. 2016.
[13] R. Kumar and B. Singh, “Solar PV powered BLDC motor drive for
dynamic performances. The system has been simulated using water pumping using Cuk converter,” IET Electric Power Appl., vol. 11,
the MATLAB toolboxes, and implemented on an experimental no. 2, pp. 222-232, Feb. 2017.
prototype. The topology of the proposed system has provided [14] S. A. K. H. Mozaffari Niapour, S. Danyali, M.B.B. Sharifian and M.R.
a DC-DC converter-less solution for PV fed brushless DC Feyzi, “Brushless DC Motor Drives Supplied by PV Power System
Based on Z-Source Inverter and FL-IC MPPT Controller,” Energy
motor driven water pumping. Moreover, the motor phase Convers. and Manage., vol.52, no. 8–9, pp.3043-3059, Aug. 2011.
current sensing elements have been eliminated, resulting in a [15] H. A. Sher, A. F. Murtaza, A. Noman, K. E. Addoweesh, K. Al-Haddad
simple and cost-effective drive. The other desired functions and M. Chiaberge, “A New Sensorless Hybrid MPPT Algorithm Based
are the speed control without any additional circuit and a soft on Fractional Short-Circuit Current Measurement and P&O
MPPT,” IEEE Trans. Sustain. Energy, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 1426-1434, Oct.
start of the motor-pump. A detailed comparative analysis of 2015.
the proposed and the existing topologies has ultimately [16] Hegazy Rezk and Ali M. Eltamaly, “A comprehensive comparison of
manifested the superiority of the proposed work. different MPPT techniques for photovoltaic systems,” Solar Energy, vol.
112, pp. 1-11, Feb. 2015.
APPENDICES [17] Deepak Verma, Savita Nema, A.M. Shandilya and Soubhagya K. Dash,
“Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) techniques: Recapitulation in
A. Solar PV Parameters (Experimental Data) solar photovoltaic systems,” Renewable Sustain. Energy Rev., vol. 54,
Maximum power, Pmpp = 1355 W; MPP voltage, Vmpp = pp. 1018-1034, February 2016.
275 V; MPP current, Impp = 4.8 A; Open circuit voltage, Voc [18] J. Ahmed and Z. Salam, “A Modified P&O Maximum Power Point
Tracking Method with Reduced Steady State Oscillation and Improved
= 325 V; Short circuit current, Isc = 5.3 A. Tracking Efficiency,” IEEE Trans. Sustain. Energy, vol. 7, no. 4, pp.
1506-1515, Oct. 2016.
B. Parameters of BLDC Motor (Experimental Data) [19] D. Sera, L. Mathe, T. Kerekes, S.V. Spataru and R. Teodorescu, “On the
Number of poles, P = 4; Rated speed, Nrated = 3000 rpm; Perturb-and-Observe and Incremental Conductance MPPT Methods for
Moment of inerta, J = 2.9 kg.cm2; Stator resistance, Rs = 3.58 PV Systems,” IEEE J. Photovolt., vol.3, no.3, pp.1070-1078, July 2013.
[20] A. Costabeber, M. Carraro and M. Zigliotto, “Convergence Analysis and
Ω; Inductance, Ls = 9.13 mH; Voltage constant, Ke = 78 Tuning of a Sliding-Mode Ripple-Correlation MPPT,” IEEE Trans.
V/krpm; Torque constant, Kt = 0.74 Nm/A. Energy Convers., vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 696-706, June 2015.
[21] C. S. Moo and G. B. Wu, “Maximum Power Point Tracking With Ripple
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2168-6777 (c) 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JESTPE.2017.2699918, IEEE Journal
of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics
JESTPE-2016-12-0617.R2 9

[24] Packiam Periasamy, N.K. Jain and I.P. Singh, “A review on Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (FIETE) and a Life Member of
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Algorithm for a Single-Stage PV Pumping System Using an Open-End year 1991. He is recipient of JC Bose and Bimal K Bose awards of The
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Sept. 2014.
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“Combined operation of a VSC based grid interfaced solar photovoltaic Aerospace.Since December 2015, he is JC Bose Fellow. He was the General
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Nov. 2016.

Rajan Kumar (S’14–M’16) was born in Bharari,

Dhamtari (Chhattisgarh) India, in 1987. He received
the B.E. degree in electrical and electronics from
Chhatrapati Shivaji Institute of Technology, Durg,
India, in 2009, and the M.Tech. degree in power
electronics and ASIC design from Motilal Nehru
National Institute of Technology, Allahabad, India, in
2012. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree
in electrical engineering at the Indian Institute of
Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India. His research interests include power
electronics, electrical machines and drives, and renewable energy.
Bhim Singh (SM’99, F’10) was born in Rahamapur,
Bijnor(UP), India, in 1956. He received his B.E.
(Electrical) from the University of Roorkee, India,
in 1977 and his M.Tech. (Power Apparatus &
Systems) and Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of
Technology Delhi, India, in 1979 and 1983,
respectively.
In 1983, he joined the Department of Electrical
Engineering, University of Roorkee (Now IIT
Roorkee), as a Lecturer. He became a Reader there in 1988. In December
1990, he joined the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Delhi, India, as
an Assistant Professor, where he has become an Associate Professor in 1994
and a Professor in 1997. He has been ABB Chair Professor from September
2007 to September 2012. Since October 2012, he is a CEA Chair Professor.
Presently he is also Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT
Delhi. Prof. Singh has guided 65 Ph.D. dissertations, 161
M.E./M.Tech./M.S.(R) theses. He has been granted one US patent and filed 17
Indian patents. He has executed more than seventy five sponsored and
consultancy projects. He has co-authored a text book on power quality: Power
Quality Problems and Mitigation Techniques published by John Wiley &
Sons Ltd. 2015.
His areas of interest include power electronics, electrical machines and
drives, renewable energy systems, active filters, FACTS, High voltage direct
current (HVDC) and power quality.
Prof. Singh is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering
(FNAE), The Indian National Science Academy (FNA), The National
Academy of Science, India (FNASc), The Indian Academy of Sciences, India
(FASc), The World Academy of Sciences (FTWAS), Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers (FIEEE), the Institute of Engineering and
Technology (FIET), Institution of Engineers (India) (FIE), and Institution of

2168-6777 (c) 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.