2021 18th International Multi-Conference on Systems, Signals & Devices (SSD'21)
Modelling and Simulation of PV Pump Using
MPPT Controller
Marwah Q. Al-Obaidi Nabil Derbel
National Engineering School National Engineering School
of Sfax (ENIS), of Sfax (ENIS),
Sfax, Tunisia Sfax, Tunisia
mkm.alobaidi@gmail.com mkm.alobaidi@gmail.com
2021 18th International Multi-Conference on Systems, Signals & Devices (SSD) | 978-1-6654-1493-7/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/SSD52085.2021.9429347
Abstract—the use of renewable energy in many applications
has become an important necessity due to the high price of fuel
on the one hand and the great shortage of the national grid in
Iraq during the past two decades. The solar powered water
pump system consists of solar PV modules, submersible pump,
and its control unit. Solar cells have non-linear I-V
characteristics and the energy generated depends on the nature
of the solar panels and the ambient temperature, and the
mismatch of the source and the load leads to a decrease in the
efficiency of the system. So it uses MPPT to extract maximum
power from the PV panel. Matlab Simulink model was used to
design and analyze the PV system as well as the solar powered
pump. The results indicate the ability of the MPPT to extract
the energy required to operate the pump.
Keywords: Water pumping, PV system, Solar panels, MPPT
algorithm, Computer control, Simulation.
I. INTRODUCTION
During the past two decades, Iraq has witnessed a
significant decline in the level of services, especially water
and electricity. These services are still in a significant
decline, and many communities suffer from a great shortage
of water and electricity to meet their basic needs. Therefore,
people in these communities depend on a supply of water
wells that provide less than 0.7 cubic meters of water per day
for every home, which is less than the internationally
approved minimum [1]. Due to the large deficit in the
national grid, Iraqi citizens mainly depend (up to 70% of their
needs) on private generators distributed in the residential
area. The monthly cost exceeds 100 US dollars and increases
in the winter between November and March. The national
grid does not provide the consumer with electricity
continuously, for example in the city of Erbil in northern
Iraq, there is a continuous interruption of the national
network from 1:00 am to 1:00 pm In some cities, electricity
can be obtained regularly from the private sector, and this
depends on prepaid cards, as the cost of electricity for villas
reaches 300-700 US dollars per month [1]. The significant
shortage of the national grid was a factor encouraging the
move towards renewable energy. The major advantage that
contributed to adopting solar energy is the average daily solar
radiation in Iraq in the range of 15-22 Mega Joules/m2/day,
978-0-7381-4392-7/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE 1279
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Wasan A. Hashim Karim M. Aljebory
Computer Engineering Dept, Computer Engineering Dept,
Alqalam University College, Alqalam University College,
Kirkuk, Iraq Kirkuk, Iraq
wassanhashim@alqalam.edu.iq Karim.eng@alqalam.edu.iq
which is a good indicator compared to many countries that
invest in solar energy on a large scale [2].
Solar water pumping system is the ideal solution to the
situation in Iraq, where the United Nations has been planning
to implement a number of water pumping projects using solar
energy. The Serbasti project in Erbil is considered one of the
pioneering projects in this field. More than 625 families in
Serbasti depend on well water supplies that run about two
hours a day due to lack of electricity from the national grid.
After the implementation of the project, the amount of each
householder became approximately 1.3 cubic meters per day
instead of 0.7 cubic meters [1].
The published research indicates the use of renewable
energy as an energy source for pumping water for drinking
and irrigation, and this made us motivate to use solar energy
in Iraq for this purpose to provide the amount of water
necessary for life. Several published papers deal with the
study of technical factors related to the design of a
photovoltaic system for pumping water [3,4], while others
deal with the study of economic feasibility, climatic and
operational conditions in different regions [5,6].
For photoelectric water pumping applications, two types
of pumps are used; positive displacement and centrifugation.
The first type is cost effective and is used for low volume
pumping. While centrifugal pumps are able to pump a large
volume of water and have relatively high efficiency[7]. The
type of engine in autonomous water pumping systems affects
the overall system performance. Chandrasekaran and
Thyagarajah [8] proposed a PV water pumping system
consisting of a permanent magnetic DC motor and a single-
phase induction motor which used the Matlab/Simulink
model in its implementation and evaluation. They concluded
that the performance of the single-phase induction motor is
lower than that of the PMDC motor. The control methods of
such motors require accurate rotor position detection to adjust
the electronic commutations. These motors are maintenance
free and do not require an inverter and excitation system for
its rotor [9, 10].
PV water pump systems based on DC motors are already
in use in the world, but have maintenance problems due to
the presence of transformers and brushes. Pumping system
based on an induction motor or permanent magnet
synchronous machine is a more attractive solution for its
 reliability; maintenance free and lower cost [9]. The motor - The water pump system voltage is 380 Volt, and the solar
drive unit in this case requires an appropriate inverter [11]. In panel input voltage is between 400-780 Volt. For
the case of an induction motor based water pump system, maximum power point tracking, the recommended voltage
running the induction motor at its maximum efficiency is will be 500 Volt.
better than operating the solar PV array at the maximum
The solar panel used in the implemented water pump
power point for peak power extraction [12,13]. Maximum
system is a 250 W with the following voltage specification:
Power Point Tracking (MPPT) is an electronic system that
- The open circuit voltage is 38 Volt; it refers to the solar
operates the PV modules in a manner that allows the modules
panel output voltage without load [1].
to produce the maximum power they can produce by
- The maximum power point voltage is 30.55 Volt; it refers
changing the electrical operating point of the modules [14,
to the voltage when the power output is the greatest.
15]. The MPPT method is used in grid-connected PV systems
as well as in standalone systems [7, 16, 17].
This paper aims to achieve the highest efficiency of PV
water pumping system by implementing MPPT and operating
the three phase induction motor with highest efficiency. The
water pumping system can operate at a specific speed to meet
the daily demand of Serbasti village in Erbil.

II. PUMPING SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS

There are several water pumping systems in use currently,
including the motor pump, grid operated pump, manual pump Fig. 1: Solar panels distribution.
and generator powered pump. With the increase in fuel prices
and instability over the past few years, such systems have The minimum and maximum numbers of solar panels can
become expensive and this is reflected in the increase in be calculated as;
500
water prices for domestic consumption and irrigation. In . . 16.393
addition, these systems need constant maintenance because 30.55
they contain many moving parts. Also, It is not possible to
780
rely on the pumps that operate on the national grid due to the #. . 20.52
continuous suffering in the poor coverage of the electricity 38
network during the past two decades in Iraq. Accordingly, the design limitations are as follows:
• The number of solar panels in series is between 16-20
To overcome the drawbacks resulting from the weakness
panels.
in the national grid, solar energy was used to feed a water
• The total number of solar panels is 140 panels (250
pumping system. Our previous study [1] dealt with the
watts) to implement an effective solar system with a
specifications and data related to the solar power station and
capacity of 35000 watts.
the water pumping system at a specific location of Serbasti:
• These panels are distributed into 7 parallel rows, and
- Existed submersible pump power= 22 KW
in each row there are 20 chain boards, as shown in
- The deep of the well= 250 meters.
Fig. 1.
- Static (water) level= 29 meters.
- Dynamic (Motor) deep level= 57 meters, with the quantity • As a result, a 30kw solar pump inverter is
of 46 m3/h. recommended.

The number of required solar panels can be determined

after calculating the total energy to be generated based on the III. PUMPING SYSTEM MODELLING
capacity of the solar panels available [1], and is given by;
A three-phase induction motor is used in the proposed
water pumping system and it is fed directly from solar
.
energy. It consists of four main parts [9,18]:

33000 A. The PV Generator:

. 132
250
For more reliable and efficient solar system;
- 140 solar panels will be used in the design.
It consists of photovoltaic solar panels connected in series
and in parallel manner to provide the required voltage and
current by the AC drive system. The generated power from
this PV generator depends mainly on solar radiation.

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 Fig. 2: PV blocks subsystem.

B. PV Modules:
Array block in Matlab/Simulink model is the power
production section also we can call it the DC section, as
shown in Fig. 2. A signal generator is used to represent
irradiance in Erbil/ Iraq (at 25 °C as standard value). A
Gaussian signal was used with some modification to give the
Fig 3 The MPPT algorithm diagram.
controller a time at the curve code to generate this small step
in the form of a Gaussian signal. Thus the reaction of the
Table 1: Characteristics and all parameters of MPPT.
controller can be observed at each level of radiation. This
mainly depends on the value of the photoelectric current Input voltage (Vi) 250-300 Volt.
(IPV), the photoelectric voltage (VPV) that uses a vector Output voltage (V0) 600 Volt
selector to select the current and voltage of the photoelectric Power (P) 35 KW.
block is from the measurement output (M) of the Switching frequency (Fsw) 500 Volt
photoelectric block namely IPV, VPV, I-diode, irradiance Ii (input current) P/Vi = 35/250 =140 A
(W/m2) and temperature. Output voltage ripple (ΔV) 1%, 6 V
Io= P/Vo 35K/600 = 58.33 A
C. AC Motor: L Boost (250(600- 250)/(5000(1.4)600)=
20.833 mH
A three-phase induction motor is used, it is a dynamic
C Boost (Ii(Vo-Vi))/(fsw(V%)Vo)=
device so the current required by the PV system depends on
(58.33(600-250)/(5000(6)600)=
the flow of the water load. In order to be able to supply the
1.1342 mF
maximum current to the PV panel like other stationary
devices, a maximum current is required to reach the ideal
position.

D. Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT):

MPPT algorithms are important for PV because the solar
panel MPP varies with the irradiation and temperature. MPPT
algorithm is applied to get the maximum power from PV
solar array. The algorithms operate on Hill climbing
principle, in which operating point of the PV module moves
in the increasing direction of power. It senses the PV panel
voltage periodically and compares the output power with that
of the previous power, the process continues till rate of Fig. 4: MPPT controller Subsystem.
change in power=0.
A proposed MPPT algorithm is shown in Fig.3, in which
PV module output voltage and output current are sensed.
Then power is compared with the power measured at the
previous sample P(n-1) in order to calculate ΔP. Figure 4
shows the implemented MPPT controller subsystem. Figure 5
illustrates a filter used to improve the shape of three-phase
sinusoidal wave of voltage that coming out from the inverter
with the minimum harmonic distortion as much as possible. Fig. 5: Filter units.

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 Fig. 6: Water pump with PID controller.
Fig. 7: Water pump with MPPT.
There is a certain point on the PV voltage-current curve
and voltage-power curve called the maximum power point
(MPP). At this point, the PV generator produces maximum
output power. It is used to maximize the energy extraction
from the PV block, and to keep the voltage value constant at
the input of the inverter, so that the system performance
remains stable. The characteristics and all parameters of
MPPT are given in Table (1).
IV. SIMULATION AND RESULTS
The photovoltaic pump system was designed and
simulated using Matlab. In the first case, a PID controller was
used, as shown in Fig. 6. In the second case, an MPPT
controller was used instead of a PID controller as shown in
Fig. 7. The power system simulation tools were modelled and
simulated using Matlab.
The model of the proposed PV pumping system monitors
the designed speed of the motor, current, voltage, power and
duty cycle specifications. It is clear from Fig. 8 that:
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• Irradiance (W/m2): the signal builder can represent the
radiation in Erbil/Iraq using Gaussian signal.
• PV voltage (V): is stabile after less than 0.1s due to the
impact of the MPPT algorithm.
• PV current (A): in the begging of the simulation we
can see the current over-shot work is very high. The
current drawn from the solar system depends on the
load, after which the load is so low that the current
drawn from the PV system is also low until the load on
the motor increases after one second. It turns out that
there is an increase in the current, then it decreases due
to the reduction in the load.
• PV Power (KW): The power depends on the generated
current and the voltage, and since the voltage value is
almost stable, the current will directly affect the
generated power value. The current drawn from the
PV system depends on the motor load. Obviously, the
engine load is at a maximum during period (2 to 4)
seconds. The solar panels provide the power needed by
the pump, which is about 4000 kilowatts, as illustrated
in Fig. 9.
 The current drawn from the inverter depends on the
load on the induction motor.
• Motor load (Pu): the motor has the ability to handle
different loads, which means that a different amount of
water will flow, and this happens in the case of
changes in radiation and thus affects the engine speed.
• Motor speed (Pu): As shown in Fig.12, the motor
speed starts from zero, then increased and exceeds 1
per unit slightly which is normal. When the load
increases, the engine speed changes slightly and it
stabilizes after a short period and it remains stable
even when the load reaches its peak. It is clear that the
engine speed is not less than 0.89%, which is an ideal
speed that has shown better stability and efficiency.
The simulation results demonstrate, firstly, the validity of
the proposed algorithm, the absolute stability of both the
motor and the inverter. More investigation and analysis are
promising for additional results, so that an intensive work is
required to enhance the performance and optimal power can
be reached.

Fig. 8: Water pump PV system.

Fig. 10: Inverter voltage.

Fig. 9: PV power at maximum load.

• Inverter current (A): the three-phase inverter voltage Fig. 11: Inverter current.
depends on the load of the induction motor. It reaches
the peak when the load is in maximum. It is clear from
Fig.9 that the starter current is very high at the
begging, and this normal situation of the induction
motors.
• Inverter voltage (V): the variations in RMS signal are
shown in Fig. 10, and the voltage is stable based on
MPPT control around the system voltage of 380V.
• Inverter current (A): It is clear from Fig.11 that the
starter current has overshoot in the transient period.
Fig. 12: Motor speed.

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 V. CONCLUSION
This research deals with the design of a solar photovoltaic
system for a water pump. A MPPT algorithm has been used
to extract maximum power from the PV panel in order to feed
a three-phase induction motor as a pump. The results
obtained from the simulation show that the performance of
the proposed solar PV system has improved significantly
when equipped with a MPPT controller. MPPT algorithm
can extract maximum power from PV under specific
conditions. The purpose of a MPPT system is selecting
proper resistance in order to obtain maximum power. It is
most effective in cooler conditions because PV module works
better at cold temperatures and also very effective when the
battery is deeply discharged because more current can be
extracted under low charge conditions. The MP depends on
factors such as solar irradiation, ambient temperature and cell
temperature. The dynamic response of the photoelectric
voltage showed stability after less than 0.1s, which indicates
the effect of the MPPT algorithm system. There is a
relationship between the type of load and the photoelectric
current drawn from the PV system.
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