Performance Improvement of a Photovoltaic Pumping System Using a Synchronous Reluctance Motor

This article presents a simple control strategy to improve the performance of a synchronous reluctance motor drive system fed by a photovoltaic source. The photovoltaic generator parameters are selected based on maintaining the system operating point at the maximum output power of the photovoltaic generator at an average insolation level of 0.5 kW/m2. The proposed control strategy has three main functions; ensuring successful motor starting, maintaining the motor voltage within a permissible range, and forcing the photovoltaic array to operate at the maximum power point possible. Two modes of operation are studied for the proposed system depending upon the level of insolation compared with a critical value, which is the level below which the synchronous reluctance motor cannot work synchronously under the given pumping load. A sample of simulation results is introduced to confirm the effectiveness of the suggested strategy. It has been found that, using the proposed control strategy, the pump flow rate has been increased compared with an uncontrolled system.