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1s IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics. Intelligent Control and Energy Systems (ICPEICES-2016)
Solar PV-Battery based Hybrid Water Pumping
System using BLDC Motor Drive
Rajan Kumarl and Bhim Singh2
IMember, IEEE, 2 Fellow, IEEE
1,2 Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi,
Hauz Khas, New Delhi-l100 16, India
E-mail: Irajankumar@ee.iitd.ac.in.2 bsingh@ee.iitd.ac.in
Abstract-This paper deals with a brushless DC (BLDq
motor driven water pump powered by a solar photovoltaic
(SPV) array and a battery storage. The SPV-battery based
hybrid generation is used as a power source in order to
achieve a continuous full volume water delivery regardless of
the c1imate condition. The SPV array is used as a primary
source while the battery as a backup. Therefore; the battery
is discharged only under bad c1imate condition or at night
when the PV array is insufficient to feed the water pump.
Additionally; it is charged by the SPV array when the water
delivery is not required. Thus; no external supply is used for
the battery charging. A bidirectional charging control
enables to switch the mode of operation of the battery
automatically through a buck-boost DC-DC converter. The
BLDC motor is consistently operated at its rated speed and
load. No current sensing is required for the speed control and
the power devices of voltage source inverter (VSI) are
switched at fundamental frequency. The various
performance analysis of the proposed water pumping are
carried out in MATLAB/ SIMULINK platform.
Keywords-Brushless DC Motor; Water Pump; Solar
Photovoltaic Array; Battery Storage; Bidirectional Charging
Control; Buck-boost Converter; Voltage Source Inverter
I. INTRODUCTION
Recently; a brushless DC (BLDC) motor drive for
solar photovoltaic (SPV) fed water pumping has gained a
broad attention owing to its simplicity; high efficiency;
easy-to-drive features; no maintenance requirement and
compactness [1-2]. An SPV generation being intermittent
in nature leads to an unreliable and interrupted water
pumping. Moreover; in the course of bad c1imate
condition; the motor-pump is underutilized as the SPV
power is insufficient to run it at its full capacity. An
unavailability of sunlight (at night) leads to shutdown of
an entire water pumping system. Similarly; the PV
installation and other resources remain unutilized in case
the water pumping is not required. These serious issues
call for an external power backup if a full water delivery is
desired continuously. As the remote and isolated areas are
underprivileged from power grid supply; usually a diesel
generator is used as backup [3]. As the today's challenge is
to reduce threats to energy security and to create pollution
free environment; a diesel generator will no longer exist.
The only remaining and feasible solution is to use a
battery storage as a power backup. This practice; leading
978-1-4673-8587-9/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE
to a battery supported SPV hybrid power source; offers a
continuous and reliable water pumping.
Few attempts of battery supported SPV fed water
pumping using an induction motor have been found in the
literature [3-7]. No such system with a BLDC motor drive
is reported till date. As this motor is superseding the
induction motor for many applications including water
pumping; this paper proposes a SPV-battery hybrid power
source based BLDC motor driven pumping system. A
power tlow control for charging/ discharging a battery
storage is obtained through the bidirectional buck-boost
converter [5--6]. The control governs whether the battery is
required to be chargedldischarged as per the availability of
amount of SPV power and water requirement. In fact; the
battery is discharged when a water pumping is required at
night or when a full volume of water output is required
throughout the day. On the other hand; the battery is
charged when an SPV power is available but the water
pumping is no more required. Furthermore; the battery is
made nonfunctional when a full amount of power required
by the water pump is available from SPV array. The
proposed system uses an SPV array as a charging source for
the battery; thus; an external power source is not required.
Moreover; it enables a full utilization of both PV
installation and motor-pump system.
The bidirectional power tlow is accomplished by a
common capacitor placed at the DC bus of voltage source
inverter (VSI). The speed of BLDC motor-pump is
maintained at its rated value by regulating the DC bus
voItage of VSI. This practice enables a water pumping
with full capacity. The speed control obviates the phase
current sensors; resulting in an economical drive. The
maximum power point tracking (MPPT) of PV array is
achieved by an incremental conductance (InC) technique
[1-2; 8-9] using a DC-DC boost converter. The magnitude
of stator current of BLDC motor at starting is controlled
by operating the VSI in PWM (Pulse Width Modulation)
mode for a pre-defined duration. However; once the motor
is started; the VSI is operated with the pulses of
fundamental frequency resuIting in a minimized switching
loss and an enhanced conversion efficiency. The SPV­
battery based hybrid pumping system with a brushless DC
motor drive is simulated in MATLAB/ SIMULINK
platform and its functionalities are evaluated through the
simulation resuIts to demonstrate the claims.
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1s IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics. Intelligent Control and Energy Systems (ICPEICES-2016)
Fig. I: Configuration of Proposed SPV-banery based Hybrid Water
Pumping System using BLDC Motor Drive
11. SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
The configuration of proposed hybrid water pumping
system is sketched in Fig. 1. An SPV array via a boost
converter and a battery storage via a bidirectional buck­
boost converter create a common DC bus. A BLDC
motor-pump is supplied by this common DC bus via a
VSI. The DC-DC boost converter is engaged to perform
MPPT of SPV array through an InC technique; while a
buck-boost converter plays a role of charge controller for
the battery. When the battery is discharged; this converter
acts as a boost converter and the battery feeds the common
DC bus. Conversely; it acts as a buck converter; when the
battery is charged and fed by the common DC bus. A VSI
performs an electronic commutation of BLDC motor. A
centrifugal water pump is coupled to the shaft of BLDC
motor which has three inbuiIt Hall Effect sensors to
generate Hall signals for commutation.
A 6-pole; 3000 rpm @ 130 V (DC) BLDC motor
suitable to drive a 1.633 kW water pump is used. An SPV
array with the peak power capacity of 1.92 kW is selected
such that it generates a sufficient power to run the pump at
full capacity under the standard c1irnate condition ( 1000
W/m2; 25°C; AM 1.5); the battery support is thus not
required. A 72 V; 300 Ah lead-acid battery is connected at
the DC bus as a backup source. The techniques and
methodologies of proposed system are described in the
under mentioned sections.
III. CONTROL ApPROACH
The various control techniques are applied to achieve
the desired functionalities of proposed water pumping.
The MPPT of an SPV array; charging control of the
battery; electronic commutation and control of brushless
DC motor; are required to be incorporated. A detailed
description of each control is mentioned in the following
sections.
[2]
A. In C Maximum Power Point Tracking of PV Array
As the conversion efficiency of an SPV cell is very
less (Iess than 20%); absence of an effective MPPT leads
to a highly inefficient solar power generation. Therefore;
an MPPT technique is always used to optimally utilize the
installed PV array. Among the innumerable developed
techniques; an InC is most popular due to its excellent
tracking performance under dynamic condition [1-8]. The
proposed system also adopts this technique with the duty
ratio chosen as a control parameter. The duty ratio is
perturbed with a fixed perturbation size and rate according
to the power slope as shown in Fig. 2.
An MPP occurs when the incremental conductance
(!-"ipj!-,.vpv) resembles with the conductance (ipjvpv). Any
variation from this condition needs either positive or
negative perturbation; depending on the power slope; in
the duty ratio. The SPV array voItage; vpv and current; ipv
are sampled on an instantaneous basis to estimate !-"ipj!-,.vpv
and ipjvpv at each sampling instant. The duty ratio; D
which is generated corresponding to MPP is then used to
generate the gating signal for the boost converter through
a pulse generator.
Fig. 2: SPV Characteristics and in C MPPT
B. Charging Control ofBattery Storage
A bidirectional power transfer between the DC bus
and storage battery is carried out using a bidirectional
power flow control through a DC-DC buck-boost
converter [5-6] as shown in Fig. 3. The DC bus voItage;
Vdc is regulated at the rated DC voItage of BLDC motor i.e.
130 V by a voItage regulator. The charging/discharging
current of the battery; ib is controlled by a current
regulator. A proportional-integral (PI) controller is used as
the voItage and current regulator. The current regulator
provides the corresponding duty ratio which is further
converted into the PWM pulse for buck-boost converter.
Fig. 3: Bidirectional Charge Controller for Banery Storage
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1s IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics. Intelligent Control and Energy Systems (ICPEICES-2016)

The buck-boost bidirectional converter is operated
either in buck mode or in boost mode at a time. The mode
of operation is govemed by the DC bus voltage. When the
solar radiation is diminished or completely vanished
(at night); A drop-off in the DC bus voItage takes place.
The controller retains the voItage level at its set value by
operating the converter in boost mode and enabling the
power tlow from the battery to the DC bus; thus
discharges the battery. Only the device g2 is activated in
this mode while an anti-parallel diode of g/ participates to
complete a boost converter circuit. Conversely; when the
SPV power is available but the water pumping is not
required; the DC bus voItage rises. The controller now
retains the voItage level at its set value by operating the
converter in buck mode and enabling the power tlow from
DC bus to the battery; thus charges the battery. In this
case; the device g/ is activated while an anti-parallel diode
of g2 participates to complete a buck converter circuit. On
the other hand; the battery is made inoperative when an
SPV array generates sufficient power to run the pump at
proposed BLDC motor drive eliminates the phase current
sensors leading to a simple and cost-effective control.
E. Soft Starting ofBLDC Motor
At standstill; a high inrush current is drawn due to the
absence of back-EMF which may harm the stator
windings and switching devices. This current surge is
required to be prevented by controlling the stator starting
current. This current is controlled by modulating the pulse
width of switching devices for a predefined duration. The
aforesaid duration is estimated based on the inertia of
motor-pump. The pulse width of an original pulse is
modulated by a manually generated pulse train with
slowly increasing pulse width. This causes a rise of
current at a controlled rate. Once a sufficient back-EMF is
buiIt; the VSI is operated at fundamental frequency.
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

its full capacity. No charging/ discharging of the battery
take place. In this way; the voltage at DC bus is
maintained at 130 V; no matter the battery is
charging/discharging or at idle state.
C. Electranic Commutation ofBLDC Motor
Electronic commutation refers to commutating the
currents tlowing through windings of BLDC motor such
that a symmetrical direct current is drawn from the DC
bus of VSI for 1200 and placed at the centre of back-EMF
(Electro-motive Force) [1-2; 9]. The three inbuilt Hall
Effect sensors generate a particular combination of Hall
signals (H)-H3) in accordance with the rotor position at an
interval of 60°; as shown in Table l. These Hall signals
are then converted; using a decoder circuit; into the six
pulses of fundamental frequency (S)-S6)' A switching of
VSI with the pulses of fundamental frequency limits the
switching loss.
TABLE I: SWITCHING PULSE GENERA nON FOR VSI
The performance analysis of the proposed water
pumping system under different operating conditions is
carried out using MATLAB/ Simulink toolboxes. A
hybrid generating unit composed of an SPV array of 1.92
kW peak power and a 72 V; 300 Ah lead-acid battery
feeds a 3000 rpm @ l30V; 5.2 Nm BLDC motor-pump. A
detailed design specifications of the system are mentioned
in Appendices. The water pump may be operated with
SPV array only; the battery only; with both SPV array and
the battery; or may not be operated; as per the availability
of sunlight and water output requirement. These operating
conditions are demonstrated in the following sections.
A. Soft Starting Peiformance ofBLDC Motor-pump

Rotor Position 0(0) Hall Signals Active Switches

H3 H2 HJ
0-60 I 0 I SI;S4
60-120 0 0 I SI;S6
120-180 0 I I S3;S6
180-240 0 I 0 S2;S3
240-300 I I 0 S2;S5

! 5L- ��···� ··� · · II�lId••·,�n.lI".�

300-360 I 0 0 S4;S5 tO ,------_.-_--�-___,

D. Speed Contral ofBLDC Motor-pump

or
The speed of BLDC motor is controlled by regulating
the DC bus voItage of VSI at the rated DC voltage of
BLDC motor. A bi-directional power tlow control
enables; by regulating the DC bus voltage and hence the
operating speed; to deliver a full amount of power
!�IJ:±2fj
o 0,[15 0.1
Time (sec)
0.15 0.2

Fig. 4: Soft Starting Performance of BLDC Motor-pump

required to pump the water with full capacity. The

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1s IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics. Intelligent Control and Energy Systems (ICPEICES-2016)

l�n tT I
The main objective of this analysis to demonstrate the
safe starting of BLDC motor pump. As shown in Fig. 4;

�'l=rJIj
the stator current; isa rises at a controlled rate; manifesting
the soft start. The remaining motor-pump indices such as
back-emf; ea; speed; N; torque developed; Te and
centrifugal pump load torque; TL pursue the same rate of
rise. These results are obtained under rated condition.

�,tj ·1:1 B. Performance under Transition from SPV Array

Feeding Pump to Both SPV Array and Battery

�·�t=J ,,1
Feeding Pump
This study evaluates a dynamic behavior of the
02 025 03 035 04 system under the poor solar radiation. When a low
Time (sec) radiation is observed; the battery is automatically put into
(a) effect. This case is illustrated in Fig. 5. As shown in

FP·: ·yt·
.: .l
:
Fig. 5(a); the solar radiation; S is decreased from 1000
. .. ., . . .. ,. . .
W/m2 to 500 W/m2 resulting in a reduction in power
output to almost half. Until 500 W/m2; the water pump is
o . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

-20 ' . ,
fed by the SPV array only as it is sufficient to run the
' · . '. ... · .. .. .. · ...·
1 1 1 1
pump at full capacity. Therefore; the battery is at idle state
72 •
. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . as shown in Fig. 5(b). No current is drawn from the
70 · . battery and it remains at its initial charging state i.e. 60%.
As an output power of the SPV array is reduced to

.=�
���
half; it is required to share the load demand to run the
pump at full capacity. The battery is now discharged by
59.9998 · . .
the bidirectional power flow control and a remaining

� ::C0I Lj
power is drawn from the battery. Thus; the water pump is
.. .. .. fed by both SPV array and the battery. The buck-boost
converter acts as a boost converter to feed the power to the
0.25 0.3
Time (sec)
0.35 04 DC bus while maintaining the Vdc at 130 V. The battery
current; ib; battery voltage; Vb and state of charge (SOC%)
(b)
of the battery are also depicted in Fig. 5(b). As presented

��--
in Fig. 5(c); the motor-pump is operated at its full capacity
i.e. at rated speed and load irrespective of the deterioration

r An � n • � n n1
in climate condition.
20
§JJUDQUIJ)l[]JUIj
�n·.� ·K·h·.· · · · ·.· C. Performance under Transition from Battery Feeding
Pump to SPV Array Charging Battery

J�r 1 1 1 ·
·
,
"i'�o
�
'"
0<)0
1
!.':�
(f ri i I :� 1000···
=1
0.22 0.24 Time (sec)
0.26 0.28 0.3
(c)
Fig. 5: Dynamic Performance under Transition from SPV Array Feeding
�2 0.25 0.Time
3 (sec)0.35 0.4 0.45
Pump to Both SPV Array and Banery Feeding Pump; (a) PV Array
Variables (b) Banery Variables (c) Motor-pump Variables (a)

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1s IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics. Intelligent Control and Energy Systems (ICPEICES-2016)
:h·· · · ·'· · · +· · · · ·
�:�E I
ß2 02
. 5 03
. 0.35 0.4
Time (sec)
(b)
(c)
Fig. 6: Dynamic Performance under Transition from Battery Feeding
Pump to SPV Array Charging Battery; (a) PV Array Variables
(b) Battery Variables (c) BLDC Motor-pump Variables
Many times a water pumping may be required at
night. The water demand during this period is met by the
battery only. Occasionally; the water demand is null
aIthough a full sunlight is available. Instead of wasting the
SPV array power under this circumstances; a generated
SPV power is utilized to charge the battery. This dynamic
condition is illustrated in Fig. 6. Fig. 6(a) shows that the
solar radiation is not available until 0.25 s whereas a full
radiation i.e. 1000 W/m2 is available after 0.25 s. This
large dynamics is assumed to justify the system under the
worst case. It is also assumed that a water pumping is not
required after 0.25 s.
As shown in Fig. 6(b); a battery is discharged to draw
a full amount of power required by a water pump as the
SPV array power is not available until 0.25 s. The battery
[5]
is charged by the SPV array afterward as the water
pumping is not required and full sunlight is available.
During charging; the direction of h is reversed and the
buck-boost converter is operated in buck mode while
maintaining the Vdc at its set value i.e. 130 V. Fig. 6(c)
exhibits the BLDC motor-pump indices under this
operating condition. It runs at rated speed and load until
0.25 s. As it is not fed thereafter; no current is drawn and
it goes towards standstill.
V. CONCLUSION
A BLDC motor driven water pumping fed by an SPV­
battery hybrid source has been proposed and its various
performances have been analyzed under the dynamic
conditions. The proposed water pumping has been
demonstrated as a reliable system. Moreover; a full
utilization of the SPV array and pumping system has been
made possible. A power tlow control has been applied to
enable a power transfer between the DC bus and battery
storage through a bidirectional buck-boost converter. A
reduced sensor based BLDC motor drive has led to a low­
cost and compact pumping system. This grid independent
system has been found more useful for remote and isolated
regions.
ApPENDICES
A. Parameter ofSolar PV Array
Peak power 1.92 kW; Open circuit voItage 126 V;
= =
MPP voItage 102 V; Short circuit current
= 22.4 A; =
MPP current 19 A. =
B. Specijications ofBLDC Motor-Pump
Number of poles 6; Rated speed 3000 rpm; Stator
= =
resistance 0.37 Q; Stator inductance 1.0 mH; VoItage
= =
constant 34 VL_Jkrpm; Pump proportionality constant
= =
5.27X 10-5.
C. Parameters ofBidirectional Buck-Boost Converter
Boost inductor = 3 mH; DC bus capacitor = 6000 /-lF.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work; under grant no. RP02926; was funded by
the Deptt. of Science and Tech.; Govt. of India.
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