Solar powered sensorless induction motor drive with improved efficiency for water pumping

This study deals with a speed sensorless induction motor drive (IMD) with efficiency optimisation. This drive is driven by a solar photovoltaic array for water pumping. The elimination of speed sensor increases the robustness and decreases cost of the IMD. The speed estimation is achieved by rotor flux-oriented control in stationary reference frame. Moreover, the parameters, namely stator resistance adaptation, make the system parameters insensitive. The efficiency of the drive system is enhanced by optimising the excitation current by using a particle swarm optimisation technique. The smooth operation of overall system during starting and steady-state condition is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink environment and validated on a prototype developed in the laboratory. The efficiency of the system with loss minimisation technique is compared with the conventional IMD. Simulated results comply with the test results and a comprehensive comparison is made to validate the suitability of proposed system.