A Single-Stage Photovoltaic System for a Dual-Inverter-Fed Open-End Winding Induction Motor Drive for Pumping Applications

This paper presents an integrated solution for a photovoltaic (PV)-fed water-pump drive system, which uses an open-end winding induction motor (OEWIM). The dual-inverter-fed OEWIM drive achieves the functionality of a three-level inverter and requires low value dc-bus voltage. This helps in an optimal arrangement of PV modules, which could avoid large strings and helps in improving the PV performance with wide bandwidth of operating voltage. It also reduces the voltage rating of the dc-link capacitors and switching devices used in the system. The proposed control strategy achieves an integration of both maximum power point tracking and V/f control for the efficient utilization of the PV panels and the motor. The proposed control scheme requires the sensing of PV voltage and current only. Thus, the system requires less number of sensors. All the analytical, simulation, and experimental results of this work under different environmental conditions are presented in this paper.