Design of Cost Effective Solar PV Powered SRM Driven Agriculture Pump Using Modified Buck-Boost Converter

Abstract

Abstract This paper proposes a new DC-DC converter for performance optimization of a solar PV(Photovoltaic) system without electrolytic capacitor for water pumping system driven by a switched reluctance motor (SRM). The proposed converter is able to replace the input electrolytic capacitor to polypropylene capacitor with small rating and size. The snubber circuit formed by storage capacitor across switch of converter is operated to minimize the voltage spikes especially during turn-on and turn-off time. The proposed DC-DC converter delivers a continuous supply to SRM drive with low ripple content and capable to step-up and step-down the input PV voltage. The PV power optimization and to limit the high initial winding currents of SRM, are two major functions of proposed converter. An improved perturb and observation (P&O) based maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control is also proposed in present system, which overcomes the deviation problem present in conventional P&O MPPT controls. Simulated and experimental results on a 500 W four-phase 8/6 SRM, are accomplished to authenticate the feasibility of proposed system under all environmental conditions.