Control of Photovoltaic Water Pumping System with Battery Storage

Due to the continuous decrease of the solar cells cost, photovoltaic energy is used in diverse applications. The most important one is the batteries-coupled water pumping system powered by photovoltaic generators. The use of batteries allows the system to deliver a constant water flow during the low light periods and night. With the increased use of this application, more attention has been paid to their optimum utilization. Fuzzy logic controllers provide attractive features such as fast response, accuracy and good performance compared to the classical controllers. Next, a vector control of induction motor fed by a photovoltaic system is studied to improve its dynamic performance. The photovoltaic pumping system is composed of a PV generator, DC-DC converter, batteries, DC-AC converter, a vector controlled induction motor and centrifugal pump. The surplus energy produced by PV panels during light hours charges the batteries and the batteries in turn supply power to the pump during backup energy. A simulation study is presented under variable weather conditions and the results show the effectiveness of the studied method.