Position Sensorless BLDC Motor Drive for Single Stage PV Based Water Pumping

This paper deals with a water pumping system, characterized by photovoltaic (PV)-powered brushless DC (BLDC) motor. An intermediate DC-DC power converter, commonly used for the peak power tracking of PV array, is eliminated in this system. Thus, the proposed system is based on a single stage PV energy conversion. The water pump is driven by a position sensorless-BLDC motor drive. Together with eliminating the position sensors, the said system obviates the motor current sensing. The motor speed is adjusted as per the available maximum power. A three-phase inverter is used to control the motor. The maximum PV power generation is also obtained through the same inverter. The performance of single stage PV array-powered water pump with proposed position sensorless-drive is tested through the experimental results.