Abstract:
In the present world, conventional sources of energy are depleting at a faster rate because of its increased consumption. Renewable sources of energy are the better alternatives for this problem and among this solar energy is the best solution. Among the various PV (photovoltaic) applications, water pumping system using solar energy is growing in interest in isolated areas, where grid availability is difficult. The water pumping system can be driven by DC or AC motor but Brushless DC Motor (BLDCM) which has higher efficiency, lower power range, and simple structure; hence BLDCM is the best option for this application. The conventional PV water pumping system uses two conversion stages; however this problem can be eliminated by quasi-Z-source inverter (qZSI). The qZSI utilizes an LC network and uses shoot-through states, thus reduces the number of power switches, switching losses and cost. An MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) can be controlled to extract the maximum power from PV array. The water pumping system using PV array, MPPT, qZSI and BLDC motor are modeled in Matlab/Simulink.

Keywords: Photovoltaic (PV) array, Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT), quasi-Z-source inverter (qZSI), Brushless DC Motor (BLDCM)