Research Projects

solar energy can be used to run high-efficiency motor drives for water pumping, a significant step towards energy conservation. However, position Hall-Effect sensors, which are sensitive to temperature, can lead to performance deterioration and reduced system reliability. Position sensorless sRM and BLDC motor drives are recommended for solar water pumping to address these issues. Various sensorless methods, including back electromotive force (back-EMF)-based, flux-linkage-based, and inductance-based methods, have been implemented for both sRM and BLDC drives. However, conventional proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controllers struggle to achieve the desired range of stability under unpredicted atmospheric conditions. This is due to the inability of conventional controllers to handle dynamic variations in input power due to sudden weather changes. An intelligent controller is proposed to address these issues, ensuring its performance is not affected by variations in motor and converter parameters. Another efficient motor, the PMsM drive, is also proposed due to its power density and efficiency with minimal torque ripple characteristics. Grid and battery-supported schemes are developed to ensure power supply continuity and overcome intermittency problems with standalone systems. Consumers can earn money by feeding solar power back to the grid when pumping is not needed. The proposed drives are designed to provide high stability, reliability, and excellent performance over various atmospheric conditions. The target beneficiaries of this research are Indian farmers and households, particularly those located in remote areas.