A Locally Developed Solar Pump Controller

This paper describes a locally build up a three phase induction motor controller for a solar powered water pump. In many areas of Bangladesh huge amount of water is required for residential and industrial activities. Agricultural production requires also adequate supply of water but due to scarcity of electricity, this sector is facing significant damage of production. In this case, solar power can be an alternative of grid electricity. For solar irrigation DC motors have been used in Bangladesh because of their easy torque control and speed control. Compared to AC to motors, DC motors are very costly and they require regular maintenance of the commutator. A three phase induction motor does not require brushes and they can be run smoothly in the field. A three phase induction motor capacity of 750 W was successfully run with a prototype setup and a three phase inverter with low cost gate drive circuit. The control strategy integrates MPPT and space vector modulation (SVM) algorithm technique. Discharge rate of this pump is 1200 liters per hour and it satisfied the demand with good efficiency