Photovoltaic Systems Engineering

(Winter 2017)

Dr. Walid Atef Omran

Today’s Lecture

 Stand-alone PV systems

 PV arrays connected directly to loads

 PV powered water pumping

2
Photovoltaic Systems

3
Photovoltaic Systems
 PV systems can be categorized into three main categories:
 Stand-alone PV systems which are used to supply isolated loads that
are not connected to the electric network.

 Grid-connected PV system which are used mainly to supply power to

the electric network and can be used to supply power to local loads.

 Hybrid PV systems, which can be operated as stand-alone or grid-

connected systems.

4
Stand-alone Photovoltaic Systems
 Stand-alone PV systems can have different configurations depending
upon several factors, such as:
 Load requirements (type of load and period of operation)
 Resource availability
 Reliability of the system
 Cost of the system

 The configurations of stand-alone PV systems can be divided into 4

main types and will be discussed in the following slides.

5
Stand-alone Photovoltaic Systems
Type A: Unregulated Stand-alone System with DC Load
 The simplest and cheapest configuration because the PV panels are
directly connected to the DC load.

 No maximum power point tracking (MPPT)

device is used (unregulated).

 The operating conditions of the PV panels

are defined by the load characteristics.

6
Stand-alone Photovoltaic Systems
Type B: Regulated Stand-alone System with DC Load
 The output of the PV panels can be regulated by a DC/DC converter.

 The DC/DC converter is used to track

the maximum power point and to step
up or step down the output DC voltage
of the panels.

 The main advantage of this configuration is the ability of the PV panels

to produce the maximum power regardless of the operating conditions of
the load.

7
Stand-alone Photovoltaic Systems
Type C: Regulated Stand-alone System with Battery and DC Load
 The DC/DC converter is used to
regulate the output of the PV
panels and a battery is used to supply
power to the load during the periods
when the PV panels are not producing power.

 The battery uses a charge controller to avoid

over charging or over discharging of the
battery.

 The presence of the battery increases the reliability of the system but
increases the cost.
8
Stand-alone Photovoltaic Systems
Type D: Regulated Stand-alone System with Battery and AC/DC Loads
 The loads are composed of DC loads and AC loads. The AC loads are
supplied from an inverter.

9
Unregulated PV Systems with DC Loads
 The load has a certain relation between the voltage and current across its
terminal.

10
Unregulated PV Systems with DC Loads
 Simple Resistive-Load I –V Curve

𝑉=𝐼𝑅

11
Unregulated PV Systems with DC Loads
 DC Motor I –V Curve
 DC motors have a field circuit to provide the flux and an armature
circuit where the mechanical power is developed.

 A simple representation of the armature circuit is a resistor, Ra , in

series with a voltage source that has an induced voltage, e, proportional
to the speed of the motor, ω.

𝑉 = 𝐼 𝑅𝑎 + 𝑘𝜔

12
Unregulated PV Systems with DC Loads
 DC Motor I –V Curve
 The I-V characteristics of the DC motor is shown in the figure below.
At start-up, while ω = 0 (e = 0), the motor current rises rapidly with
increasing voltage (V = I Ra).

 Once the motor starts to spin, the

induced voltage, e, increases, and
thus, the current drops. However,
as the supply voltage increases,
current rises slowly.

I-V characteristics of the DC motor

13
Unregulated PV Systems with DC Loads
 DC Motor I –V Curve
 The figure below shows an example for the operation of the DC motor
when supplied from a PV system.

14
Unregulated PV Systems with DC Loads
 Battery I –V Curve
 An ideal battery has a constant voltage no matter how much current is
drawn.

 A real battery has an internal resistance and is often modeled with an

equivalent circuit consisting of an ideal battery of voltage VB in series
with some internal resistance Ri .

 During charging , the battery voltage, VB, is less than the applied
voltage while during the discharge cycle, the battery voltage is higher.

𝑉 = 𝑉𝐵 + 𝐼 𝑅𝑖
15
Unregulated PV Systems with DC Load
 Battery I –V Curve

Simple model for a battery

16
Example L7-1
Consider a single PV module supplying power to a resistive load. The
hourly I –V curves for the PV module during one day are shown below
along with the I –V curve for the resistance. For simplicity, consider each
I –V curve to apply for one hour (e.g., the “8-A.M.” curve is from 7:30
A.M. to 8:30 A.M.). Estimate the energy that is delivered to the load during
the day.

17
Example L7-2
Suppose that a nearly depleted 12-V lead-acid battery has an open-circuit
voltage of 11.7 V and an internal resistance of 0.03Ω.
a) Estimate the voltage that a PV module would operate at if it is
delivering 6 A to the battery.
b) If 20 A is drawn from a fully charged battery with open-circuit voltage
12.7 V, calculate the voltage that the PV module would operate at.

18
PV Powered Water Pumping

19
PV Powered Water Pumping
 For off-grid locations, a simple PV system can raise water from a well
or spring and store it for irrigation, cattle watering, or water supply.

 The simplest PV water-pumping systems consist of just a PV array attached to a

DC pump (Type A). Water that is pumped when the sun is shining may be used
at that time or stored in a tank for later use.

 A DC/DC converter can be used (Type B) for MPPT to increase the power
output from the PV system. This converter is also called linear current booster
(LCB) when used with water pumping systems.

 More complex systems may include a battery and an inverter to run an AC

pump.
20
PV Powered Water Pumping
 A simple, directly coupled PV–pump system has an electrical side in
which PVs create a voltage V that drives current I through wires to a
motor load and a hydraulic side in which a pump creates a head H
(pressure) that drives water at some flow rate Q through pipes to some
destination.

 The units of H is: foot of water, meter of water or pascal

1 ft. of water = 0.3048 m of water = 2.989 kPa

21
PV Powered Water Pumping
 The unit of Q is: gallon per minute (gpm), Liter per second (L/s) or
meter cube per second (m3/s)

1 gpm = 6.3×10-5 m3/s = 0.0631 L/s

 The hydraulic side can be a closed loop with water circulating back to
the pump, but it may also be an open loop system in which water is
raised from one level to the next and then released.

 The total dynamic head (H) of the hydraulic system is the sum of the
static head and the frictional losses in the hydraulic system.

22
PV Powered Water Pumping

Closed loop pumping system Open loop pumping system

23
PV Powered Water Pumping
 The static head (also called gravity head or vertical lift) is the vertical
distance between the lower water surface at which the pump is installed
and the elevation of the discharge point.

 The static head is the sum of the following three components:

 Elevation, which is the difference between the ground and the height at
which the water is discharged.
 Standing water level, which is the difference between the ground
surface and the water level in the well.
 Drawdown, which is the height at which the pump is placed in the
water.

24
PV Powered Water Pumping

Components of the static head

25
PV Powered Water Pumping
 The frictional losses is the pressure required to overcome the friction in the
pipes from the water pump outlet to the point of water discharge.

 The frictional losses depend on the roughness of the pipe, the size of the pipe,
the flow rate, the type of fittings and numbers of bends in the system.

 The frictional losses can be obtained from tables that provide the drop in head
per a certain length of the pipe for various flow rates and diameters.

 For the cases where the discharge point is close enough to the well (within 10
m), the frictional losses can be taken as 5% of the static head.

26
PV Powered Water Pumping
 The relation between the total dynamic head and the flow rate is called
the system curve.

The “system curve”

27
PV Powered Water Pumping
Hydraulic Pumps:
 The pump configuration and mounting depends on the water source, and
can be either:

 Submersible

 Floating

 Surface mount

28
PV Powered Water Pumping
Hydraulic Pumps:
 There are two main types of pumps that can be used in PV powered
water pumping, these are centrifugal pumps and displacement (also
called volumetric) pumps.

 Centrifugal pumps have fast-spinning impellers that

throw the water out of the pump, creating suction on
the input side of the pump and creating pressure on
the delivery side.

Centrifugal pump

29
PV Powered Water Pumping
Hydraulic Pumps:
 Displacement pumps come in several types, including helical pumps, which use
a rotating shaft to push water up a cavity, jack pumps, which have an above-
ground oscillating arm that pulls a long drive shaft up and down (like the classic
oil-rig pumper), and diaphragm pumps, which use a rotating cam to open and
close valves.

Helical pump Jack pump

30
PV Powered Water Pumping
 Hydraulic Pumps:

Submersible centrifugal pump Submersible pump that uses a

helical rotor
31
PV Powered Water Pumping
Hydraulic Pumps:

Centrifugal Pump Displacement Pump

Sensitive to irradiance changes Less sensitive to irradiance changes

Used with low dynamic head Used with high dynamic head

High flow rates Low flow rates

32
PV Powered Water Pumping
 Hydraulic Pumps:

pump curves for displacement

and centrifugal pumps
33
PV Powered Water Pumping
Calculation of fluid hydraulic power:
 One of the important parameters required to design a PV powered water
pumping system is to calculate the hydraulic power required to raise the water
level which corresponds to the required output power of the pump.

Pfluid = y ×H ×Q

where Pfluid is the output power of the pump (W)

y is the specific weight of water =9810 N/m3
H is total dynamic head (m)
Q is the flow rate (m3/s)
 Note: y = ρ ×g = 1000 kg/m3 ×9.81 m/s2
34
Design of PV Powered Water Pumping
Systems
 One of the most simple design approaches for directly connected PV
water pumps is to use the peak sun hours approach.

 The peak sun hours is obtained by finding the radiation or insolation

(kWh/m2) for a certain period (day, month or season) and then finding
the number of hours that are required to obtain this radiation for an
irradiance of 1-sun.

 For example, if in a certain day the total radiation was 6 kWh/m2, then
the peak sun hours would be 6 hours.

 In most cases the average daily radiation of the worst month (with lowest
radiation) in the year is used to find the peak sun hours.
35
Design of PV Powered Water Pumping
Systems
The Design approach can be summarized as follows:
Step 1: determine the total water demand during one day, D (m3).

Step 2: Obtain the average daily radiation during the design period and
convert it to the corresponding peak sun hours @ 1-sun, T (PSH). These
hours are considered the hours of pumping.

Step 3: Use the hours of pumping to find the flow rate, Q (m3/s):
𝐷
𝑄=
𝑇
Step 4: Calculate the total dynamic head, H (m).

36
Design of PV Powered Water Pumping
Systems
The Design approach can be summarized as follows:
Step 5: Calculate the output power of the pump, Pfluid.

Step 6: Calculate the input power to the pump using the pump
characteristic curves. If these curves are not available, then an approximate
efficiency for the pump, ηp can be used (typically between 25%-40%).

Step 7: Estimate the power rating of the PV modules based on the required pump
rating. Use a de-rating factor (typically 25%) to account for the mismatch losses,
dust and other factor that could reduce the output power of the PV modules .

Step 8: Calculate the number of series and parallel modules based on the system
voltage and current.
37
Design of PV Powered Water Pumping
Systems
 The performance curves of pumps can be also used to obtain the pump
parameters necessary for the design process, such as the efficiency or
the input power to the pump that corresponds to specific head and flow
rate.

Performance curves for a

centrifugal pump

38
Design of PV Powered Water Pumping
Systems

Performance curves for a centrifugal pump

39
Example L7-3
Find the number of PV modules and their connection to operate a PV
powered water pumping system that can deliver 25,000 liter of water per
day from a well. The given data is:
 Elevation is 5m, standing water level is 5m and drawdown is 2m.
 The friction loss is 55% of the vertical static head.
 The DC pump requires 45V and has an efficiency of 30%.
 The modules rating is 75W at 15V and a de-rating factor of 25%.
 The average daily radiation in kWh/m2 for each month at the site is
given by the following table:

Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
6 6.9 7.1 8 8.7 9.2 9.6 11 9.4 8.7 7 6.6
40