A direct procedure for selecting DC motors fed from solar arrays based on curve fitting techniques

Summary

This paper suggests a new and more direct procedure for selecting the motor type and magnetic parameters yielding optimal matching with photovoltaic solar arrays. It is based on combining both the maximum power locus of the solar array and the motor’s voltage-current characteristics, assuming a perfect match at all radiation levels. It will then be possible to derive the required (ideal) flux-current relationship of the DC motor. In other words, the matching problem will be reduced from the usual analysis in the voltage-current plane to the mapping of the motor’s ideal magnetic characteristic on a new plane relating the motor flux and its armature current. From this curve, through the application of simple curve fitting, the appropriate type and magnetic parameters of the motor can then be easily determined. As will be seen from the different case studies, the results will depend on the solar array parameters, the motor’s total armature circuit resistance, as well as on the torque-speed curve of the mechanical load.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mohamed M. Saied

Mohamed Mostafa Saied

Dr. M. Saied was born in Egypt in 1945. He received the B.Sc. degree (Honors) in Electrical Engineering from Cairo University in 1965. From1965 to 1967 he was a research and teaching assistant at Cairo University. He received the Diplom-Ingenieur and Doktor-Ingenieur degrees from the Rheinisch - Westfaelische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) Aachen, Germany, in 1970 and 1974. From 1974 to 1983, he was a faculty member at Assiut University, Egypt. In 1983, Dr. Saied joined Kuwait University where he is now a full professor of Electrical Power Engineering. He spent one-year sabbatical leave (1998) as a Visiting Professor at Cairo University. Prof. Saied is a senior member of the IEEE, the Forschungs-gesellschaft Energie (FGE) in Germany and the CIGRE’ in Paris.