PV Powered Improved Quasi-Z-Source Inverter Fed Five Phase PMSM for Marine Propulsion Systems
Sunny Sonandkar, Raghu Selvaraj, Thanga Raj Chelliah
Abstract
Solar-powered marine vessels face a primary challenge in maintaining a consistent and uninterrupted operation of their propulsion motor, regardless of variations in solar irradiance. Typically, these vessels utilize a photovoltaic (PV) array as the primary power source in quasi-Z-source (qZS) network-based inverters, with the battery connected across one of the network’s capacitors to ensure smooth operation during dynamic power demands. However, this article introduces an improved qZS inverter configuration, where the battery is connected to the qZS input, and the PV array is connected to one of the capacitors through a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller. The proposed system offers operational advantages in the hydrogeneration mode of marine propulsion, enabling the charging of batteries while the propeller is running passively. Furthermore, to maximize power extraction from the PV arrays, a dedicated MPPT controller and feed-forward compensated field-oriented control are implemented for the five-phase permanent magnet synchronous motor. To validate the functionality of the proposed converter, a 12 kW system is designed and simulated using MATLAB/Simulink. Real-time simulation is conducted on the OPAL-RT OP4200 RCP/HIL system to evaluate the effectiveness of the system.