Development of Efficient 5-HP BLDC motor for

Solar water pump and performance comparison

with Induction Motor counterpart
1st Ashok K Wankhede 2nd Saumitra Pal 3rd Munendra Singh
Homi Bhabha National Institute Control Systems Development Division Control Systems Development Division
HBNI Anushaktinagar BARC Mumbai BARC Mumbai
Mumbai, India Mumbai, India Mumbai, India
2021 IEEE India Council International Subsections Conference (INDISCON) | 978-1-6654-3833-9/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/INDISCON53343.2021.9582231

[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

4th Omkar R Gogte 5th Dr Archana Sharma 6th Prof B G Fernandes

Control Systems Development Division Beam Technology Development Group Dept of Electrical Engineering
BARC Mumbai BARC Mumbai IIT Bombay
Mumbai, India Mumbai, India Mumbai, India
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Abstract—Induction motor based, 5 HP Solar water pumps three to four hours in a cycle of about 8 to 9 hours in a day.
are common in farming application. The solar power available The MPPT controller tracks the peak power available from
varies from minimum to maximum during the day. It is known solar panel all the time and accordingly speed is maximised
that the solar insolation pattern is such that about 60 percent or
more power is available for only 50 percent operating duration. for water flow rate. If 4 pole motor is used, operating speed
For best performance of solar pumping system, the motor must typically varies from 1200-2950 rpm depending upon solar
exhibit very good efficiency for wide operating speed range. insolation available. Performance of pumping is measured by
For 4 pole motor the operating speed range is 1200 to 2850 operating the pump for day long operation, measuring the
rpm. Efficiency of 5 HP, 4 pole Induction motor used in cost water volume discharged in litres and total energy consumed,
effective solar water pump is reported as 83 percent maximum
at rated condition and drops to 74 percent when speed drops to for a given head. This data is also useful for finalising solar
minimum operating value. Drastic reduction in efficiency limits panel capacity.
the pumping capacity and increases the motor temperature. A 5 For 5 HP solar water pump, 5.2 kW Solar panel, with open
HP BLDC motor is having efficiency about 92 percent under circuit voltage (Voc) of 720.0 volts DC is standard. It is series
rated condition and remains above 89 percent for minimum combination of 20 panels of 36.0 volts each and suitable for
operating speed. This makes BLDC motor attractive option for
solar pumping system. A 5 HP, 4 pole BLDC motor is designed power converter operation for induction motor of 415 volts,
and integrated in surface type solar water pump and tested 50 Hz ratings in India. However, 4 pole BLDC motor was
with standard solar panel. Comparative study is conducted with designed for 220 volts, 3 phase at 100 Hz. Here, 5.2 kW solar
standard Induction motor based solar pump and results are panel is used with Voc of 360 volts, which is combination of
presented. Finally, BLDC solar pump is qualified by testing at 10 panels of 36.0 volts each, and two such sets are connected
Government accredited laboratory.
Index Terms—component, formatting, style, styling, insert in parallel so that current is doubled. Low voltage motor
is designed to increase the motor reliability and reduce the
I. I NTRODUCTION controller cost.
Typical solar water pumping system consists of solar panel II. DESIGN & TESTING OF 5-HP BLDC MOTOR
followed by Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) power
controller, connected to motor which drives the pump [8], Specifications of standard IM based 5 HP Solar pump is
[9]. For irrigation, 5 HP induction motor (IM) based surface taken for comparison. The same system is replaced with BLDC
type or submersible type solar water pumps are widely used motor and MPPT controller [7]. The parameter comparison for
[4]. IM are used due to its established technology and good both types is shown in Table I.
availability. But IMs are characterised by low efficiency over A. Motor Design:
wide operating speed range [5]. Solar insolation is not constant
throughout the day but follows typical pattern where it varies The configuration of BLDC motor is as shown in the Fig.
from minimum to maximum. Good peak power is available for 1. It shows stator and rotor stamping and magnet details. The
torque density can be increased by increasing poles. Number
978-1-6654-3833-9/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE of poles are chosen as 4, to limit switching losses in the

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 controller. A Flux squeezing, radial flux configuration with
trapezoidal shape Neodymium Iron Boron magnets is used.
This configuration protects magnet from centrifugal forces. It
also consumes less magnet volume for getting desired flux
density and it is easy to manufacture. The outer diameter of
the motor is fixed as per standard 112 M frame size. The
rotor dimension is optimised considering the linear velocity v
of rotor and given as:

v =r∗ω (1)
where, r is rotor radius and ω is angular velocity [1].
Linear velocity consideration is important for retaining
magnets and providing back up support on the rotor Outer
Diameter. The final design parameters are given in Table II.

TABLE II
BLDC M OTOR S PECIFICATIONS
Fig. 1. Rotor and Stator configuration of BLDC motor
S.No. Parameter Value
1 Air gap length 1.00 mm
2 Stator ID/OD 95/170 mm
3 Rotor ID/OD 31.5/93 mm
4 Motor length 75.0 mm
5 Air gap Flux density 0.5 Tesla

Design equations for back emf (E) and torque (T) for 4-pole
BLDC motor is given as:

E = 8 ∗ Bg ∗ Rro ∗ L ∗ N ∗ ω (2)

T = 8 ∗ Bg ∗ Rro ∗ L ∗ N ∗ I (3)
Where,
Fig. 2. Flux plot for 4 pole BLDC Motor Bg = Air gap flux density (Tesla)
Rro= Rotor outer radius (meters)
L = Length of the motor (meters)
N = Numbers of conductors in a Slot
ω = Rated speed of motor (rad/sec)
TABLE I I = Current in winding (Amps)
PARAMETERS C OMPARISON
Integral slot winding is adopted to get a high winding factor
S.No. Parameter IM Solar BLDC Solar compared to fractional slot winding [2]. Distributed winding
Pump Pump is preferred over concentrated ring winding to achieve desired
1 Power 3.7/5.0 3.7/5.0
kW/HP kW/HP
air gap (0.5 mm). This winding has simple construction, robust
2 Size 80x65 mm 80x65 mm nature and better heat transfer characteristics [3]. With 12
3 Head Range 17-26 meters 17-26 meters stator slots, distributed integral slot winding is done with
4 Litres per 14.0-8.0 14.0-8.0 Slot/pole/phase equal to 1. The motor is designed for 12.4
sec.
5 Rated speed 2870 rpm 2870 rpm N-m torque at 2870 rpm.
6 Motor volt- 400V, 50Hz, 220V, 100 An electromagnetic analysis is done using finite element
age 3-phase. Hz, 3-phase. simulation software ANSYS. All the parameters like Magnet
7 Rated 8.0 Amps 15.0 Amps
current shape, volume, air gap flux density, air gap length, stack length
8 Overall 59% 65% etc. is optimised for the rated torque of 12.4 N-m. Designed
pump (Estimated) air gap flux density is 0.5 Tesla.
Efficiency
9 Full load 83% max 92% max
The flux density plot of the model with rated current in two
motor phases, is shown in Fig. 2. It shows the maximum flux density
Efficiency of 1.8 Tesla in the tooth region and 1.3. Tesla in the backup
iron region ensuring best utilisation of magnetic material. The
torque of the motor is estimated by virtual work done method

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 and found to be 12.6 N-m in the electromagnetic analysis for
a stack length of 75 mm.
B. Motor Testing
Motor test set up consist of motor and generator fitted on
the same base and shafts connected with coupling. A Kistler
make, contact less torque sensor is inserted between motor and
generator for direct measurement of shaft Torque. Motor is run
with BLDC controller at different speeds and loaded for rated
torque of 12.4 N-m, using variable resistance connected to
generator output. Testing is done upto the speed of 2880 RPM
only to match maximum speed of operation of commercial IM
pump under comparison.
The input parameters for testing are 222 Volts, 13.7 Amps Fig. 4. Test setup for solar pump performance evaluation
at 2880 rpm and consume 4056 Watts for getting 12.4 N-m
shaft torque in sensor. Shaft power is calculated as T* ω which
is equal to 3739.75 Watts. Efficiency is calculated as 92.2 % rating, mounted side by side. Both systems were operated
at full load. The procedure is repeated for various speeds and for full day for many days. The water volume discharged
also for 5 HP IM used in solar pump. and energy consumed for full day was measured at 2.0 Kg.
The comparison of full load efficiency for both motors is pressure (corresponding to 20 meter head) set by valve 4, as
shown in Fig. 3. It can be seen that for the speed variation of shown in Fig 4.
1200 to 2900 rpm, BLDC motor efficiency varies from 89% to Water discharge verses time for both pumps for a given day
92% while efficiency of IM varies from 74% to 82.5%. Good is shown in Fig 5. It shows that BLDC motor based pump
efficiency over wide speed operating range is a key for solar starts at 257 Watts Solar insolation while IM pump starts at
pumping system because solar insolation varies from minimum 440 watts. Total pumping duration for BLDC Pump is about
to maximum during the day and good water flow rate at all 11 % more than the IM pump.
power level is important. Fig. 6 shows that the water flow rate for BLDC motor pump
is higher at all Solar insolation levels compared to IM pump.
Because of better efficiency, the speed for BLDC motor is
higher than IM at a given solar insolation level which results
into higher water output. It is found that for BLDC motor
pump water output is about 22% more than IM pump in a day
long operation with same Energy input of 29 kWh.

Fig. 3. Efficiency for 5-HP BLDC & Induction motor (IM)

III. INTEGRATION AND PERFORMANCE TESTING

A. Integration and testing in a Pump
BLDC motor was fitted in standard 5 HP single impeller,
monoblock water pump of specifications as mentioned in Table
I. The pump is installed on a test well with all measurement Fig. 5. Solar insolation and water output for BLDC & IM pump
systems as shown in Fig. 4. Two identical setups, one for IM
pump and one for BLDC pump was made. IM Solar pump
was driven with standard Solar Inverter available in the market IV. QUALIFICATION FOR MNRE SPECIFICATIONS
and BLDC pump was driven with IGBT based controller with According to Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
MPPT, developed in-house. Twenty numbers of Waaree make (MNRE) in India, BLDC or IM Solar water pump need to
Solar panels each with rating of 260 Watts are used. Both be tested in MNRE accredited laboratory. These laboratories
the setups have independent Solar panels with 5.2 kW power conduct test of such pumps using solar simulators. Central

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 [3] Jae Jun Lee, Won Ho Kim, Jin Seung Yu, Si Yeong Yun, Sang Min
Kim, Jin Ju Lee and Ju Lee, “Comparison between concentrated and
distributed winding in IPMSM for traction application,” International
Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems (ICEMS), South Korea,
pp. 1172 - 1174, Oct.2010.
[4] Md. Tareek-Al-Islam Khan; Suvasish Sarkar; Shakhawat Hossain; Ahsan
Uddin Ahmed; Bishwajit Banik Pathik, “The feasibility study of solar ir-
rigation: Economical comparison between diesel and photovoltaic water
pumping systems for different crops” 2013 International Conference on
Electrical Information and Communication Technology (EICT), INSPEC
Accession Number: 14197023, March 2014.
[5] Michael J. Melfi; S. David Rogers; Steve Evon; Bill Martin, “Permanent
Magnet Motors for Energy Savings in Industrial Applications”, 2006
Record of Conference Papers - IEEE Industry Applications Society
53rd Annual Petroleum and Chemical Industry Conference, INSPEC
Accession Number: 9506098, May 2007.
[6] Government of India, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Docu-
ment No. 42/25/2014-15/PVSE, Dated 22nd September, 2014
[7] Ashish Pandey, Member, IEEE, Nivedita Dasgupta, and Ashok Kumar
Mukerjee, Member, IEEE, “High-Performance Algorithms for Drift
Fig. 6. Solar insolation and motor speed for BLDC & IM pump Avoidance and Fast Tracking in Solar MPPT System”, IEEE Trans-
actions on Energy conversion, vol. 23, No. 2, June 2008.
[8] Sreedhar Madichetty, Member, IEEE, Deepak Pullaguram, Student
Power Research Institute (CPRI), Bangalore, India is one of Member, IEEE and Sukumar Mishra, Senior Member, IEEE, “A Stan-
dalone BLDC Based Solar Air Cooler with MPP Tracking for Improved
such laboratory. As per their specifications, for 5 HP BLDC Efficiency”, CSEE Journal of Power and Energy systems, vol. 5, No. 1,
pump, average water output per day with irradiation of 7.15 March 2019.
kWh/m2/day and total head of 20 meter should not be less than [9] Johan Meyer, Senior Member IEEE and Sune Von Solms , Member,
IEEE, “Solar Powered Water Security: An Enabler for Rural Develop-
2.4 lakh litres/day [6]. The qualification test at CPRI showed ment in Limpopo South Africa”, IEEE Access, Digital Object Identifier
that BLDC Solar pump gives average output of 3.13 Lakh 10.1109/Access.2018.2805367, May 2018
Litre/day (Hot profile simulation test) and 3.35 Lakh Litre/day
(Cold profile simulation test). The CPRI lab certified the
results, with report Number CPRIBLREREDPMISC20T0003
dated 23rd March, 2020, which showed 35 % more average
volume of water pumped than required by MNRE. It also
validates the test results conducted in test well as presented in
Fig. 5.
V. CONCLUSIONS
A 4-pole, 5 HP, BLDC motor is designed, integrated with
solar water pump and performance is compared with Induction
motor pump of identical rating. Performance of BLDC pump
is found to be superior to IM pump. It is because BLDC motor
has higher efficiency than Induction motor over wide operating
speed range. It gives higher water output for all values of Solar
insolation level in a whole day operation. The comparison tests
showed that BLDC motor pump discharges about 22 % more
water volume over day long operation. BLDC motor pump is
qualified at CPRI Bangalore, India, for MNRE specifications.
Test results conducted with Solar simulator conformed the
results conducted on test well. It is concluded that BLDC
motor for 5 HP Solar water pump is an attractive option
for efficient water pumping solution for farming and other
applications.
R EFERENCES
[1] Neethu S, Saurabh Prakash Nikam, Sumeet Singh, Saumitra Pal, Ashok
K. Wankhede and B. G. FernandIs, “High-Speed Coreless Axial-Flux
Permanent-Magnet Motor With Printed Circuit Board Winding,” IEEE
Transactions on Industry Applications, vol. 55, No. 2, March/April 2019.
[2] Giulio De Donato, Fabio Giulii Capponi, Giovanni Antonio Rivellini and
Federico Caricchi, “Integral-Slot Versus Fractional-Slot Concentrated-
Winding Axial-Flux Permanent-Magnet Machines: Comparative Design,
FEA, and Experimental Tests,” IEEE Transactions on Industry Applica-
tions,vol. 48, no. 5, pp. 1487-1495, Sep. 2012.

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