Hippopotamus Optimization based MPPT of PV under Partial Shading Effect for Water Pumping System Driven by SRM

Water Pumping Systems (WPSs) are required every time in our daily life for various applications and tasks. Standalone WPSs powered by photovoltaic (PV) technology, offer a superior solution for water supply in numerous locations worldwide. A pump necessitates an electrical motor to elevate the water from one location to another. The switched reluctance motor (SRM) is gaining attention among various motors for WPSs due to its superior performance. However, WPSs without using any battery bank are more economical and compact in size. Further, sensorless speed estimation method is also incorporated in the system to avoid obtains speed of the motor from underground water. A sliding mode control is incorporated to adjust the speed of the SRM based on power availability from PV by regulating dc side voltage. Usually, PV panels will be affected by partial shading, hence, a Hippopotamus optimization method is integrated to conventional Perturbed and Observe (P&O) approach to harvest maximum possible energy from PV during partial shading effect. The outcomes are evaluated in comparison with MGWO, MIWO, and WOA on the tracking response. To avoid an extra converter for the operation of MPPT, the control of converter which used to drive SRM is help to functioning as a MPPT device. Comprehensive evaluations are conducted by Hardware – in the – Loop (HIL)on the OPAL-RT platform to verify the effectiveness of the proposed work.