Performance characteristics of a permanent magnet D.C. motor powered by solar cells

Abstract The performance of a system (such as one for water pumping), consisting of a permanent magnet d.c. motor and a mechanical load (a constant load-volumetric pump, or a ventilator load-centrifugal pump) powered by a solar cell generator was analyzed for both starting (transient) and steady state operation, for varying solar insolations and temperatures. The study contributes to the understanding of the system's performance (for both load types) and recommends the ventilator load as a more suitable motor-load couple for operation with solar cells. The transient and the steady state solutions of the system were both obtained using an available SUPER SCEPTRE computer program. The study addresses itself to the motor terminal voltage and current, system's speed, and to the solar cell generator voltage, current and output power, all of these being affected by the solar insolation and temperature variation.