1
Control method of a Photovoltaic Powered
Reverse Osmosis plant without batteries based
on maximum power point tracking
P.C.M. de Carvalho, R.S.T. Pontes, D.S. Oliveira Jr,
D.B. Riffel, R.G.V. de Oliveira, S.B. Mesquita
Abstract-- A small-scale photovoltaic powered reverse osmosis
plant is designed to operate at variable flow/pressure in
equatorial areas, enabling it to make efficient use of the naturally
varying solar resource. A derivation of a maximum power point
tracking (MPPT) for the photovoltaic (PV) array has been
designed to increase the efficiency of the whole system The
control method combines feedforward and feedback voltage
control systems from given set of rules. As a first phase, a
simulation model was developed and validated by experimental
results, obtained from a laboratory prototype. The implemented
MPPT algorithm demonstrated cost-effectiveness, simplicity and
good efficiency, comparable to others algorithms.
Index Terms— Desalination, Photovoltaic power systems,
Reverse osmosis.
I. INTRODUCTION
A CCORDING to a report from UNESCO, by the middle of
this century, at worst 7 billion people in sixty countries
will be water-scarce, at best 2 billion people in forty-eight
countries. This expectation makes necessary for humanity to
look for new alternative ways of ensuring a dependable supply
of drinking water. The significance of this problem is
increasing in the underdeveloped countries as well as in
industrialized regions [1].
An example of an area affected by this problem is the
Northeast Region of Brazil. For water policy purposes, the
distribution of rainfall throughout the year is more important
than the average. The main problem in that region lies in the
fact that most rainfall (some 85% or more of the precipitation)
occurs within the short rainy season (January-May), and very
little more falls during the rest of the year. In addition to the
intra-seasonal fluctuation, rainfall is variable among years.
Often sequences of years exhibit rainfall well below average,
leading to the characterization of the region as the drought
polygon [2].
Desalination of seawater and brackish water is one of the
alternatives for ensuring a dependable supply of drinking
water. In recent years the process of reverse osmosis (RO) has
The authors thank the Coordenação de aperfeiçoamento de pessoal de
nível superior (CAPES) for the scholarship given for the fourth author of this
paper.
The authors are with Department of Electrical Engineering (DEE),
Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC), Fortaleza-CE, Brazil. (e-mail:
carvalho@dee.ufc.br).
become a significant technical option to solve this problem
through the desalination of brackish and seawater. Mohsen
and Al-Jayyousi [3] investigated the feasibility of different
desalination technologies in Jordan. They carried out a multi-
criteria analysis considering economic, technical and
environmental criteria, and compared the five most important
desalination technologies. The analyses shows that RO is
currently considered the most attractive process to produce
fresh water from both brackish and seawater. Some of the
reasons for this trend are the low specific energy consumption
of this process and the considerable progress made in
membrane technology [4].
Also, photovoltaic technology is a reliable option for
regions without electric power grid, as most of the rural
communities in the Northeast of Brazil, where one finds
yearly average temperature of 27 ºC and a solar potential of
about 2000 kWh.m-2. However, the world wide number of
installations which combine these two technologies is still
very small. Experiments show that a treatment of water
through this combination is technically feasible and nowadays
for stand-alone and small scale a photovoltaic powered
reverse osmosis (PV-RO) plant is also viable economically.
The pioneer project in Brazil with a PV-RO plant and the
experiences gathered worldwide are presented on a previous
paper [5]. The project shows a specific electrical consumption
(energy required to produce one cubic meter of drinking
water) of 3.03 kWh.m-3, a recovery ratio of 27 % (relation
between permeate water flow and feed water flow) and a
drinking water cost of US$ 12.76 per m3. The knowledge
assembled in the pioneer project, which operated at constant
flow (with batteries), permits design a PV-RO plant to operate
at variable flow (without batteries), enabling it to make
efficient use of the naturally varying solar resource. The
objective of this project is to develop a control method for
small scale desalination plants for remote communities. In
such projects, to require little maintenance is a fundamental
point.

II. PROPOSED PV POWERED REVERSE OSMOSIS PLANT
The process of osmosis can be reversed and is then called
Reverse Osmosis (RO). This process is used chiefly for
separating the solvent (water) from aqueous salt solutions.
Fig. 1. RO Hydraulic Structure
The basic RO hydraulic structure is shown in Fig. 1. The
process of RO occurs when a feed pressure is greater than its
osmotic pressure. The feed water flows through the
membrane, leaving 85 to 99 % of the salt behind.
Consequently part of the feed water becomes more
concentrated brine.
PV array Motor-pump
M conditions and the present project conditions, the measured
Buck converter
Fig. 2. PV-RO Electrical Structure
The motor-pump is powered by PV array as illustrate in
Fig. 2. Because of the intermittent PV power supply, it is
expected variable pressure/flow conditions. About these
conditions the membrane manufacturers have been reluctant to
give warranties regarding their products. However, some
information is given to orientate the operation [6]:
1. A high start/stop frequency can lower the
performance and the lifetime of the membranes;
2. During low feed flow operation, a minimum
concentrate flows must be maintained.
Permeate water flow and salt rejection are the key
performance parameters of a reverse osmosis plant. These
parameters are mainly influenced positively by the
temperature and pressure, and negatively by the feed water
salt concentration.
A priori the feed water salt concentration and temperature
are uncontrollable and vary along the seasons. Consequently,
only two variables (pressure and recovery ratio) can be
controllable. Based on that, two operating strategies are
proposed:
1. operate at constant feed pressure;
2. operate at constant recovery ratio.
The main components of the PV-RO desalination plant
currently being developed are: 1 RO membrane (nominal
permeate water flow of 50 L.h-1), 1 DC motor-pump, 1 buck
converter and 3 PV modules (55 Wp each).
2
III. DESCRIPTION OF THE CONTROL METHOD
The PV-RO control proposed consists of a datalogger and a
control unity for a valve and a DC-DC Buck converter. These
unities have different time response, as shown in Fig. 3. The
datalogger, with a measurement and a control module,
establishes the operation strategy of the plant.
Datalogger
DAYS Measurement
Module
Control
MINUTES
Module
Valve
SECONDS
Control Unity
Buck
MILISECONDS
Control Unity
Fig. 3. Control time response
In order to distinguish between RO plant normal operation
data have to be normalized. Normalization is a comparison of
the actual performance to a give reference performance while
the influences of operating parameters are taken into account.
These are made by the datalogger measurement module.
IV. MPPT ALGORITHM
There is a unique point on the PV current-voltage (I-V)
characteristic curve, called the maximum power point (MPP),
at which the array produces maximum output power. In
general, when the load is direct-coupled, the operation point is
not at the PV array’s MPP, resulting an oversized PV array.
However, because of the small scale of a PV array (less than
250 Wp), the over-sizing is cheaper than a commercial MPPT.
Hohm and Ropp [7] describe an experimental comparison
of MPPT efficiencies of the subsequent algorithms: perturb
and observe (P&O), incremental conductance (INC), parasitic
capacitance (PC) and constant voltage (CV). It is showed that
P&O algorithm is the most commonly used in commercial
converters. INC has a performance level close to P&O, but in
general the higher implementation cost would not be justified
by an improvement in performance. The PC method leaves
some doubt about an implementation in commercial PV
because of the use of large input capacitors. At last, the CV
method shows the worst MPPT efficiency.
According to this discussion, it was chosen to develop a
new algorithm, with lower maintenance-cost, simplicity and
facility to interconnect with a datalogger. The algorithm was
developed to use in equatorial conditions, as in the case of
Brazilian Northeast region.
 3

A. Best Fixed Voltage Algorithm Matlab Simulink®, as shown in Fig. 5, where the reference
A statistical research was made to find the best fixed data are the global irradiation and the ambient temperature.
voltage (BFV) to operate the plant close to the MPP. The A Matlab® script [8], was written for the Siemens solar
mathematical model, uses more than one year of ten minutes module SM55 and is based on the equivalent circuit shown in
averaged global irradiation and ambient temperature data. Fig. 6. The Newton’s method is used to solve the equation of
the PV array. The buck converter was implemented with state
PV voltage Load voltage
space averaging of the circuit of the Fig. 7, where the load is a
resistance (1.5 Ω), IPV is the PV array current, C0 is the output
Feedforward control Feedback control capacitor (3.3 mF), Ce is the input capacitor (18.8 mF), L is
(Maintain the PV voltage at 14.9 V) (Maintain the Load voltage at 12 V)
the inductor (110 µH), D is the diodes (2x MUR460) and the
switch S is a Mosfet model IRFZ44N.
VCi VCo
MIN( VCi , VCo )

VC j PH j 01 rS j
1
VPP D1 VPV
d

Fig. 4. Best Fixed Voltage Algorithm flowchart

The basis for the Best Fixed Voltage (BFV) algorithm is Fig. 6. PV model equivalent circuit
the maintenance of the load voltage or the PV array voltage.
The Fig. 4 shows the BFV algorithm flowchart , where VCi is L
the control voltage of the Feedforward control and VC0 is the iPV S v0
control voltage of the Feedback control. The rules of the
proposed control are: if the PV power generates more energy
than the DC pump nominal consumption, the control sets the rSE1 rSE0
output voltage to the nominal load voltage (12V). Otherwise, D R
the control sets the input voltage equal to the BFV (14.9V).
Ce C0
This choice is made finding the lowest control voltage from
the signals (VCi and VCo).
The advantages of this algorithm are simplicity and ease of
implementation. However, it has limitations in efficiency and Fig. 7. Buck converter equivalent circuit
depends on a good mathematical statistical research to find the A. Simulation results
BFV to extract more power from the PV array.
In order to test the MPPT proposed under various global
V. SIMULATION irradiation conditions, the model was simulated with some
particular conditions, maintaining the ambient temperature at
27 ºC.
1) Global irradiation step
Voltage [V] or Current [A]

Fig. 8. IPV change (increase) as a consequence of a global irradiation step

It was simulated a global irradiation step, since the load

Fig. 5. Simulink simulation was set constant at 1.5 Ω. As a consequence for a global
For this research work, a model was implemented in irradiation variation from 500 to 700 W.m-², the control
 4

changes from Feedforward to Feedback as seen in Fig. 8,

where VPV and IPV are the PV array voltage and current,

Voltage [V] or Current [A]

respectively and VLOAD and ILOAD are the load voltage and
current, in that order. And the opposite, which the global
irradiation decreases, is presented in Fig. 9.
Voltage [V] or Current [A]

Fig. 12. ILOAD variation (decrease) as a consequence of a load step

using the Feedforward control

Voltage [V] or Current [A]

Fig. 9. IPV change (decrease) as a result of a global irradiation step

2) Load step
The response to an increase (1.5 Ω to 2 Ω) and a decrease
(2 Ω to 1.5 Ω) in the load using the Feedback control is shown
in Fig. 10 and Fig.11, respectively. The global irradiation was
set constant at 900 W.m-². The same load variation, but at 400
W.m-², is presented in the Fig. 12 and Fig. 13. They use the
Feedforward control.

Fig. 13. ILOAD variation (increase) as a result of a load step

Voltage [V] or Current [A]

using the Feedforward control

VI. MODEL VALIDATION

A MPPT has been developed using the above-described
control method and tested in the laboratory of the DEE – UFC
as shown in Fig. 14. The used PV array (3x 55 Wp) is located
on the roof of the department.

Fig. 10. ILOAD variation (decrease) as a consequence of a load step

using the Feedback control
Voltage [V] or Current [A]

Fig. 14. MPPT developed in the DEE-UFC laboratory

Fig. 11. ILOAD variation (increase) as a result of a load step
using the Feedfback control
 5

18
VPV
16

14

12
Voltage [V]

10

8
VLOAD
6

0
09:00 09:10 09:20 09:30 09:40 09:50 10:00
Time
Fig. 15. Model validation

The measurements were used as reference data for the

simulation model and both measured and calculated (with
marks) results are plotted in Fig. 15. The relevance of the
model is indicated by the coincidence of the values.
Some pictures were recorded by an Oscilloscope. The
channel 1 (Ch1) from the oscilloscope represent the PV
voltage, the Ch2 is the load voltage and the PV current is
illustrated by Ch3. The steps are created with an increase or a
decrease of 1 PV module.
The Feedforward control response is slower than the
Feedback control response, because of any oscillation in PV Fig. 17. Feedforward control response at 1 PV module decreased
array voltage causes a greater oscillation in the load voltage.
B. Feedback control response
A. Feedforward control response The Fig. 18 illustrates the MPPT response at an increase
The Feedforward control response is lower than 80 ms and and a decrease of 1 PV module when the MPPT works with
the Fig. 16 represents an increase of 1 PV module, when the the Feedforward control. The transients showed imperceptible
MPPT uses the Feedforward control. After that, the PV to the load.
module incremented was disconnected and its result is shown
in Fig. 17.

Fig. 18. Feedback control response at 1 PV module firstly decreased

than increased
Fig. 16. Feedforward control response at 1 PV module increased

VII. CONCLUSION
The PV array output power can be increased using the
MPPT implemented in the DEE-UFC laboratory. The used
configuration showed to be adequate for a small-scale PV-RO
plant with variable flow (without batteries). Experimental
results have validated the simulation. Although the model uses
a resistive load, the model is a base for a simulation of a
motor-pump, because of the good response under load steps.
The DC-DC buck converter efficiency measured in the
laboratory showed average value of 93 %. In order to compare
with others Algorithms, the MPPT efficiency (quotient of the
measured PV power) of the proposed Algorithm is around
80.5 %, a value comparable to the others algorithms.
The proposed MPPT algorithm demonstrated cost-
effectiveness, simplicity and good efficiency. Moreover, it can
easily control the load energy supply and consequently the
motor-pump operation, only altering the reference voltage. It
is quite important for the connection with the datalogger and
builds together the PV-RO plant control system.
VIII. REFERENCES
[1] UNESCO (2004, May 11). Water for people - water for life - the united
nations world water development report. [Online]. Available:
http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/wwdr/ex_summary/
[2] FUNCEME, Rainfall precipitation data of Ceará, Fundação Cearense de
Meteorologia e Recursos Hídricos, 2002.
[3] M.S. Mohsen, O.R. Al-Jayyousi, “Brackish water desalination: an
alternative for water supply enhancement in Jordan”, Desalination, vol.
124, pp. 163-174, Nov. 1999
[4] A. Maurel, “Desalination of sea water and brackish water”, in Proc. of
seminar on water management strategies in Mediterranean countries.
[5] P.C.M. Carvalho, C. Freire, F.F.D. Montenegro, D.B. Riffel, “The
brazilian experience with a photovoltaic powered reverse osmosis plant”,
Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, to be published.
[6] DOW (2004, May 11). FILMTEC Technical manual, p. 113. [Online].
Available: http://www.dow.com
[7] D. P. Hohm, M.E. Ropp, “Comparative Study of Maximum Power Point
Tracking Algorithms”, Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and
Applications, vol. 11, Jan. 2003.
[8] G.R. Walker, "Evaluating MPPT converter topologies using a MATLAB
PV model”, Journal of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, vol. 21,
no. 1, pp. 49-56, 2001.
IX. BIOGRAPHIES
Paulo Cesar Marques de Carvalho
received the B.Eng. degree from the Federal
University of Ceará (UFC) in 1989, the M.S.
degree from University of Paraíba (UFPB) in
1992 and Ph.D. degree from the University of
Paderborn, Germany, in 1997.
His research interests include photovoltaic
systems, wind power generation and water
desalination.
6
Ricardo Silva Thé Pontes was born in
Fortaleza, Brazil, where he received the B.Eng.
degree from the Federal University of Ceará
(UFC) in 1979, the M.S. and Ph.D. degree from
the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV) in 1983
and 2002, respectively.
His research interest is in photovoltaic
powered electrical machines.
Demercil S. Oliveira was born in Santos,
Brazil in 1974. In 1999, he graduated in
electrical engineering in the Federal University
of Uberlandia. In 2001, the master’s degree was
obtained at the same university in the Power
Electronics concentration area. In 2004, he
obtained the PhD degree from the Institute of
Power Electronics of the Federal University of
Santa Catarina.
His research area interests include high
power dc/dc conversion, soft commutation and
power electronics applications involving
renewable energy systems.
Douglas B. Riffel was born in Curitiba,
Brazil, where he received the B.Eng. degree in
2002 from the Federal Center of Technological
Education (CEFET-PR). He is currently
working toward the M.Eng. degree in Federal
University of Ceará (UFC).
His research interests include remote area
power supplies, photovoltaic systems, wind
power generation, water desalination and
distributed resources.
Ricardo Oliveira was born in Parnaíba
(Piauí, Brazil). In 1999 he began studying
Electrical Engineering in the Federal University
of Ceará. He has worked with fotovoltaic
energy, orientated by Prof. Dr. Paulo Carvalho.
In 2002 he participated of an exchange program
promoted by CAPES and DAAD in Kassel,
Germany, where studied fotovoltaic and wind
power systems. Nowadays he is in phase of
course conclusion.
Samuelson Brito was born in Fortaleza
(Ceará, Brazil). In 2002 he began studying
Electrical Engineering in the Federal University
of Ceará. Nowadays in the second year in
university he works in the area of fotovoltaic
energy, orientated by Prof. Dr. Paulo Carvalho.