PHOTOVOLTAIC POWERED REVERSE OSMOSIS PLANT WITHOUT

BATTERIES: CONTROL METHOD AND USE OF ENERGY SURPLUS

Paulo C.M. de Carvalhoa,*, Douglas B. Riffelb, Ricardo G.V. de Oliveiraa
a
Department of Electrical Engineering - UFC, Fortaleza-CE, Cx. Postal 6001, 60455-760, Brazil.
b
Solar Energy Laboratory (LES) - UFPB, João Pessoa-PB, 58059-000, Brazil.
Phone: +55 85 4008 9585 / Fax: +55 85 4008 9574
carvalho@dee.ufc.br

Abstract – The present paper has as main goal to
evaluate the use of the energy surplus in a photovoltaic
powered reverse osmosis plant utilizing a master-slave
converter control method. This energy surplus can be
used to pump water from a brackish water well in order
to reach the plant energy autonomy. Some experimental
data are employed to calculate the drinking water
production and the system operation time. The
simulation results show the viability of pumping water
from the well with the energy surplus.
Index Terms — DC/DC Converter, Desalination, MPPT
algorithm, Photovoltaic.
water flow). In this plant was observed that the PV array
generate an amount of energy surplus in periods of intense
solar irradiation. The present work proposes the utilization of
this surplus to pump water from a well containing brackish
water. In this way, the energy autonomy of the plant can be
obtained.
To reach that goal, additional components are included: a
second DC/DC converter, in order to configure as master-
slave, and the well water pump. The complete scheme is
shown in Figure 1.

I. INTRODUCTION

In the last decades, the photovoltaic (PV) technology has

become more and more popular worldwide, with PV panels
production reaching a rate of growth that proves its
feasibility. Among the applications of PV technology, there
are the brackish water desalination plants. In remote areas,
where the access to drinking water is difficult or even non-
existent, these plants can be an attractive alternative.
However, applications of stand-alone systems in isolated
regions require some characteristics, such as reliability and
low maintenance. In order to achieve those aims and
Fig. 1. Scheme of the PV-RO plant without batteries.
optimize such systems, it is necessary to solve some intrinsic
problems of solar energy, such as the intermittent flow of A PV-RO plant is one of the most promising desalination
energy. If the PV panels are direct-coupled, the array can be technologies using renewable energy. Figure 2 shows the
oversized in order to attend the needs of energy in periods of participation in Europe of renewable energy powered
low solar energy availability. Researches on that subject are desalination plants.
important to increase the plant performance.
To solve the problems caused by the intermittent flow of
solar energy, stand-alone photovoltaic systems usually have
energy storage or add another energy source (hybrid system).
The most common solution is a battery bank, allowing the
system to be used even when solar energy is, for a short time,
not available. Moreover, the batteries guarantee a uniform
energy supply to the load. But this option raises the price of
the system and the maintenance needs, which are
fundamental aspects in projects for remote areas. In this way,
there is a motivation for the no use of the battery bank. Some
experiences gathered worldwide of related projects were
made by Keefer et al., Loureiro et al., Thomson and Infield
and Richards et al. [1-4].
On a previous work [5], a small-scale photovoltaic Fig. 2. Renewable energy powered desalination plants (RO –
powered reverse osmosis (PV-RO) plant without batteries reverse osmosis; ED – electrodialysis; MSF – multi-stage flash;
was designed, modeled and experimentally validated. The MED – multi-effect distillation; VC – vapor compression) [6].
main components are: 3 PV modules of 55 Wp, a DC RO
boost motor - pump, a DC/DC converter and a valve that
simulates the RO membrane (50 L.h-1 of nominal permeate
 II. CONTROL METHOD
A positive displacement pump was chosen due to the
operating efficiency for high heads, but it depends on
operating conditions. In the PV array, there is a unique point
on the current-voltage characteristic curve, called the
maximum power point (MPP), at which the array produces
maximum output power. A new MPP tracking (MPPT)
algorithm was developed, which is a low-cost one that allows
the master-slave configuration and gives considerable
improvements in reliability and performance to small-scale
plants in equatorial areas, as in Brazilian Northeast region.
The aim of the developed algorithm, called Best Fixed
Voltage (BFV), is the maintenance of the load or the PV
array voltage at a fixed voltage. The choice of the feedback
or the forward controllers is made analogically, finding the
lowest control voltage. This method was chosen due to the
simplicity to build an integrated MPPT master-slave DC-DC
converter. This algorithm can decide which converter is the
master or the slave only by changing the reference voltages,
as when the feed water tank is almost empty and the master
converter is changed to the well water pumping.
A statistical research was made to find the BFV to operate
the system close to the MPP of the PV panels. The research
used more than one year of irradiation and ambient
temperature data collected in Fortaleza. The MPPT
efficiency is comparable to other algorithms in equatorial
areas (circa 80.5%).
The controller was build based on this method, looking for
better performance and easier control of the plant. The
control method assembled feed forward and feedback voltage
controllers.
III. METHODOLOGY
The developed mathematical model, validated on previous
papers [7, 8], was updated to evaluate the viability of the
energy surplus utilization to well water pumping. The new
configuration of the simulation is presented in Figure 3. It
was inserted the well pumping controller and the well
pumping DC-DC converter.
The PV-RO plant performance can be analyzed in the
simulation results of the developed model presented in the
Figure 4, which shows the power consumption of the pumps
(RO boost pump and well water pump), the PV generated
power and the maximum power that could be generated with
the system tracking perfectly the MPP. Some BFV algorithm
characteristics can be seen in this graphic. When the
generated power is lower than the nominal power of the RO
plant, the control algorithm keeps the PV panels voltage
close to the MPP, in order to use more efficiently the
generated power. One of the main characteristics of the
control is the power limitation imposed to the RO pump from
11 A.M. to 3:30 P.M, due to the fact that the RO boost pump
works with almost the nominal power, keeping the pressure
almost constant, the best condition to the RO membrane.
During this period, the energy surplus can be used to well
water pumping.

Rad
Rad
DATA Demux TaC current iRO Vpv
TaC iPV
Reference Vpv

Iwell
kPa
FV array DC-DC converter
Im Vm
well pump
f(u)
Vpv

d
Cable Loss
d i0

f(u)
DC-DC converter
Salinity -K-
Reverse Osmosis
[ppm]
Wa 800 Im
Qp Qp Vm

Qa Q(lpm) s+100 Well pumping

den(s) controller
Wp Wp P (kPa) 1
Pa P(kPa)

RO pump Valvula
min
Feedback controller
s2 +5000s+6250000 3.735
205 0.25
s2+5151s+505100

3
-K-
Forward controller
s+0.5
3.38e6 0.25
s2 +60s+875

t 3.725

Relógio

Fig. 3. PV-RO Plant without Batteries Model (updated from [8])

 Fig. 4. PV MPP power, generated PV power, RO power and well water pump surplus power.

To calculate the amount of energy surplus available,

some experimental data were collected (30 non-continuous Qw (s) = 1.3⋅10−3 s 3 + 66⋅10−3 s 2 + 5.4691s (4)
days), regressed by a polynomial equation and then used to
calculate the yearly production of permeate water and
pumped well water. This information allows analyzing the Where:
viability of the use of the energy surplus. P - RO boost pump power consumption.
Qp - RO permeate flow.
IV. RESULTS S - Power surplus.
Qw - Well water flow.
Figure 5 shows the RO boost pump power versus solar r - Solar radiation.
radiation. It can be seen that for radiation values up to 500
W.m-2, the RO power is almost linear with radiation. For The equations were tested from December, 2nd to
higher values the power is limited, one characteristic of the December, 8th, 2004 and the error of the calculated
BFV algorithm. The energy surplus has identical behavior, permeate flow was 2.2% compared with measured data.
as shown in Figure 7. These two curves define an
operational condition, adjusted by a valve. The pressure
can vary from a minimum value (open valve) to a
maximum value (almost closed valve). In order to analyze
the monthly power demand and permeate flow of the
system, the operational condition is considered the same
during a period of the year. Polynomial approximations
were made to the RO boost pump power (Figure 5), RO
permeate flow (Figure 6), power surplus (Figure 7) and
well water flow (Figure 8):

P(r) = 7 ⋅10−8 r 3 − 2 ⋅10−4 r 2 + 0.1825r (1)

Qp (r) = 0.6642⋅ P(r) (2) Fig. 5. RO boost pump power versus solar radiation.
S(r) = 2E-08r3 - 0,0001r2 + 0,1482r (3)
 The used solar radiation data were collected by a
datalogger, 10 minutes averaged, in January, February,
August and September 2001; the others months in 2004.
These data were used to calculate, with equations (1) to
(4), the yearly performance of the RO boost pump power
consumption, RO permeate flow, power surplus and well
water flow.

Fig. 9. Participation of the RO boost pump energy consumption

and of the energy surplus in the total energy generated.

Figure 10 shows the relationship between permeate

flow and well water flow. From january to july the values
are high, since the RO manufacturers recommend values
up to 15%. This process can have as consequence that in a
day in the operation period there is no feed water in the
Fig. 6. RO permeate flow vs. RO Pump power consumption.
tank for desalination, demonstrating, in this way, the
necessity of an operational strategy. The proposed
converter, configured in the master-slave mode, can do this
task easily only changing the reference voltages, as
previously described.

Fig. 7. Power surplus vs. solar radiation.

Fig. 10. Permeate flow and well water flow ratio.

The simulation results for one year are summarized in

Table I, with the values of the total energy available, RO
pump energy, energy surplus (well water pumping), RO
permeate production and pumped well water. The last
column shows the ratio between the permeate production
and the well water pumped with the use of the energy
surplus.
Fig. 8. Well water flow vs. power surplus

The participation of the RO boost pump energy

consumption and of the energy surplus in the total energy
generated is shown in Figure 9. From january to july the
participation of the RO boost pump is more than 70%,
from august to december this participation has a reduction
of circa 10%. This process is a consequence of the rainy
season in the first semester.
 TABLE I Solar World Congress, Orlando, USA, CD-ROM,
PV-RO plant simulation results 2005.
RO Ratio [5] D.B. Riffel. Unidade de osmose reversa acionada por
Total RO Energy Well
Energy Energy Surplus
Produc
Water
RO/well energia solar fotovoltaica sem baterias: simulação,
tion water projeto e validação experimental. Fortaleza.
(kWh) (kWh) (kWh) (m³)
(m³) (%)
Jan 16,8 12,6 4,2 8,0 33,4 23,8
Dissertação (Mestrado em Engenharia Elétrica) –
Centro de Tecnologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará,
Feb 14,8 10,8 4,0 6,8 31,9 21,4
2005.
Mar 18,0 12,3 5,7 8,0 45,6 17,7
[6] E. Tzen, R. Morris. “Renewable Energy Sources for
Apr 19,0 13,0 6,0 8,5 48,3 17,6
Desalination”. Solar Energy, n°. 75, pp. 375-379,
May 20,7 14,2 6,5 9,3 51,7 17,9
2003.
Jun* 16,6 11,7 4,9 7,5 39,5 19,0
[7] P.C.M.Carvalho, R.S.T. Pontes, D.S. Oliveira Jr, D.B.
Jul 20,4 14,2 6,2 9,2 49,7 18,5 Riffel, R.G.V. Oliveira, S.B. Mesquita. “Control
Aug* 22,7 13,7 9,0 9,4 72,2 13,1 Method of a Photovoltaic Powered Reverse Osmosis
Sep* 19,3 12,8 6,5 8,5 51,8 16,4 Plant without Batteries Based on Maximum Power
Oct 23,7 14,9 8,8 10,2 70,4 14,5 Point Tracking”. In Proc. of IEEE Latin America T-D.
Nov 21,8 13,7 8,1 9,3 65,3 14,2 São Paulo, CD-ROM, 2004.
Dec 20,3 13,5 6,8 9,0 54,5 16,5 [8] P.C.M Carvalho, R.S.T. Pontes, D.S. Oliveira Jr, D.B.
Total 234,0 157,3 76,7 103,7 614,2 16,9 Riffel, R.G.V.Oliveira, “Mathematical Model of a
* Extrapolated data. Photovoltaic Powered Reverse Osmosis Plant without
Batteries”, in Proc. of RIO 5 - World Climate &
V. CONCLUSION Energy Event, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, CD-ROM, 2005.

The results indicate the feasibility of using the energy VI. BIOGRAPHIES
surplus for pumping brackish water from a well in order to
supply a PV-RO plant. However, as demonstrated, it is Paulo Cesar Marques de Carvalho
received the B.Eng. degree from the
necessary an operation strategy to guarantee the water Federal University of Ceará (UFC) in
supply for the RO boost pump. 1989, the M.S. degree from University of
The proposed master-slave converter can easy control Paraíba (UFPB) in 1992 and Ph.D. degree
the plant operation. The converter prioritizes the from the University of Paderborn,
Germany, in 1997.
desalination task and, in the case that the feed water tank is His research interests include
almost empty, the priority turns to pumping more water photovoltaic systems, wind power
from the well, by reducing the RO boost pump power. generation and water desalination.
This change is made without the need of an additional
stop. Regular stops in the operation are appointed as the
worst operational conditions to RO membranes. In this
way, the proposed strategy can enlarge the lifetime of the Douglas B. Riffel was born in
membranes. Curitiba, Brazil. He received the B.Eng.
degree in 2002 from the Federal Center of
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Technological Education (CEFET-PR)
and, in 2005, the M.Sc. degree from
University of Ceará (UFC) in the Power
The authors thank the Coordenação de aperfeiçoamento Electronics concentration area.
de pessoal de nível superior (CAPES) for the scholarship He is currently working toward the
given for the second author (DBR) of this paper. Ph.D. in Federal University of Paraíba
(UFPB). His research interests are in
REFERENCES control field of solar systems.

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