Sensorless V/f Control with Arbitrary Power Sharing Capability for Six-Phase Induction Machines in Hybrid PV/Wind Water Pumping Systems

Abstract

This paper presents a novel hybrid renewable water pumping system (WPS) designed for remote areas, utilizing solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind energy to drive a six-phase induction machine (6PIM). Compared to conventional three-phase machines, the 6PIM offers improved fault tolerance, scalability, and reduced converter ratings. The proposed modular architecture assigns each three-phase winding set a dedicated power converter, enabling independent control and enhancing system reliability. To simplify implementation and reduce cost, a sensorless voltage-to-frequency (V/f) control strategy is adopted. This eliminates the need for current and speed sensors, making the approach especially suitable for off-grid water pumping applications where robustness is more critical than fast dynamic response. A key contribution of this work is the integration of flexible power-sharing control into the V/f framework, marking, to the best of the authors' knowledge, its first application in multiphase drives. The system is validated through simulations on a 200 HP model under realistic solar and wind profiles, as well as experimental tests on a 1.5 HP prototype with an emulated centrifugal pump load. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme in achieving stable operation and efficient energy utilization under varying input and load conditions.