In recent years, photovoltaic (PV) systems have emerged as economical solutions for irrigation systems in rural areas. However, they are characterized by low voltage output and less reliable configurations. To address this issue in this paper, a promising inverter configuration called Impedance (Z)-source inverter (ZSI) is designed and implemented to obtain high voltage output with single-stage power conversion, particularly suitable for irrigation application. An improved and efficient modulation scheme and design specifications of the network parameters are derived. Additionally, a suitable fault-tolerant strategy is developed and implemented to improve reliability and efficiency. It incorporates an additional redundant leg with an improved control strategy to facilitate the fault-tolerant operation. The proposed fault-tolerant circuit is designed to handle switch failures of the inverter modules due to the open-circuit and short-circuit faults. The relevant simulation and experimental results under normal, faulty and post-fault operation are presented. The post-fault operation characteristics are identical to the normal operation. The motor performance characteristics such as load current, torque, harmonic spectrum, and efficiency are thoroughly analysed to prove the suitability of the proposed system for irrigation applications. This study provides an efficient and economical solution for rural irrigation utilized in developing countries, for example, India.

The Z-source inverter (ZSI) is getting popular for induction motor drives as it provides single-stage power conversion with voltage buck-boost ability. Recent surveys have reported that inverters are prone to failure due to internal faults on power semiconductor devices which significantly degrades the overall systems performance. The analysis and diagnosis of faults are significantly important for ensuring reliable operation of a drive systems. This paper rigorously analyzes effects of internal faults on a ZSI-fed single-phase induction motor drive system using MATLAB/Simulink. This study proposes a fault protection technique using bidirectional converter to facilitate post fault operation of inverter drives. The simulation circuits with the related harmonic spectrum are presented after introducing an open circuit fault and a short circuit fault in a drive system with and without a protection circuit. From systematic analyses it is found that fault occurrence leads to harmonic distortion to a significant level in the proposed drive system and therefore, affects the systems efficiency. The proposed fault protection technique proves to be an effective method to reduce harmonics in the drive system during a fault occurrence. THe FFT spectrum results are tabulated and compared.

This paper presents FFT spectrum analysis of single-phase ZSI under various fault conditions for boost as well as buck operation. The faults under consideration are fault at one of the IGBTs gate terminals, blowing off one IGBT. The comparisons of effects of faults are presented in paper for both boost and buck operation. Simulation results and FFT spectrum are simulated.

Automotive applications often experience conflicting-objective optimization problems focusing on performance parameters that are catered through precisely developed cost functions. Two such conflicting objectives which substantially affect the working of traction machine drive are maximizing its speed performance and minimizing its energy consumption. In case of an electric vehicle (EV) powertrain, drive energy is bounded by battery dynamics (charging and capacity) which depend on the consumption of drive voltage and current caused by driving cycle schedules, traffic state, EV loading, and drive temperature. In other words, battery consumption of an EV depends upon its drive energy consumption. A conventional control technique improves the speed performance of EV at the cost of its drive energy consumption. However, the proposed optimized energy control (OEC) scheme optimizes this energy consumption by using robust linear parameter varying (LPV) control tuned by genetic algorithms which significantly improves the EV powertrain performance. The analysis of OEC scheme is conducted on the developed vehicle simulator through MATLAB/Simulink based simulations as well as on an induction machine drive platform. The accuracy of the proposed OEC is quantitatively assessed to be 99.3% regarding speed performance which is elaborated by the drive speed, voltage, and current results against standard driving cycles.