摘要
This paper presents a PV （photovoltaic） powered RO （reverse osmosis） plant for brackish water without batteries and a self-regulating pressure valve. The aim is to extract the maximum power from the PV module using an MPPT （maximum power point tracking） technique for powering a solar water pump and maintain constant the pressure in the RO membranes by using the self-operated valve. A Buck type converter using the InCond （incremental conductance） MPPT was developed for this application. The MPPT chosen was simulated, tested and validated, showing an efficiency of 86.8%. The technical feasibility of the RO plant was made by PLC （programmable logic controller） and was tested for two salinity levels （1,000 and 1,500 mg/L of TDS （total dissolved solids））. These salinity levels chosen are commonly found in most brackish water wells of the semi-arid region of Northeastern Brazil. The RO plant could permeate 175.3 L/day of drinking water with 120 mg/L of TDS and specific energy consumption of 2.56 kWh/m3.
