Performance of Different Pumps and Pump Sets for Agricultural Applications Tested by the Agricultural Machinery Testing and Evaluation Center, Philippines

Abstract

In the Philippines, different sizes and types of pump sets are utilized for shallow tubewells (STW) and low-lift pumps (LLP). Filipino farmers used STW and LLP as main or supplementary sources of irrigation. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of agricultural pumps and pump sets tested by the Agricultural Machinery Testing and Evaluation Center (AMTEC) from 1989 to 2022, based on Philippine Agricultural Engineering Standards (PAES) 115:2000. A total of 486 centrifugal pump sets and 341 bare pumps were used in the study. The selected sizes for both bare pump and pump set (engine-powered) include 50x50mm, 75x75mm, and 100x100mm. These were the common sizes and prime mover used for STWs and LLPs in the Philippines. The performance of the agricultural pumps was evaluated with equal weights using the: a) discharge-to-input power ratio, b) suction lift, c) maximum efficiency, and d) input speed. For all bare pump sizes, non-self-priming (52.99%, 61.05%, 62.21%, respectively) and discharge capacity (7.78lps, 15.78lps, 25.54lps, respectively) have higher pump efficiency than self-priming. All sizes of non-self-priming pumps are driven by diesel engines. Results showed that, generally, for pump sets system efficiency, in general: a) it is relatively higher for non-self-priming than self-priming (same with bare pump efficiency); b) relatively higher for diesel than gasoline engine driven; and c) relatively higher for water-cooled than air-cooled diesel engine. This study has also found that most of the evaluated bare pumps met the criteria of the performance evaluation scheme, including all of the 100x100mm non-self-priming units. On the other hand, most of the 100x100mm self-priming, close-coupled (17/25); 75x75m m self-priming, close-coupled (79/100); 50x50mm selfpriming, V-belt drive (6/6); and 50x50mm self-priming, close-coupled (101/109) pump sets did not meet the criteria of the evaluation scheme. Appropriate tools (i.e. statistical) or systems should be utilized to determine the performance parameters and corresponding performance values for the evaluation of the pumps and pump sets.