Solar Powered Water Pumping System Research Articles

Design and development of a low-cost solar powered drip irrigation system using Systems Modeling Language

High capital costs are the primary barrier that limits the wide spread deployment of solar-powered water pumping systems, which increase energy and water efficiency compared to conventional irrigation methods. To increase the effectiveness of investments in solar-powered water pumping systems, it is necessary to sustain the-long term performance of these systems, and solutions to decrease the overall costs should be developed. In this paper, a simple but efficient, low-cost solar-powered water pumping system, which provides the necessary pressurised water to a drip irrigation system, is developed. The results from theoretical and field studies of photovoltaic panels and other components, the modelling techniques of the overall system and its components using Systems Modeling Language, are presented. The project demonstration site covers an area that is one thousand square meters comprising more than 100 trees. The site is irrigated with an automatic timer 2 h a day in the morning from June to October, which makes it possible to utilise a direct-coupled solar-powered water pumping system with a battery buffer configuration (including a maximum power point tracker). The function of the solar panels is to charge the batteries throughout the day when sunlight is available, and the power for the pump is subsequently provided by the batteries, which furnish constant voltage and enable the pump to perform at the optimum operating point. Utilisation of a battery-buffered solar-powered water pumping system instead of a commonly used direct-coupled system without batteries provides better performance because its output flow rate is not dependent on atmospheric conditions. The result is a less costly system compared to the direct-coupled solar-powered drip irrigation system, reducing the total cost of the solar-powered system by 63% and performing better overall. The cost reduction and better performance of the proposed system in this study, can boost the use of solar-powered irrigation systems in the market. Furthermore, using Systems Modeling Language to model the stated solar-powered water pumping system helps to simplify the design and implementation process by considering all inner and outer interactions and standardising the representation of a system that is expected to contribute to further studies.

Solar Application for Transfer of Technology - A Case of Solar Pump

Agriculture requires energy as an important input to production. Agriculture consumes about 35 per cent of the total power generated through electrically operated pump sets. It is expected that about 30 per cent of savings is possible through appropriate technology. Agriculture uses energy directly as fuel or electricity to operate machinery and equipment, to heat or cool buildings, and for lighting on the farm, and indirectly in the fertilizers and chemicals produced off the farm. Agricultural technology is changing rapidly. Farm machinery, farm building and production facilities are constantly being improved. Agricultural applications suitable for photovoltaic (PV) solutions are numerous. These applications are a mix of individual installations and systems installed by utility companies when they have found that a PV solution is the best solution for remote agricultural need such as water pumping for crops or livestock. A solar powered water pumping system is made up of two basic components. These are PV panels and pumps. The smallest element of a PV panel is the solar cell. Each solar cell has two or more specially prepared layers of semiconductor material that produce direct current (DC) electricity when exposed to light. This DC current is collected by the wiring in the panel. It is then supplied either to a DC pump, which in turn pumps water whenever the sun shines ,or stored in batteries for later use by the pump. The aim of this article is to explain how solar powered water pumping system works and what the differences with the other energy sources are.

Experimental investigation of solar powered diaphragm and helical pumps

For several years, many types of solar powered water pumping systems were evaluated, and in this paper, diaphragm and helical solar photovoltaic (PV) powered water pumping systems are discussed. Data were collected on diaphragm and helical pumps which were powered by different solar PV arrays at multiple pumping depths to determine the pumping performance, efficiency, and reliability of the different systems. The highest diaphragm pump hydraulic efficiency measured was ∼48%, and the highest helical pump hydraulic efficiency measured was ∼60%. The peak total system efficiency (e.g. solar radiation to pumped water) measured for the diaphragm and helical pumps were ∼5% and ∼7%, respectively (based on PV modules with ∼12% efficiency). The daily water volume of the three-chamber high head diaphragm pump performed better than the dual-chamber high head diaphragm pump (∼5 to ∼100% depending on PV array input power and pumping depth). Use of a controller was shown to improve the quad diaphragm pump performance below a solar irradiance of 600 W/m 2 (20 m head) to 800 W/m 2 (30 m head). While diaphragm pumps made mostly of plastic demonstrated similar to much better pumping performance than diaphragm pumps made with a high proportion of metal, the metal pumps demonstrated a longer service life (>2 years) than the plastic pumps service life (<2 years). Helical pumps analyzed in this paper were capable of deeper pumping depths and usually demonstrated a longer service life than the diaphragm pumps that were analyzed.

Simulation and Testing of a Photovoltaic Solar-Powered Water Pumping System

Abstract A mathematical model for a photovoltaic (PV) solar-powered water pumping system has been developed. It takes into account the effect of solar intensity and temperature on the power generated by the PV array, the torque-speed characteristics of the dc motor, the head-discharge characteristics of the pump, and the hydraulic losses in the pipeline. A computer program simulates the performance of the system under a specified solar condition by computing a series of quasi-steady states, each lasting for a short interval. By determining the operating point of the pump, the amount of water pumped during the simulation period is calculated. The computed results are compared with those obtained from actual tests on a 2-HP water pumping unit supplied from 4-kW PV array.