Design

Solar powered systems have been built for various applications ranging from public lighting to water supply units but robust efforts have not been made in the development of pumping systems that can effectively replace the manually operated pumps used in field applications. Designing a machine that can pump the fluid without the need of so much energy on the part of the operator as well as boycott the use of direct electricity will hence be a reasonable contribution to field of maintenance and other relevant fields where such pumps will be required. The methodology adopted for this study involves detailed system design and analysis of a prototype of the pump system for actual implementation. In respect to the energy source, a Solar Photovoltaic system has been developed which is backed up by a battery bank such that the system can function effectively even when disconnected from the PV array. A 65 W PV panel was used alongside a 36 Ah battery bank. The system is designed to be a 12 V DC Charging system and 220-230V AC supply system. A 500 W DC to AC power inverter was used to achieve the transition for implementation. A review of pump technologies and alternative energy applications (Solar Photovoltaic energy technologies) in the study location was undertaken. Finally, the characteristics relationship between the flow rate and the head of the solar powered pump was determined and represented on a graph. It was observed from the graph that the rate of change of the flow rate is inversely proportional to the increasing head. And the highest flow rate is obtained when the head is 0.25m with a corresponding flow rate of 0.040 m3/s and highest efficiency of 91.153%. The outcome of this study will find useful applications as well as give reasonable contribution to the field of maintenance, and other relevant fields where such pumps will be required such as vegetable and palm oil production companies.