Design and Construction of a Portable Solar Water Pump
3000 Litter per Hour
Rusman Sinaga
1
, Julius A. Tanesab
1
, Marthen D. Elu Beily
1
and Agusthinus S. Sampeallo
2
1
Electrical Engineering Department, State Polytechnic of Kupang, Jalan Adisucipto Penfui Kupang, Indonesia
2
Electrical Engineering Department, Nusa Cendana University, Jalan Adisucipto Kupang, Indonesia
Keywords: Portable, Solar, Pump, Water, Head.
Abstract: The solar water pumping systems are considered as one of the most promising areas in photovoltaic
applications. This study aimed to produce a prototype of a Portable Solar Water Pump (PSWP) with a flow
rate of water 3000 liters per hour and determine the effect of pump head in the flow rate of water on PSWP.
This research was preceded by the design and construct a prototype of the PSWP system and then performed
simulations test. The experiment was carried out with variations of the pump head to find a water flow rate of
3000 Lph. The results showed that the estimate to get a flow rate of water 3000 Lph, the pump head was at
1.5 m. The pump head affects the flow rate of water. If the pump head (H) increases 1 m, the flow rate of
water (A) will decrease 389.66 Lph. The regression equation model can be write Q = - 289.66 H + 3445.8, on
R
2
= 79.08%, which means of 79.08% Q is effect by H, and 20.92% is affected by other variables.
1 INTRODUCTION
Water is a necessity for survival that is needed by
humans for drinking and household needs. Besides
that water is also needed for irrigation, construction,
and electricity production. Water has a very important
role in the development of any country. Quality of life
in any country is very dependent on the quantity and
quality of available water resources. It is estimated
that an average of 100 liters of water is needed per
person per day for daily survival (Theodolfi and
Waangsir, 2014). Although a large amount of quality
water is available, there are still many that do not
meet the availability of water, especially in rural areas
that still do not get electricity supply from the
National Electric Company (PLN) to operate water
pumps, including rural areas in Kupang Regency
which have an electrification ratio still 60%. The
average household that has not received electricity
supply is located in remote rural areas that are
difficult to reach by the PLN (Sinaga et al., 2019);
(Sinaga et al., 2017).
Conventionally, electricity which is largely
generated by burning fossil fuels, has been supplied
from the national electricity grid, this poses a problem
for supplying water to remote areas that cannot be
connected directly to the network to obtain national
electricity. The negative impact of burning fossil fuels
on the environment is increasing, the researchers are
becoming more focused on developing a standalone
water pump system that can be supported by
renewable energy sources. Several renewable energy
sources can be used for pumping water, one of which
is solar photovoltaic (PV), because it is a clean and
naturally available energy source.
The use of solar electricity can support government
programs to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
where the emission reduction target is contained in
Law 16 of 2016 concerning Paris Approval of the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change. Indonesia's Nationally Determined
Contribution (NDC) is a reduction in GHG emissions
by 2030 by 29% on its own and 4l% if there is
international cooperation because the use of solar
modules will reduce the process of supplying
electricity through fossil fuel power plants that cause
CO2 emissions (UN-RI, 2016).
Farmers in Kupang Regency are in dire need of
water pumps; however, the source of electricity is an
obstacle for farmers in the villages who have no
electricity. Besides the problem of providing a source
of electricity, the current SWP system problem is still
limited to the permanent SWP system, so it cannot be
used interchangeably between farmer groups who
have not been able to buy permanent SWP. The
1210
Sinaga, R., Tanesab, J., Beily, M. and Sampeallo, A.
Design and Construction of a Portable Solar Water Pump 3000 Litter per Hour.
DOI: 10.5220/0010962500003260
In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Applied Science and Technology on Engineering Science (iCAST-ES 2021), pages 1210-1216
ISBN: 978-989-758-615-6; ISSN: 2975-8246
Copyright
c
2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
existence of portable SWP that it is expected to be
able to flow water in farmland alternately between
farmer groups and the time of use is adjusted to water
needs based on the area of agricultural land owned.
The research includes designing, constructing, and
simulation tests of a PSWP 3000 Lph as needed. This
study aimed to produce a prototype of a Portable Solar
Water Pump (PSWP) with a flow rate of water 3000
liters per hour and determine the effect of pump head
in the flow rate of water on PSWP. So that this PSWP
3000 Lph can be offered to the users who need
especially farmers in rural areas who do not yet have
access to PLN electricity.. The uniqueness of this
PSWP system is that it can be moved so that each
farmer can use alternately.
The Solar Water Pump (SWP) requires solar
energy as primary energy to be converted into
electrical energy through solar modules. The results
of the study prove that in Kupang District the
intensity of sunlight is very optimum in the dry
season. In the morning, afternoon, and evening
sunlight radiation is very influential on the energy
output of solar panels (Sinaga, 2011). Changes in the
intensity of sunlight and the angle of incidence of
sunlight greatly affect the voltage received by solar
panels. The intensity of solar radiation on average in
East Nusa Tenggara is 5,117 Wh / m2 / day, which
has the potential to generate electricity (Rahardjo and
I. Fitriana. 2015)
The performance of solar modules in the form of
maximum power output varies with the seasons. At
the end of the summer or the dry season, solar panel
performance tends to increase. Based on a review of
cost-efficient, effective, and environmentally friendly
criteria in reducing CO2 emissions, the best choice
for supplying small-scale electrical energy is to use
the solar modules and with the power supply using
solar modules capable of moving water pumps
(Sinaga et al., 2017)
Photovoltaic (PV) modules utilize solar energy
directly to produce electricity which can be used to
power electrically operated water pumps. Over the
past few years, researchers have focused on
developing efficient solar-powered water pumping
systems. This system has proven reliable even in bad
weather conditions, and a recent search revealed that
the largest PV system installed in the world is the
Tengger Desert Solar Park in China with an installed
capacity of 1500 MW. Many aspects of solar water
pumping systems have been investigated, such as
overall efficiency, the efficiency of individual
components, economic viability, and optimization of
their size. In economic terms, problems related to the
use of fossil fuels such as availability, transportation
costs, prices, and effects on the environment while the
price of solar modules is declining due to
advancements in Photovoltaic (PV) technology
thereby adding to the increased feasibility of using
solar water pump systems (Foster and Cota, 2014).
The results of the study of Sinaga et al. 2019 in
Kupang show that the price level of the installation of
an off-grid PV system is at the level of 0.29-0.31 US
$ / kWh.
The Solar Water Pump (SWP) system has been a
real focus of interest for researchers for decades along
with increasing awareness about the energy crisis.
There are various design possibilities for developing
SWP. However, the most common are those
involving solar modules (Aliyua et al., 2017). Picture
1 shows a schematic diagram of a general SWP
system consisting of a power collection system, a
power conditioning unit, a water pump, and a
reservoir. Water pumps installed at the source of
water and pumping from the source to the reservoir
which is higher than the ground level. The difference
in height from the water pump to the inlet reservoir is
known as the pump head. This pomp head (H) is an
important parameter in designing SWP.
Figure 1: Schematic diagram of a solar water pump system
(Aliyua et al., 2017).
Solar energy collection systems an important role
in the performance of SWP system (Nogueira et al.,
2015); (Sinaga and Beily, 2019); (Sinaga et al., 2019).
Several aspects of solar energy collection systems
have been studied in the literature which has a direct
effect on the overall efficiency of SWP. The
advantages of DC water pumps compared to AC
include portability and energy saving, while AC has a
longer life and high speed. Although the performance
of commercially operated water pumps is
commercially available, some researchers study the
performance of water pumps. The researcher has
evaluated the performance of submersible centrifugal
pumps for solar water pumping and reports subsystem
efficiencies ranging from 20% to 30% for water
pumps installed in four different locations in Tunisia
Design and Construction of a Portable Solar Water Pump 3000 Litter per Hour
1211
(Belgacem, 2012). Two-person of the researcher also
do research about optimized linear actuator design for
use as a water pump system (Wade and Short, 2012).
This research presented a design that utilizes current
from the solar module to flow through copper
windings so as to induce a magnetic flux in the metal
core made of iron which causes it to move upward.
This research also report an acceptable agreement
between optimized results and experimental data.
Research results show that the efficiency estimated at
7.8% with a 6A supply current to the actuator.
The pump head has a significant effect on the
overall efficiency of SWP. In this case Benghanem, et
al. (2014), studied the effects of various pump heads
on the overall performance of the pump system. They
tested pump heads ranging from 50 to 80 m. The
analysis shows that increasing the pump head reduces
the overall efficiency of the system. A decrease in
efficiency at a higher pump head can make the whole
system economically unfeasible.
An important parameter that also influences the
performance of the water pump system is an effective
and efficient design of the control system. The
researcher Campana et al. (2014), proposed a control
system that interacts between water supply and
demand. Water and groundwater responses need to be
considered in supplying of water needed to produce
energy optimization and water savings
Another control system proposed by Sallem et al.
(2010), uses of fuzzy management algorithms to
control the connection period between solar modules,
batteries, and water pumps. The results of this study
indicate that with the use of a fuzzy management
algorithm control system, there has been an increase
in the use of water pumps for more than 5 hours.
The design configuration of the SWP system has
been used, among others, the configuration of the DC
system and AC with a battery storage system (Chandel
et al., 2015); (Susanto et al.,2018). The results of the
study SWP AC with a battery storage system by
Tukiman et al. (2013) showed that for the use of a 550
Watt AC pump, 220 Volt at the head of 8 m, resulting
in a water discharge of 3000 liters/hour. While the
results of the study SWP DC systems by Priambodo et
al. (2019), using a 45 Watt 12 Volt DC pump, at the
head of 4 m, produces a flow rate of water up to 1912
liters/hour.
This research is developing of previous research,
especially in the design of the SWP system. The
novelty of the research is the SWP system in the
special needs of 3000 litters per hour which can be
moved. PSWP can be used by each farmer group as
needed and is safer against electric shock because it
uses a DC system.
2 METHODS
This research was preceded by the design and
construct a prototype of the PSWP system and then
performed simulations test. The experiment was
carried out with variations of the pump head to find a
water flow rate of 3000 Lph. The research process is
presented in Figure 2.
2.1 Selection of Parameters Water
Pumping Systems
The formulation for determining the water pump
power capacity is presented in equation (1) (Tukiman
et al., 2013):
P
𝑄𝐻𝜌
𝐹𝑐. ƞ
(1)
Where: P: Water pump power (Watt), Q: flow rate of
water (m
3
/hour), H: Total pump head, Ƞ: Efficiency
(%), 𝜌 : water density (Kg/m
3
), Fc: Power unit
conversion factor.
PV Module and
Wagon
Panel Box &
Protection
Battery
SCC
Reservoir
Simulation
Water Pump Piping
Start
DESIGN SWP 3000 Lph
Testing of SWP Systems
IL (A) VL (A)
Data
Analysis
Recomendation
End
Ic
Water Sources
Installation SWP 3000 Lph
SR Q f(h)
Figure 2: The research process.
iCAST-ES 2021 - International Conference on Applied Science and Technology on Engineering Science
1212
To produce a flow rate of water up to 3 m
3
/hour or
3000 Liters per hour (Lph) it takes a water pump
capacity (Pp) 163 Watt, but the water pump on the
market (Ppm) is 180 Watt, the water pump capacity
needed to produce a water discharge of 3000 Lph is 180
Watt. The results of the calculation of the power
capacity required water pump are presented in Table 1.
Table 1: Calculation of the power capacity of water pump.
2.2 Selection of Parameters Solar
Energy Systems
First, it is assumed that this solar energy system uses
a PV module at 100 Wp. The question is how many
modules are needed to use 180 Watt water pump
capacity?
The water pump energy needed to flow water
from a water source to a certain time interval is
formulated as in equation (2).
E = P x tp (Wh)
(2)
Where E is Energy of water pump (Wh), P is the
power of water pump (Watt) and tp is the duration of
the use of water pumps (Hour). While the energy of
PV module (E
PV
) is presented in equation (3).
E
PV
=
(Wh/Wp)
(3)
The power of PV module (P
PV
) uses the formula in
equation (4).
P
PV
=
(Watt/Wp)
(4)
Where ti is solar module irradiation time. The number
of PV modules (N
PV
) uses can be formulated by
equation (5).
N
PV
=P
PV
x Ad (5)
Where Ad is Autonomy Day. PV module capacity
(C
PV
) formulated by equation (6).
C
PV
= N
PV
x 100 (Wp) (6)
The capacity of battery (Cb) formulated by
equation (7), while the number of batteries (Nub)
formulated using equation (8). Then the parameters
of the solar energy system are presented in Table 2.
Cb =
(Ah)
(7)
Nub =
(8)
Table 2: Parameters of solar energy system.
2.3 Construction of PSWP
The material used of the PSWP construction consists
of PV modules, submersible pumps, batteries,
wagons and box panels containing controllers,
protection components, push-button switches, cable
terminals, cable installations. The Construction of
PSWP is presented in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Construction of PSWP.
3 RESULT
PSWP test results show that solar radiation affects the
battery charging current (Ic). However, the current
flowing into the water pump (Ip) is not affected by
solar radiation, because the electrical energy to the
water pump is sourced from the battery. The battery
is continuously charged as long as the PV module
receives sunlight.
The current absorbed by the water pump is greater
than the battery charging current so that this PSWP is
designed to operate within a maximum of 2 hours.
The highest battery charging current (Ic) is 4.3
Amperes when the solar radiation is 981 w / m
2
, while
the highest water pump (Ip) current is 12.30 Amperes.
The graph of Solar Radiation (SR), battery charge
current (Ic), and water pump current (Ip) are
presented in Figure 4.
QHǷ PpPpm
(m
3
/hour
)
(
m
)
(
K
g
/
m
3
)
(
Watt
)
(
Watt
)
Submersible pump 3 15 1 367 75% 163 180
Load Type Fc ɳ
E
PV
ti P
PV
(Wh/Wp) h W/Wp
Submersible pump 180 2 360 3,6 4 0,9
Ad N
PV
C
PV
DoD
Day Unit Wp %
Cb (Ah) Vb (Volt) NUb
11 90 50% 60 12 1
Load Type P (W) tp (h) E (Wh)
Battery
Design and Construction of a Portable Solar Water Pump 3000 Litter per Hour
1213
Figure 4: Graph of solar radiation (SR), battery charge
current (Ic), and water pump current (Ip).
The data of the test for the pump head (H) and the
flow rate of water (Q) shows, if the H increase, the Q
will be decreased. The maximum of the Q at the H 0.5
m is 4,286 Lph, while the minimum of the Q at the
level 1,412 Lph on the H 8 m, While the achievement
of Q at the 3000 Lph is estimated to be at H 1.5 m.
The graph of the H vs Q is present in Figure 5
Figure 5: The graph of H vs Q.
The data of the test for the pump head (H) and the
power of the water pump (Pp) shows that if the H
increase, Pp will be decreased. The maximum of Pp at
125.46 Watt and the minimum of Pp at 100 Watt. The
graph of H vs Pp is present in Figure 6.
Figure 6: The graph of H vs Pp.
The battery charging current (Ic) is affected by
Solar Radiation (SR). An increase in SR of 1 W / m
2
,
the Ic will be increased by 0.0044 Amperes. The
equation regression model is Ic = 0.0044 SR with R
2
= 99.99%, which means that 99.99% Ic is affected by
solar radiation and 0.01% is effect by other variables.
The effect of SR on the Ic is presented in Figure 7.
Figure 7: The effect of SR on the Ic.
The pump head affects the flow rate of water: if
the pump head (H) increases 1 m, the flow rate of
water (Q) will decrease 289.66 Lph. The regression
equation model is Q = -289.66 H + 3445.8, with R
2
=
79.08%, meaning 79.08% Q is effected by H, and
20.92% is affected by other variables. The effect of H
on Q is presented in Figure 8.
iCAST-ES 2021 - International Conference on Applied Science and Technology on Engineering Science
1214
Figure 8: The Effect of H on Q.
The water flow rate (Q) is affected by the power of
the pump (Pp). If the Pp increase Pp 1 Watt, then Q will
increase 72.819 Lph. Regression equation estimation
models can be written Q = 72.819 Pp - 5609.9, while
R
2
= 80.73%, which means that 80.73% Q is effected
Pp and 19.27% is affected other variables. The effect
of Pp on Q is presented in Figure 9.
Figure 9: Effect of Pp on Q.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The results showed that the estimate to get a flow rate
of water 3000 Lph, the pump head was at 1.5 m. The
pump head affects the flow rate of water. If the pump
head (H) increases 1 m, the flow rate of water (Q) will
decrease 389.66 Lph. The regression equation model
can be write Q = - 289.66 H + 3445.8, on R
2
=
79.08%, which means of 79.08% Q is effect by H, and
20.92% is affected by other variables.
The battery charging current (Ic) is affected by
solar radiation (SR). If SR increases of 1 W / m
2
, so
Ic will be increased by 0.0044 Amperes. The equation
regression model can be written Ic = 0.0044 SR on R
2
= 99.99%, which means that 99.99% of Ic is affected
by solar radiation and 0.01% is effect other variables.
The water flow rate (Q) is affected by the power
of the pump (Pp). If the Pp increases 1 Watt than Q
will increase 72.819 Lph. Regression equation
estimation models can be written Q = 72.819x -
5609.9, while R
2
= 80.73%, which means that 80.73%
Q is effected Pp and 19.27% is affected other
variables.
Recommendation: PSWP 100Wp-180W60Ah,
can be used to produce a water flow of 3000 liters per
hour at a pump head of 1.5 m. if the pump head is
more than 1.5 m, the water flow obtained is less than
3000 liters per hour.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank State Polytechnic of
Kupang for financial support through the routine
research program.
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