Chapter

12
PV WATER PUMPING SYSTEM DESIGN

12.1

INTRODUCTION

Considerable emphasis in this book is placed on the design of photovoltaic water pumping systems, firstly because water pumping is a major application for photovoltaics and secondly because the design of each system is considerably more complicated than most applications, owing to the large range of water source types, consumer requirements and system configurations. Where batteries are required for storage, design procedures are relatively straightforward and follow the design principles outlined in earlier chapters for stand-alone systems. However, direct interfacing between photovoltaic panels and the water pump motor introduces significant mismatch problems as the light intensity varies. This leads to large variations in overall system efficiency throughout each day and between sunny and cloudy weather, making it inappropriate to assume that the power delivered to the load is directly related to the light energy incident on the solar panels. It is therefore necessary to process insolation data differently for directly-coupled systems. The basic design principles are covered in this chapter, with worked examples given in Appendix H.

12.2

BASIC STEPS IN SYSTEM DESIGN

Designing a photovoltaic water pumping system has two very important aspects: 1. Selection of the most suitable system component typescrucial in providing a low maintenance, long life system of high reliability. 2. Matching of system componentsa difficult area requiring considerable know-how and expertise, and ultimately responsible for efficient operation of the system. To demonstrate the importance of the latter, the World Bank analysed one of the most efficient water pumping systems from their testing program at the time (referred to in the last chapter) and found the components to be poorly matched. Improved matching was demonstrated to give an 18% improvement in operating efficiency, on top of a 30% increase obtained through the introduction of manual tracking (Halcrow & Partners, 1981). It appears that this level of mismatch or worse is quite common with many system designs. One of the most important questions to be asked before designing a particular system is: What level of reliability is necessary and to what extent can maintenance be carried out? The answer to this will indicate a bias towards either a direct-coupled system with simplicity, reliability, low maintenance and long life, or a system that sacrifices these attributes, to an extent, to gain greater efficiency. The features included in the latter, which contribute to the increased complexity, higher maintenance, poorer reliability and shorter life expectancy, include power conditioning circuitry, inverters, and perhaps batteries. Of course, other constraints influence the type of system selected, and each system needs to be designed on its own merits. No one system will be ideal for all applications and, of all photovoltaic applications, water pumping probably introduces the greatest variability of system design with regard to configuration and component selection. Several computer simulation and design tools and methodologies are available to assist designers (e.g. Mayer et al., 1992; Sharma et al., 1995; Protogeropoulos & Pearce, 2000; Arab, 2004). However, use of some of these requires a high level of water pumping knowledge and good data on site conditions and component performances. Thomas (1987) describes a sizing system based on nomographs to assist potential buyers. There are also practical guides to solar water pumping, such as that by Dankoff (1997). The general approach to designing a system can be summarised as follows: 1. Determine the volume of water to be pumped each day, and at what head. 2. Calculate the pump rate from the number of sunlight hours. 3. Select the pump type. 4. From the torque-speed characteristic of the pump, select a motor with a compatible torque-speed characteristic. 5. Select appropriate solar modules.

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6. Select module mounting methodfixed or manual tracking. For a system using batteries, step 5 simply involves the use of stand-alone system design principles, outlined in earlier chapters. However, prior to following these guidelines, it is useful to ascertain whether a directly-coupled system (no batteries, no inverter and no power conditioning circuitry) is feasible for the particular application. If so, such a system may be advisable, even though its use provides reduced flexibility in component choice and system configuration, while maximum power point tracking circuitry is becoming more freely available. However, there are occasions when directly-coupled systems are unsuitable. These include: 1. When pumping heads are too large to be able to use a centrifugal pump with reasonable efficiency. 2. When suitable DC motors are not available, such as with some large systems. 3. When the pumping rate in bright sunshine exceeds the water source replenishment rates. 4. When it is essential batteries be used for energy storage (i.e. where availability of pumped water must be very high and tank storage is unsuitable, e.g. portable units). 5. Locations characterised by excessive cloudy weather, making the poor partload efficiencies of a directly-coupled system unacceptable. Many water pumping applications are not characterised by any of the above and are accordingly suited to a directly-coupled system. However, the use of maximum power point tracking circuitry is increasingly common for pump applications, including in many commercially supplied pump systems (von Aichberger, 2003).
12.3 DESIGN OF A DIRECTLY-COUPLED SYSTEM

A directly-coupled system is one where a low starting torque pump (such as a centrifugal pump) can be driven by a DC motor that receives its power directly from the solar panels. No batteries, inverters, or power conditioning circuitry are used, other than perhaps safety cut-out relays activated by level, flow or pressure sensing transducers. When the sun shines sufficiently brightly, the system operates and water is pumped either for storage or direct use. An approach for designing directly-coupled PV-powered water pumping systems is provided in Appendix H. Important considerations are as follows: 1. The volume of water to be pumped and over what period. The volume to be pumped may vary significantly throughout the year and in fact may be entirely non-critical for some months of the year, as for some irrigation applications. This will have important implications regarding array tilt angles. For instance: If the demand profile throughout the year is reasonably constant (such as for a domestic water supply), a tilt angle in the vicinity of latitude + 20 will be necessary to give the most uniform insolation levels throughout the year falling on the solar panels.
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If the amount of water to be pumped is to be reasonably constant throughout the year, but with a definite bias towards summer months (such as for drinking water), a tilt angle in the vicinity of latitude + 10 will probably be desirable. If the annual amount of water pumped is to be maximised (such as with a large storage reservoir), a tilt angle in the range latitude to latitude 10 should be used. If the water pumped during summer months is to be maximised (such as for some irrigation applications), a tilt angle in the vicinity of latitude 20 will be preferable, to ensure the solar panels point more directly at the midday summer sun. In general, more uniform pumping throughout the year will be provided by increasing the tilt angle. 2. The pumping head and its seasonal variations must be known and, where possible, information regarding water source replenishment rates should be obtained. 3. The inclusion and economics of water storage should be considered in conjunction with consumer needs. 4. Any available insolation data should be obtained and used in conjunction with the guidelines given in Appendix B and Chapter 1. Fig. H.1 indicates the procedure for determining the light intensity incident on the solar panels at angle at noon. 5. Select a pump to suit starting torque requirements, the range of operating heads, any physical dimension constraints imposed by the application, and one that will pump the required volume of water when operating at its maximum efficiency point. It is essential the torque-speed characteristics of the selected pump be known, to facilitate system matching. 6. Select a motor with a torque-speed characteristic compatible with that of the pump. It is important that the motor operate near maximum efficiency when producing the necessary torque, to drive the pump at its design speed. Recall that
Vm I a Ra K N

(12.1)

where Vm is the motor voltage, Ia is the armature current, Ra is the resistance of the armature, K is the motor constant, is the flux density and N is the speed of rotation. In Eqn. 12.1, the voltage applied to the motor terminals (Vm) has two componentsIaRa is the resistive voltage drop across the armature windings and K N is the back emf generated, which is hence proportional to the speed of rotation N and the flux density . If we now consider a permanent magnet DC motor, then remains approximately constant, independent of the voltage applied or current consumed, and Ia becomes the total motor current Im, since no current is required for field windings. Thus, we can rewrite Eqn. (12.1) as

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Vm

I m Ra

K N

(12.2)

The electromagnetic torque ( e) developed by such a motor is proportional to the armature current (and hence Im) and also the flux density (which is a constant). This gives us
e

K Im

(12.3)

where K' is a constant related to the physical dimensions of the motor and the number of windings in the armature (Hambley, 2002). When the motor drives a load (such as a water pump), the speed of the motor will continue to alter until steady state is reached; that is, when
e l

(12.4)

where

is the torque required to drive the load at that particular speed.

For any commercial pump, the torque versus speed ( l versus N) characteristics should be available from the supplier. For each value of N, l is thus obtainable and, using Eqns. (12.3) and (12.4), Im can be calculated. Subsequent use of Im and N in Eqn. (12.2) gives the corresponding value of Vm. Therefore, for each N of the pump, the motor voltage and current required from the solar panels are determined. However, the actual voltage generated by the solar panels needs to be about 2% higher than that calculated, to allow for resistive losses in the wiring. 7. Appropriate sizing of the photovoltaic system will enable overall system specifications to be met, while simultaneously maximising overall system efficiency. For this, both the voltage and current at maximum power point need to be optimised. Unfortunately, little choice exists with regard to the voltages available with standard commercial modules. They are normally designed for 12 V systems (including considerable excess voltage capacity to allow for battery charging, regulation, blocking diode etc.), and can be connected in series to increase system voltage to multiples of 12 V. This restriction can be overcome by the use of a DC-to-DC converter. In comparison, a reasonable choice in short circuit currents exists, owing to the range of solar cell sizes and technologies used by different manufacturers. An approach for optimising the photovoltaic configuration by matching the requirements of the water pumping subsystem to the output of the photovoltaics is provided in Appendix H.

REFERENCES

Updated World Wide Web links can be found at www.pv.unsw.edu.au/apv_book_refs. Arab, A. H., Chenlo, F. & Benghanem, M. (2004), Loss-of-load probability of photovoltaic water pumping systems, Solar Energy, 76(6), pp. 713723.

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Dankoff, W. (1997) An Introduction to solar water pumping with Windy Dankoff, in Renewable Energy with the Experts, Scott S. Andrews, Sausalito, USA (NTSC videotape). Halcrow, W. and Partners and the Intermediate Technology Development Group (1981), Small-Scale Solar Powered Irrigation Pumping SystemsPhase 1 Project Report, UNDP Project GLO/78/004, World Bank, London. Hambley, A.R. (2002), Electrical Engineering:Principles and Applications, 2nd Edn., Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, pp. 728729. Mayer, O., Baumeister, A. & Festl, T. (1992), A novel PC software tool for simulation and design of photovoltaic pumping systems, Proc. 11th EC Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference, Montreux, Switzerland, pp. 13951398. Protogeropoulos, C. & Pearce, S. (2000), Laboratory evaluation and system sizing charts for a second generation direct PV-powered, low cost submersible solar pump, Solar Energy, 68(5), pp. 453474. Sharma, V.K., Colangelo, A., Spagna, G. & Cornacchia, G. (1995), Photovoltaic water pumping system: Part IIDesign methodology and experimental evaluation of some photovoltaic water pumping systems, RERIC International Energy Journal, 17(2), pp. 121144. Thomas, M.G. (1987), Water Pumping. The Solar Alternative, Sandia National Laboratories, Report No. SAND87-0804, Albuquerque (www.prod.sandia.gov/cgibin/techlib/access-control.pl/1987/870804.pdf). von Aichberger, S. (2003), Pump up the volume. Market survey on solar pumps, Photon International, December, pp. 5057.

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