A Guide on Designing a Solar Photovoltaic Powered DC Water
Pump
Table of Contents
Typical Design of Solar Powered DC Motor Pump
Requirements of Solar Powered DC Water Pump
Steps to Design a Photovoltaic Powered DC Water Pump
Example & Calculation for Designing a Solar Powered DC Water Pump
Typical Design of Solar Powered DC Motor Pump
The simplest type of PV system one could ever design is by connecting single or
multiple PV modules directly to the DC load as shown in figure 1 below.
The overall capacity of the modules is such that it can supply power only during the
sunshine hours. No special arrangement is made to have the maximum utilization of
the modules by tracking the maximum power point of the modules with a charge
controller throughout the day.
Such a system is an unregulated system as the power output from the modules
changes due to change in the sunshine hours and no backup battery arrangement is
made to supply energy demand during night-time operation. Such a system is more
suitable for domestic applications such as pumping of water using a DC motor water
pump.
As stated, such a system can be used for pumping of water especially in the
application of irrigation. If we need water at night, then we can use the stored energy
in the battery to pump the water during night time. But as we know that batteries can
only be charged during the day sun-shine hours.
So why should we charge batteries if we can utilize that available solar energy to
pump the water right away during sunshine hours? On the other hand, we know that
batteries are not cheap and would also require a power electronics circuit like a
charge controller which would add to the cost. So, by utilizing the available solar
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energy right away during sunshine hours to pump the water we can eliminate the
cost and space required for the battery and charge controller in this standalone
application.
The design of such a system is very simple as we have to match the power and
voltage rating of the PV module to that of the DC pump motor so when the module
receives the solar radiation the pump will draw the water and store it in the tank.
Such a system can also be designed for an AC motor of different power ratings
which is available in the market.
But the AC motor pump will require an inverter (DC – AC) circuit to invert the DC
power generated by the PV module into AC power to run the motor. Also, the
inverter power rating should be properly matched with that of the AC motor and PV
module.
Requirements of Solar Powered DC Water Pump
Now before we begin with the design of the system for water pumping it is important
to understand some terms which are closely related to design such a standalone
system.
1. Daily water requirement (m3/day): The water requirement may vary daily, monthly,
and seasonally. The amount of water required per day determines the cost and the
size of the system. So, if the water requirement varies per day than the weekly or
monthly average can be taken for design calculation. But maximum water
requirement should be considered, because if the system can fulfill the peak water
demand than it can fulfill the regular demand.
2. Total Dynamic Head (TDH) (meters): This is the most important parameter for the
design of the pumping system. It is the effective pressure at which the water pump
must operate and it is measured in meters. It has two sub-parameters first one is the
total vertical lift and the other one is the total frictional losses. Now further, the total
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vertical lift is the summation of three parameters shown in figure 3 below as;
elevation, standing water level, and Drawdown.
The elevation is the measure of the difference between the points i.e. between the
ground and the height at which the water is to be discharged.
Standing Water Level is the difference between the water level in the well and the
surface ground.
Drawdown is the measure of the height from which the water level drops down due to
pumping the water out.
3. Frictional losses (meters): This is the pressure that is required to overcome the
friction in the pipe present between the water pump outlet to the point of water exit. It
is added in the total vertical height to obtain the value of Total Dynamic Head (TDH)
and is measured in meters. Multiple factors contribute to the cause of the frictional
losses such as the size of the pipe, type of fittings, air present in the pipe, number of
bends, flow rate, etc. If the water discharge point is close to the well than an
approximation value of the frictional loss is used for the calculation. For example, if
the discharge point is within 10 m of the well, 5 % of the total vertical lift is taken as
the frictional loss.
Steps to Design a Photovoltaic Powered DC Water Pump
All the above parameters are very useful for the design of the system for water
pumping using solar PV modules. Now let us see how these parameters and
different steps can be useful to design such a standalone system. The system
design can be done in five steps as follows;
Step 1: Determine the daily water requirement in (m3/day)
Step 2: Calculate the Total Dynamic Head (TDH) required for pumping the
water.
Step 3: Calculate the total hydraulic energy required per day (Watt-hour/day)
for pumping the water.
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Step 4: Calculate the solar radiation available at the site.
Step 5: Calculate the size and number of PV modules required, the motor
rating, its efficiency, and losses.
Example & Calculation for Designing a Solar Powered DC Water
Pump
To understand this simply let us take a design example where we need 50 m 3 water
per day from a depth of 20 m. It has elevation, standing water level, and drawdown
of 10 m, 10 m, and 4 m respectively.
Water density is 2000 kg/m3 and acceleration due to gravity (g) is 9.8 m/s 2. The peak
power rating of the solar module is 36 W P, as the modules do not operate at its rated
peak power capacity so the operating factor is 0.75. The pump efficiency is around
40 % and the mismatch factor is 0.85 as the modules do not operate at the
maximum PowerPoint.
Note that the mismatch factor should be taken as 1 if we are using an MPPT along
with the charge controller, but in our case mismatch factor is 0.85 as we are directly
connecting the PV modules to the DC pump motor.
Step 1: Determine the daily water requirement in (m3/day)
Daily water requirement = 50 m3/day
Step 2: Calculate the Total Dynamic Head (TDH) required for pumping the water.
Total vertical lift = Elevation + Standing Water Level + Drawdown
Total vertical lift = 10 m + 10 m + 4 m = 24 m
Frictional loss = 5 % of the total vertical lift = 24 × 0.05 = 1.2 m
Total Dynamic Head (TDH) = Total vertical lift + Frictional loss
Total Dynamic Head (TDH) = 24 m + 1.2 m = 25.2 m
Step 3: Calculate the total hydraulic energy required per day (Watt-hour/day) for
pumping the water.
Hydraulic energy required = Mass × g × TDH
Hydraulic energy required = Density × Volume × g × TDH
Hydraulic energy required = 2000 kg/m3 × 50 m3/day × 9.8 m/s2 × 25.2 m = 6860
Wh/day
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Step 4: Calculate the solar radiation available at the site.
Solar radiation available at the site (No. of hours of peak sunshine per day) = 6h/day
(1000 W/m2 equivalent)
Peak sun hours are most commonly used as they simplify the calculations. Do not
get confused with the “Mean Sunshine Hours” and “Peak Sun Hours” which you
would collect from the meteorological station. The “Mean sunshine hours” indicate
the number of hours the sunshine’s were as the “Peak sun hours” is the number of
hours the actual amount of energy received in KWh/m2/day.
Step 5: Calculate the size and number of PV modules required, the motor rating, its
efficiency, and losses.
Total wattage of PV panel = Total hydraulic energy / No. of hours of peak sunshine
per day
Total wattage of PV panel = 6860 / 6 = 1143.33 W
Total wattage of PV panel considering system losses = Total wattage of PV panel /
(Pump efficiency × Mismatch factor)
Total wattage of PV panel considering system losses = 1143.33 / (0.40 × 0.85) =
3362.73 W
Total wattage of PV panel considering the operating factor of the PV module = Total
wattage of PV panel considering system losses / Operating factor
Total wattage of PV panel considering operating factor of the PV module = 3362.73 /
0.75 = 4483.64 W
No. of PV panels required of 36 WP = Total wattage of PV panel considering the
operating factor of the PV module / 36
No. of PV panels required of 36 WP = 4483.64 / 36 =124.54 = (125 round figure)
Power rating of the DC motor = Total wattage of PV panel considering operating
factor of the PV module / 746 W (i.e. 1 hp) = 6.0102 hp motor = (7 hp round figure)
The arrangement of the panels in series and parallel can be done based on the
voltage and current rating of the module and the DC motor. Such a system can also
be designed with an MPPT circuit and inverter for the AC motor but it is important
that its efficiency and power rating should be taken into consideration while
designing the system.
Conclusion
We studied a simple and economical approach to design a solar PV powered based
DC water pumping which requires limited components, no requirement of batteries
and controller. We briefly studied basic terms related to water pumping and detailed
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design calculations to pump the required level of water for irrigation purposes. Such
a system can also be designed using an AC motor and can be implemented at
domestic, residential, and commercial levels.
