Development of A Solar-Powered Slider-Crank Mechanism for Hand Pump in Rural Areas

The demand for alternative water pumping mechamism needed to overcome the challenges facing people in the remote areas is on the increase. The conventional manually operated hand pump requires a large amount of energy before quality water can be pumped for domestic and irrigation purposes. This limits its usage by the average persons, the elderly and the disabled. This study presents the development of a solar-powered slider crank mechanism, a more energy friendly drive system. Slider crank mechanism with connecting rod 70 mm, radius of crank 14.8 mm and a frame with width, breadth and height of 70 mm, 70 mm, 134 mm, respectively was fabricated using mild steel. Solar panel, charge controller, battery and low speed motor were used to power the mechanism. The performance of the solar powered slider-crank aided system for pumping water was evaluated in terms of actual and theoretical discharge, as well as volumetric and pumps efficiencies with values of 0.01693 m3/s, 0.01302 m3/s, 76.905%, 73.26%, respectively. Conclusively, the solar powered slider-crank aided water pumping system is about 24% better in terms of performance compared to the conventional manually operated hand pump.