A RESEARCH ON WATER PUMPING THROUGH SOLAR ENERGY

Photovoltaic water pumping (PWP) systems are particularly suitable for water supply in remote areas where no electrical energy is available. Due to the high initial costs of the PWP systems, it is necessary to dimension photovoltaic installations as accurately as possible. In this study, some technical properties of a solar water pumping system have been researched and determined in terms of using electrical energy that obtained from solar energy through photovoltaic (PV) principles to assure mechanical energy for the operation of submersible pumps. For this purpose, electrical properties like current, voltage and power and the efficiency of the PV system have been determined. The system was made up of 3 arrays, consisted of 4 modules each, for a total of 12 modules and every module had a total of 12 × 6 = 72 PV cells. The flow rates of the pumped water, the hydraulic power values of submersible pumps and their efficiencies were calculated using three different submersible pumps, which operated electricity that produced through the PV system. Electrical power, transferred to the accumulator by a module was calculated as 656.23 W in the PV system. The average electrical power produced by the PV system was calculated as 2982.72 W. Electrical power generation efficiency of the PV system was calculated as 17.86% in average. The average flow rate, hydraulic power and efficiency values of the submersible pumps that have been used for the studies were calculated as in the range of 21.6-28.8m3/h, 1270.58-1694.11 W and 42-56.6%, respectively.