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6. Water Pumping System

Last modified: 27.01.2015

The house is supplied with water by a pumping system also powered by a photovoltaic solar array. A DC pump is powered by 2 photovoltaic polycrystalline silicon modules that are independent from the main power system of the house. This pumping system is similar to hundreds of systems installed by CEPEL in municipalities served by PRODEEM.

Sistema de BombeamentoSistema de bombeamento de água
Figure 7 - Water pumping system

The water pumping system installed in the Solar House consists of a submerged pump that operates on 12 volt DC voltage and has a flow rate of 500 liters/hour.

cisternabomba d'água
Tank with a submerged 12 Vdc pump

6.1. Photovoltaic system of water pumping simulation

sistema fotovoltaico de simulação de bombeamento de água

Comprising two glass tanks positioned with a height difference of 1.25m and a 12 Volts DC pump powered by two 64 Wp PV modules, this system simulates the operation of a photovoltaic water pumping system. The bottom tank is the artesian well, where the DC pump is submerged, and the top one, the water tank, where the energy generated by the photovoltaic modules is stored as gravitational potential energy.

You can also simulate the performance of the photovoltaic pumping system at different depths using a throttle valve and a manometer (pressure gauge) inserted at the output of the DC pump. As the valve throttles the section of the pipe, the pressure measured between the valve and the DC pump increases, where the value of the pressure measured in kilograms.force equals height in depth meters.

CRESESB - Reference Center of Solar and Wind Energy / CEPEL - Electric Power Research Center
Av. Horácio Macedo, 354 - Cidade Universitária - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brazil, CEP 21941-911
Tel: 55 (21) 2598-6174 / 2598-6187 - Fax: 55 (21) 2280-3537 - E-mail:
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