Wed, 14 February, 2024
With installations coming close to being complete in the Philippines, the IMPHORAA consortium would like to shine a spotlight on the newest iteration of the water pump controller units being used. These units had the goal of being able to utilise the pumps for clients in the most efficient manner possible, whilst also ensuring there will always be water available, even when the nano-grid is lower on stored power. This was important as, if someone required water but the system had low power generation, like at night, they could still utilise the water pumps.
Figure 1. Image of finished water pump V3 PCBs
The optimal pump speed was based on the following criteria:
- The remaining water level in the tank
- The volume of water that has already been pumped during the day
- The available energy in the nano-grid system, estimated by:
- The system’s battery state of charge
- Time of day
- Projected loads of all users based on data (adaptive algorithm)
The control units have additional objectives for efficient water transport:
- To ensure a predefined volume of water per day
- To ensure a minimum and maximum volume of water in a tank at all times
- To minimise pump speed when battery is low
- To maximise pump speed when battery is high
Figure 2. Diagram explaining what is required of the water pump controller
This project is supported by Innovate UKs Energy Catalyst Programme (funding by the Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office through their Transforming Energy Access Programme) and UK aid and was awarded as a “subsidy” under the UK International Obligations for Subsidy Control and delivered under Grant 90935 from Innovate UK
