Optimizing Photovoltaic Water Pumping Systems for Developing Countries Through the Addition of a Novel Induced-flow Subsystem

Water supply and sanitation in developing countries represents an issue responsible for millions of deaths each year. Despite the recent advances in photovoltaic (PV) water pumping systems, high set-up costs, lack of local expertise and reliability issues have prevented many people from benefiting from this potentially life-saving technology. This is particularly unfortunate given that PV pumps have been shown to be cheaper than conventional diesel pumps over the product lifetime. This research has been undertaken to reduce these high implementation costs and other stability issues by developing the theory towards a self-regulating, sustainable pumping system based on the use of an additional flow subsystem modelled on a DC boost-converter circuit from power electronics.