An experimental comparison of meter calibration used in a photovoltaic water pumping system installed in an arid environment

Abstract

Energy and water are crucial for humans in all their activities. In rural areas, irrigation is a surviving key where sustainable approaches like solar water pumping systems are required to meet this demand. One of the crucial challenges in the hydraulic field is the flow rate measurement with high accuracy. The exact estimation of the water flow rate pumped using a solar photovoltaic water pumping system is essential to evaluate the system's performance. This paper presents an analytical method to study a comparative analysis of the results of the system measurement errors. The experimental data are collected from our pumping system located in Adrar city (Algeria). The performance is analyzed using the measured water flow rate data using three different meters, one ultrasonic and two turbine meters, where a turbine meter is used as a standard meter. The test was done in May 2019. Keys words: PV pumping system, meter measurement, measurement accuracy, error calibration, ultrasonic flow meter, turbine flow meter.