Development of a System Model for Low-Cost, Solar-Powered Drip Irrigation Systems in the MENA Region
Name
v02bt03a022-detc2018-86297.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
2.14 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
cfa90dfa3d93746855e843f63ff61ea7
Author(s)
Sokol, Julia
Grant, Fiona
Sheline, Carolyn
Winter, Amos
Date Issued
August 2018
Journal
Volume 2B: 44th Design Automation Conference
Publisher
ASME International
Citation
Sokol, Julia, Grant, Fiona, Sheline, Carolyn and Winter, Amos. 2018. "Development of a System Model for Low-Cost, Solar-Powered Drip Irrigation Systems in the MENA Region." Volume 2B: 44th Design Automation Conference.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Drip irrigation has the potential to conserve water and increase crop yields. However, existing drip irrigation systems often require high pumping power, making them financially inaccessible to smallholder farmers. Integrating a holistic system model with a cost-optimization scheme can enable the design and implementation of low-cost, solar-powered drip irrigations systems, ultimately making this technology more cost-effective for smallholder farmers. This paper describes the algorithms comprising an integrated model of solar-powered drip irrigation systems, consisting of agronomic, hydraulic, pump, and power system modules. It also introduces a preliminary optimization scheme for the power system, which uses the system hydraulics and pump curve to select an optimal solar array and energy storage configuration that minimizes capital cost. The system model and power system optimization is applied to three case studies, and the resulting power system configurations are compared to outputs from commercially-available software for sizing solar pumping systems. The results show that the model successfully captures the nuances in crop type, local weather patterns, and hydraulic system layout between different cases. This offers a greater level of flexibility than commercially available software, which tends to have broader applications and focuses on larger systems. Future model generations will add more variables to the optimization scheme — including pump selection, variable emitter flow rates and pipe geometries — to provide a versatile design tool for cost-optimized, solar-powered drip irrigation systems.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Global Engineering and Research Laboratory
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1115/detc2018-86297
