Performance evaluation of a solar powered lighting system provided with automatic control for agricultural applications / [electronic resource].

Year book of Misr Society of Agricultural Engineering : The 20 th. Annual Conference of the Misr Society of Agricultural Engineering "Agricultural Engineering and Country Challenges"

Includes references.

With the lack of conventional fuel quantities and on the other hand the dai(v average amount of sunshine hours all over Egypt is about 9-11 hours Egypt, thereby receiving abundant solar energy with an annual of direct solar radiation of about 2000-3200 kWhlm]/year. So it is necessary to take advantage of thi~ energy in various fields, especially in agricultural applications to reduce the cost of energy required in production process. In this investigation, a stand-alone solar-powered lighting system for agricultural applications is designed, operated completely independent of the power grid and evaluated The study focused on the viability of using solar energy to light the Tractors and Farm machinery Testing & Research Station at Sabahia Alexandria Governorate, Egypt. A solar system prototype is constructed from the available materials in local market for the purpose ofgathering data on different operating conditions. It consisted of two light emitting diodes (LED) 30 W solar panel, control circuit for charging batteries and automatic c.utoff circuit during day light. The results showed that the average voltage, current and power capability from the solar cell during the test days were 12.17 volts, 0.972 amps and 11.84 watts, respectively. The light runs of abollt 9 hours continually during the night. The solar
panel efficiency was about 59%. The developed lighting system can be used to light the animal barns, greenhouses, rural houses. and the streets inside the rural places.

Summary in Arabic.