PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF RECYCLEDLITHIUM-ION BATTERIES IN IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Water pumps, being the most essential part of any irrigation system require fuel or electricity to be operated. Thefuel is often expensive, and majority of rural areas are not connected to the grid. This necessitated the need foran alternative source of energy to power the pumps. Solar energy is one of the most easily accessible forms ofenergy and has the advantages of being environmentally friendly and durable. The energy is also in abundanceand readily available. A key concern is the high cost of batteries to store the solar energy. This paper analyses theperformance of solar irrigation system using recycled laptop batteries. The use of recycled laptop batteries is expectedto cut the cost of deep-cycle batteries by more than 60%. Experimental results have shown that the recycledlithium-ion batteries can effectively power irrigation pump hence, can handle the irrigation process satisfactorily.