Solar powered aerator for public reservior

Abstract

This paper presents a prototype of solar powered aerator for public reservoir, which consist of three main parts, first, aerator-venturi type, second, electrical system from solar panels and third, floating structures. The proposed aerator has been adopted from an used electric water pump to have a water inlet, an air inlet and mixture air and water outlet releasing bubbles through under water. Electrical system acting as the core energy resource receives light of solar energy via 2x120 watts solar panels and then accumulating the obtained electric energy to battery. The 24-volt battery will supply power to 150 watt directed current motor for driving the venturi aerator. To archive evaluation, the combined aerator with solar system has been installed at Nong Luang reservoir in Muang, Tak province and has operated for 30 minutes. To collect water samples have been done twice times at before and after operation. The obtained laboratory results show that dissolved oxygen (DO) increased from 0.87 mg/l to 3.56 mg/l and the biological oxygen demand (BOD) decreasee from 9.7 mg/l to 7.2 mg/l. According to the results, it confirms that the proposed solar powered aerator for public reservoir can operate efficiently and independently.