Farmers will not be left without irrigation: the innovative VEICHI SI23 solution that will save you money and stress

Farmers will not be left without irrigation – an innovative solution from VEICHI SI23.

VEICHI has developed an innovative solution for farmers – watering plants without connection to the central power grid. In short about the solution – you can draw water in the field from a well using free energy. Interested? Well then, let’s break down the solution step by step.

Farmers from time to time face problems with watering their crops. This usually happens due to climate change, which in recent times increasingly causes difficulties for plant growers. A typical story goes like this: there is a field located far from power lines. The plants need watering. Often, bringing electricity to the pump costs sums with 5–7 zeros, and that’s just for the connection, not counting the cost of the electricity itself, which only keeps rising. But a solution was invented for them that is cheaper than bringing centralized power, but unfortunately problematic. Let’s look at it.

A well is drilled in the field. Solar panels are installed nearby. The panels are connected to a hybrid inverter. Energy from the hybrid inverter is supplied to a frequency converter. And the pump is connected to the frequency drive.

Advantages of this scheme

• It works somehow

Disadvantages

• Reduced efficiency because there are two inverters in the system
• Expensive project
• Extra conversions – the produced DC voltage in the hybrid inverter is converted to AC, then the AC voltage at the frequency drive input is converted to DC again, and then back to AC, which is then supplied to the pump
• Anyone who has done this knows that such two inverters occasionally throw errors without obvious reasons – they interfere with each other
• Therefore, a mechanism for resetting errors must be considered

Now let’s look at the revolutionary solution from VEICHI based on the SI23 series solar frequency converter (by the way, based on the AC300 series).

In principle, everything is clear without words, but let’s describe this system. Power from the solar panels goes directly into the solar frequency converter (SFC). The SFC can also (I emphasize, it can but not necessarily) be connected to central power. And then the magic happens. This solar frequency drive operates depending on the voltage and power supplied to it.

For example, it can operate solely on solar energy, delivering the power available to it (if there isn’t enough sunlight, a reduced frequency will simply be supplied to the motor to balance the system). If AC power is connected and maximum frequency operation is needed, the shortage will be drawn from the grid. If there isn’t enough sun, it will take more from the grid. All of this is balanced automatically—no need to intervene or adjust anything. By default, it uses the maximum from the sun, minimal or none from the grid.

Advantages of this system

• Increased efficiency. Fewer conversion losses
• The ability to operate solely on solar power
• Lower DC bus voltage and wide range (DC250V – 780VDC), whereas conventional drives start at around 500 V DC bus voltage
• The price is slightly higher than a conventional frequency drive
• This solar frequency converter is designed not only for pumps but for any motor
• All the advantages of the AC310 series drive. It can work with synchronous motors
• Output frequency up to 320 Hz
• Power range from 0.7 to 710 kW!!!
• Automatic transfer switch function when changing sources, implemented based on physics – no switching components

Disadvantages

• The price is slightly higher than a conventional frequency drive, but considering its advantages, this can be overlooked.

A bit more about SI23

This product also comes in a book-style form factor, allowing for dense installation – resulting in space savings without losing performance.

• Support for various communication protocols and expansion boards
• Encoder board
• Resolver board
• Input/output expansion boards
• Communication boards: EtherCat, Ethernet TCP/IP, ProfiBus, ProfiNet, CanOpen, and others
• RS-485 ModBus RTU is installed by default

• Heat dissipation is implemented the same as in the AC300
• The boards are isolated from the air duct to improve resistance to environmental effects
• The wide surface of the radiator fins effectively dissipates heat to ensure reduced full power
• Careful selection of high-quality components, advanced design
• And of course, a three-layer conformal coating on the boards, as in all AC300-based series

Finally, the Chastotnik team has developed its own product for remote monitoring/control of frequency converters. This product is universal and suitable for 99.9% of converters. For this SI23 solar frequency drive, it is an excellent assistant as it greatly saves time on trips to turn irrigation on/off. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. We will be happy to help you.