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Technology Dear Investor, Components of the Sun-Drive Please click here to download a pdf of the powerpoint prestation on the Sun-Drive (9.5MB)
Along with my latest invention, the "Sun-Drive," I attended the 32 International Inventor's Exhibition in Geneva early in April 2004. During the 5 show-days more than 58'000 visitors came to look at the 1000 inventions from 42 countries. My invention, the " Sun-Drive ," was awarded the Silver Medal out of 49 competitors in my class "Protection of the Environment - Energy". The Sun-Drive is an all in one complete and compact pumping system. It consists of a frame, for the polymer piston-pump, the drive and the solar panel on top. It works sufficiently with a small fixed array from 40W to 90W and without a power optimiser (electronic device) and can also be used as a hand drive as such, or in an emergency. At R/D stage is the " Billabong" pump drive. A bigger unit without the hand drive option. It will be very efficient using a brush-less DC motor in conjunction with a maximum power point tracker (MPPT) and an active tracking array for the solar panels. Especially for water pumping systems of more than 200W, trackers are almost indispensable, up to 50% more water is pumped per day! I have also improved my 5 Star trackers over the past 14 years to a point where breakdowns are extremely rare. An additional product that is ready for marketing is the " Poly-Air Pump " with a solar powered controller. This pump coupled with the controller has a huge potential in salinity stricken areas. I am looking for a company (preferably involved in renewable energy) interested in the manufacturing and marketing of these solar water pumping systems. A company with contacts in Far East India, Africa, or any other developing country would also be interesting as these parts of the world are the main target for these water pumps. Best regards and I look forward to hearing from you. Bruno Wittwer Market Assessment
GlobalWater is the source of life. In developing countries, many of the health related problems could be reduced in severity, even eradicated by a reliable, clean source of water. Currently many communities still have a polluted source of water or have to travel long distances to attain water for themselves, their crops and livestock. The Sun-Drive would be perfectly suited for these conditions. Being a positive displacement pump means it can pump water over a very long distance, several kilometres if needed. 10 Million Pumps Needed"In 1978 a team at the World Bank presented a compelling case for a programme to apply small PV pumps for irrigation "micro-irrigation") on a huge scale. A goal of 10 million units installed by the year 2000 was presented as appropriate, as having a significant impact on world food production yet representing only 10 percent of potential farmer users. Economic analysis suggested that small PV pumps would be economic with array costs of around $5/Wp (1978 dollars) which was the US Department of Energy projected price for 1981." World Bank Technical Paper No. 168 (1993) . SOLAR WATER PUMPING"Solar pumping is better suited to village water supply, both because of the smaller quantities of water involved (and thus lower power demand) and comparatively high value of domestic water compared to that for irrigation. Water demand tends to be roughly constant throughout the year, but it is very desirable to incorporate a covered storage tank in the system (to guard against periods of poor supply or pump breakdown). In practical terms storage for more than a day or two is rarely feasible, and backup HAND-PUMP may cheaper than a larger tank in some case (e.g., on open wells)." World Bank Technical Paper No. 168 (1993)
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