Play video to see the complete setup of the installation

Last week i recorded a small video during operation of the system while the motor was operating smoothly. This gives a better impression of the whole installation and setting: the room, desk in the corridor, the system,  tanks, piping, wiring, electrical and electronic setups, tools and devices, and airconditioning!

October shows early winter signs

October is almost midway but it already resembles very much of late november or even December. The weather is not at all typical of previous years when it was mostly sunny with high temperatures until late october.

Especially last week, the temperature was about 16-8 degrees Celcius and mostly cloudy, and with abrupt changes during the day which are very difficult to forecast. There were days that the system couldn't operate at all (like last weekend) because the irradiation never rose above 400 W/m2 when in order to start smooth operation, it needs at least 300 W/m2. In fact the maximum irradiation that was reached was half than the maximum of all the previous days in october and september:

Solar radiation day distribution on 09/10/10

Solar radiation day distribution on 10/10/2010

One typical day of the previous days in October was like on 8/10/10:

Solar radiation on 08/10/10

As it can be seen from the above graph, fluctuations in irradiation were significantly deep and abrupt. System operation without a motor speed regulator but manual control, was extremely difficult and inefficient while frequent start and stops to protect the pump were unavoidable. 

All results have been logged with the datalogger and conclusions/comparisons will be announced later this week.