Design and Implementation of Smart Rural Home Water Supply System using PIC Microcontroller and Solar Energy

Abstract

Water is imperative for survival, especially for living organisms and their biology. Water is essential for everyday use. The integration of solar photovoltaic systems and water supply provides a cost-effective mechanism to cater for the water scarcity problem; however, conventional water supply systems have a water pump and a reservoir for water storage without a precise monitoring system. That means, there is no control of the flow of water from the ground level to the targeted reservoir. In this paper, we present the application of the extraction of solar energy that can be utilized through a controller mechanism that will enable water to be readily available for rural applications such as domestic households, agricultural farming and livestock, schools, and hospitals. The objective of the design encapsulates the use of a PIC microcontroller to facilitate the entire operation of the solarpowered water supply system. We focus mainly on creating a costeffective and simple controller that can be installed reliably on conventional water supply systems. The methods present in this paper are carried out based on simulation and prototyping. The results show that the controller is capable of precisely monitoring and controlling the water level in the reservoir. The main motivation of this system targets the isolated and remotest areas in Papua New Guinea, and applicable other countries, to provide a cheap and reliable solar-powered water supply system that will save labor and improve living standards by providing easy access and clean water to the recipient.