Rain Gun on Diesel Pump Set

Hi,

In our area we do not have electricity in our farms, we generally use 5HP Diesel pump set to irrigate our fields. Our main crops
are Maize and Paddy.

I checked with 3 suppliers of Rain gun and out of them 2 said Rain Guns can not be run on Diesel pumpset, because the diesel
machine is not able to generate enough pressure due to lower rpm of such machines.

The alternative suggested by them was electric motor running on diesel generator.
However this is not economically viable due to high running cost. Since starting up an electric motor requires almost 3 times more power at start-up the generator will need to be of higher capacity and hence consume more diesel.

One of the suppliers mentioned rain gun can run on 10 HP and above diesel pump however the head of pump should be minimum 40 meters. There are not many agricultural pumps with that capacity. One of the pumps that i was able to find is attached.

I want to understand why a Diesel Engine will not be able to run this pump and generate enough pressure i.e. around 3 kg/m
to run an Rain Gun.

Will not pressure being generated also be dependent upon water table. Fortunately water table in our area is very high. We
are able to find water at 10-15 meters.

I am very keen to try out rain gun on our farm however this constraint regarding electric motor is the obstacle for which i need to find a solution.

Thanks
Nilesh
Kirloskar Pump - CE Front - Back.pdf (333 KB)

Usually all deisel engines are high torque and low RPM machines. You can term it as drawback but in other instatnces it is an advantage.
I dont suggest solar because initial invest ment is so heavy you may need a decade to break even.

Why dont you check reciprocating pump? These pumps are used in auto-services stations for water wash.

Check coupling this with deisel engine.

Another note on rain gun. If you use this in flowering time, yeild decreases. during flowering time you have to use flood irrigation.

Dear Sri Sir, nicely narrated, alternate knowledge for farmers. g.p.rao,farmer.

Thanks Siri for your reply.

I checked with few vendors, reciprocating pump is not a economically viable solution as it is very expensive. The pump itself cost around 1 Lakh.

I have just come to know that Greaves is manufacturing one Diesel pump set which might be able to run a Rain Gun based on it’s technical specification.

It’s Model 5510, which is an 8HP pumpset develops head between 2kg/cm2 to 5 kg/cm2 and has discharge greater than 500 LPM.

If anyone has used this pumpset, can you please share your experience?

Thanks
Nilesh

Hi Nilesh,

Sri pointed out correctly, they are high torque low rpm machines.

I would suggest you have a seperate solar pump converter for your water pump and a seperate solar pump converter for your rain gun. The advantage is that in our pump converter the rpm levels can be manually set to match your requirements. You also save the recurring expense on diesel.

Please do contact us if willing for a brief discussion.

Regards,

Saravana Kumar
CEO
Greencurrent Solar Energy Systems