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The availability and costs of water, irrigation systems and energy are extremely important elements that limit the expansion of irrigation in many agricultural areas. The use of renewable sources of energy and specifically photovoltaic, has been seen as a short-term solution to this last limitation. However, although apparently the existing technological alternatives can satisfy in this way the power demanded by any type and size of electric pump, there are many factors that decide the profitability of these alternatives in the case of irrigation. The present work aimed to analyze one of these factors; the effect of the size of the irrigation system on the economic viability of this technology. Five modular systems of one, two, three, four and five hectares were designed for it, with their respective photovoltaic arrangements, which were economically evaluated. The results indicate that although there is an increase in the initial investment and operating costs due to economies of scale, the costs of the photovoltaic kilowatt installed and therefore of the annual water pumping, tend to decrease as the area increases, with Values that ranged from 24.8 MCUP/kWp in the 1-hectare module, to 23.3 MCUP/kWp in the 5-hectare module. Corresponding to this, the smallest variants (1 ha) were unprofitable, showing profits after negative tax, with losses of 21.8 MCUP/year, as well as a B/C ratio of less than 1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a technological solution to improve a process in the maritime oil terminal, Pozos Colorados. The objective of the solution is the filter cleaning automation of discharge system an oil tanker ship. The purpose of the solution is to improve the conditions of industrial safety and occupational health of workers who perform this function manually, and optimize the process of receiving hydrocarbons by improving operating times. The methodology is basic and detailed engineering, applied to automation engineering, this contemplating the narrative: process, design and evaluation is used to prepare the proposal. The proposal delivers the design of: the hydraulic system, the electrical system and the control system. The solution includes: capturing water from the storage pool and by means of a controlled pressure electric pump, transporting the fluid to the filtering area; and the filters are cleaned using a sprinkler branch located inside the basket. The washing process is manipulated by means of solenoid valves and a variable speed drive, these are governed by a programmable logic controller, this PLC receives information on the variables involved by means of sensors. The modeling, simulation and evaluations of the proposal support the possibility of implementing automation by making some adjustments to the existing infrastructure and adding electrical, mechanical and electronic elements [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wrong selection of full-load power of induction motors which are being purchased at present to drive water pumps and also an incorrect selection of their nominal performance voltage can lead to unexpected practical problems during pumping in far rural pumping stations. A thorough study is presented in this paper leading to a set of proposed measures in order to eliminate those problems which can frequently arise in motors connected in places which are distant from transmission substations of the national electropower system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]