1. ETEC 4301 Design Lab Jacob Ison Solar Energy and The Family Farm

2. Why? ● In today's economy, every facet of life has become more expensive. ● The small family farms and businesses have suffered most from this continual inflation. ● One of the largest factors in the reduction of the number of small family farms is the rising energy costs.

3. How Do You Reduce Energy Costs? ● Energy costs are crippling many small farms. ● Many of modern day farm processes now rely on electricity to operate. ● So how do you produce electricity without being connected to the grid? ● There are several methods, but the most common and practicable is the use of solar panels.

4. Solar? ● With the appropriate use of solar power, many of the process on farms can now be set up as stand alone systems. ● With stand alone systems, they are isolated from the power grid, using the alternative energy source as a power source. ● One such system would be a self sustaining automatic livestock watering system.

5. Automatic Stand-Alone Livestock Watering System ● This is one system that would be very appropriate for integration with a solar panel power source. ● The design of this system is such that a minimum amount of power is required to operate it while yet delivering the required needs.

6. Automatic Stand-Alone Livestock Watering System ● This system has several components: – Solar Panel power source – Battery bank with a charge controller – Pump filled Storage Tank – Gravity fed Drinking Trough – Level and Temperature sensing capabilities – Communication from system on levels, temperature, and pump/fill valve status to computer in house/supervising station.

7. System Layout Solar Panel House Drinking Trough Storage Tank Water Source Pump Charge Control Battery Bank System Control Fill Valve

8. Is This Possible? ● The gravity fed Drinking Trough eliminates the need for a pump between tanks and only a low volume pump for the Storage Tank. ● The control logic requires a minimal amount of power. ● The system is self sustaining with the presence of a water supply and within proper temperatures

9. Cost? ● The cost of running this system from the grid and/or manually is greater in the long run than the cost to build this system. ● For an average estimate of the implementation of this system, the cost would be approximately $1400.