Performance of a Direct‐Coupled Photovoltaic Water Pumping System Driven by Inclined North‐South Axis Three‐Position Solar Tracker

Due to the complexity of traditional continuous tracking mechanisms, most installations for small‐scale photovoltaic water pump systems (PVWPS) are stationary and oriented due south. The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of an affordable, easy‐to‐operate tracking method for small farmers to promote the sustainable use of photovoltaic energy. Experiments are conducted to evaluate the performance of small‐scale PVWPS driven by inclined north‐south axis three‐position (INSA‐3P) solar tracker, which requires only yearly four tilt adjustments and daily three azimuth adjustments. This INSA‐3P photovoltaic (PV) system is respectively compared with a fixed system and a manual two‐axis (2A) tracking mode under typical sunny conditions in Kunming throughout the year. Two identical systems for comparison both consist of a 100 W pump and a 100 W PV module. The findings in Kunming's climate reveal that the INSA‐3P tracking system significantly outperforms the fixed system, achieving 1.56, 1.61, 1.75, and 1.60 times higher daily water pumping capacity during winter, spring, summer, autumn. It is worth noting that INSA‐3P tracking PV system can be manually implemented by adjusting the module's orientation three times a day to follow the sun's path, yielding over 96% of the daily water pumping capacity of 2A tracking PV system.