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"Single-Phase" Electric Irrigation Engine
A new-style electric motor could provide a low-maintenance alternative to gas or diesel engines used to run irrigation systems, ac-cording to researchers at the University of Missouri.
Neil Meador, Allen Thompson, and Mark Russell have been testing a 30 hp single-phase Written-Pole motor that can run off the stan
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"Single-Phase" Electric Irrigation Engine HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Hay & Forage Harvesting 21-5-31 A new-style electric motor could provide a low-maintenance alternative to gas or diesel engines used to run irrigation systems, ac-cording to researchers at the University of Missouri.
Neil Meador, Allen Thompson, and Mark Russell have been testing a 30 hp single-phase Written-Pole motor that can run off the standard power lines of any rural cooperative because it requires a relatively low starting current.
The engineers connected the Written-Pole motor, which runs on 240-volt power, to a standard turbine irrigation pump.
"The biggest advantage is the low maintenance and trouble-free operation," says Thompson. "You don't have to check the oil and refuel it every couple of days like you do with an internal combustion engine. It's dependable and quiet - you can let the motor run for weeks without worrying about it."
Electric motors have not been an option for most farmers who irrigate because larger electric motors require a three-phase power line.
The Written-Pole motor was originally designed for power failures. It has an exterior rotor that provides enough momentum to drive the system after the power is off. The motor will run with no load for 30 minutes or more after it's switched off.
"Even with a full load, if you drop the power for, say, 10 seconds, it'll continue to rotate. It slows down, but when it's energized again it'll come right back up," says Thompson. "A conventional motor would shut down, and you'd have to go through the restarting procedure and the problems associated with that."
Thompson says there is equipment on the market to convert single-phase power into three-phase power. But starting a three-phase motor with a rotary phase converter requires up to four times as much current as it takes to start a single-phase Written-Pole motor, and it costs 28 percent more to operate per year," he notes.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dr. Allen Thompson, 251 Agricultural Engineering Building, University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo. 65211 (ph 573 882-7044).
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