Cental Water and Power Commission, New Delhi.
Lift Irrigation has become more extensive in recent times. The selection of equipment and the design and layout of the Pumping Stations are aimed at achieving maximum economy. The paper deals with the factors involved in selection and layout of pumping plants. Selection of equipment involves deoiding the type, size and number of machines. Detailed optimisation studies to obtain the minimum total annual costs may be carried out so as to have the most economic combination of size and number. The Bellman’s Dynamio Programming Method is used for the purpose of determining the minimum power required for any partioular set of pumps. High power costs in running has a most detrimental effect on the financial aspects of the scheme. Even a loss of efficiency by 1% may mean an increase of 20 to 30,000 rupees even in medium capacity plants. The layout of the pumping plant has to be most efficient hydraulically. The inlet conditions should prevent any vortex formation or air entry. These aspects are also discussed in the paper.
