A hydraulic ram pump is a water pump powered by water with a height difference.
In
areas where natural flows exist with a height difference of the water over a
small distance, hydraulic ram pumps can be used to transport water to higher
grounds without using electricity or fuel.
The
hydraulic ram uses the water hammer effect to develop pressure that allows a
portion of the input water that powers the pump to be lifted to a point higher
than where the water originally started.
Apart
from the kinetic energy of the water, no other source of power is needed.
The
hydraulic ram pump was invented in 1772 and widely used in the 19th century,
but was side-tracked by the advent of the coal-powered steam engine and later
by diesel powered pumps.
In
recent years the hydraulic ram pump has seen a renewed interest, because it is
powered by sustainable energy, and can be produced locally.
The
waste valve can be a spring-operated normally-open valve that closes when the
flow velocity generates sufficient drag.
The
water in the drive pipe, which is long and rigid (steel pipes will generate
higher pressure than pvc), has gathered significant momentum (p=m*v) by that
time.
When
the valve closes, that momentum generates pressure, slamming open the check
valve and compressing the air in the reservoir.
The
check valve closes again, the compressed air expands, pushing water up the
delivery pipe. The waste valve reopens and the process repeats.
The
air reservoir stores the energy, absorbs the pressure pulses, and provides
continuous flow at the delivery pipe.
It's
comparable to a smoothing capacitor: can handle any incoming current, absorbs
voltage (pressure) peaks, and delivers the energy during the whole cycle.
Without
the air, every time the waste valve closes, the two water columns are in direct
contact, one at full speed, the other at rest.
That
will cause either large pressure peaks (when they meet head on), or large
movement of the pump. At 30,000 times a day, they may not last very long.
But
the fundamental difference between a pump with air reservoir and one without is
the efficiency: without reservoir, energy is transferred by a perfectly
inelastic collision: the water in the drive pipe and the water in the delivery
pipe have the same velocity after the collision.
Not
only is that the collision where most energy is lost, the mass in the drive
pipe is also the largest mass, and will keep most of its energy after the
collision.
With
a reservoir, most of the energy of the drive mass is transferred to the reservoir,
and all that energy is used to pump the water in the delivery pipe.
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