Investigation and Parameter Optimization of a Hydraulic Ram Pump Using Taguchi Method

Abstract

The main objective of this research work is to investigate the effect of Waste Valve height and Pressure Chamber height on the output flow rate of a Hydraulic ram pump. Also the second objective of this work is to optimize them for a hydraulic ram pump delivering water up to a height of 3.81 m (12.5 feet ) from the ground with a drive head (inlet head) of 1.86 m (6.11 feet). Two one-factor-at-a-time experiments have been conducted to decide the levels of the selected input parameters. After deciding the input parameters, an experiment has been designed using Taguchi’s L9 Orthogonal Array with three repetitions. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is carried out to verify the significance of effect of the factors on the output flow rate of the pump. Results show that the height of the Waste Valve and height of the Pressure Chamber have significant effect on the outlet flow of the pump. For a pump of drive pipe diameter (inlet pipe) 31.75 mm (1.25 in.) and delivery pipe diameter of 12.7 mm (0.5 in.) the optimum setting was found out to be at a height of 114.3 mm (4.5 in.) of the Waste Valve and 406.4 mm (16 in.) of the Pressure vessel providing a delivery flow rate of 93.14 l per hour. For the same pump estimated range of output flow rate is, 90.65–94.97 l/h.