Abstract
Abstract. Many rural farming areas are located far from a reliable electricity supply; hence, obtaining a reliable source of water for crops and livestock can prove to be an expensive venture. A water pump operating on the water-hammer effect requires no external power source and can serve as an effective means of pumping water to a higher altitude once a reliable supply is available. A low-cost small water-hammer head pump was designed to operate on the water-hammer head effect created by the sudden stoppage of a flowing fluid. This design consisted of an inlet section followed by the pump body, a pressure section and an outlet. The experimental set-up for testing the water-hammer head pump was designed with a variable head input and an adjustable head output. For each test configuration, a total of 10 samples of pump supply water and pump exhausted water were collected. The water samples were collected for 30 s in each case. The results showed a non-linear variation of water flow with respect to pump outlet height. The pump was capable of delivering water to a maximum height of 8 to 10 times the height of the input head. The pump operated at average efficiencies of 26 %, 16 % and 6 % when the delivery height was 2, 4 and 6 times the input head height, respectively. There was a 5 % incremental decrease in pump efficiency as the delivery height increased in increments of the corresponding input head height.
Highlights
The first type of pump to use the water-hammer effect was the hydraulic ram pump which was reported in 1775 and built by Whitehurst (1775)
This study investigates the performance characteristics of a low-cost hydraulic ram pump with input and delivery head height variation and quantifies the change in efficiency with respect to the water delivered
– The pump was capable of delivering water to a maximum height of 8 to 10 times the height of the input head
Summary
The first type of pump to use the water-hammer effect was the hydraulic ram pump which was reported in 1775 and built by Whitehurst (1775) His design was not automatic and was controlled by manually opening and closing a stopcock which resulted in the device only being able to raise water to a height of 4.9 m. In 1816 this problem was eliminated when Pierre Montgolfier designed the sniffer valve that reintroduced the introduction of air into the chamber This valve was 15 cm in radius, and it was reported that the pump was able to raise water to a height of 48 m (Mohammed, 2007). The ram pump must be installed at a location lower than that of the water source that
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
