Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Hydraulic Ram Pump
Hydraulic Ram Pump
Table of Contents
File Downloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
Intro: Hydraulic Ram Pump
Pump water with no electricity, no gasoline, just gravity!
Sound crazy or impossible? Don't worry, it does obey the laws of physics, but I'll try to explain the operation later. This instructable shows how to build a fairly simple
water pump that needs no energy input other than water flowing from a higher point to a lower point. Most of the pump is constructed from PVC, with a couple of bronze
pieces thrown in for flavor. I was able to source all of the parts from a local hardware store (Lowes) for a bit under $100.
To function, the pump does require a reasonable amount of water that will drop at least 3'-5'. The level that the pump can raise water to depends on the water's head
(total drop the water will make).
If you like what I've done, please take the time to give it a rating, and I'd love to hear your input. Thanks!
1-1/4" valve
1-1/4" tee (buy two of these)
1-1/4" union
1-1/4" brass swing check valve
1-1/4" spring check valve
3/4" tee
3/4" valve
3/4" union
1-1/4" x 3/4" bushing
1/4" pipe cock
100 psi gauge
3/4" x 6" nipple
4" x 1-1/4" bushing
4" coupling
4" x 24" PR160 PVC pipe
4" PVC glue cap
3/4" x 1/4" bushing
Short (4') section of 1-1/4" PVC pipe
Old Bicycle Innertube
This parts list comes directly from the Clemson website. I recommend you look there for help in identifying what each of the pieces look like, if you're unsure. I'm also not
convinced that the 100 PSI gauge, or all of the things that make it possible, are necessary. This will probably drop the price a good bit, and I haven't found a need for it on
my pump. The associated pieces are: 100 PSI gauge, 3/4" Tee, 3/4" x 1/4" bushing, the 1/4" pipe cock. Four things not needed. But have them if you like.
Connections Note Read through the instructable and understand all the pipe-fitting connections that will happen before buying materials. The store may not have exactly
what you're looking for, and you may have to improvise. I wound up getting some different parts because my local store didn't have the exact parts I was looking for. This
usually appears in the form of not having a threaded fitting, but having a smooth pipe connection, or vice versa. Not a problem, you can figure it out.
Installation Materials
Long section of 1-1/4" PVC ("drive pipe", connects pump to water supply)
Garden Hose (male end threads into 3/4" union, supplies pumped water)
Bricks, blocks, rocks to prop up and anchor pump
Shower Drain assembly (must be able to attach to 1-1/4" pipe, for attaching pipe to water supply)
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
Measuring Tape
Clamps
Pocket Knife
Lab gloves (keeps the chemicals on the pipe and off your hands)
Bike Pump (to inflate the innertube)
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
Image Notes Image Notes
1. 1/4" Pipe Nipple 1. PSI Gauge, metal fittings. Probably unnecessary, which could save you $$.
2. 1/4" Pipe Nipple. But you shouldn't need this one... I don't know why I have it 2. Teflon thread tape
in there.
3. 1/4" Pipecock
4. 3/4" to 1/4" threaded bushing
5. 3/4" threaded tee
You will have to cut the long sections of pipe into shorter sections to go between each of the fittings. This is discussed more in the next step.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
Image Notes
1. Air compression chamber in place
Once these pieces are all cut, take your knife (or some sand paper) and try to smooth the inside edge of the pipe. Get all the burr off, clean it up, give it a nice bevel or
rounded edge. The idea here is to make these as smooth as possible, to reduce the likelihood of cracks developing with the repeated pressure waves that occur inside
the pipe. Clean up both ends, and make pieces to join all of the 1-1/4" fittings.
While you're at it, you might as well clean up the edges on the other sections of pipe, though it will be less critical for the other parts. Now that you've got all the
connecting segments, you can actually test fit the first part of the pump together, just for fun.
Don't worry if the pipes seem rather tight when you're test fitting everything. The primer and cement help them go together when you do the real assembly.
Image Notes
1. Cut and prepared sections of pipe
2. Primer and Cement
3. Rough-poured concrete that might become purplish
4. The outdoors is very well ventilated
For those of you who haven't built things from PVC in the past, it isn't terribly difficult. The primer serves to clean off the PVC a little bit and gets it ready to really bond
with the cement. The cement keeps everything together.
Most PVC chemical bottles have caps with little brushes attached to them. Take the cap off the primer, and carefully coat the outside face of the pipe, with a band about
2" wide beginning at the end. Take care not to drip the primer on anything that you don't want permanently purple. Once the pipe is coated, do the same for the inside of
the fitting that you're planning on cementing up. Close up the primer bottle.
Open up the cement bottle, which should also have a little brush in it. With this brush, go over the areas that you painted with the primer. Don't rush, but you do want to
get the pipes together before the cement dries up. You've got time though, so focus on getting a nice coating of cement on both pieces.
Once you've got cement where you want it (and hopefully only a little where you don't) fit the pipe into the fitting. It should slide in without too much resistance. When
working on my pump, I felt that it was best to clamp up each piece after I had assembled it, that way the pipe couldn't slip back at all. It may not be necessary, but I figure
it helps.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
Most of the pieces go together in a fairly self-explanatory way, but there are a few things to note: on the spring check valve there is an arrow, and you will want this to
point toward the main tee that will have the 4" pipe (air chamber) on it. This allows water to pass through toward the main tee, which you want. With the brass swing
check valve , the arrow should point down toward the tee, and the main line of pipe.
Image Notes
1. Purple primer spots on drop cloth
2. Clamp squeezing fittings together
3. Clamp keeping force from other clamp in a straight line over section
4. Potentially unnecessary pressure valve assembly.
5. Connection to pressure tank
When connecting the threaded sections, make sure to wrap some teflon tape around the threads. This will help the operation along and prevent leaks at these joints.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
Image Notes Image Notes
1. Spring check valve, flow direction is to the left (toward pressure chamber) 1. Blue nitrile lab gloves. Handy.
2. Swing check valve, flow direction (arrow) pointing toward PVC pipes 2. Front section glued up
3. First (in terms of water flow) 1-1/4" tee fitting. 3. Back section gluing up
4. "Main" tee, connected to pressure chamber eventually. 4. PVC Cement
5. Purple Primer
Image Notes
1. 3/4" pipe nipple, threaded both ends. No cement needed, just teflon tape and
torque (via appropriately sized wrench)
2. 3/4" Pipe, threaded as needed. I think only one end is here, as I was only able
to find
3. Connection to the pressure tank.
4. Main tee
The bike tube prevents the pressure chamber from becoming waterlogged during operation. Air dissolves into water. It does so more readily at high pressure. (This is
related to how commercially produced soft drinks are carbonated) The bike tube sequesters some of the air from ever contacting the water (in theory), and prevents all of
the air from being carried out of the pressure chamber.
Stuff the bike tube down into the big pipe, a la image two. After this, cement on both ends, and clamp that sucker up. Once that's dried up, go ahead and glue this whole
assembly to the pipe coming from the main tee.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
Image Notes Image Notes
1. Pressure chamber all together (but not glued yet in this picture) 1. GUTS! Nah, just bike innertube. Partially inflated, so it's squishy. Pack it down
into the pressure chamber. Prevents waterlogging of the PC.
Image Notes
1. Clamp keeps things together
2. The drop cloth is here... and the piece gluing up is not...
Installing this requires cutting the 3/4" x 6" pipe nipple in half, which creates two pieces, threaded on one end and smooth on the other, to go into the bottom arms of the
tee. Cement these.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
3. Pump outlet end (3/4"). in there.
4. Teflon tape reel cover. 3. 1/4" Pipecock
5. Pressure gauge. Numbered face fell off after not much operation. Very 4. 3/4" to 1/4" threaded bushing
disappointing. At least I wasn't using it for anything. 5. 3/4" threaded tee
6. 1/4" Brass ball valve. Aka pipecock.
Image Notes
1. 3/4" pipe nipple, threaded both ends. No cement needed, just teflon tape and
torque (via appropriately sized wrench)
2. 3/4" Pipe, threaded as needed. I think only one end is here, as I was only able
to find
3. Connection to the pressure tank.
4. Main tee
After that, you may break out the flapper dress, cut your hair short, and swing dance the night away celebrating the reckless spirit of the Jazz Age (and completion of your
pump). You party animal you.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
Image Notes Image Notes
1. Note the arrow. May I flog this dead horse some more? 1. 4" PVC Cap
2. 4" x 28" PVC Pipe
3. Brass swing check valve. Should have an arrow on it (indicating normal
direction of flow). This arrow should be pointing TOWARD the pipe connected to
the valve.
4. 1-1/4" Valve
5. 1-1/4" Union
6. 1-1/4" x 3/4" Bushing
7. 3/4" Union (threads to male garden hose!)
8. 3/4" Valve
9. 4" x 2" Reducing Fitting
10. Cans of Primer and Cement
11. Spring Check Valve
12. 1-1/4" Tee
13. 1-1/4" Tee
14. 3/4" pipe, threaded both ends. Make sure that the valve and bushing are also
threaded. Or just use smooth cemented parts all around.
15. 1-1/4" pipe section
16. 1-1/4"x2" Bushing: Outside diameter to match the 4" adapter you buy
17. 1-1/4" Pipe-to-Thread fitting
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
Step 9: Pump Installation
Now that you've got a rather aggressive looking collection of PVC bits, it's time to make it do something. You'll need to attach the stand pipe (the long section of 1-1/4"
pipe) to the 1-1/4" union with cement, and then decide how you want to hook the other end to your water source. My first method was a chopped up milk jug. Honestly, I
just wanted to see this thing pump some water.
My later design was to mount a shower drain on the other end of the stand pipe, and fix that to a styrofoam cooler that I had cut a matching hole in. The cooler served as
a collector for the pipe, and it all worked pretty well. In more permanent installation (to be completed in the coming spring) I'll attach this shower drain to a board that can
be fixed in the higher water supply, and things will be good.
Gather up a garden hose, your stand pipe, and your pump, then drag all of this out to your waterfall or what have you. Bring a friend or two. They help in the setup, and
maybe you can win the bet that "you can pump water above the source without electricity, gasoline, diesel, a bicycle, or a bucket while they watch."
At this point you can probably figure it all out on your own, but you'll need to get the water flowing down the stand pipe, which you've connected to the main pump, and
then up through the swing check valve. On to the next step for theory of operation, troubleshooting and tuning.
When you install this permanently (or semi-permanently), you'll want to find a good place to anchor it to, probably not in the stream . Place it as low as possible, but keep
in mind that if the stream were to flood and / or a tree to wash down it, it would take your nice little pump off with it.
Also, for those in the northern (or far southern) latitudes, you won't want this to be running during the winter. Water could potentially collect inside the pressure chamber
and freeze, causing you problems (untimely death of pump). But experiment as you feel fit.
The video here is playable using Quicktime. Presently, you have to save it to your computer, and change the extension (bit after the long strange file name) from .tmp to
.3gp . I'm sorry it's being difficult, maybe someday I'll set it up with an embedded player, but right now I'm short on time. It shows the pump working, with narration by
yours truly. Gives you an idea of what it sounds like standing in the water right next to it, and also has a close up of the swing check valve working.
Image Notes
1. Water flowing through swing check valve, early in cycle.
2. Holding pump upright for maximum pumping lift
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
Image Notes
1. Hard to see, but that's water being pumped out!
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
Image Notes Image Notes
1. Another view of water flowing through the swing check valve. Valve may have 1. Valve has closed, water flying into the air. Pressure has just spiked inside
just closed in photo. pump body, and water is being forced past the spring check valve.
2. Main line underwater here. Still works just fine. 2. Outlet hose underwater here
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
Image Notes
1. Swing check valve closed, pressure spiking inside of pipe, water being forced
past spring check valve.
File Downloads
As the pump cycle begins, water flows down the stand pipe, and up through the swing check valve. Water begins to flow faster and faster around the flapper in the check
valve, until friction draws the flapper up, slamming it closed. This causes a pressure spike in the pump body, as the water flowing down the stand pipe at some speed no
longer has anywhere to go. This pressure is relieved by some of the water flowing across the spring check valve, over onto the pressure chamber side of the pump. Once
past the swing check valve, it cannot return, and has to stay there. When the pressure difference across the spring check valve drops, the valve will close and water will
stop flowing through it. The lower pressure will allow the swing check valve to open again, beginning the cycle all over again.
Troubleshooting
So what if this doesn't happen? Well, first things first, check and make sure that it's "on". That is to say, make sure both the 1-1/4" and 3/4" valves are in fact open.
Sometimes water will flow out of the swing check valve, then the valve will slam closed, but nothing will happen. If this occurs, tap on the flapper in the check valve to
open it up again, and let the cycle begin again. In theory these pumps need some back pressure (coming from the pressure tank side) to operate, but I've never had any
trouble getting mine going with just some basic tapping and fiddling.
Tuning
Now that it's working, can you make it work better? You'll find that there's a maximum height that the pump can deliver water to. Be patient when trying to find this, as it
takes a little while for the pump to achieve the pressure required to raise the water up higher and higher. There are formulas that will tell you how high you can
theoretically pump water based on the source water head. Feel free to look them up.
Tuning ram pumps mostly involves varying the water velocity that results in the swing check valve closing. A higher water velocity will generate a larger pressure spike,
allowing you to pump to greater heights. But it will also cause a slower cycle, so you pump more slowly. If the valve closes at a lower water velocity, it will take less time
for the water to reach that velocity, so the pump will cycle faster, and the water pumped faster, but you will not be able to pump as high. So that's the trade off. Keep in
mind though, that this will work without interference 24 hours a day, so combining it with a holding tank, you can get a decent supply of water built up.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
To tune this specific design, you take advantage of how gravity acts on the flapper. When the check valve is pointing straight up in the air, the full force of gravity holds
the flapper down, so the water must flow past the flapper faster to generate enough drag to raise the full weight of the flapper. By rotating the pump about the main line,
you put the flapper's degree of freedom at an angle to the force of gravity, so that less drag is required to move the flapper. You could work out all of this fairly easily with
a bit of trig, but I feel it would serve you little use out in the field. Just play around with it, you should find a position that works well for your application.
No Power?
Well, no. This pump derives its power from the potential energy of the water uphill, and by wasting (not in a bad sense) the majority of the water that flows through the
stand pipe. It only pumps a small fraction of the water that actually travels down that pipe. But that's fine if you have a stream already flowing down a hillside. Before, you
weren't doing anything with all that potential / kinetic energy. Now you are. Hooray for you!
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
Related Instructables
Multipurpose
~ World's Solar
Greenest Desalination Top 20 ways to Installing a new Recycled Off-
WATER PUMP ~ Plant by girivs be green by water pump on Grid Tesla CD
awsome pie a '95 Ford Turbine Power- Create the
by eltigre Boost Blender Arduino driven
Taurus by argon
by mrfixits LED growbox by
cpo
Comments
50 comments Add Comment view all 59 comments
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
pump up this elevation in a 3/4" poly pipe for a 500 feet distance. It took a bit to get the pump going. In fact, we thought it wasn't going to work. Nothing was
happening. However, I read the very short sentence that stated that you may have to push the check valve flapper down a few times to get the pressure up
to par. I pushed it down probably 15 times before the pump started doing on its own. I was amazed!!!! We ran up the hil and within five minutes we had
water!!! I figured maybe a trickle...being the elevation difference, but we had a nice steady flow. We figure that it will only take about two days to fill up a 1500
gallon holding tank. Thanks for the awesome invention!!!!!!!
Water doesn't like to be compressed. And things in motion like to keep moving, unless something is there to stop them (friction or a wall). So,
when you get a column of water moving down the inlet pipe at some speed, it wants to keep moving, but suddenly it's stopped by the brass swing
check valve. Think multi-car pileup on the highway perhaps. Car 1 stops, car 2 slams into car 1... anyway, when the water is stopped, it causes
the water pressure in that area to spike. Going to take a brief aside here, but just keep in mind that the pressure around both check valves has
gone way up.
In an open column of water, pressure is determined by the height of the water level above the point that you're looking at. The equation is
Pressure = Density of the Fluid * Acceleration due to Gravity * Depth of water. So if you had two pipes, one twice as tall as the other, both filled
up with water, the pressure at the bottom of the taller one would be twice as great as the pressure in the other pipe. The only real important part
of all this is that pressure at the bottom of some pipe depends on how high the top of the water is above the bottom.
So if we stick a hose on the outlet of the pump, it acts very much like the pipes that I was just rambling on about. The higher you lift the end of the
hose, the higher water has to go to get out of the hose, and the higher the resulting pressure at the pump-end of the hose. Which is importantly
right on the other side of the spring check valve.
OK, back to the fact that when the swing check valve closes, the pressure spikes on the inflow side of both check valves. As long as the pressure
rises above the pressure on the other side of the spring check valve, some water will be forced past the valve, until the pressure on both sides is
more or less equal, when the valve will again close. This happens over and over, each time pushing just a little water past the spring check valve,
and slowly moves the whole column of water up the hose.
The height that the pump can lift water to is limited by the height that the incoming water drops from, based on the increase in pressure generated
by the water stopping.
Righto, I hope I didn't bore you too much with all of that, and I hope that this all helped explain how these odd little creatures work. There are
some other very odd / cool pumping methods out there that can do strange things just using water dropping some distance. Go and google
"pulser pump" if you're interested.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
Shut Up Now says: Mar 14, 2009. 2:51 PM REPLY
very innovative. this could be turned into a nice physics lesson.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
eltigre says: Mar 23, 2009. 10:32 AM REPLY
Hey John,
I see why you suffer wear problems with your horizontal valve. Attached is a design that may help you. I don't think we should hijack
Habolooby's thread here, so if you have any questions, you can ask me via pm or in my pump thread at
http://www.instructables.com/id/Worlds_greenest_water_pump
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
mattrobs says: Mar 20, 2009. 2:08 AM REPLY
I'd appreciate if you guys can help us.
We're building this as a project for 1st year Engineering. But there's a problem: whenever we attach the air chamber, the swing check valve refuses to drop
(or be sucked down). It needs to be triggered manually everytime. Removal of the air chamber results in the pump automating nicely (albeit with reduced
efficiency).
We're trying to grasp the physics behind why it won't work, but (unfortunately) have failed. Can you help?
Some specs: The drive tank is elevated 1.3m, connects to a standard hose, which connects to the 3/4-inch pipework. The chamber is two connected tin
tennis ball containers (= 1m high; 10cm diam.)
For your eventual thesis, maybe you can tackle the following phenomena:
http://www.great-pyramid-giza-pulse-pump.com/Vortex_Anomaly.php
It's not caused by the impuities in the water. I have an idea why it happens, but can't back it. That piece of pipe is still purple today, albeit somewhat
faded.
Also note: In one of the pictures, the waste gate valve is open and no water is coming out. That's the valve sucked open and zero pressure (and zero
water flow) at the wastegate valve because of the compression wave going back up the pipe.
Best,
John
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
habolooby says: Mar 12, 2009. 5:35 AM REPLY
Certainly. As is mentioned in that instructable, hydraulic ram pumps have been around for a very long time. They used to be commercially produced, and
still are if you look hard enough. The design in that instructable is very cool as well, but I built this last year and just now got around to setting up an
instructable on it. More ways to accomplish the same thing.
The only utility of these pumps is when you have a dammed river or stream where the water will flow downhill anyways, so you are recovering
work from an otherwise wasted energy flow, but this doesn't come anywhere near putting a turbine in the stream and generating some power!
Anybody know if these will automatically restart once they've hit the shutoff head? (if I were to plumb the output to a check valve on a water tank,
which would shut off when the tank was full, when the valve reopened and allowed flow into the tank again would the pump restart?)
Is it better to shoot the compression wave (from the wastegate valve) towards the output or input? Maybe shooting towards output would increase efficiency.
I have no idea on this subject with regards to standard hydraulic ram pumps.
Best,
John Cadman
I'm back again and still doing my very best at not being the least bit negative but being informative. I also believe in simplicity of design. I've made some
ultra-simple ram pumps that worked just fine.
When I started in ram pumps, I had all sorts of misconceptions about all the dynamics of the pump. I was a chief engineer on a King crab boat in Alaska so I
always thought in "fluid dynamics". That's only about 20% correct for hydraulic ram pumps.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
On the page:
http://www.great-pyramid-giza-pulse-pump.com/index.php
Check out the water flow out of top line (5:42 minutes into youtube vid) This is with standpipe off. There's no air anywhere in the whole pump assembly. If
you look at the water coming out of the upper pipe, you'll see that it surges a bit, but is CONTINUOUS. Anybody that has run a ram pump with a waterlogged
air chamber knows that this is not supposed to be what happens. No-air means intense surge and stop of water flow in normal rams.
How do you explain it? I've run the basic assembly without the complex vortex chamber. It had the typical intense surge and stop action. The vortex not only
stabilizes the flow but also increases efficiency dramatically.
The vortex chamber also dramatically reduces the pulse that goes out the drive pipe entrance. It captures and redirects the pulse.
Looking at the picture, you can see that the pulse is still uniform. It has the shortest wave length possible and the highest amplitude possible.
A compression wave is the same as a sound wave. By doing the optimum redirection, the pulse is kept at the highest amplitude. HIGHEST AMPLITUDE =
HIGHEST PRESSURE (That's what we want, right?) It is kept as a single, clean pulse.
Now, visualize what happens when a compression wave shoots towards the bottom of a round "tee". The whole pulse is scattered everywhere. It is bouncing
up and down, here and there. The amplitude is significantly reduced. Less amplitude = less pressure
Now couple that random bouncing with the overlapping random bouncing of the rarefaction (negative pressure) wave and there's a giant mess of cancelling
waves. Huge reduction of efficiency.
Looking at the standard fluid elbow, the pulse is now scattered. It's bouncing to-and-fro. It has dissipated immensely.
When you think of compression waves and reflections, think of pool balls on a pool table. It is exactly analagous. The same amount of force that will shoot a
ball straight down and back on a table will get a ball almost no where when bouncing from side to side. A "tee" is all side-to-side. Each time it bounces off a
side, it loses part of it's amplitude. It is being transfered and absorbed by the pipe material.
Ram pumps are all about compression waves and not much about fluid dynamics. These are two completely different dynamics.
If you want to build a better pump then you have to build better plumbing.
I would love to see what people build when they incorporate some of the more "compression wave friendly" plumbing schemes!! I would also love to see the
comparison of the various efficiencies of various simpler pumps.
Best,
John
Forgive me if this doesn't attach right. It's my first try with graphics!
There should be 2 graphics: 1. complex ram pump, 2. compression wave/rarefaction wave description.
This is meant in the absolute nicest manner, so PLEASE no one think that I am being negative or criticizing anybodies design. I LOVE the hockey puck
wastegate. It's much more durable than any of my valves. Kudos.
This is about having to research exactly why everything does everything . . . trying to figure out the pyramid design. "Why the diagonal pit offset and the
square pipe???"
#1 thing to understand about ram pumps is compression and rarefaction waves! When the valve slams shut, there is a compression AND rarefaction wave
that travels up the pipe.
The rarefaction is EQUAL and OPPOSITE the compression wave. That means that the pressure is super low when the rarefaction wave leaves the valve.
This literally sucks the valve open immediately. (#4 on picture) (#5 picture shows no water leaving waste gate (even though it's open) as the
compression/rarefaction wave travels up the drive pipe.
(This really messes with my mind, but I have watched it over and over)
#2 The pressure at the wastegate and the line away from the compression/rarefaction wave is 0 (ZERO . . . yes, ZERO!!!) as the compression wave travels
up the drive pipe (This is physics)
So, as that compression wave goes up the pipe, no water goes out the the pipe downhill from wastegate valve (because the pressure is zero). The pressure
doesn't come back until the compression wave hits air (or reflecting surface) and comes back down the line.
This is super important and makes one rethink how the compression wave should be directed. Also, you really have to consider how the compression
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
wave is redirected . Compression waves bounce like pool balls. THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT when you look at most ram pumps that have the
wastegate at the top of a "tee". What happens to that wave when it strikes the bottom of the "tee"? It is reflected and scattered upline, downline, to the
wastegate valve . . . pretty much everywhere!! It's a giant mess of scattered compression waves. Is this efficient? Of course not. (and it's mixed with
scattered rarefaction waves . . . which is cancelling)
I attached a photo (hopefully!) of a wild ram pump I built that considers directing of the compression wave. Obviously, you wouldn't use this with a lot of
pressure. The wastegate is on first elbow. Then a standard foot valve (with snifter) and then another swing elbow to shoot the compression wave up to air for
dissapation. (That is a mini-air chamber)
The small brass pipe from air compression chamber to the waste gate is just a hinged weight for holding open the wastegate valve .
This is a concept design for efficient redirection of the compression wave. It ran fine, but I don't have any comparisons with other designs. I actually had this
at the end of my pyramid pump!! : ) I eventually went to the super simple wastegate for the pyramid pump. Much more realistic and efficient design!!
When you look at the pyramid pump layout, the compression wave is brilliantly utilized. Beautiful directing, beauifully reflected at the pit-elbow and then
reflected back down from sub chamber ceiling. Pure waves and not all scattered. Smart, smart design. I may have built it, but I just copied what was at Giza.
Pure genius.
So, maybe a waste gate could be put on a "Y" at an angle for better redirection instead of on a "tee". Also, a submeged wastegate is a happy wastegate!
Also, fluid elbows make a total mess of compression waves. Nice for fluid flow, but horrible compression wave redirection. Square pipe with 45 degree flat
elbow is best for fluid and compression wave.
This site is about simplicity of dsign and I appreciate that. Just food for thought. Any feedback is certainly welcome.
Best,
John Cadman
(Pyramid pump guy)
The waste gate is not opened by the added springs or weights. It is opened by the rarefaction wave that immediately follows the compression wave.
It is literally "sucked open".
By submerging the valve, the opening of the valve is slowed since it has water on the upper side instead of air. It is also slowed to close because the
valve is surrounded by water and the velocity is dampened. I actually use a modified horizontal foot valve with a light spring preload. I did the
horizontal because this mimics what would have been built at Giza in a rock structure.
http://www.great-pyramid-giza-pulse-pump.com/pulsepump6.php
The pyramid pump has another interesting anomaly: it has a heart beat pulse instead of the standard thump . . thump . . thump
(the fellow in the vid is Dr. Jack Kolle - Godfather of the modern hydraulic pulse generator used in offshore drilling and mining)
It has no air compression chamber and doesn't need it. It has continuous flow because of the vortex in the sub chamber assembly. The vortex
increases the efficiency quite dramatically. The builders were utter geniuses and quite advanced.
It's much more work to build (I have built the standard ram pumps) but the results are really impressive. I really like that it starts without tweaking
output valves, etc. It doesn't matter if ouput is lower and flowing, horizontal and dribbling, elevated and off . . . it always starts first try.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
It all has do do with the dimensions of the pipes and the vortex.
The standpipe was for replication of Giza. I personally wouldn't use it and glad I put a valve on it. Also, in sketch, it shows check valve in drive pipe.
It's not needed but was probably at Giza.
This model has about 3 1/2' head and puts out 40 psi.
John
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dqtPrLtgFQ
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/