Ram Pump Hydraulic Air Test Pressure Conditions and Flow Measurements Experimental Research and Case Study
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FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Department of Building, Energy and Environmental Engineering Ram pump hydraulic air test Pressure conditions and flow measurements Experimental research and case study Paula María Arizcun Zúñiga 2018 Student thesis, Advanced level (Master degree, one year), 15 HE Energy Systems Master Programme in Energy Systems Supervisors: Roland Forsberg and Abolfazl Hayati Examiner: Nawzad Mardan Abstract This study consists of the development of a ram pump, which will allow the pumping of water without the need of external energy sources. It is considered an analysis of interest since, once it is finished; it can be applied in reality improving and facilitating different activities related to agriculture and health. Previous studies have been made related to the ram pump; however, in this case, it is intended to understand the system that has been built in the laboratory in order to find the best combination of parameters that will lead to obtain the highest possible efficiency. The study will be carried out by studying scientific literature and by experimenting in the laboratory. Encompassing the experimental and literary field, it is expected to understand perfectly the advantages and disadvantages of the ram pump in order to determine if it is worth it to install in certain places. After the study, the most favourable parameters for the operation of the Bruzaholms Bruk pump have been obtained. It has been found that the use of a longer drive pipe favours the operation of the system, as it is possible to obtain a higher efficiency, although it must be taken into account that the mentioned length needs to be controlled, as it could reduce the working rhythm of the pump. It has also been seen that the pump gives better results if the impulse valve is completely opened. Finally, it has been proven that, as long as the height difference between the two tanks is enough, increasing the height of the water source will favour the operation of the system. Keywords: ram pump, water hammer, pressure, efficiency, installation, drive pipe, delivery pipe, impulse valve. i Nomenclature Units a Celerity m/s c Velocity of sound in fluid m/s D Inside diameter of the drive pipe mm e Thickness of the drive pipe mm H Height of the discharge deposit m h Height of the feeding deposit height m K Coefficient function of the elasticity modulus of the pipe material kg/m2 L Length of the drive pipe m N Number of strokes of the impulse valve per minute times/min q Pumped water flow l/s Q Inlet water flow l/s tc Critical time s Efficiency ii Preface The realization of this project has been possible thanks to the availability of the laboratory of the University of Gavle, where the work of Mikael Sundberg, Maria Bergh and Rickard Larsson has been very useful. Besides, thanks to Roland Forsberg and Abolfazl Hayati for the supervision of the work and the correction of all those aspects that can be improved. And last but not least, I would like to thank Lennart Berg, for lending the ram pump to carry out the study. iii iv Table of contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................ 1 1.1. Background .......................................................................... 1 1.2. Literature review ................................................................... 1 1.3. Aim ................................................................................... 2 1.4. Limitation............................................................................ 2 1.5. Approach ............................................................................ 2 2. Theory .................................................................................. 5 2.1. The ram pump ...................................................................... 5 2.2. Water hammer ...................................................................... 6 2.2.1. Closing time of a valve ....................................................... 7 2.2.2. Value of celerity ............................................................... 7 2.2.3. The water hammer applied to engineering ............................... 8 2.3. Structure ............................................................................. 8 2.4. Operation ............................................................................ 9 2.5. Material and size .................................................................. 12 2.6. Installation ......................................................................... 13 2.7. Efficiency of the ram pump ..................................................... 14 2.8. Problems ........................................................................... 15 2.9. Reliability of the pump .......................................................... 16 3. Method ................................................................................ 17 3.1. Building of the system ........................................................... 17 3.2. Measurements..................................................................... 22 3.2.1. Drive pipe length............................................................ 22 3.2.2. Heights variation ............................................................ 22 3.2.3. Efficiency varying H/h ..................................................... 22 v 3.2.4. Valve position ............................................................... 23 3.2.5. Pressure (static vs. dynamic) .............................................. 23 4. Results ................................................................................ 25 4.1. Drive pipe length ................................................................. 25 4.2. Heights variation ................................................................. 27 4.3. Efficiency varying H/h .......................................................... 28 4.4. Impulse valve position ........................................................... 28 4.5. Pressure (static vs. dynamic) ................................................... 29 5. Discussion ............................................................................ 31 6. Conclusions .......................................................................... 33 6.1. Study results ....................................................................... 33 6.2. Outlook ............................................................................ 33 6.3. Perspectives ....................................................................... 33 References .................................................................................... 35 Appendix A. Measurements varying the length of the drive pipe ................... 37 Appendix B. Measurements varying the heights of the tanks ......................... 39 vi Table index Table 1. Efficiency of the ram pump depending on the height ............................... 14 Table 2. Specifications of ram pumps of the Bruzaholms Bruk Company .................... 17 Table 3. Capacity examples of ram pumps (Buzaholms Bruk) ............................... 18 Table 4. Established parameters when varying H/h ......................................... 23 Table 5. Established parameters when changing the impulse valve opening ................. 23 Table 6. Flow results when varying the length of the drive pipe (L) ......................... 25 Table 7. Efficiency results when varying the drive pipe length (L)........................... 26 Table 8. Flow results when having inlet height 0.4 m and varying the discharge height .. 27 Table 9. Flow results when having inlet height 0.6 m and varying the discharge height .. 27 Table 10. Flow results when having inlet height 0.8 m and varying the discharge height . 28 Table 11. Efficiency results when varying H/h .............................................. 28 Table 12. Efficiency depending on the impulse valve position ............................... 29 Table 13. Data when varying the length of the drive pipe ................................... 37 Table 14. Data when varying H for h = 0.4 m ............................................. 39 Table 15. Data when varying H for h = 0.6 m ............................................. 40 Table 16. Data when varying H for h = 0.8 m ............................................. 41 vii Figures index Figure 1. Ram pump ............................................................................ 5 Figure 2. Typical construction of a ram pump (Abate and Botrel (2002)) .................... 8 Figure 3. Ram pump operation step 1 .......................................................... 9 Figure 4. Ram pump operation step 2 ........................................................ 10 Figure 5. Ram pump operation step 3 ........................................................ 11 Figure 6. Ram pump operation step 4 ........................................................ 11 Figure 7. Ram pump operation step 5 ........................................................ 12 Figure 8. Celerity vs. Pipe material (Benavides Muñoz (2008)) ............................. 13 Figure 9. Ram pump from Bruzaholms Bruk ................................................. 18 Figure 10. Discharge deposit .................................................................. 19 Figure 11. Sensor MPx1500GSX CASE 867F (Motorola Semiconductor Technical Data) . 20 Figure 12. Electronic circuit for the sensors .................................................. 21 Figure 13. Lifting machine ...................................................................