Design of Low cost

Hydraulic Ram
Pump for lifting
water.

Guided by-

Dr.Ramakar Jha
 Design of Low cost
Hydraulic Ram Pump
for lifting water.

Presented by-
Shrikant Sharan(1603001)
Shivam Dubey(1603002)
OUTLINE-
1. OBJECTIVE
2. LITERATURE SURVEY
3. PRINCIPLE
4. WORKING DIAGRAM
5. COMPONENTS AND THEIR FUNCTIONS
6. APPLICATION
 OBJECTIVE
• A RPS has different objectives:
• Lift water from a source of water to a targeted community i.e lifting of water from
low head to high head without using external energy.
• Resist to internal fatigue due to the shocks of the water hammer effect.
 LITERATURE SURVEY-
• A technology that avoids constrains of water supplies in rural areas

• In many parts of the world, villages are situated above the spring: it does not allow water to flow
to compounds by gravity. For example, in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) province, Indonesia, 70
percent of the population lives upstream the closest source of water. A pump is needed to lift the
water from this source to their compound.

• Dr. Terry Thomas from the Warwick University, UK explained in 1994 that “whilst in general the
power for water-lifting can come from engines, electrical mains, animals, humans or renewable
(climatic) sources, in the particular context of rural areas in poor countries the choice is more
constrained.

• In many such countries:

• There are virtually no rural electrical mains;

• Engines pose problems of both fuelling and maintenance;

• Draught animals may be unavailable or difficult to apply to water lifting; and

• Renewable are erratic, complex and import intensive.”

• The Hydraulic Ram Pump (Hydram) stays away from these constrains:

• The source of energy of this technology is the water itself and gravity. It has a low cost maintenance
cost;

• It works as long as water is available;

• The pump has very few moving parts that are simple to produce locally and to maintain by the
community itself.
 PRINCIPLE
Energy
• The potential energy is the energy of every object due to its altitude. The object
needs another source of energy to be lifted and will lose its potential energy if it
falls.

• Hydrams are designed to lift water (i.e. give potential energy to the water) from a
low cost source of energy. Avoiding using fuel and electricity, the water hammer
effect has shown to be efficient and is the principle of Hydrams.
Water hammer effect-
• The water hammer effect is a phenomenon that increases the pressure of water
in a pipe over a short period of time.
• If the velocity of the water in a pipe is high enough, a fast closure of the pipe will
cause a water hammer effect as shown in Figure. The water flowing will be
compressed to the valve which has been closed suddenly. As a comparison, if a
hundred people run very fast in a corridor and suddenly, they face a closed door,
the space between them will be reduced, everybody will touch each other. In the
same way, with velocity, water has kinetic energy. By closing quickly the pipe, this
kinetic energy will be transformed into pressure.

• This effect is characterized by a loud noise that is similar to a hammer banging a

metal component.
Working Diagram
Working Diagram
Working Diagram
Working Diagram
 Components and their functions
of the system
A RPS is used within a GFS. The water entering in the storage tank of a GFS comes
from the RPS.

A RPS has 7 main components as shown in Figure :

1.A spring or stream catchment;
2.A feed pipe;
3.A header tank;
4.One or multiple drive pipes;
5.A pump basement;
6.One or multiple Hydrams;
7.One or multiple delivery pipes; and
8.A storage tank.

The water comes from a stream or a spring. If the source of water is a stream, the
water quality is most likely unable to reach standards .

In addition, sedimentation can be used to avoid silt and sand in the pump.
 8

1 7
3

5&6
• Following the route of the water in the Hydraulic Ram Pump System
• 1 and 2 The water is caught by the spring catchment (or the stream catchment)
and driven to the header tank by the feed pipe. The spring or stream catchment is
the first barer to prevent organic matters to enter in the system and to reduce the
efficiency of the system. Since the design is the same as a stream or spring
catchment for a GFS .
• 3 The header tank allows a continuous flow to the drive pipe and the pump(s); it
is as well the last barer to prevent sediments to enter in the pump.
• 4 and 5 The drive pipe is made from galvanized iron (G.I.). It has to support the
water hammer effect which is running continuously. The drive pipe is designed to
conduct water as fast as possible to the pump: it must be straight.
• 6 The Hydram is the most critical infrastructure of the system. A full chapter can
be dedicated to its description and local manufacture.
• 7 The Hydram is attached to the pump basement. It has to absorb the shocks of
the water hammer effect. The pump basement has to be carefully design because
it is subject to the fatigue of the water hammer effect and is very difficult to
maintain without stopping the pump from running.
• 8 The delivery pipe conducts the water from the pump to the storage tank. The
delivery pipe is designed like a delivery pipe of a GFS: the pressure of the delivery
water, the flow of the delivery water, and its route are the main input to choose
the type of pipes needed.
• 9 The storage tank is used to hold water before it is delivered to communities by a
GFS.
 Header tank
• Objectives
• The header tank has five objectives:
• To prevent solid elements and air to enter in the Hydram;
• To allow a continuous flow in the Hydram;
• Resist to external aggressions such as time, rain, mud, organic matter, shocks, theft, and landslide; and
• To allow the water to enter with a high velocity in the Hydram;
• To allow the self-maintenance of the RPS.
• Description
• In order to fulfill the uses of the header tank, the design of the header tank depends on the
characteristics of the water that flows in:
• Quality: impurities, sand, leaves, mud; and
• Quantity: flow available by the source of the water.
 Figure 5.a Figure 5.b

Figure 5.a: Header tank for 6 pumps

Figure 5.b: Header tank for 2 pumps

In Figure 5.b, High Density Polyethylene pipes are used, it is recommended to bury them in the ground to
avoid the damaging effects from sunrays: pipes get brittle and is more likely to break.
Drive pipe
• Objectives
• A drive pipe has two objectives:
• To allow the water entering in
the pump body from the header
tank with high velocity; and flanges

• To resist to the shocks of the

water hammer effect
Pump basement
• Functions
• The functions of the pump
basement are:
• To hold the Hydram against the
shocks of the water hammer
effect; and
• To collect the waste water and to
direct it to a targeted location to
avoid having a muddy area
around the pump and cavitations
Delivery pipe
Description
• It needs to be buried to avoid external
aggression;
• The delivery height minimizes the internal
diameter of the pipe (i.e. the small
diameter creates more head losses);
• The delivery height also designs the
pressure that the pipe can hold and as a
consequence, the material of the pipe;
and
• The route of the pipe must avoid going
alternatively up and down and should stay
straight as much as possible.
Air vessel
• The air vessel is a vital
component of the Hydram and is
visually its main characteristic.
Without it, the water coming
through the delivery valve would
have a great velocity and too
much head losses would be
created. With the air vessel, the
air is slowed down because the
air inside the air vessel acts like a
spring. The air vessel improves a
lot the efficiency of the pump.
Snifter valve
• The snifter valve is a device to
allow the air to enter in the air
vessel.
• It is important to have this
supply of air because the air in
the air vessel is mixed with the
water while the Hydram is
running. As a consequence, the
volume of air reduces. The
snifter valve allows maintaining a
necessary level of air inside the
air vessel.
 Application on site
• Time management
• From the idea of installing a RPS to the exciting time of watching water flowing in the storage tank, it
takes time. As the project can only be successful if the community is involved, trained and monitored,
it takes even more time.
• A RPS project should include the following steps:
• The socialization with the targeted community and planning of the participation;
• The field survey of the area;
• The design;
• The supply of material on site;
• The construction;
• The tests and first maintenance;
• The training of the water committee;
• The handover of the RPS;
• The evaluation.
• Human resources management
• For a RPS project , the team should include:
• 1 water technician trained in RPS for the design, the planning, and the
management of the teams;
• 1 logistician for the supplies to the sites, the follow-up of materials; vehicles, and
accommodation of workers on site;
• 1 foreman overseeing plumbing and brickwork teams;
• 1 mason foreman;
• 2 assistant masons preparing mould and concrete work;
• 1 plumber foreman installing and connecting pipes;
• 2 assistant plumbers laying and connecting pipes
• Daily labor for trench digging, transporting material (i.e. it is better if the workers
are from the community).
 Calculation of the delivery rate
of flow
• The calculation of the flow that may be
supplied to the community (i.e.
delivery flow) use the following inputs:
• The drive flow in liter per second (Q);
The drive height in meter (H);
• The delivery height (h); and
• The efficiency of the pump in
percentage (μ).
• The formula is:
H × µ × Q
• q
h
 Application for the Hydraulic Ram
Pump
• The Hydram uses the water hammer effect to “use the energy of a large amount of water falling from
a small height to lift a small amount of this water to a much greater height” (Dr T. Thomas, 2005) .

• From a source of water (i.e. spring or stream), the water is driven to the Hydram based downstream.
The pump suddenly stops the flow causing a water hammer effect. It allows the water under pressure
in the Hydram body to enter into a delivery pipe.

• The special feature of the Hydram is that the water hammer effect is caused by the water itself. The
flowing water applies pressure on a valve that closes the pipe automatically. This is why the Hydram
does not use any electricity or fuel.

• However, as the water hammer effect is caused by the water, the water needs to go out: this is called
the waste water. This is not really wasted because the Hydram cannot work without it. So, the
Hydram will use only 20 to 40 percent of the water coming inside it (i.e. the feed water): this is the
delivery water.
• A non-return valve at the
beginning of the delivery pipe
stops the water to go back into
the pump body. After continuous
water hammer effects, water is
added in the delivery pipe with a
great pressure. It allows the
water to flow upward up to a
storage tank.
• The pressure is transform into
potential energy.
• The efficiency of RPS is between
50 to 80 percent depending on
the quality of material, the
design and the age of the
components.
 Common problems and
maintenance
• The main problems of the RPS are the leakages and the blockages of the pipes:

• Leakages will come mainly from the pipe connections; and

• Blockages from a poor protection of the catchment or the header tank.

 Conclusion:-
Hydrams are designed to lift water (i.e. give potential energy to the
water) from a low cost source of energy. Avoiding using fuel and
electricity, the water hammer effect has shown to be efficient and is the
principle of Hydrams.
as just we has started to make the model of Hydrams so
1. Rate of flow proposed to be uplifted
2.proposed design of HYDRAMS & material used
3.Time plan & 4. cost estimation
will be shown in next presentation along with the MODEL also.
 References and further reading
• Hydraulic Ram Pumps – A guide to ram pump water supply systems
• T.D. Jeffery, T.H. Thomas, A.V. Smith, P.B. Glover, P.D.Fountain
• The Department Technology Unit – Warwick University
• MDG Publishing, Warwickshire 2005
• Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for populations at risk
• Action Contre la Faim
• Hermann, Paris - 2005
THANK YOU
COMPONETS USED.
CONTROL SWITCH
PIPE .
CHECK VOLVE