pump

pump, device to lift, transfer, or increase the pressure of a fluid (gas or liquid) or to create a vacuum in an enclosed space by the removal of a gas (see vacuum pumps under vacuum). The centrifugal pump, the most common kind, consists basically of a rotating device, called an impeller, inside a casing. The fluid to be pumped enters the casing near the shaft of the impeller. Vanes attached to the spinning impeller give the fluid a high velocity so that it can move through an outlet. The reciprocating pump moves a fluid by using a piston that travels back and forth in a cylinder with valves to help control the flow direction. Examples are the lift pump and the force pump. In a lift pump the piston and cylinder are positioned vertically. When the piston moves upward, atmospheric pressure pushes water into the cylinder to fill the empty space beneath the piston. On the downward stroke, the water in the cylinder is forced to flow above the piston. Reversing direction, the piston moves up, allowing more water to come up under it into the cylinder and lifting the water held above it to an outlet pipe where the water flows out of the pump. Since atmospheric pressure will support a column of water no higher than about 33 ft (10 m), a lift pump can raise water no farther than this distance. The rotary pump is like the reciprocating pump in that it allows a fluid to fill a space that then decreases in volume, forcing the fluid out of the space. However, unlike a reciprocating pump, it has no valves and uses one or more rotating components in place of a piston. The jet pump has no moving parts; it uses a swiftly moving fluid to induce motion in another fluid. For example an atomizer, a type of jet pump, uses a high-speed stream of air to pump a liquid, such as a perfume. Compressors are used to pump air or other gases into a closed container. They range from hand pumps to large power-driven devices that furnish compressed air for operating pneumatic machinery and for various other purposes. In nuclear reactors that use liquid radioactive metal, the nonmechanical electromagnetic pump is employed. An electric current is either induced in the liquid metal or is passed through it by electrodes. A magnetic field surrounding the pipe then propels the current-carrying liquid forward.

Machine that uses energy to raise, transport, or compress fluids. Pumps are classified by how they transfer energy to the fluid. The basic methods are volume displacement, addition of kinetic energy, and use of electromagnetic force. Pumps in which displacement is accomplished mechanically are called positive displacement pumps. Kinetic pumps pass kinetic energy to the fluid by means of a rapidly rotating impeller (blade). To use electromagnetic force, the fluid being pumped must be a good electrical conductor. Pumps used to transport or pressurize gases are called compressors, blowers, or fans.

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Device for transferring heat from a substance or space at one temperature to another at a higher temperature. It consists of a compressor, a condenser, a throttle or expansion valve, an evaporator, and a working fluid (refrigerant). The compressor delivers vapourized refrigerant to the condenser in the space to be heated. There, cooler air condenses the refrigerant and becomes heated during the process. The liquid refrigerant then enters the throttle valve and expands, coming out as a liquid-vapour mixture at a lower temperature and pressure. It then enters the evaporator, where the liquid is evaporated by contact with the warmer space. The vapour then passes to the compressor and the cycle is repeated. A heat pump is a reversible system and is commonly used both to heat and to cool buildings. It operates on the same thermodynamic principles as refrigeration.

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Machine for moving liquids and gases. Its two major parts are the impeller (a wheel with vanes) and the circular pump casing around it. In the most common type, called the volute centrifugal pump, fluid enters the pump at high speed near the centre of the rotating impeller and is thrown against the casing by the vanes. The centrifugal pressure forces the fluid through an opening in the casing; this outlet widens progressively in a spiral fashion, which reduces the speed of the fluid and thereby increases pressure. Centrifugal pumps are used for many purposes, such as pumping liquids for water supply, irrigation, and sewage disposal systems. They are also used as gas compressors.

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A pump is a device used to move gases, liquids or slurries. A pump moves liquids or gases from lower pressure to higher pressure, and overcomes this difference in pressure by adding energy to the system (such as a water system). A gas pump is generally called a compressor, except in very low pressure-rise applications, such as in heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning, where the operative equipment consists of fans or blowers.

Pumps work by using mechanical forces to push the material, either by physically lifting, or by the force of compression.

The earliest type of pump was the Archimedes screw, first used by Sennacherib, King of Assyria, for the water systems at the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and Nineveh in the 7th century BC, and later described in more detail by Archimedes in the 3rd century BC. In the 13th century AD, al-Jazari described and illustrated different types of pumps, including a reciprocating pump, double-action pump, suction pump, and piston pump.

Types

Pumps fall into two major groups: rotodynamic pumps and positive displacement pumps. Their names describe the method for moving a fluid.

Positive displacement pumps

A positive displacement pump causes a fluid to move by trapping a fixed amount of it then forcing (displacing) that trapped volume into the discharge pipe. The periodic fluid displacement results in a direct increase in pressure. A positive displacement pump can be further classified as either

• a rotary-type (for example the rotary vane),
• lobe pump similar to oil pumps used in car engines, or
• the Wendelkolben pump or the helical twisted Roots pump.

Roots-type pumps

The low pulsation rate and gentle performance of this Roots-type positive displacement pump is achieved due to a combination of its two 90° helical twisted rotors, and a triangular shaped sealing line configuration, both at the point of suction and at the point of discharge. This design produces a continuous and non-vorticuless flow with equal volume. High capacity industrial "air compressors" have been designed to employ this principle as well as most "superchargers" used on internal combustion engines.

Reciprocating-type pumps

Reciprocating-type pumps use a piston and cylinder arrangement with suction and discharge valves integrated into the pump. Pumps in this category range from having "simplex" one cylinder, to in some cases "quad" four cylinders or more. Most reciprocating-type pumps are "duplex" (two) or "triplex" (three) cylinder. Furthermore, they are either "single acting" independent suction and discharge strokes or "double acting" suction and discharge in both directions. The pumps can be powered by air, steam or through a belt drive from an engine or motor. This type of pump was used extensively in the early days of steam propulsion (19th century) as boiler feed water pumps. Though still used today, reciprocating pumps are typically used for pumping highly viscous fluids including concrete and heavy oils.

Compressed-air-powered double-diaphragm pumps

Another modern application of positive displacement pumps are compressed-air-powered double-diaphragm pumps. Run on compressed air these pumps are intrinsically safe by design, although all manufacturers offer ATEX certified models to comply with industry regulation. Commonly seen in all areas of industry from shipping to process, SandPiper, Wilden Pumps or ARO are generally the larger of the brands. They are relatively inexpensive and can be used for almost any duty from pumping water out of bunds, to pumping hydrochloric acid from secure storage (dependant on how the pump is manufactured - elastomers / body construction). Suction is normally limited to roughly 6m although heads can be almost unlimited.

Kinetic Pumps

1. Continuous energy addition
2. Conversion of added energy to increase in kinetic energy (increase in velocity)
3. Conversion of increased velocity to increase in pressure
4. Conversion of Kinetic head to Pressure Head.
5. Meet all heads like Kinetic , Potential, and Pressure

Application

Pumps are used throughout society for a variety of purposes. Early applications includes the use of the windmill or watermill to pump water. Today, the pump is used for irrigation, water supply, gasoline supply, air conditioning systems, refrigeration (usually called a compressor), chemical movement, sewage movement, flood control, marine services, etc.

Because of the wide variety of applications, pumps have a plethora of shapes and sizes: from very large to very small, from handling gas to handling liquid, from high pressure to low pressure, and from high volume to low volume.

Liquid and slurry pumps can lose prime and this will require you to prime the pump by adding liquid to the pump and inlet pipes to get the pump started.

Specifications

Pumps are commonly rated by horsepower, flow rate, outlet pressure in feet of head, inlet suction in suction head in feet. Feet is the number of feet the pump can raise or lower a column of water at atmospheric pressure.

Pumps as public water supplies

One sort of pump once common worldwide was a hand-powered water pump over a water well where people could work it to extract water, before most houses had individual water supplies.

From this came the expression "parish pump" for "the sort of matter chattered about by people when they meet when they go to get water", "matter of only local interest".

Today, hand operated village pumps are considered the most sustainable low cost option for safe water supply in resource poor settings, often in rural areas in developing countries. A hand pump opens access to deeper groundwater that is often not polluted and also improves the safety of a well by protecting the water source from contaminated buckets. Pumps like the Afridev pump are designed to be cheap to build and install, and easy to maintain with simple parts. It was assumed that spare parts would become available in the local market by for-profit wholesalers. However, it became clear with time that often spare parts are not available locally, because of the low profit margins for wholesalers, especially in Africa. This means that communities are often stuck without spares and cannot use their handpump anymore and have to go back to traditional and sometimes distant, polluted resources. This is unfortunate, as water projects often have put in a lot of resources to provide that community with a handpump. As a result, spare parts free handpumps are now being developed, like the Afripump.

Power source

Pumps have been powered by water flow (as with the noria), an internal combustion engine, electric motor, manually (as with the hand pump used for pumping groundwater, called walking beam pump), or by wind power (common for irrigation). Solar power has been used to power an electric motor, for remote locations.

See also

• Affinity laws
• Airlift pump
• Archimedes' screw
• Axial flow pump
• Beam pump and walking beam pump
• Bicycle pump
• Boiler feedwater pump
• Breast pump
• Centrifugal pump
• Chain pumps
• Circulator pump
• Concrete pump
• Condensate pump
• Cyclic pump
• Diving pump
• Eductor-jet pump
• Electroosmotic pump
• Fire pump and Jockey pump
• Gas compressors
• Gear pump
• Gerotor
• Hand pump
• Hydraulic ram
• Metering pump
• Mag-Drive pump
• Oil pump
• Peristaltic pump
• Progressive cavity pump (also known as; progressing cavity, eccentric screw or Mono pump)
• Pumping station
• Pumpjack (oil pump)
• Rope pump
• Roundabout PlayPump
• Scroll pump, most used in scroll compressors
• Tesla turbine
• Treadle pump
• Turbopump
• Vacuum pump
• Well water pump
• Wind pump

Gallery

References

Further reading

• www.lightmypump.com - Pump and pump system information
• Australian Pump Technical Handbook, 3rd edition, 1987, Australian Pump Manufacturers' Association Ltd
• Publications of Europump and the Hydraulic Institute
• www.pumpschool.com - Pump education devoted primarily to rotary positive displacement pumps