Design and analysis of hydraulic ram water pumping system

Abstract

The current pumping system (DC water pump) for agriculture is powered by household electricity, therefore, the cost of electricity will be increased due to the higher electricity consumption. In addition, the water needs to be supplied at different height of trees and different places that are far from the water source. The existing DC water pump can pump the water to 1.5 m height but it cost money for electrical source. The hydraulic ram is a mechanical water pump that suitable used for agriculture purpose. It can be a good substitute for DC water pump in agriculture use. The hydraulic ram water pumping system has ability to pump water using gravitational energy or the kinetic energy through flowing source of water. This project aims to analyze and develop the water ram pump in order to meet the desired delivery head up to 3 meter height with less operation cost. The hydraulic ram is designed using CATIA software. Simulation work has been done using ANSYS CFX software to validate the working concept. There are three design were tested in the experiment study. The best design reached target head of 3 m with 15% efficiency and flow rate of 11.82l/min. The results from this study show that the less diameter of pressure chamber and higher supply head will create higher pressure.