Hydraulic ram pumps and Sling Pumps

Hydraulic Ram PumpComponents of Hydraulic RamA hydraulic ram installation consists of a supply, a drive pipe, the ram, a supply line and usually a storagetank. These are shown in Figure 1. Each of these component parts is discussed below:Supply. The intake must be designed to keep trash and sand out of the supply since these can plug upthe ram. If the water is not naturally free of these materials, the intake should be screened or a settlingbasin provided. When the source is remote from the ram site, the supply line can be designed to conductthe water to a drive pipe as shown in Figure 2. The supply line, if needed, should be at least one pipediameter larger than the drive pipe.Drive pipe. The drive pipe must be made of a non-flexible material for maximum efficiency. This isusually galvanized iron pipe, although other materials cased in concrete will work. In order to reduce headloss due to friction, the length of the pipe divided by the diameter of the pipe should be within the range of150-1,000. Table 2 shows the minimum and maximum pipe lengths for various pipe sizes.Table 2. Range of Drive Pipe Lengthsfor Various Pipe DiametersDrive Pipe Size (mm)Length (meters)Minimum Maximum13 2 1320 3 2025 4 2530 4.5 3040 6 4050 7.5 5080 12 80100 15 100The drive pipe diameter is usually chosen based on the size of the ram and the manufacturer'srecommendations as shown in Table 3. The length is four to six times the vertical fall.Table 3. Drive Pipe Diameters byHydram Manufacturer's Size Numberhttp://www.i4at.org/lib2/hydrpump.htm (3 of 6) [1/13/2005 12:42:56 PM]