1 INTRODUCTION:

1.1 ABSTRACT:
This project report is about designing a hydraulic ram pump to transfer water
from a river into a water tank with given dimensions and conditions. The
hydraulic ram pump designed is believed to be the most suitable and efficient
for the given conditions based on the calculations performed.

For the first step of designing, all the related problems are listed and
understand.
Then, the specifications, criteria and evaluation of the solutions are developed.
This including choosing the most suitable operational working principals for
the hydraulic ram pump (hydram), outline of the theoretical background
behind the operation and its details calculations, which are being referred to
the concept and theory entitles to Fluid Mechanics.

1.2 OBJECTIVES:

In general, hydraulic pump lift water by using electricity, fuel and manpower.
There are many technologies that are analyzing to lift water without the use of
electricity.

The main air of our project is to design a prototype model of a ram pump that is
capable of lifting water by using kinetic energy of water without the use of
electricity.

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2 . LITERATURE REVIEW:

2.1 INTRODUCTION:

A hydraulic ram pump (also called hydram) is a pump that uses energy from a
falling quantity of water to pump some of it to an elevation much higher than
the original level at the source. No other energy is required and as long as there
is a continuous flow of falling water, the pump will work continuously and
automatically. Provision of adequate domestic water supply for scattered rural
populations is a major problem in many developing countries. Fuel and
maintenance costs to operate conventional pumping systems are becoming
prohibitive. The hydraulic ram pump (hydram) is an alternative pumping
device that is relatively simple technology that uses renewable energy, and is
durable. The hydram has only two moving parts; these are impulse valve and
delivery valve which can be easily maintained.

Ram Pumps have been used for over two centuries in many parts of the world.
Their simplicity and reliability made them commercially successful,
particularly in Europe, in the days before electrical power and the internal
combustion engine become widely available. As technology advanced and
become increasingly reliant on sources of power derived from fossil fuels, the
ram pump was neglected. It was felt to have no relevance in an age of national
electricity grids and large - scale water supplies. Big had become beautiful and
small-scale ram pump technology was unfashionable. In recent years an
increased interest in renewable energy devices and an awareness of the
technological needs of a particular market in developing countries have
prompted a reappraisal of ram pumps. In hilly areas with springs and streams,

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 the potential for a simple and reliable pumping device is large. Although there
are some examples of successful ram pump installation in developing
countries, their use to date has merely scratched at the surface of their potential.
The main reason for this being, lack of wide spread local knowledge in the
design and manufacture of ram pumps. Hence, the wide spread use of ram
pumps will only occur if there is a local manufacturer to deliver quickly; give
assistance in system design, installation, and provide an after-sales service.
Ram pumps have been around for many decades and are popular for two main
reasons:

1. They need no external source of power -- the force of moving water gives them
the power they need.
2. They are extremely simple, with just two moving parts.

The basic idea behind a ram pump is simple. The pump uses the momentum
of a relatively large amount of moving water to pump a relatively small
amount of water uphill.
To use a ram pump, you must have a source of water situated above the pump.
For example, you must have a pond on a hillside so that you can locate the pump
below the pond. You run a pipe from the pond to the pump. The pump has a valve
that allows water to flow through this pipe and build up speed. Once the water
reaches its maximum speed, this valve slams shut.
• As it slams shut, the flowing water develops a great deal of pressure in the
pump because of its inertia.
• The pressure forces open a second valve.
• High-pressure water flows through the second valve to the delivery pipe
(which usually has an air chamber to allow the delivery pipe to capture as
much high-pressure water as possible during the impulse).
• The pressure in the pump falls. The first valve re-opens to allow water to flow
and build up momentum again. The second valve closes. The cycle repeats.

The delivery pipe can rise some distance above both the pump and the source of
the water. For example, if the pump is 10 feet below the pond, the delivery pipe
might be up to 100 feet above the pump.

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 You can see that the one big disadvantage of a ram pump is that it wastes a
lot of water. Typically, only about 10% of the water it consumes actually
makes it up the delivery pipe. The rest flows out of the pump as the water
builds momentum.
There is nothing magical happening in a ram pump. A different design that
accomplishes the same thing might work like this:
• Water flows downhill from the pond and drives a water wheel.
• The water wheel is connected to a conventional shaft-drive pump (a
reciprocating pump, a centrifugal pump, etc.) The pump moves water uphill.

This design has more moving parts, but it accomplishes the same thing and
has the advantage that it scales to any size very easily. The idea of using the
energy of flowing water has been around for a long time!

TECHNOLOGIS THAT AVOIDS CONSTRAIN OF WATER SUPPLY

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.

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 • 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.

2.2 BRIEF HISTORY:

In 1772 John Whitehurst of Cheshire in the United Kingdom invented a

manually controlled precursor of the hydraulic ram called the "pulsation
engine". The first one he installed, in 1772 at Oulton, Cheshire, and raised
water to a height of 16 ft (4.9 m). He installed another in an Irish property in
1783. He did not patent it, and details are obscure, but it is known to have had
an air vessel. The first self-acting ram pump was invented by the Frenchman
Joseph Michel Montgolfier (best known as a co-inventor of the hot air balloon)
in 1796 for raising water in his paper mill at Voiron. His friend Matthew
Boulton took out a British patent on his behalf in 1797. The sons of
Montgolfier obtained an English patent for an improved version in 1816, and
this was acquired, together with Whitehurst's design, in 1820 by Josiah Easton,
a Somerset-born engineer who had just moved to London. Easton's firm,
inherited by his son James (1796– 1871), grew during the nineteenth century
to become one of the more important engineering manufacturers in the United
Kingdom, with a large works at Erith, Kent. They specialized in water supply
and sewerage systems world- wide, as well as land drainage projects. Easton’s
had a good business supplying rams for water supply purposes to large country
houses, and also to farms and village communities, and a number of their
installations still survived as of 2004. The firm was eventually closed in 1909,
but the ram business was continued by James R Easton. In 1929 it was acquired
by Green & Carter, of Winchester, Hampshire, who were engaged in the
manufacturing and installation of the well-known Vulcan and Vacher Rams.
The first US patent was issued to J. Cerneau and S.S. Hallet in 1809. US

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interest in hydraulic rams picked up around 1840, as further patents were
issued and domestic companies started offering rams for sale. Toward the end
of the 19th Century, interest waned as electricity and electric pumps became
widely available.

By the end of the twentieth century interest in hydraulic rams has revived, due
to the needs of sustainable technology in developing countries, and energy
conservation in developed ones. A good example is AID Foundation
International in the Philippines, who won an Ashden Award for their work
developing ram pumps that could be easily maintained for use in remote
villages. The hydraulic ram principle has been used in some proposals for
exploiting wave power, one of which was discussed as long ago as 1931 by
Hanns Günther in his book in hundert Jahren.

2.3 Working Principle of Hydraulic Ram Pump:

Although hydraulic ram pumps come in a variety of shapes and sizes, they all
have the same basic components as shown in Fig. 2. The main parts of a ram
pump are hydram body, waste valve, delivery valve, snifter valve, air chamber
and relief valve. Ram Pumps have a cyclic pumping action that produces their
characteristic beat during operation. The cycle can be divided into three
phases; acceleration, delivery and recoil.

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Acceleration - When the waste valve is open as shown in figure 2, water
accelerates down the drive pipe and discharges through the open valve. As the
flow increases it reaches a speed where the drag force is sufficient to start
closing the valve. Once it has begun to move, the valve closes very quickly.

Delivery- As the waste valve slams shut as shown in figure 3, it stops the flow
of water through it. The water that has been flowing in the drive pipe has
considerable momentum which has to be dissipated. For a fraction of a second,
the water in the body of the pump is compressed causing a large surge in
pressure. This type of pressure rise is known as water hammer. As the pressure
rises higher than that in the air chamber, it forces water through the delivery
valve (a non-return valve). The delivery valve stays open until the water in the
drive pipe has almost completely slowed and the pressure in the pump body

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drops below the delivery pressure. The delivery valve then closes, stopping
any back flow from the air vessel into the pump and drive pipe.

Recoil- The remaining flow in the drive pipe recoils against the closed delivery
valve – rather like a ball bouncing back. This causes the pressure in the body
of the pump to drop low enough for the waste valve to reopen. The recoil also
sucks a small amount of air in through the snifter valve. The air sits under the
delivery valve until the next cycle when it is pumped with the delivery water
into the air vessel. This ensures that the air vessel stays full of air. When the
recoil energy is finished, water begins to accelerate down the drive pipe and
out through the open waste valve, starting the cycle again. Throughout the
cycle the pressure in the air vessel steadily forces water up the delivery pipe.
The air vessel smoothers the pulsing in flow through the delivery valve into an
even outflow up the delivery pipe. The pumping cycle happens very quickly,
typically 40 to 120 times per minute. During each pumping cycle only a very
small amount of water is pumped. However, with cycle after cycle continuing
over 24 hours, a significant amount of water can be lifted. While the ram pump
is operating, the water flowing out the waste valve splashes onto the floor or
the pump house and is considered' waste' water. The term' waste' water needs
to be understood. Although waste water is not delivered by the ram pump, it is
the energy of this water that pups the water which is delivered.

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 [ Figure 3: Flow of water when waste valve is closed.]

2.4 Theory on Hydraulic Ramp (Hydram) Pump:

Energy Cars, airplanes, light bulb, water pumps, computers, the human body
have all something in common: they need energy to work. This energy can
come from many sources such as electricity, fuel, manpower, food. Different
technologies are used to transform one source of energy to another. For
example, car engines transform the chemical energy of the fuel into mechanical
energy allowing wheels to rotate. Another example related to water supply
projects is electric pumps: they use electricity to transform electrical energy
into potential energy of the lifted water. 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. Hydram are designed to
lift water (i.e. give potential energy to the water) from a low-cost source of

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energy. Avoiding using fuel and electricity, the water hammer effect has shown
to be efficient and is the principle of hydrams.

 No Velocity
 Very High Pressure
 Water Hammer Effect

The water hammer effect is a phenomenon that increases the pressure of a

water pipe in a short period of time.

2.5 ENERGY:

• Cars, airplanes, light bulb, water pumps, computers, the human body
have all something in common. They need energy to work. This energy
can come from many sources such as electricity, fuel, manpower, food.
Different technologies are used to transform one source of energy to
another. For example, car engines transform the chemical energy of the
fuel into mechanical energy allowing wheels to rotate. Another example
related to water supply projects is electric pumps: they use electricity to
transform electrical energy into potential energy of the lifted water.

• 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.

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 [Figure 4 & 5: Water hammer effect.]

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 4. 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.

2.6 Applications and limitations of hydraulic ram pumps:

For any particular site, there are usually a number of potential waters lifting
options. Choosing between them involves consideration of many different
factors. Ram pumps in certain conditions have many advantages over other
forms of water-lifting, but in others, it can be completely inappropriate. The
main advantages of ram pumps are:

 Use of a renewable energy source ensuring low running cost.

 Pumping only a small proportion of the available flow has little
environmental impact.
 Simplicity and reliability give a low maintenance requirement
 Automatic, continuous operation requires no supervision or human
input.

The main limitations are:

 They are limited in hilly areas with a year-round water sources

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  They pump only a small fraction of the available flow and therefore
require source flows larger than actual water delivered
 Can have a high capital cost in relation to other technologies
 Are limited to small-scale applications, usually up to 1KW, but this
requires economical and other considerations. Specific situations in
which other technologies may prove more appropriate are:

*In terrain where streams are falling very rapidly, it may be possible to extract
water at a point above the village or irrigation site and feed it undergravity. If
the water requirement is large and there is a large source of falling water (head
and flow rate) nearby, turbine-pump sets can provide the best solution. Many
ram pumps could be used in parallel to give the required output but at powers
over 2KW, turbine-pump systems are normally cheaper. In small-scale
domestic water supply, the choice can often be between using a ram pump on
a stream or using cleaner groundwater. Surface water will often need to be
filtered or treated for human consumption, increasing the cost of a system and
requiring regular filter maintenance. Under these conditions, to select a hydram
pump, economic considerations compared to other technologies have to be
looked at.3.

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3 DESIGN METHODOLOGY FOR HYDRAM PUMP:

Considerations in hydraulic ram pump system design

The following factors need to be considered in hydraulic Ram pump system

design.

 Area suitability (head and flow rate)

 Flow rate and head requirement
 Intake design
 Drive system
 Pump house location
 Delivery pipes routing
 Distribution system

3.2 Maintenance and service life considerations:

The critical parts that require frequent maintenance are bolts, studs and nuts.
Therefore, it is usually preferable to have stainless steel bolts, studs and nuts,
even though they are costly and difficult to source.

3.3 General considerations:

 Shape of hydram has little effect on performance

 Valve design considerations. The correct design of valves is a critical
factor in the overall performance of ram pumps. Hence, this needs
special consideration.
 Strength considerations. This determines thickness of hydram body and
air chamber.

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3.4 Basic Parts :

From the figure it shows a typical hydraulic ram installation that comprises

 Supply
 Supply pipe (drive pipe)
 Impulse valve/ waste valve/snifter valve
 Delivery valve
 Air chamber
 Delivery pipe

[ Figure 6: basic parts]

3.5 Pipe consideration:

For all pipes being used and the hydram body, the material that we
suggested is commercial steel pipe based on the following reason:

 Strength and flexibility

 high resistance to direct heat

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  Resistant to very high pressures
 Easy to install, maintain, operate and connect
 Perfect for the extension work in pumping stations, riverbanks, steep
sloping crossings and reservoirs
 Feature of withstanding traffic vibrations and shocks

Specifically, the types of steel pipe we suggest to use is Galvanized steel

since this type of steel is coated with zinc layer to protect steel pipes from
corroding. This form of steel provides resistance to corrosion and rust
thereby making it highly preferred to make pipes. This also helps in
increasing the overall life term of the pipe fittings as well.

3.6 Snifter valve:

It is a device to allow the air to enter the air vessel located above delivery
valve but below delivery pipe. Is it very important for air to enter because
air in the air vessel mixes with water while hydram is running. As a result,
the volume of air in the air vessel decreases and this will bring about the
reduction in the pump’s efficiency, thus it is important to have snifter valve.
In short, snifter valve enables the maintenance of a necessary air level inside
the air vessel.

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4 DESIGN

When we design a water system using ram pumps, we like to know before we
build it, how much water it will deliver to how much head and with what
efficiency manually manipulating these parameters using design methodology
for different input parameters. After that, we then design the hydram using
SOLIDWORKS software which a CAD (computer aided design) software as .

[ Figure 7: Isometric view of the hydraulic ram ]

[ Figure 8: Cross-sectional view of the hydraulic ram pump ]

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 [ Figure 9:sectional view of the hydraulic ram pump ]

[ Figure 10 : Sectional view of delivery valve ]

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 [ Figure 11: Outer view of delivery valve ]

[ Figure 12: Cross-sectional view of waste valve ]

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 [Figure 13 (a): Sectional view of waste valve]

[ Figure 13 (b): Sectional view of waste valve ]

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 [ Figure 13(c): Outer view of waste valve]

[ figure 14: Entire assembled figure]

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4.1 Component used:

DESIGN:

as When we design a water system using ram pumps, we like to know before
we build it, how much water it will deliver to how much head and with what
efficiency manually manipulating these parameters using design methodology
for different input parameters. After that, we then design the hydram using
SOLIDWORKS software which a CAD (computer aided design) software.

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SR. NO. NAME OF SIZE & TYPE
MATERIAL
1. BALL TYPE VALVE UPVC (1” inch)
2. T-JOINT UPVC (1”)
3. UNION UPVC (1”)
4. NON-RETURNABLE BRASS (1”)
VALVE (LAYER
TYPE)
5. SPRING TYPE NON BRASS (1”)
RETURNABLE
VALVE
6. T-JOINT UPVC (1”)
7. BALL TYPE VALVE UPVC (1/2”)
8. UNION UPVC (1/2”)
9. REDUCER UPVC (1” TO ½” inch)

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 10. VALVE UPVC (1/2”)
11. WATER PRESSURE SS
MEASUREMENT
MET.
12. PIPE REDUCER UPVC TO PVC
13. PRESSURE PVC (4”)
CHAMBER ENDCAP
15. PRESSURE PVC (dia=4” inch,
CHAMBER WITH length=3.5foot)
INNERSIDE TUBE
FILLED

Connections Note Read through the intractable and understand all the
pipefitting connections that will happen before buying materials. The store may
not have exactly what you're looking for, and you may have to improvise. I
wound up getting some different parts because my local store didn't have the
exact parts I was looking for. This usually appears in the form of not having a
threaded fitting, but having a smooth pipe connection, or vice versa. Not a
problem, you can figure it out.

Installation Materials

• Long section of 1-1/4" PVC ("drive pipe", connects pump to water supply)
• Garden Hose (male end threads into 3/4" union, supplies pumped water)
• Bricks, blocks, rocks to prop up and anchor pump
• Shower Drain assembly (must be able to attach to 1-1/4" pipe, for attaching
pipe to water supply)

Build Materials and Tools

• PVC Primer (I used Oatey Purple Primer)

• PVC Cement (Oatey again, just what they had)

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• Teflon Thread Tape
• Hacksaw
• Measuring Tape
• Clamps
• Pocket Knife
• Lab gloves (keeps the chemicals on the pipe and off your hands) Bike Pump
(to inflate the innertube).

4.3 OPERATIONAL FIGUERE EXPLINATION

as shown in below figures operation perform under these figures.

(1) Water (blue arrows) starts flowing through the drive pipe and out of the
"waste" valve (#4 on the diagram), which is open initially. Water flows
faster and faster through the pipe and out of the valve.

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 (2) At some point, water is moving so quickly through the brass swing check
"waste" valve (#4) that it grabs the swing check's flapper, pulling it up
and slamming it shut. The water in the pipe is moving quickly and
doesn't want to stop. All that water weight and momentum is stopped,
though, by the valve slamming shut. That makes a high pressure spike
(red arrows) at the closed valve. The high pressure spike forces some
water (blue arrows) through the spring check valve (#5 on the diagram)
and into the pressure chamber. This increases the pressure in that
chamber slightly. The pressure "spike" the pipe has nowhere else to go,
so it begins moving away from the waste valve and back up the pipe (red
arrows). It actually generates a very small velocity *backward* in the
pipe.

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 (3) As the pressure wave or spike (red arrows) moves back up the pipe, it
creates a lower pressure situation (green arrows) at the waste valve. The
spring-loaded check valve (#5) closes as the pressure drops, retaining the
pressure in the pressure chamber.

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 (4) At some point this pressure (green arrows) becomes low enough that the
flapper in the waste valve (#4) falls back down, opening the waste valve
again.

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5) Most of the water hammer high pressure shock wave (red arrows) will
release at the drive pipe inlet, which is open to the source water body. Some
small portion may travel back down the drive pipe, but in any case after the
shock wave has released, pressure begins to build again at the waste valve
(#4) simply due to the elevation of the source water above the ram, and water
begins to flow toward the hydraulic ram again.

(6) Water begins to flow out of the waste valve (#4), and the process starts over
once again.

Steps 1 through 6 describe in layman's terms a complete cycle of a hydraulic

ram pump. Pressure wave theory will explain the technical details of why a
hydraulic ram pump works, but we only need to know it works. The ram pump
will usually go through this cycle about once a second, perhaps somewhat
more quickly or more slowly depending on the installation. Each "pulse" or
cycle pushes a little more pressure into the pressure chamber. If the outlet
valve is left shut, the ram will build up to some maximum pressure (called
shut off head on pumps) and stop working.

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4.2 SUGGESTION FOR FUTURE:

One of the suggestions that can be apply is to use a bigger supply pipe to obtain
a large amount of water so that more water can be delivered to tank. In this
report we use supply pipe with diameter of 0.1m, and we get only about
flowrate and it is just about1% of compared to the river’s flowrate. Bigger
supply pipe will increase the flowrate, but we also need to increase size of
hydram to cope with bigger force that the water carries. It is not necessary to
increase the delivery pipe because referring to continuity equation, the flowrate
across a pipe is same. Since we already increase the flowrate of water by
increasing the diameter of supply pipe, thus with the same diameter of delivery
pipe we can get achieve a higher velocity of water flowing to the tank. But if
we increase the diameter of supply pipe tremendously, we may also need to
increase the delivery pipe diameter so that more water can be delivered with
high velocity. We can also try to build a tank near the river to store the water
collected from river. This is for us manipulate the velocity of water flowing
since we cannot do anything to the river. We know from continuity equation
that the property that is shared between the river, and water flowing to supply
pipe is the velocity. So, if we find any solution to increase the velocity, we
could increase the flowrate in the pipe thus increasing the pumping rate of the
hydram. For the most optimum performance of the hydram is to apply both of
the suggestion but we need first to consider the necessity of such high pumping
rate according to usage of the water delivered. If we were able to deliver a lot
of water to the tank, but later we will only just use some of it, then it will be a
waste and will cost us high. Thus, we first need to identify the necessary
amount of water needed. From there we try to adjust so that we can fulfil the
demand with the minimum cost.

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5 CONCLUSIONS:

From the objective stated, we have come out the solutions from the study of
our hydraulic ramp pump (hydram), the modifications and assumptions made
were counted and the calculations give the exact answers for this project.
From the results obtained, we have found out that: -

A) There is broad prospect of utilizing the country's abundant surface

water run off potential for various purposes or requirements using
locally designed and manufactured hydraulic ram pumps and other
similar appropriate technologies.

B) To disseminate Hydrams at potential sites throughout the country, there

is a need to create awareness through training and seek integrated work
with rural community, government institutions like water, energy and
mines bureau of local regions and non-governmental organizations.

C) Hydraulic Ram pumps made by casting have many advantages, but

they could be expensive. In addition, considering the cost of civil work
and pipe installation, the initial investment could be very high. To
reduce cost of Hydrams made by casting, there is a need for
standardization. Standardizing hydram pump size will also have an
advantage to reduce cost of spare parts and facilitate their easy access
when they are needed.

D) The use of appropriate means of treating river water should be

looked at in conjunction with any development project of
domestic water supply using Hydrams.

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6 REFERENCES:
• https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:y4OT9TIBzK8J
:https://www.researchtrend.net/ijet/pdf/22%2520ICRIET-
152.pdf+&cd=11&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/245392392_The_gravity_pump_
A_new_approach_to_a_natural_energy_water_pump
• https://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/
• https://www.slideshare.net/niravdon/full-report-of-hydraulic-ramp-pump

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