Performance of a low-cost hydraulic ram pump as a function of variations in feed height and inlet pipe diameter

Abstract

Access to water in rural areas is extremely important in the different activities that occur daily on agricultural properties, whether for human consumption, animal watering, irrigation and other purposes. This access is often difficult and costly, especially for small rural producers who do not have the financial capacity to purchase an electric pump, or do not have electricity on their property. In this sense, alternative water pumping, without the need to use electrical energy or energy from the burning of fossil fuels, can be a good alternative and deserves to be studied. Based on these premises, the objective of this research was to study the performance of the repressed flow, obtained by a low-cost hydraulic ram, installed in different hydraulic scenarios. The methodology consisted of installing equipment built in the Irrigation, Hydraulic and Hydrology Laboratory of the Agricultural Sciences Center of the State University of the Tocantina Region of Maranhão (LIHH/CCA/UEMASUL), for this, different hydraulic scenarios were created depending on the interaction of different feeding heights and different pipe diameters, which constituted the experimental treatments. The results found allowed us to conclude that the highest average pressure flow was obtained in the hydraulic scenario that presented the greatest geometric difference between the water source and the hydraulic ram with the largest diameter of the inlet pipe, with an average of 9,539.21 L.d-1 of repressed water. It was also possible to prove that this equipment constitutes a good alternative for pumping water on small rural properties.