Performance study of hydraulic ram by varying length and inclination of supply pipe

Abstract

In India, the agricultural production in many years is hampered by the non availability of the adequate power for irrigation. The shortage of power often affects the lift irrigation project. Main problems in enhancing irrigation facilities in hilly regions are their highly uneven topography and non availability of conventional sources of power. The increasing exploitation of conventional energy sources for meeting the increasing power demands is becoming expensive. Under such circumstances, devices like hydraulic rams are to be efficiently designed for lifting water in regions where adequate supply of water and favourable conditions for installations for hydraulic rams exists. Hydraulic ram is a simple automatic device, which uses the kinetic energy of a large quantity of flowing water available at lower elevation to lift a portion of it to a higher elevation. The simplicity of construction and the automatic operation make it especially adaptable to remote areas. The performance study of hydraulic ram was evaluated mainly by observing the delivery head and delivery discharge relationships. In each case, the efficiency was evaluated. Typical performance characteristics were plotted for the changes in conditions of operations. Effect of the performance of the hydraulic ram was studied by changing length of supply pipe, L/D ratio of Air chamber, volume of Air Chamber and inclination of supply pipe. The major findings of the research work are : 1. The ram shows best range of efficiency of operation for 14 and 15 metre lengths of supply pipe. 2. The L/D ratio of Air chamber have no significant effect on the values of delivery discharge, efficiency and delivery head for a given volume. 3. The delivery discharge increases with increase in volume of Air chamber, but the rate of increase in delivery discharge decreases with increase in volume of Air chamber. 4. The continuous operation of hydraulic ram have no significant effect in higher volumes of Air chamber. 5. The hydraulic ram shows best range of efficiency of operation at 7 degree inclination of supply pipe than the 8.5 and 6 degree inclinations.