Rope pump
A rope pump is a kind of pump of which the main or most visible component is a continuous piece of rope, in which the rope is integral in raising water from a well.
Description
A rope pump is a kind of pump of which the main or most visible component is a continuous piece of rope, in which the rope is integral in raising water from a well. Rope pumps are often used in developing areas. The most common rope pump consists of a PVC pipe and a rope. There are two types of rope pumps, namely valved and valveless. Valved rope pumps have either flexible valves (often made from rubber) or rigid valves (often metal or plastic washers. Rope pumps are cheap to build and easy to maintain.
One design of rope pump using as 80 watt solar panel can pump 3,000 litres per day.[1]
Rope pumps can be powered by low speed petrol/diesel/engines, electricity[2], human enegry[3], wind[4] and from solar.[1]
Valves
Rope pumps can use flexible valves, rigid valves or sometimes no valves and rely only on the rope itself.
Flexible valve can be cut piece of bicycle tube. The valves are positioned 20 cm apart on the rope. One disadvantage of flexible valve rope pumps is that different pump builders may use inappropriately sized valves. The thickness of the rubber is also an important factor that differs from place to place.[5]
Rigid valves using plastic or metal washers that fit tightly into the PVC pipe as the rope is dragged through can also be used. If the fit is tight, the washers can be spaced up to half a metre apart. For deeper wells, thinner pipe can be used. These rope pumps often work with a hand crank.[6]
Valves can also be made from knots in the rope itself.[7]
Valveless rope pumps work on the principle of friction. The rope is dragged at high speed, and water which clings to the rope is dragged up the rope. Valveless pumps often use a bicycle to produce the required speed. It is a rather inefficient design but it requires no valves.[3]
The rope pump technology is in the public domain and there are no patents pending on it.[8]
History
Chain or washer pumps were used by the Chinese over 1000 years ago. In the 1980's the first steps were made to improvement the rope pump using PVC pipes plastic moldings in Nicaragua.[8]
25 % of the rural population in Nicaragua now use rope pumps and the technology was disseminated in a very short time over the whole country and other parts of Central America with over 25.000 pumps have been installed.[9]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Solar powered water pump". Soar Aid. http://www.solar-aid.org/project_water_pump/. Retrieved on 2009-04-10.
- ↑ "Moto Rope pumps". http://www.daenvis.org/ropepump9.htm. Retrieved on 2009-04-10.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Bicycle Rope Pump". http://www.thefarm.org/charities/i4at/lib2/ropepump.htm. Retrieved on 2009-04-10.
- ↑ "THE ROPE WIND PUMP". http://www.gamos.demon.co.uk/just%20gamos%20homepage/henkfnl2.htm. Retrieved on 2009-04-10.
- ↑ http://www.scn.org/cmp/modules/wat-ro.htm
- ↑ http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/System/7014/rope.html
- ↑ http://www.appropedia.org/Rope_pump_knots
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "history". Ropepump.com. http://www.ropepump.com/his/his.htm. Retrieved on 2009=04-10.
- ↑ "history". Ropepump.com. http://www.ropepump.com. Retrieved on 2009-04-10.