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Investigation and Parameter Optimization of a Hydraulic Ram Pump Using Taguchi Method

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Abstract

The main objective of this research work is to investigate the effect of Waste Valve height and Pressure Chamber height on the output flow rate of a Hydraulic ram pump. Also the second objective of this work is to optimize them for a hydraulic ram pump delivering water up to a height of 3.81 m (12.5 feet ) from the ground with a drive head (inlet head) of 1.86 m (6.11 feet). Two one-factor-at-a-time experiments have been conducted to decide the levels of the selected input parameters. After deciding the input parameters, an experiment has been designed using Taguchi’s L9 Orthogonal Array with three repetitions. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is carried out to verify the significance of effect of the factors on the output flow rate of the pump. Results show that the height of the Waste Valve and height of the Pressure Chamber have significant effect on the outlet flow of the pump. For a pump of drive pipe diameter (inlet pipe) 31.75 mm (1.25 in.) and delivery pipe diameter of 12.7 mm (0.5 in.) the optimum setting was found out to be at a height of 114.3 mm (4.5 in.) of the Waste Valve and 406.4 mm (16 in.) of the Pressure vessel providing a delivery flow rate of 93.14 l per hour. For the same pump estimated range of output flow rate is, 90.65–94.97 l/h.

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Abbreviations

An avg :

Average values of responses at the nth level of parameters A

A1, A2, A3 :

Three levels of factor A

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

Bnavg :

Average values of responses at the nth level of parameters B

B1,B2,B3 :

Three levels of factor B

C.I.CE :

Confidence Interval for a sample group (confirmation experiment)

C.I. pop :

Confidence Interval for the population

C.L.:

Confidence level

D1 :

Diameter of the drive pipe

D2 :

Diameter of the delivery pipe

DOE:

Design of experiment

f:

Degree of freedom (DOF)

F:

Variance ratio

Favg :

Overall mean of the response variable

Fα (1, fe):

The F-ratio at a confidence level of (1-α) against DOF 1 and error DOF (fe)

G. I.:

Galvanized Iron

L1 :

Length of the drive pipe

L2 :

Length of the delivery pipe

neff :

N/ (1+ Total DOF associated in the estimate of the mean)

N:

Total number of results

N.R.V.:

Non Return Valve

OA:

Orthogonal Array

OFAT:

One-factor-at-a-time

P:

Percent contribution

Qout :

Delivery flow rate

r:

Number of repetitions

R:

Sample size of confirmation experiment

R1, R2, R3:

First, second and third repetition of the trial conditions

S:

Sum of squares

S’:

Pure sum of square

S/N:

Signal to Noise Ratio

V:

Variance

Ve :

Error variance from ANOVA

Yn :

Value of the response variable at nth repetition

α:

Confidence level in percentage

µ:

mean of the output variable

References

  1. S. B. Watt, Manual on the Hydraulic for Pumping Water, Reprinted edition, (Intermediate technology publication, London, 1981), pp. 1-27

  2. J. Krol, The automatic hydraulic ram, vol. 164 (PROC. I. MECH. E., 1951), p. 103

  3. A. Inversin, Hydraulic ram, Second printing (Volunters in Technical Assistance Inc., Virginia, 1987), pp. 5–10

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  5. P.J. Ross, Taguchi Techniques for Quality Engineering, 1st edn. (McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1988), pp. 118–124

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  6. Hydraulic Rams For Off-Stream Livestock Watering, (Cooperative Extension Service, The University of Georgia, 1988), http://www.caes.uga.edu/departments/bae/extension/pubs/documents/rampump3.pdf. Accessed 21 Mar 2015

  7. Homemade Hydraulic Ram Pump, (Clemson University Cooperative Extension, 2014), http://www.clemson.edu/irrig/equip/ram.html. Accessed 7 Mar 2015

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Acknowledgments

We are thankful to the faculty members of Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jorhat Engineering College for providing necessary suggestions for this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jorhat Engineering College, Garmur, Jorhat, 785007, Assam, India

    Dhrupad Sarma, Monotosh Das, Bipul Brahma, Deepak Pandwar, Sermirlong Rongphar & Mafidur Rahman

Authors
  1. Dhrupad Sarma
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  2. Monotosh Das
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  3. Bipul Brahma
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  4. Deepak Pandwar
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  5. Sermirlong Rongphar
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  6. Mafidur Rahman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dhrupad Sarma.

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Sarma, D., Das, M., Brahma, B. et al. Investigation and Parameter Optimization of a Hydraulic Ram Pump Using Taguchi Method. J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. C 97, 551–559 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40032-016-0295-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40032-016-0295-0

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