greenenergy

This invention is a solar water pumps that used solar heated steam to pump water from a deep well. The energy of the steam is transmitted down the well to the pump by means of a water filled hose or duct. The water in the hose is intermittently pressurized. During pressurization the water in hose or duct is directed against a diaphram in a chamber at the bottom of the well. The water pressure in that chamber forces the diaphram into an adjacent chamber. This action forces water in the adjacent chamber out of that chamber through a check valve and upwards toward the surface.

The column of water that transmits the energy of the steam to the pumping diaphram is subsequently relieved of pressure from the steam and the elastic diaphram retracts itself from the adjacent pumping chamber into which it had been forced by the pressurized water column. The contracting action of the diaphram with the pressure removed causes the cavity of that adjacent pumping chamber to expand and to create a vacuum which draws in water from the well bed into that same pumping chamber through a check valve thereby filling the pumping chamber and making it ready for the subsequent pressurization when water will force the diaphram into this chamber again and again drive the water through the first check valve and toward the surface. The novelty of this invention derives from the way in which solar energy is employed to provide the reciprocating column of water which does the work of pumping by moving the diaphram back and forth. In the former art steam pressure has been used to pump water when the steam pressure formed in a boiler was directed into a water filled chamber by valving and the pressure of the steam then forced the water from the chamber through a check valve.

The humble mechanism of a residential water pump pre-dates the invention and availability of electricity. The bucket on a rope was replaced by the hand pump, which was replaced by electric pump, which will someday be replaced by the solar water pump . The four types of residential water pumps are mechanical (hand pump), jet pump, submersible pump and solar powered water pump.

 When the valving that admitted the steam was closed, the condensing steam then created a vacuum which was able to draw into the chamber other water through another check valve in order to fill the chamber for another pressurization cycle when steam would again drive the water from the chamber. However, in this present invention water is not drawn into the chamber through one check valve to subsequently be expelled through another, but rather the water that is driven out of the chamber through a duct in place of the check valve is subsequently returned to the chamber so that the same water merely moves back and forth, in and out, of the chamber. In this invention the chamber in which steam acts on the water is only indirectly a pumping chamber in that the same water which is pushed from the chamber immediately returns to it, and the water moves back and forth to provide a reciprocating column of water and it is then the column of water which is employed to do pumping work at great distance from the source of the steam. In this way the principle of steam pumping may be employed at the bottom of a well where it would be difficult to employ a steam pumping chamber since much of the steam would condense on its way to the steam chamber at the bottom of the well.

There are five commonly accepted categories of hand pump ranked by the suction and the lift (or height). Suction equals about 20 feet maximum and can be limited by the elevation and atmosphere. The height to which the water can be lifted is related to the physical strength of the lifter(s). The five categories are suction pumps up to about 20 feet and about 45 feet for each of the others; low lift, direct action, intermediate lift and high lift pump.

 The vacuum produced in a steam pumping chamber left on the surface would only be capable of drawing up water from a depth of thirty nine feet but by the concept of this present and novel invention, the high pressure steam acting on the column of water wold provide hydraulic pressure for pumping at a great depth. Beside providing a means of extending the use of the steam pump for pumping from deep wells, the object of this inventive concept is to produce steam surges in a different way and to extend the utility of my copending application Ser. No. 101,218 called, "Pulsing Steam solar water heater ". This copending application does not require a separate boiler to provide pressure surges of steam from a solar collector, but it is not able to draw water to the pump for pressurization from a depth of over thirty nine feet. Its novel method of providing pressure surges quickly whenever sunlight is available provides an ideal source of solar heated steam energy for actuating the deep well pumping system of this present invention. Another object of this present invention is to provide a more simple and less costly means of producing steam surges from a solar collector in order to pump water with solar heated steam in a more simple manner.

Every country in the world will be changed to some extent by the latest in residential water pumps. The innovation is the solar water pump and technology has been successfully deployed on the African continent in Uganda, Sierra Leone and Liberia. The revolutionary aspects is the solar equipment is transportable and does not require connection to an electric grid service. The concept is solar water pumps can be deployed in currently uninhabitable and underused land, wherever viable ground water is identified. Residential, commercial, industrial and scientific applications are limitless. This could change the world in regard to countries' ability to house their people and provide food withing their own borders.

This is done in one embodiment by providing an alternate means of intermittent water delivery to the steam generating chamber. This new provision removes both the requirement of the small electric water pump and also removes the requirement for that part of the solar cell array needed to energize that pump. This object is accomplished by elevating the pumping chamber in which the steam acts on the water to a position higher in elevation than the water inlet to the steam generating chamber. Still another object is to combine the advantages of the simpler steam pulse generating system with the advantages of the reciprocating water column in order to provide a simple, solar pump that can pump water from deep in the earth.

source:bloggum|solar water pump