Pump
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This article is about the mechanical device. For the shoe see Pump (shoe). For the Aerosmith album see Pump (album).
For Wikipedia's Village Pump (the Wikipedia community's general discussions area), see Wikipedia:Village pump.
A pump is a device used to move fluids (gases and liquids), or slurries. A pump moves liquids or gases from lower pressure to higher pressure, and overcomes this difference in pressure by adding energy to the system (such as a water system). A gas pump is generally called a compressor, except in very low pressure-rise applications, such as in heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning, the equipment is known as fans or blowers.
The earliest pump was described by Archimedes in the 3rd century BC and is known as the Archimedes screw pump. Pumps work by using mechanical forces to push the material, either by physically lifting, or by the force of compression.
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[edit] Types
Pumps fall into two major groups: rotodynamic pumps and positive displacement pumps. Their names describe the method for moving a fluid, such as water.
[edit] Rotodynamic pumps
Rotodynamic pumps are rotary machines. They cause a fluid to move by transferring the kinetic (rotational) energy from a motor, through an impeller, propeller or rotor, into fluid pressure (potential energy). Rotodynamic pumps are divided into three types: centrifugal pumps, peripheral pumps and special pumps.
Peripheral pumps give energy to the fluid via a vane wheel impeller. Peripheral pumps can be single stage or multistage. They are also called side-channel pumps or regenerative turbine pumps.
The special type of rotodynamic pump includes jet pumps, gas lift pumps and electromagnetic pumps. A eductor-jet pump is special type of pump without moving parts that uses the kinetic energy of a fluid to increase the pressure of a second fluid.
[edit] Positive displacement pumps
A positive displacement pump causes a fluid to move by trapping a fixed volume of water and then forcing (displacing) that trapped volume into the discharge pipe. Positive displacement pumps can be further classified as either rotary-type (for example the rotary vane pump) or reciprocating-type (for example the diaphragm pump).
[edit] Application
Pumps are used throughout society for a variety of purposes. Early applications includes the use of the windmill or watermill to pump water. Today, the pump is used for irrigation, water supply, air conditioning systems, refrigeration (usually called a compressor), chemical movement, sewage movement, flood control, marine services, etc.
Because of the wide variety of applications, pumps have a plethora of shapes and sizes: from very large to very small, from handling gas to handling liquid, from high pressure to low pressure, and from high volume to low volume.
[edit] Power source
Pumps may be powered by an internal combustion engine, electric motor, manually (as with the hand pump used for pumping groundwater, called walking beam pump), or by wind power (common for irrigation). Solar power has been used to power an electric motor, for remote locations.[1]
[edit] See also
- Airlift pump
- Beam pump and walking beam pump
- Bicycle pump
- Boiler feedwater pump
- Breast pump
- Chain pumps
- Circulator pump
- Concrete pump
- Condensate pump
- Compressors
- Cyclic pump
- Eductor-jet pump
- Electropump
- Fire pump and Jockey pump
- Hand pump
- Metering pump
- Peristaltic pump
- Progressive cavity pump (also known as; progressing cavity, eccentric screw or Mono pump)
- Pumping station
- Pumpjack (oil pump)
- Rope pump
- Roundabout PlayPump
- Tesla turbine
- Turbopump
- Vacuum pump
- Well water pump
- Wind pump
[edit] Further reading
- Australian Pump Technical Handbook, 3rd edition, 1987, Australian Pump Manufacturers' Assocation Ltd
[edit] External links
- Flash Animation of two lobe Roots Pump
- Flash Animation of three lobe Roots Pump
- Pump suppliers in DMOZ Open Directory Project
- Exzenterschnecken-Motoren/Pumpen (eccentric screw pumps)
- Listings of most major Pump manufacturers and distributors classified geographically.
- The Internet Glossary of Pumps
- Pump manufacturers from Coimbatore
