I could be wrong here, but I think an inverted siphon is simply like a U tube full of water.

The Romans built Aquaducts to transport water, to carry the water across a valley is tricky, you can build a bridge to run the water chanel over or you can build a pipe (covered tunel) which goes from a large tank at one side of the valley, down into the valley, up the other side and into another large tank which opens out into the chanel again.

Thus the water flows down into the valley and up the other side!

Clever chaps the Romans!

Del

Hello Guest,

You could look at the picture here.

Check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siphon

Suggestion:

Get some practice at using an Internet Search Engine, as the careful use of an Internet Search Engine will save you much of your irreplaceable life span.

Kind Regards....

"An inverted siphon is not a siphon but a term applied to pipes that must dip below an obstruction to form a "U" shaped flow path. Inverted siphons are commonly called traps for their function in making expensive articles like rings and electronic components retrievable in the trivial sense. Liquid flowing in one end simply forces liquid up and out the other end, but solids like sand will accumulate. This is especially important in sewage systems or culverts which must be routed under rivers or other deep obstructions where the better term is "depressed sewer". Large inverted siphons are used to convey water being carried in canals or flumes"

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siphon

across valleys, for irrigation or gold mining.

Here is an interesting example of an inverted siphon project completed a couple of years ago near the Kremlin in Moscow.

Having designed a few of these to cross major canal systems in California, there are a number of factors you must consider. An inverted siphon is just a submerged section of gravity flow pipe system, such as sewer and storm sewer where the inflowing waters can flow through the pipe down and under some critical structures and and bck up to the main on the other side. The velocity must be maintained at the discharge end of the siphon to keep the flushing velocities up, YOU DO NOT WANT THESE TO FUNCTION AS A TRAP. Typically you design the discharge outlet side to maintain sufficient head for a 4 fps exit velocity or so, you also must design to access the siphon to remove debris that may collect and protect the inflow side against large debris. Many of these are designed as stages systems with multiple line that come online as the fluid levels change, to maintain an adequate flushing velocity and allow capacity to meet max demands. For a simple water conveyance system where you do not have debris to worry about and you can deliver flows that have relatively little variation, the systems are very simple. For those with substantial flow variations and debris to remove, it gets more complicated.

Maybe it is just industry terminology but in the power generation industry and particularly on PF coal-fired boilers (500 - 660MW, 2,200t/hr @590C) we referred to the blowdown tank as having an inverted siphon. The inverted siphon maintained a level in the tank to prevent steam blowdown passing to what are normally non-pressurised drains (for personnel safety) The vessel design was a fine balance to cater for variable steam and drain conditions for vent to atmosphere, quantity flowrate to vessel and drain capacity to always maintain a liquid seal in the tank under all operating conditions. Turbine drains usually were directed to the deaerator. Sketch below is a rough idea of the arrangement (dimensions rough too).

I am not sure which you would define as inverted and non-inverted.

Hello AussieBob

<"....I am not sure which you would define as inverted and non-inverted.....">

Look at the picture in my Post above: http://cr4.globalspec.com/comment/298620/Re-inverted-siphon

That shows bot the "standard siphon" and the "inverted siphon', as used in a standard household laundry tub or kitchen sing drainpipe.

Kind Regards....