Air Lift Pump

Check this

http://www.ca.uky.edu/wkrec/AirliftPumps.htm

There are a number of similar links in the web. Take a llok at google. I'm sure you'll be able to calculate it.

i have all that data from internet. i need to know the emperical releation between air & water i.e. design calculations

Scroll down this page to Air Lift Pumps. <http://www.ca.uky.edu/wkrec/WurtsLitpage.htm>

You will have to plot all the data you can find relating to air lift pumps and deduce your own relationships. Depending on pipe size there will be upper and lower limits of water pumping capability depending secondarily on air pressure and volume.

why bother.

Why do we waste time with anonomous posters? Want us to do research and can't even be bothered to get a nick name and and sign in.

The following is from a Missouri Water Well Driller's Handbook, I think. I will try to get a citation as soon as I am done with my current water well airlifting project. There was a figure but it will probably not copy into this. Using this as the basis for my calculations, I am pumping steadily at ~300-350 gpm with 6" pipe, 2" airline through a 5' interval between swabs (equiv. 8" pipe open area between swabs) from 580-980 ft. Static WL about 320'. Using an IR 1170 compressor.

Tables are at the end.

AIR LIFT PUMPS

Quantity Of Air Required:

Cubic feet of free air per gallon of water = H/(C * log₁₀((S + 34)/34))

Where H =total lift in feet; S = submergence of the eductor pipe in feet when pumping; and C = a constant from the following table:

Starting and Operating Pressures:

Starting Pressure (lbs/sq in) =0.434 x Starting Submergence (S_x in ft)

Operating Pressure (psi) =0.434 x Submergence (S) in feet + friction drop (psi) in air pipe from compressor to foot piece

Velocities:

With a straight eductor pipe the best discharge velocity of the mixture of air and water for lifts from 40 to 200 feet varies from 2000 feet per minute at 35% submergence to 700 fpm at 70% submergence.

With a tapered eductor pipe (smaller diameter at foot piece) the best discharge velocity is 1400 fpm at 35% submergence and 550 fpm at 70% submergence.

The best velocity for the mixture of water and air at the entrance to the bottom of the eductor pipe is 800 fpm at 35% submergence and 450 fpm at 70% submergence.

The proper size of eductor pipe can be computed from these velocities using the formula Q = A x V where Q is the combined volume of water and air (with allowance for pressure in calculating the air volume), A is the cross-sectional area of the eductor pipe, and V is the velocity of the air-water mixture.

Ordinary practice places velocities of the compressed air in the air pipe at from 1800 to 2400 fpm. The diameter of rhe air pipe can be compute by the formula: d = 13.54 * SQRT(Q/V) where d is the diameter of the pipe in inches, Q is the volume of air in cfm passing through the pipe, and V the velocity of flow of the air in fpm.

Air supply hose

Air supply hose

Terms & Definitions (See diagram above) This diagram is for the air line inside Eductor pipe – constant C**

Elevation: Lift above ground level or distance A-B

Static Water Level: Distance water stands below ground level when not pumping, or B-C

Drawdown: Distance the water drops in well during pumping, or C-D (if handling as a negative distance below ground; if not, then D-C)

Lift (H): Total distance (vertical) water is raised from the pumping level to discharge, or A-D (or D-A, see note above)

Submergence (S): For this diagram, what counts is submergence of the airline while pumping, D-E (see note above). The eductor has to be deeper. You can calculate what you need to keep the air from escaping out the bottom of the eductor instead of carrying water to the surface. Friction losses may be taken into account if you can find them. Starting submergence is C-E.

Table below does not produce well - 3 columns- %sub, outside airline Constant, Inside airline constant - ex. 35% submergence, 216 for out C, 162 inside airline C

Submergence in % C* (Out) C** (In) 35 216 162 40 246 185 45 272 214 50 296 238 55 318 262 60 335 285 65 348 306 70 358 322 75 366 330

Table below has 4 columns: Lift, OK Range, Best Range, Compressor Type

ex 20' lift, 55 to 70% sub, 65 to 70% best, Single stage compressor, note that there are a lot of dittos in column 4.

Lift OK Range Best Range 20 55 to 70 65 to 70 Single State 30 55 to 70 65 to 70 " 40 50 to 70 65 to 70 " 50 50 to 70 65 to 70 " 60 50 to 70 65 to 70 " 80 50 to 70 65 to 70 " 100 45 to 70 65 to 70 " 125 40 to 65 65 " 150 40 to 65 60 to 65 " 175 40 to 60 55 to 60 " 200 40 to 60 55 to 60 Compound 250 40 to 60 55 to 60 " 300 37 to 55 50 to 55 " 350 37 to 55 50 to 55 " 400 37 to 50 45 to 50 " 450 35 to 45 40 to 45 " 500 35 to 45 40 to 45 " 550 35 to 45 40 to 45 " 600 35 to 45 40 to 45 " 650 35 to 45 40 to 45 " 700 35 to 40 40 "

Are you the original poster? If so, welcome to CR4.

Lots of information here. What I did was set up the lift through an inch and a quarter pipe. At the bottom, It widened out to 3 inches with a standard fitting. About 3 feet of three inch pipe. The air was from a standard air compressor which at the time, I regretably powered with a direct connected windmill. Which did not provide enough pressure for THIS installation so the electrics kept kicking in. I used a straightforward half inch garden hose to carry the air down to the bottom, and by careful adjustment with a simple faucet valve got the thing to run really well. The problem is that it takes a huge amount of air, (well, it takes what it takes, its still pretty efficient) but to push up that 24 foot column of water required some finessing with the faucet (tap) to get it to start. Not much, but the 3 foot section spilled a lot of precious air until the bubbles got running, and I think got the water column to start moving. This meant in practice, turning it on slowly. Small child operated it after that.

Things I would change....longer 3 foot section, bigger air storage tank, No wind turbine power even if it is direct drive, but the applied air should maybe have gone through a slow opening relief valve (if there IS such a thing). The faucet worked just fine. I found that AS a dirt simple way to drain my excavation, it was hard to beat. It carried up mud, sawdust, even a fair amount of other debris that was big enough to fit in the pipe. I used MY simple little pump to clean out a LOT of wet silt. I moved about 12 cu yards an hour with that stupid little set up, though my estimates and memory may be off. The adjustable faucet needed almost constant adjusting. The small boy was good at optimizing the stream. Calculate variables? Really.

I understand the method is used to mine gold in the Bearing Sea placer deposits. Bigger pipes, bigger compressors and it drags gold up and leaves the big rocks. When I was in University, they were talking of bringing up mineral deposits from the abyss that way. Why not?

i am also doing the same project.if u know send me to the following mail

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Again....why should I bother. Sign in, and I will tell you how I made mine. Otherwise, do your own homework.