Investigating the Effect of Valve Submersion Depth on the Flow Rate of Sonic Pump
This paper investigates the effect of the valve submersion depth under the water level in the well on the flow rate of a sonic pump furnished with a spring loaded poppet valve. An equation governing the retardation of water column(WC) in terms of valve head losses, valve submersion depth and the depth of pumping is derived and analyzed. Graphs showing the WC retardation in terms of these parameters are presented. It is found that the above parameters have considerable effect on the flow rate of the pump when operating on shallow wells. In order to improve the flow rate when pumping from such wells, valves with low head losses have to be used and submersed at a depth of 3 -4m. It is also found that the above results do not apply to pumps operating on deep wells because the WC retardation attains the gravitational acceleration and the flow rate improvement become negligible.
