Development of a manually operated coiled tube pump using plastic drum as a coil supporting structure

Abstract

This paper describes the development of an inclined axis manually operated coiled tube pump using plastic drum as a coil supporting structure. This pump could be used in small scale irrigation where it is difficult to transport water from lowland to highland area. A physical model of the prototype was fabricated using a small cylindrical plastic container to understand the pumping action of the pump. The prototype of the pump was then constructed considering the availability of material and size in the local hardware. The tests were carried out to collect the amount of water discharged at different angles. The maximum discharge was found 9.0 liter per minute at angle of inclination 20 degrees by the discharge pipe. The human power calculated to manually rotate the pump was approximately 11.36W (0.15 HP) within 5 minutes of rotation. The maximum human power is 75W within 8 hours of working hours. Therefore the pump could be manually operated to collect 500 Liters of water per hour by using manual power. Further improvement can be done by using large diameter coiled pipe.