WRE 419: Irrigation Pumps

Irrigation Pumps
Surface water lifting:
- In 1983 about 59%, in 1993 about 35%, in 1996 about 27% of the
irrigated area was irrigated from surface sources.
- Water from surface sources are lifted by low lift pumps and traditional
devices such as dhoans, swing baskets and counterpoise lifts.

Traditional lifting devices:

Dhoan:
- Manually operated boat-shaped through closed at one end open at the
other end.
- The trough is made of wood or a trunk of trees.
- The closed end of the trough is tied with a rope to a long wooden pole,
which is pivoted as a lever on a post.
- Lift up to 0.5 to 1 m, Q = 2.5 ~ 3.5 l/s.

Swing basket:
- One of the most ancient water-lifting devices.
- Consisting of a basket or shovel like scoop to which four ropes are
attached.
- Two persons stand each other and swing the basket to fill water. The
basket is raised and discharged into the field channel.

@ Dr. Md. Mostafa Ali, Associate Professor, WRE Dept., BUET Page 1
 WRE 419: Irrigation Pumps

- Lift up to 0.9 to 1.2 m, Q = 4.0 ~ 5.0 l/s.

Counterpoise lift:
- Consists of a long lever, which is pivoted on a post.
- A counter weight is fixed to the shorted end of the lift.
- Lift up to 1.2 to 4 m, Q = 2.0 ~ 3.0 l/s.

Ground water lifting:

- In 1983 about 41%, in 1993 about 65%, in 1996 about 73% of the
irrigated area was under ground water irrigation.

@ Dr. Md. Mostafa Ali, Associate Professor, WRE Dept., BUET Page 2
 WRE 419: Irrigation Pumps

- The groundwater lifting is mainly through shallow tube well or deep

tube well.
- All tube wells are connected with some means of pumps.

Type of pumps

a) Reciprocating pumps

- Cylinder is alternately filled and emptied

- Automatic valve control the flow of water into and out of the cylinder
- Utilizes the atmospheric pressure to raise the water column
- Manually operated pumps- (Treadle, Rower & hand pump)
Q = 0.8-1&l/s, h = upto 7.5m
- Low cost, labour intrusive, no future electric energy is required

@ Dr. Md. Mostafa Ali, Associate Professor, WRE Dept., BUET Page 3
 WRE 419: Irrigation Pumps

b) Centrifugal pumps

- Water is drawn into the pump axially and leaves radially

- Before the start it is necessary to fill the suction pipe and the pump case with
water-prancing of the pump.
- When the impeller starts rotating it creates suction at the eye of the impeller
- Rotation of the impeller sets up a centrifugal force and water levels with high
velocity and pressure
- The velocity energy is converted to pressure energy before water levels the casing
 Low cost
 Multiple use of engine
 Easy to install
 Maintaining easy

 Low-lift pumps and shallow tubewell pumps

Q = 56 lps, h ≅ qm Q = 15 l/s, h = 7.5 – 11.5m
Horizontal-shaft centrifugal pump-directly connected to engine or motor.
- More efficient, simply constructed, relatively free of troubles, low cost, easy to
install and capable of high speed
- Limited suction lift (upto 6m), susceptibility to losing prime

@ Dr. Md. Mostafa Ali, Associate Professor, WRE Dept., BUET Page 4
 WRE 419: Irrigation Pumps

c) Turbine pumps

- Impeller is surrounded by guide vanes, similar in principle to a reaction turbine

- Impeller is suspended vertically on the drive shaft
- Deep tubewell pumps – water surface below the practical lift of centrifugle pumps
Q = 56 lps, h = variable
- The pump bows, containing the impeller & guide vanes, are set near or below the
operating water level
- The prime mover is set above the well, connected to the pump by a vertical shaft
- Multi-stage pump-if several bowls are connected in series
-
Advantages
- Priming is not required, meet wide fluctuation of water surface without having to
reset the pumps

Disadvantages
- Operating parts are inaccessible and difficult to inspect
- Low efficiency is common
- Frequent shaft rupture

d) Submersible turbine pumps

A deep tubewell turbine pump close-coupled to a small diameter submersible
electric motor

@ Dr. Md. Mostafa Ali, Associate Professor, WRE Dept., BUET Page 5
 WRE 419: Irrigation Pumps

- The characteristics of the pump unit is similar to a conventional vertical turbine

pump
- Efficiency is increased by direct coupling and effective cooling
- Can be used in very deep tubewell, excellent in crooked wells useful where the
installation is flooded or where an aboveground pump house would be
inconvenient, unsightly or hazardous.

Pumping head

.
hs = suction lift = vertical distance from the free suction water level to the center
line of the pump
hd = static discharge head = vertical distance from the center line of the pump to
the discharge water level
hs + hd = total static head = vertical distance from the suction water level to
discharge water level
Total pumping head, h = hs + hd + hf
Hf = total frictional head loss in the suction and delivery pipes
When pumping from groundwater source
h = static head + drawdown + hf
Static head = vertical distance from the discharge water level to the static water
level in the well

@ Dr. Md. Mostafa Ali, Associate Professor, WRE Dept., BUET Page 6
 WRE 419: Irrigation Pumps

Power requirements
𝑄ℎ
𝑊𝐻𝑃 = , Q = discharge, l/s
76
H = total pumping head, m
𝑊𝐻𝑃 𝑊𝐻𝑃
𝐸𝑝 = ∴ 𝐵𝐻𝑃 =
𝐵𝐻𝑃 𝐸𝑝
𝐵𝐻𝑃
𝐾𝑊 = × .746
𝐸𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑟

Exercise_1: {Israelsen; P (282-285)}

A pump lifts 25 liters of water per second against a total static head of 30m, if the
pump has an efficiency of 70 percent, total frictional head loss of the pipes is
2.3m, what is the energy input to motor? Given motor efficiency 90%

Q = 25 l/s, static head = 30m, hf = 2.3m, Ep = 70%, Em = 90%

32.3 746
𝑊𝐻𝑃 = 25 × = 10.6, 𝑘𝑤 = 10.6 ×. = 12.5
76 .7×.9

@ Dr. Md. Mostafa Ali, Associate Professor, WRE Dept., BUET Page 7