Pumps: Air Vessels

Air Vessels

Air vessel is a strong closed vessel as shown in figure. The top half contains compressed air and the lower portion contains water or the fluid being pumped. Air and water are separated by a flexible diaphragm which can  move  up  or  down  depending on the   difference  in   pressure between  the    fluids.  The  air  charged  at  near  total  delivery pressure/suction pressure from the top and sealed. The air vessel is connected to the pipe lines very near the pump, at nearly the pump level. On the delivery side, when at the beginning and up to the middle of the delivery stroke the head equals hs + hf + ha , higher than the static and friction heads. At this time part of the water from pump will flow into the air vessel and the remaining will flow through the delivery pipe. This will increase the compressed air pressure. At the middle stroke position the head will be sufficient to just cause flow. The whole of the flow from pump will flow to the delivery pipe. At the second half of the stroke the head will be equal to hs + hf - ha. At the position the head will be not sufficient to cause flow. The compressed air pressure will act on the water and water charged earlier into the air vessel will now flow out. Similar situation prevails on the suction side. At the start and up to the middle of the suction stroke the head at the pump is higher than static suction head by the amount of acceleration head. The flow will be more and part will flow into the air vessel. The second half of the stroke water will flow out of the air vessel.

In this process the velocity of water in the delivery pipe beyond the air vessel is uniform, and lower than the maximum velocity if air vessel is not fitted. Similar situation prevails in the suction side also. The effect is not only to give uniform flow but reduce the friction head to a considerable extent saving work. Without air vessel the friction head increases, reaches a maximum value at the mid stroke and then decreases to zero. With air vessel the friction head is lower and is constant throughout the stroke. This is due to the constant velocity in the pipe.

The advantages of installing air vessels are:

(i)                The flow fluctuation is reduced and a uniform flow is obtained.

(ii)             The friction work is reduced.

(iii)           The acceleration head is reduced considerably.

(iv)            Enables the use of higher speeds.