Analysis and modelling of water based bubble pump at atmospheric pressure

Bubble pump (BP), an essential component in coffee percolators, is used to drive solar water heating systems and single pressure absorption refrigerators. However, its mass flow rate cannot be readily predicted. Heat input, tube diameter and submergence ratio affect its mass flow rate. BP has the sa...

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Main Authors: Chan, K, McCulloch, M
Format: Journal article
Published: Elsevier 2013
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author Chan, K
McCulloch, M
author_facet Chan, K
McCulloch, M
author_sort Chan, K
collection OXFORD
description Bubble pump (BP), an essential component in coffee percolators, is used to drive solar water heating systems and single pressure absorption refrigerators. However, its mass flow rate cannot be readily predicted. Heat input, tube diameter and submergence ratio affect its mass flow rate. BP has the same working concept as air-lift pump, but its flow is complicated due to the condensation of vapour bubbles. Neither curve fitting models, nor air-lift pump models, can predict the mass flow rate with high fidelity. A new model based on the pumping characteristics of BP is presented and verified by a water based setup at atmospheric pressure. Results show that the average errors for the BP with tube diameter of 6-12 mm, and for the BP with submergence ratio of 0.5-0.8 are 13% and 11%, respectively. The BP performance increases when the tube diameter decreases or the submergence ratio increases. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.
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spelling oxford-uuid:104e9c89-19d8-4b0a-b255-13ac2b6944ec2022-03-26T09:55:46ZAnalysis and modelling of water based bubble pump at atmospheric pressureJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:104e9c89-19d8-4b0a-b255-13ac2b6944ecSymplectic Elements at OxfordElsevier2013Chan, KMcCulloch, MBubble pump (BP), an essential component in coffee percolators, is used to drive solar water heating systems and single pressure absorption refrigerators. However, its mass flow rate cannot be readily predicted. Heat input, tube diameter and submergence ratio affect its mass flow rate. BP has the same working concept as air-lift pump, but its flow is complicated due to the condensation of vapour bubbles. Neither curve fitting models, nor air-lift pump models, can predict the mass flow rate with high fidelity. A new model based on the pumping characteristics of BP is presented and verified by a water based setup at atmospheric pressure. Results show that the average errors for the BP with tube diameter of 6-12 mm, and for the BP with submergence ratio of 0.5-0.8 are 13% and 11%, respectively. The BP performance increases when the tube diameter decreases or the submergence ratio increases. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.
spellingShingle Chan, K
McCulloch, M
Analysis and modelling of water based bubble pump at atmospheric pressure
title Analysis and modelling of water based bubble pump at atmospheric pressure
title_full Analysis and modelling of water based bubble pump at atmospheric pressure
title_fullStr Analysis and modelling of water based bubble pump at atmospheric pressure
title_full_unstemmed Analysis and modelling of water based bubble pump at atmospheric pressure
title_short Analysis and modelling of water based bubble pump at atmospheric pressure
title_sort analysis and modelling of water based bubble pump at atmospheric pressure
work_keys_str_mv AT chank analysisandmodellingofwaterbasedbubblepumpatatmosphericpressure
AT mccullochm analysisandmodellingofwaterbasedbubblepumpatatmosphericpressure