Ron: I worked 26 years for an gas and electric company in the Engineering and Construction department. .I worked on steam plants of all types and occasionally hydro. Last 15 years there, I was a Project Manager. For the past 5 years I have been consulting, either on Project Management or alternative energy/energy conservation. This background gave me a tremendous knowledge base to build on, as I started to learn about ram pumps. I really started investigating them and working with them after a trip to Papua New Guinea in 98. I read everything I could find, built experimental rams, ran controlled experiments to see what would improve them, etc. Most of these were focused on limited drive head or flow and maximizing performance within those limits.
As far as the Rams falling into dis-use in the 50's, I am not sure anyone can really answer that. My best guess would be that America had become more fully electrified just before WWII. Just after WWII, the electric infrastructure of Europe was rebuilt and expanded. As most developed countries had electricity available, even in rural areas, rams fell into dis-use. No one talked about them, they did not teach about them in engineering schools. Why bother when you can plug in an electric pump. And the great promise of the day was that nuclear power would make electricity too cheap to meter. Unfortunately, only a few people retained knowledge about the rams. Fast forward to the 80-90s. Rising energy cost spurred a re-interest domestically and aid programs to developing nations helped some people recognize the real need world wide. This triggered an effort to find the "lost knowledge". I am not sure that we have recovered it all, but we have made large steps. I appreciate the reference to the paper. Haven't seen that paper, but am well aware of Warwick University and Dr. Thomas and the DTU. They have many papers on ram pumps and some human powered pumps at: http://www.eng.warwick.ac.uk/DTU/lift/index.html For the rest of the group, I was really impressed by Ron's design. It is robust, and every maintenance item is accessible. The parts that require welding, etc have been minimized and could be performed in any larger city of most developing nations. If, you are looking for a steel ram, you should definitely take a look at it. Oso davis ron <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: May 20, 05 Dear Oso, Thank you for that well-considered reply regarding portable rams. May I ask how you learned so much about ram pumps? It sounds as though you have extensive personal experience. I'm interested in understanding why the ram has fallen into disuse since the 1950s. I found a paper on this that seems very good at:www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ cv/wedc/papers/20/sessiong/thomast.pdf Ron Davis __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site! http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources/ Does your company feature in the microhydro business directory at http://microhydropower.net/directory ? If not, please register free of charge and be exposed to the microhydro community world wide! NOTE: The advertisements in this email are added by Yahoogroups who provides us with free email group services. The microhydro-group does not endorse products or support the advertisements in any way. More information on micro hydropower at http://microhydropower.net To unsubscribe: send empty message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/microhydro/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater? Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good! http://us.click.yahoo.com/TzSHvD/SOnJAA/79vVAA/FGYolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Does your company feature in the microhydro business directory at http://microhydropower.net/directory ? If not, please register free of charge and be exposed to the microhydro community world wide! NOTE: The advertisements in this email are added by Yahoogroups who provides us with free email group services. The microhydro-group does not endorse products or support the advertisements in any way. More information on micro hydropower at http://microhydropower.net To unsubscribe: send empty message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/microhydro/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
