The pump flow rate has been a thorn in my side for some time now. I agree that the September pump flow measurements by Mats Lewan were excellent. Too bad they were not repeated in October testing. I have had a chance to reconsider my decision to use a higher expected rate for the Excel simulation and now am not convinced that this would be ideal. No one can verify the settings on the pump control panel so the stroke setting may have been reduced from the maximum setting that was used in September testing. Also, at the end of the October test it was written that the pump flow rate was increased. This is not possible if the stroke setting was maximum unless the pulse frequency was increased. I have not heard that discussed at all and maybe someone with knowledge can help clarify this issue.
Further support for a lower net flow rate during the October 6 testing is given by the measurement performed by Mats near the end of the run. He very carefully measured a rate of .9 grams per second being careful not to disturb the plumbing. This value coupled with the assumed leakage rate (2 kilograms per hour or .55555 grams per second) adds up to approximately 1.45 grams per second input. With this information I am going to continue to assume the rate to be approximately 1.5 grams per second. I guess I was frustrated by the lack of good hard evidence. Dave -----Original Message----- From: Jed Rothwell <[email protected]> To: vortex-l <[email protected]> Sent: Thu, Oct 20, 2011 10:14 am Subject: Re: [Vo]:Making Sense of ECAT Water Pump Flow Rate David Roberson wrote: An additional measurement of water consumed from the boiling point to the test completion showed a usage of 11.08 kilograms per hour (3.07777 grams per second). None of the three measurements came close to the expected value based upon the rate setting. . . . This pump has been a source of confusion from day one. I wish Rossi would have enough sense to install a precision flow meter. In the October 6 test they should have had enough sense to weigh the reservoir periodically on the bathroom scale. It was a large plastic trash can. In previous tests, they did weigh the reservoir before and after the test, on a precision weight scale. It confirmed the flow rate they measured by other methods. As I recall, this flow rate was higher than people think this pump is capable of producing, so there is a discrepancy between the pump specifications and actual performance. - Jed
