Water pump Ismail al-Jazari
This pump pumps water from a stream or river bed to a higher point - for example, a reservoir or irrigation canal. It uses the kinetic energy of the flowing water to do this, so it does not need any external energy to operate, either in the form of electrical energy (electric pump) or mechanical energy (human or animal labour).
The author of this and many other inventions is Badi’ al-Zaman Abu-‘l-'Izz Ibn Isma'il Ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari living between 1136 and 1206. His inventions, which he largely put to practical use, he wrote in a work translated as: Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices (Kitáb al-fi ma’rifat hiyal al-handasiyya).
The power source of the pump is a water wheel whose horizontally oriented axis is anchored to stable footings on the bank of the stream. The gear wheel (toothed wheel) is located on the same axis. The water jet rotates the water wheel and the gear wheel transfers the rotational motion to the other gear wheel. Off center of the second gear (eccentrically) is a pin that moves in a crank rail connected by a fixed point at the bottom of the tank.
Principle
When the waterwheel rotates, the rod moves to the left and one piston is pulled and the other piston is pushed. This mechanism is called a sliding crank mechanism. It is used to convert rectilinear motion into rotary motion, as in a reciprocating piston motor, or to convert rotary motion into rectilinear motion, as in a reciprocating piston pump. The pump is thus an early example of the double-acting pump principle, where one piston draws in and the other delivers - pushing water.
The cylinders are connected to a suction pipe submerged in the creek bed and a discharge pipe that ends in an overflow to a tank above (where we want to get water from the creek). For proper operation, the inlets and outlets to/from the plunger must be equipped with one-way butterfly valves. The pump can pump water up to a height of approximately 12 metres.
Today's pumps that use the reciprocating motion of a flexible diaphragm, i.e. diaphragm pumps, work on the same principle.
A beautiful example of a contemporary use of the principle, slightly innovated, is the one-piston hand pump found at my grandmother's garden well. In poor countries these pumps are still very popular and used in large numbers.
Today, in the age of battery-powered electric pumps, the practical application of this invention is questionable. However, I can imagine a project where the aim is to pump water continuously to a reservoir at a higher altitude.
Hlavním problémem zařízení bude zanášení trubek, klapek a pístu nečistotami z vodního toku. Tomu by se dalo zabránit umístěním jednoduchých filtrů před vstup do nasávacích trubek (třeba jemné pletivo). To by však s vysokou pravděpodobností znamenalo snížení účinnosti zařízení (snížení výtlačné výšky).
Purely theoretically, one could consider the concept of storing the kinetic energy of water for later use.
The flowing water of a stream or river is the kinetic energy of water flowing from a higher place to a lower place. It is actually converted solar energy, because thanks to the energy of the Sun, evaporated water in the form of clouds reaches the mountain range, where it turns into snow or raindrops that fill the stream beds.
Using an al-Jazari pump, the kinetic energy is stored in a tank above, and when additional kinetic energy is needed, water can be allowed to flow out of the tank and converted into motion or electrical energy.
Source
- Water bombs by Al-Jazari, Muslim heritage
- Wiki about Ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari
- A short description of al-Jazari's work: A Compendium of Theoretical and Practical Mechanics
- Pages dedicated to al-Jazari inventions
- 3D video animation, simulation of pump function
- Al-Jazari: The Brilliant Innovator of Cybernetics and Robotics
