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Pumps Without Moving Parts
madprof writes "A researcher at Cambridge University has developed a usefully efficient thermofluidic pump to benefit some of the world's poorest people by performing irrigation and other tasks. Tom Smith has been awarded Science Graduate of the Year by the Royal Institution of Great Britain for this breakthrough and is giving a public lecture on 6th October in London. A great example of scientific innovation directly benefiting people."
have been known for a long time.
They work fine in some cases. A ramjet is one such. If you want to be picky and want one that uses just heat rather than an injected fuel as an input, then the nuclear thermal ramjet that was looked at in the 50s for Project Pluto.
Apparently he's figured out how to make one that's more effective for liquids in more day to day environments. The site gives few details on it though. He won a prize for it, but I'm a little leary of the hype factor with no technical details.
The terminology sounds ok to me -- moving parts implies that there are parts that wear out and have to be replaced because of friction or whatever. Like a metal piston and so forth.
Saying this engine has no moving parts makes senes and seems fair.
Do they count gasoline or coolant or oil as a moving part in car engines? I think THAT would be overly pedantic.
Why would this benefit the poorest people? It still takes energy to pump the liquid. If they are poor, they need power to pump water and in case you don't know, water is heavy. Ever tried lifting a barrel full of water? The only benefit over conventional pumps is that it has a long lifetime and fewer parts. The cost is probually much higher and the energy to run it is not free.
On the other hand, if you can run this off solar power (assuming you can generate enough power), this would be great!
Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what's right. --Isaac Asimov
We had those kind down at grandpa's farm.
And yes, the windmill. It was an old tractor differential with one of the "tire" ends welded shut, as well as the "tail" assembly fin welded there as to always keep the other end facing into the wind. The drive shaft was oriented vertically, transmitting its torque down to a crank that operated this kind of pump. The faster the wind blew, the more furiously the pump cranked.
The whole differential assembly was only supported by the drive shaft so the entire assembly would face whatever way the wind was blowing. The torque actually put on the "drive shaft" ( long piece of irrigation pipe, actually ) was miniscule compared to the force of the wind against the tail assembly, which was bent just a bit to compensate for this torque.
Grandpa designed it and welded it together. All out of farm scrap. Well, I think he had the fan assembly prefab, but the rest of the whole shebang was homegrown.
It damn near always had a small creek of water overflowing from the trough Grandpa had put there to hold the water for his horses and cows, and any other living creature stopping by for a drink.
Grandpa didn't have an engineering degree, yet to me he was a true engineer. I thought my Grandpa could build anything. Still do.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]