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Pumps Without Moving Parts

Posted by timothy on from the like-my-brains dept.

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."

1 of 32 comments (clear)

  1. Thermally driven pumps without SOLID moving parts: by Hartree · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.