A Mathematical Model for The Performance of Solar Heating Driven Bubble Pumps

Abstract

A mathematical model of the bubble pump is established by employing the governing equations; the continuity, momentum and energy equations. The model was used to evaluate the performance of the pump under different geometrical and operational conditions. Different parameters including the pump tube diameter, the pumping head, and solar heating input were considered in the analysis. The flow rates of both phases (liquid and vapor) were predicted for each set of parameters. Methanol was used as the working fluid. The performance is presented for a number of different scenarios. The flow was found to be increased with both larger diameters and low static heads, while it has a roughly sine curve with the heat input. A set of results show that for a tube diameter of 10 mm and pumping head of 450 mm, increasing the heat input from 300 W to 500 W increases the mass flow rate of vapor from 0.04 kg/sec to 0.08 kg/sec, while the liquid flow increases from 0.075 kg/sec to 0.22 kg/sec, respectively. Generally, the results of this study were found to be in fair agreement with published results.