in remote areas and have the advantages of being installed in a manhole safe from vandalism and other

damage. They are simple but can be expensive to repair.

12.3 POSITIVE DISPLACEMENT PUMPS

These theoretically, deliver a fixed quantity irrespective of the delivery head but in practice, the quantity
does drop off as the head increases. The simplest type of positive displacement pump is the reciprocating
or piston pump, with a piston moving forwards and backwards in a cylinder, to suck water into the cylinder
and discharge it to a higher pressure. This type of pump has been in service for several hundreds of
years for water supply and for pumping sewage and other fluids. Many hundreds of farmers' borehole
pumps are still of this type, often powered by windmills. They are also commonly used as hand pumps for
water supply in small communities.

In the wastewater industry today, reciprocating pumps are usually used as specially designed high head
pumps to handle sewage or sludge or in small sizes as chemical dosing or metering pumps, since every
stroke delivers the measurable amount of fluid. The reciprocating type of pump cannot produce a steady
rate of flow and it is advisable to provide an air vessel, on the discharge side, to dampen the pressure
fluctuations. Although these pumps are self-priming, they should not be run dry as they will rapidly
overheat and seize.

A number of rotary positive pumps are also found in wastewater plants and these include rotary lobe
pumps and progressive cavity pumps. The rotary lobe pump is developed from the much older gear pump
and comprises two elastomer-coated rotors connected together by an integral gear system with
synchronised timing gears. The two rotors, which typically have two or more lobes, run without touching
each other or the outer casing. The liquid is drawn into the inlet port and into the pockets between the
lobes and chamber walls and is discharged in the direction of rotation of the outer lobes into the
discharge nozzle. The discharge flow is continuous and smooth and is relatively non-agitating and non-
shearing. The pump is self-priming and can be run dry for short periods. It is ideally suited to the pumping
of a wide range of sludges.

A pump of similar capability, but different construction, in the progressive cavity pump, which comprises a
hard steel rotor of helical spiral form which rotates in a stator of natural or artificial rubber with a similar
internal helical spiral form As the rotor turns, it contacts the stator, along a continuous sealing line, to
create a series of sealed cavities that progress to the discharge end. The cavity fills with liquid as it opens
at the suction end and this trapped liquid is transported along the rotor to the discharge and is gradually
discharged in an axial direction

This type of pump is self-priming but must never be run dry. The initial starting load is high because of the
dry contact between the rotor and the stator, but this drops off immediately once the pump starts to turn.

214