Optimized New Water-lifting Device
My patent (No. DE 10 2015 014 911 B3) pertains to a water-lifting device capable of retrieving water from great depths via a series of chambers. Water is either sucked from one of the vertically stacked chambers to the next one by decreasing the pressure in the upper chamber or it is forced upwards by increasing the pressure in the lower chamber.
Until now, procuring water from great depths required complex facilities, which consumed a lot of energy, e.g. to build up the necessary pressure. However, previous facilities - even those that lift water incrementally - rely on nearby industry not just for their energy supply but for installation and maintenance as well.
Regions in which water is most desperately needed (e.g. Sahel or other regions bordering on deserts) are, however, most often situated far away from industrial complexes and, thus, far away from the necessary technology and energy sources. The aim of this invention is, therefore, to extract ground water from considerable depths using only human power or solar power, i.e. with much less energy expenditure than conventional methods. Of course, given such a restrictive power limitation, the amount of water that can be extracted in a given time will be limited as well. Nevertheless, it is a considerable improvement to have access to water at all in such arid areas - especially since, as described below, this water-lifting device requires little resources - both in production and maintenance. In other words, it is ‘low tech’ (as opposed to the ‘high tech’ devices commonly found in industrialized countries).
The water-lifting device consists of a series of closed chambers arranged vertically within an encasing pipe. Water is transferred upwards incrementally from one chamber to the next by creating a pressure difference between two adjacent chambers. That way, each step of the lifting process requires only a small pressure difference. Lifting water from a greater depths is achieved by increasing the number of chambers. Thus, more air is needed but not higher pressure.
Adjacent chambers (2) are connected to each other by tubes (8) with check-valves (24). Each chamber has an aeration (13) and a ventilation (14) valve. To close one valve and open the other, the ‘valve-switch-bar’ (15) must be tipped from one side to the other. This is achieved with a weight (17) that is moved to the other side by a shift-fork (20) attached to a floater (21) . When the floater is moved upwards by the rising water level, it pushes the weight to the other side and the ‘valve-switch-bar’ tips over and is secured in its new position by a rolling weight (16), thus closing one valve and opening the other.
A water-lifting device of this type offers a number advantages and applications:
‘High tech’ is only required once: for installation, a hole needs to be drilled to ground water level and the encasing pipe must be installed. Operating the water-lifting device, on the other hand, is not subject to any particular technical requirements. With the exception of the uppermost chamber, all chambers are identical in construction and thus ideally suited for serial production. Their inner structure and assembly is simple. The chambers can be stacked and held in place by a belt for insertion into the encasing pipe. Likewise, the belt can be used to extract the chambers from the pipe to replace defective chambers. In effect, no elaborate assembly process is needed on site.
In foresight of a sinking of the ground water level the encasing pipe can be drilled down much deeper than to the present level. In case of sinking ground water level it is only necessary to lower the chambers inside and to add another chamber at the top.
The lifting process can be driven by pressure, i. e. pushing the water from chamber to chamber, or by suction, i. e. sucking the from one chamber to the next. When operated with pressure, several sources of pressurized air with check-valves can be attached to a Windkessel, which in turn is attached to the water-lifting device via a pressure regulator, which provides the required pressure. Thus, one could attach a solar-powered pump, or - in case water is needed but solar power is unavailable - bellows (such as the ones formerly used in historic (church) organs), hand or foot pumps, or any other source of pressurized air.
On the other hand, a suction pump, e. g. an ordinary garden pump, can be used to operate the water-lifting device. In regions with sufficient wind, a Bernoulli pipe can be used to provide the necesary suction, or a wind turbine can be connected directly to a vacuum pump.
A special considerable advantage is, that because of the encasing pipe and the closed uppermost chamber the device is a closed, isolated system. Only the openings for aeration and ventilation at the uppermost chamber, which are equipped with air filters, and the opening for the lifted water, are connections with the enviroment. Therefore a gradually filling with sand, which often leads to a dry up of the source, as at usual wells, is impossible.
On the other hand it is not possible, to increase the volume of lifted ground water per unit of time by increasing the pressure above the level, which is given by the size of the device, because in this case the device would not work. This prevents or at least restricts an overexploitation of ground water to the disadvantage of the neighbourhood.
Since no further energy supply or industrial support is needed after the first installation of the water-lifting device, it is well suited for even the remotest dry regions, where it could supply water for humans and animals. It could also be used to irrigate gardens and crops, i. e. for food production, thus, putting it to use in terms of development aid, as well. Furthermore, it could be installed in uninhabited areas, where it could run self-sufficiently driven by solar power and bring forth new vegetation. This would have a regulating and thus positive effect on the hydrological balance, the temperature, the CO2 -content of the air, and ultimately on world climate.
This system can be used anywhere. Thus, it is suitable for any region that is dry or has insufficient water supply, especially in developing countries.
The newspaper Rhein-Zeitung published an article about my patent on April 13, 2018 on page 13 of the Neuwieder Lokalteil.
In the meantime, I have managed to increase and optimize the functional safety of the device and increased its effectivity by at least tenfold. I have registered this updated model with the patent office as well. (Nr. 10 2018 001 619.7)
It concerns a further variation on the patent Nr. DE 10 2015 014 911 B3 (Water-lifting-device) concerning the position and the function of the valves for aeration (13) and ventilation (14), which in this version are positioned directly below the upper border the side walls of the chambers (2). The tops of the valves (13) and (14) are installed at the upper end of a movable fork (31), which rotates around an axle (33) at the foot of the fork (31). Its two branches form a guideway (34) for the rollers (32), which are installed at the upper edges on both sides of the „valve-switch-bar” (15), which is tipped from one side to the other, thus opening and closing the valves (13) and (14). (Right side of the „valve-switch-bar” (15) down: aeration valve (13) open, ventilation valve (14) closed; left side of the „valve-swith-bar” (15) down: aeration valve (13) closed, ventilation valve (14) open.)
The form of the guideway (34) cause a high power transmission ratio, so that the valves (13) and (14) can be operated against much higher pressure. Thus the pressure difference and consequently the hight of the chambers (2) can be very much multiplied, and therefore the numbers of necessary chambers (2) is reduced, thus optmizing the reliability of the device.
Furthermore the production of the chambers (2) will be decisive simplified because of their much more simple shape. 
The full patent specifications (No. 10 2015 014 911 B3 and No. 10 2018 001 619.7) can be accessed via the website of the patent office (dpma.de).
In case of interest in this patent please mail to: hubert@familie-burchert.de