AU J.T. 7(4):187-192 (Apr.

2004)
Development of a Manually Operated Hand Pump
for Rural Water Supply
A. Nasir, S.O. Ubokwe and A. Isah
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Federal University of Technology
Minna, Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract
The existing pump designs are basically the same in the mode of operation with
slight variations in the materials of construction. The pumps are operated by the up
and down movement of the handle. The major problems associated with these pumps
are the high level of fatigue and low pump efficiency. These problems have motivated
the design and fabrication of a manually operated hand pump that employs a gear
drive in the power train to ease the operation and at the same time increase the pump
efficiency. From the test results, it follows that for the same input, speed and the static
water level same interval of time the pump with gear drive discharges more water than
that without gear drive. This shows more ease of operation of the pump and pump
efficiency.
Keywords: Fatigue, gear drive, gear box, efficiency, discharge, design, fabrication.


Introduction
unique reciprocating hand pump made by
Mono Pumps Limited. In Nigeria, the major
efforts are centered on reciprocating hand
pumps. Several private companies and
research institutes went into the research and
production of the hand pumps. Obafemi
Awolowo University Ile-Ife is amongst the
institutions at the forefront. In Niger State, a
company called, Water Search Nigeria
Limited, made a unique kind of hand pump
and called it, the Nuwadev hand pump. It is
also unique in the sense that instead of using a
standard reducer, it used a unit also different
and incorporated a spring in its assembly to
close the piston valve during the upward stroke
(Okon 1977).

Analysis of the existing manually operated
pumps was given by Aderibigbe and Fei (1987)
as follows: India Mark II pump is convenient in
design and simple to produce. The main
feature is the use of cast iron for the pump
cylinder and stainless steel pipe of 48-mm
diameter for the riser pipe to prevent corrosion.
The pump is very difficult to maintain, because
with any little problem in the pumping
mechanism, the riser pipes must be removed
and this may result in the community
remaining without water over a long period.
This led to the development of other models:
the live Niger pump Model Marks-2, India
Mark III hand pump, UNICEF No.6 hand
pump and the power hand pump, all from
India. These were the following designs and
constructed pumps from Finland under the
United Nations safe water and sanitation
programme: NIRA AF-85 and NIRA-2000.
Also, a hand pump design from Germany
named the Pb Mark II, which is a deep well
pump. This is widely used in Gambia and
Sierra Leone. The unique part of it is a PVC
strainer that is screwed to the bottom of the
pump cylinder. Aguader from England is a
Niger pump Model Mark-2 is made of
cast iron and it is most effective when lifting
water from a depth between 40 to 70 m (India
Mark Hand Pumps 1978). It also has bearings
for smooth operation, cast-iron stopper to
prevent unnecessary movement of drop-pipe,
chlorination and depth measuring inlet. The
main feature is that the pump functions with a
plunger, which is buried deep in the water. It
can use two types of plungers, which make it
possible to be mounted on both shallow and
deep wells. Also, a closed cylinder model was
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AU J.T. 7(4):187-192 (Apr. 2004)
used for very deep wells, while the open
cylinder model was used for shallow wells.
The pump assembly weighs about 94 kg for
closed cylinder and 92.7 kg for open cylinder
models and they operate at a maximum dept of
100 m for open cylinder types as reported by
Aderibigbe and Fei (1987). India Mark III hand
pump is a modified version of the India Mark
II hand pump. The pump head is provided with
a centre hole of 75 mm diameter in the bottom
and a flange stroke length of 25 mm. It is a
deep well hand pump and is very durable.
The UNICEF No.6 hand pump, according
to Okon (1977), the seat value is a flange type
and the plunger is a bucket type, and both of
them are made of leather, which is leak proof.
The pump is driven by a variable speed motor
through a speed reduction gearbox. From the
gearbox, the power is transferred to the crank
shaft by belt and pulley. The crank is 108mm
and the shaft rotates at 24 rpm by a variable
speed motor. The power hand pump is also a
reciprocating piston pump with 51mm diameter
PVC pipe as cylinder. It was described by
Bamiro (1987) as having the cylinder barrel
inclined at an angle of 30
o
horizontal and the
operator pushes and pulls directly on T
handle at the end of the piston rod. This pump
has an integral dome shaped surge chamber of
capacity 3 L at the top of the column. The
NIRA AF-85 pump is a direct shallow pump.
The pump body is made up of plastic created
steel and the base plate is painted. The
cylinder can easily be pulled out through the
pump body for servicing. At 10 m depth, the
output is approximately 33 L/min. NIRA AF-
2000 incorporated a system of adding counter
weights on the lever arm at 65 m depth, and it
is recommended to use 12 kg counter weights.
Plastic materials are used to combine plunger
valve and plunger seal in one single unit to
achieve perfect tightness.
The Aquader from England is capable
of delivering 1,320 L of water per hour, at 50
strokes per minute from depths up to 45 m.
Most of its components are plastic, the piston
units, fulcrum, coupling/centralizes and the
values. An adjustable T-bar handle is
incorporated to reduce effort.
The common problems associated with
all the hand pumps analyzed above are the high
level of fatigue, low pump efficiency, excess of
energy required for priming and pumping out
water due to high static water head. The
problem with the later is that most elderly
people and teenagers find it very difficult, if
not impossible to use them effectively. These
particular problems outlined above necessitated
the design and construction of a hand pump
that uses a gear drive in its power train to
alleviate the problems associated with
operation and to ensure higher efficiency.

Design Analyses

Determination of a Velocity Ratio

Velocity ratio of gears can be calculated
using Equation 3.1 as given by Gitin and
Prasad (1986):
1 . 3 = =
T
t
n
N
VR
where,
N = number of revaluations of driver gear
n = number of revolutions of driven gear
T = number of teeth of driver gear
t = number of teeth of driver gear.

Determination of Piston Rod Diameter

The piston rod diameter can be obtained
from Equation 3.2 as given by Hall hylowenko
(1980).
2 . 3
4
2
1

|
|
.
|

\
|
=
a
r
F
d

where,
F = Weight of water

a
=allowable stress which is limited to
45N/mm
2

Volume of cylinder can be calculated
from Equation 3.3:
3 . 3 )
4
(
2
= L
d
V
c
c


where,
d
c
= diameter of cylinder
L = length of rod which is equivalent to
static water head.
Weight of water is given by Equation 3.4:
188
AU J.T. 7(4):187-192 (Apr. 2004)
9 . 3 = bKQ D F
p w

4 . 3
4
2

|
|
.
|

\
|
= g
d
F
w a
r

where,
D
p
= pitch of smaller gear (pinion)
where,
B = face width of gear

W
= density of water (1000 kg/m
3
)
K = stress factor of fatigue
g = acceleration due to gravity
Q = gear factor.
Gear factor in Equation 3.8 can also be
calculated, using the Equation 3.10:
Determination of Gear Parameters
(a) Allowable tooth stress can be calculated
by Equation 3.5, given by Shigley (1976):
10 . 3
2

+
=
g p
g
N N
N
Q
5 . 3
3
3
|
.
|

\
|
+
=
V
S S
o a

where,
N
g
= number of teeth on gear
N
p
= number of teeth on pinion
where,

S
o
= endurance strength
Force Analyses
V = pitch line velocity, and V<10m/s.

(b) Bending stress in the tooth can be
calculated by Equation 3.6, given by shigley
(1976):
In conventional hand pumps, the force
required to lift the piston during the upward
stroke is equal to the sum of the following as
noted by Peter (1986).
6 . 3
2
2 3
=
yN K m
M
S
t
t

11 . 3 + + =
w r p L
F F F F
where,
where,
F
p
= force due to the weight of the piston
Sb = bending stress < allowable stress
F
r
= force due to the weight of the column
of water having a cross-section equal to
that of the riser pipe.
M
t
= torque
K = constant (4 is the upper limit)
N = number of teeth.
The force due to the column of water can
be calculated using the equation 3.12 (Peter
1986).
(c) Dynamic tooth loads can be calculated
using Equation 3.7 also given by Shigley
(1976).

( )
7 . 3
21
21
+
+ +
+
= F
F bC V
F bC V
F
d

12 . 3
4
4 4
2
2 2

+ + =
st w
c
rm
r
rm
p
L
H
d
L
d
gh
d
F

where,
V = pitch line velocity
b = face width
where,
C = constant which depends on the tooth
form, material and degree of accuracy
with which the tooth is cut.
dp = piston diameter

rm
= density of rod material
g = acceleration due to gravity (9.81m/s
2
)
F = Force
h = height of piston
d
r
= piston connecting rod diameter Force above can be calculated by using
Equation 3.8: L = length of rod
d
c
= diameter of riser pipe
8 . 3
2
=
D
M
F
t

w
= density of water (1 000 kg/m
3
)
H
st
= static water head.
where,
If the coefficient of friction between the
cylinder walls and piston seal is represented by
, then the resistance due to friction is given by
Equation 3.13:
Mt = gear torque
D = pitch diameter of gear
(d) Wear tooth load is given by Equation 3.9:
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AU J.T. 7(4):187-192 (Apr. 2004)
Equation 3.19 above gives the effective
force required to lift the piston in the cylinder
during operation, if the force given by Equation
3.19 is taken as the tangential gear tooth load
of the gear drive.
13 . 3 =
N f
F F
where,
F
N
is the normal reaction due to piston.
The inertia force due to the piston is
given by Equation 3.14.
i.e. wt = F, then from the relation for torque we
obtain Equation 3.20.
14 . 3 =
p w ip
a M F
Also, the acceleration of the water
column in the riser pipe is given by Peter
(1986) as expressed in Equation 3.15.
20 . 3
2
=
t g
W D
T
Also, the peak torque at the crank is given
by Equation 3.21.
15 . 3 =
p
p
c
wp
a
D
d
a
21 . 3
2
|
.
|

\
|
=
S
F T
L peak

where,
a
p
= piston acceleration
Torsional rigidity on shaft can be
calculated using equation 3.22.
The maximum piston acceleration, which
is considered at the middle of the cylinder, can
be calculated using the Equation 3.16:
22 . 3
584
4
=
Gd
L M
t

16 . 3
2
2
max

=
S
a
p


where,
where,
M
t
= torque
s = piston stroke (cylinder depth)
L = length of shaft (8.25m)
w = angular velocity of the driving crank.
G = Tortional modulus of elasticity (80Gpa)
Shaft diameter can be calculated using
Equation 3.17:
d = shaft diameter (35mm)

Power required to drive the gear train can
be calculated using the Equation 3.23:
( ) ( ) 17 . 3
16
2 2
3
+ =
t t b b
s
M K M K
S
d

23 . 3
60 2
= = = W
N
S F
W
D
T
H
g
L
g
t
g
g

where,
Ss = allowable stress (40MPa for shaft with
keyway
where,
K
b
= 1.5

g
= gear drive efficiency
K
t
= 1.0

Total force of acceleration can be
calculated using Equation 3.18:
In conventional hand pump designs, the
ratio F
W
: F
P
is usually large so that F
P
can be
assumed negligible. Also, the force due to
weight of piston rod is usually small compared
to that, due to the weight of column of water in
the riser pipe, so that the piston cylinder inner
diameter can be determined by the equation
3.24as reported by Ernest and Mark (1982).
18 . 3
4
2
2

(
(

|
|
.
|

\
|

|
|
.
|

\
|
=
p
p
c
w
c
a
a
d
d
L
d
F

And combining equation 3.12, 3.16, and
3.17 together we have equation 3.19, which
defines force due to the column of water.
2
( )
19 . 3
2 4
4
2
2
2
2 2 2

|
|
.
|

\
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
+ + =
S
d
d
L
d
H d L d h d g F
p
c
w
c
st w
c
rm
r
pm
p
L

24 . 3
4
2
=
st w
c
a ma
gH d W

where,

ma


= the mechanical advantage
W
a
= allowable maximum load for users
R = Power input through the crank handle
r = crank radius
190
AU J.T. 7(4):187-192 (Apr. 2004)
Performance Evaluation
Theoretical Discharge

and Discussion
The discharge rate of any pump is a
function of piston diameter dp; stroke S,
number of strokes per minute (or revolutions
per minute) N and the volumetric efficiency n
v
,
which is the percentage of swept volume that is
actually pumped per stroke. It can be expressed
as in equation 3.25:

Testing Procedure

The pump was raised over a 250 L drum
filled with water to the height of 2 m as a
suction head. The 25 L bucket was directly
placed below the spout of the pump on the
stand. The pump was operated with a gear
drive and without a gear drive. The results
obtained from the tests carried out on discharge
amount versus time for pumps with gear drive
and without gear drive are presented in Table 2.
25 . 3
4
60
2
=
p
v th
d
S N Q


This equation shows that at steady state
conditions the discharge rate of a reciprocating
pump is dependent on the stroke S of the
piston.

Table 2. Discharge amounts for a pump
without a gear drive and with a gear drive

Result of the Calculations
No. of
stroke
(mm)
Discharge
(L) without
gear drive
Discharge
(L) with
gear drive
Time
(sec)
22 10 12 2 60
30 15 17 2 70
38 20 23 3 80
47 26 29 3 90
58 33 40 7 100
66 38 52 14 110
75 47 65 18 120
84 58 80 22 130

Table 1 gives the values of the calculated
parameters.

Table 1. Result of the calculated parameters


P
a
r
a
m
e
t
e
r
s

S
y
m
b
o
l

V
a
l
u
e

U
n
i
t

1 Piston rod
diameter
dr 10 mm
2 Piston lift force F
L
1.6 kN
3 Allowable tooth
stress
S
a
249.2 MPa
4 Bending stress in
the tooth
S
bt
111.6 MPa
5 Dynamic tooth
load
F
d
1.7 kN
6 Wear tooth load F
w
1.7 kN
7 Power input shaft
diameter
Dr 28 mm
8 Pumping shaft
diameter
D
2
25 mm
9 Peak torque T
peak
73.3 Nm
10 Power to drive
The gear train
H 81.4 W
11 Theoretical
discharge
Q
th
0.012 m/
sec

According to Table 2 the amount of
discharge is higher for the pump with a gear
drive than the pump without a gear drive for all
the recorded number of strokes and times.

Table 3. Discharge rate for pump with and
without gear drive

Discharge rate (m
3
/min) No. of
stroke
(mm)
Without gear
drive
With
gear drive
150 0.3435 0.687
160 0.3664 0.733
170 0.3893 0.779
180 0.4122 0.824
190 0.4351 0.870
200 0.4880 0.916
238 0.5450 1.090
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AU J.T. 7(4):187-192 (Apr. 2004)
Table 3 presents the discharge rate for the
pump without a gear drive and with a gear
drive, the discharge rate is also known as pump
efficiency.
Based on the results in Table 3 the
discharge rates for pump with a gear drive
almost doubled that of the pump without a gear
drive for all the recorded number of stroke.
The discharge rate of a pump also gives the
pump efficiency.
The difference in the amount of discharge
between the pump with a gear drive ad that
without a gear drive is higher at higher strokes,
therefore it can be concluded that the pump
efficiency is higher at higher strokes. On that
basis the discharge rate were taken for strokes
between 150 mm and 238 mm. Table 3.4 gives
the relationships between discharge rate and
the suction head.
The results in Table 4 show that the
discharge of the pump with a gear drive
increases with an increase in the suction head.
The implication of the results is that with an
increase in the suction no extra effort is
required to discharge at the usual rate.

Table 4. The relationship between the discharge
rate and suction head

Suction head (m) Discharge rate (m
3
/min)
1 0.020
2 0.023
3 0.026
4 0.029
5 0.030
6 0.032
7 0.035
8 0.036
9 0.037
10 0.039


Conclusion

This modeling was centered towards the
development of a hand pump that would
conveniently alleviate the portable water
supply problems of rural communities
throughout the underdeveloped and developing
countries of the world at minimum energy
input.
The requirement of Village Level
Operation and Management (VLOM) of
maintenance was considered in the course of
this modeling. The model can be fabricated in
the workshops as the design is made simple,
while the standard parts like bearings, bolts and
nuts, etc., are readily available locally.
The efficiency of operation of the hand
pump with a gear drive is higher than that
without a gear drive.

References

Aderibigbe, D.A.; and Fei, C. 1987. The
Development of the Niger Pump Model
(HO-2) A Hand Operated Deep Well Pump
Suitable for Rural Community. Proc. Ann.
Conf. Nigerian Soc. Engineers.
Bamiro, O.A. 1987. Design and Construction
of water hand pump for rural water supply.
Proc. Ann. Conf. Nigerian Soc. Engineers.
Ernest, J.M.; and Mark, S.S. 1982. Human
Factors in Engineering and Design.
McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, USA.
Gitin, M.M.; and Prasad, L.V.1986. Handbook
of Mechanical Design. McGraw-Hill, New
Delhi, India.
Hall, H. 1980. Theory and Problems of
Machines and Design. McGraw-Hill, New
York, NY, USA.
India Mark Hand Pump. 1978. Intermediate
Technology Publ., London. Int. Ed.
McGraw-Hill, Auckland, New Zealand.
Okon, E. I. 1977. Analysis of water hammer in
pump system. UNICEF Project, Agric.
Engineer. Dept., Obafemi Awolowo
University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
Peter, F. 1986 Water Pumping Devices. A
handbook for Users and Choosers.
McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, USA.
Shigley, J.E. 1976. Mechanical Engineering
Design. 1
st
ed. McGraw-Hill, New York,
NY, USA.
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