Bicycle Powered Centrifugal Irrigation Pump, Sprint Test Experiment

I wanted to compare the efficiency of this bicycle irrigation pump to the leading standard of portable human powered irrigation, one of the MoneyMaker pumps. MoneyMaker has flow data for their products. However, as measuring input power is difficult, these measurements included the weight of the 70 kg (154 lbs) pedaler, but not a measured input power [56]. These flows were generated during a “racing mode” sprint [48], which I interpreted as a pace that could be maintained for minutes rather than for hours. As a rough control of the input power, I had a pedaler ‘sprint’ to fill a 20 liter bucket with first a moneymaker pump and then the bicycle pump. Procedure: Sprint Test During a trial of this sprint test, the pedaler would begin operating the treadle pump or the bicycle as fast as they could. For the treadle pump, the pedaler would put all of their weight on one treadle until the treadle completed the full range of motion. Then, as quickly as possible, the pedaler would switch their weight to the other treadle. For the bicycle pump, the pedaler would pedal at the fastest cadence they could. The resistance on pedals was similar to bicycling on a flat paved road. Because the pedaler did not need to follow a live readout, the outlet person controlled all the trial’s timing. The outlet person would start a timer and simultaneously switch the outlet flow from filling an auxiliary bucket to filling the measurement bucket. The outlet person would then stop the timer when the measurement bucket was filled to 20 liters. The same materials (hoses, valves, reservoirs, locations) were used for both the MoneyMaker and bicycle pump tests. The trials were conducted with 3 meters of vertical head. Two pedalers each took 10 trials with the MoneyMaker and 5 trials each with the bicycle pump. We used a Super MoneyMaker, which is an older model than the current MoneyMaker Max treadle pump. The Super MoneyMaker we used produces around 10% less flow than the MoneyMaker Max. The Super MoneyMaker pump was also well worn and may not have decreased efficiency.