Abstract

HERRAN-SANDOVAL, Alfonso. Calculation of Capacity of Hydropneumatic Tanks. Tecnol. cienc. agua [online]. 2014, vol.5, n.4, pp.163-171. ISSN 2007-2422.

Water pumping systems usually require the calculation and sizing of hydropneumatic tanks that operate along with the process pumps which are used in hydraulic systems for several purposes. In this technical note the author presents a general calculation method which makes it possible to size a given tank according to the flows through the pump and the system, without exceeding a maximum number of motor starts per unit time. The proposed method makes it possible to calculate smaller tanks than those calculated by well-established conventional methods, decreasing the size of the corresponding pump according to the increase in its operating time. The article presents the equations proposed and respective graphs illustrating the goodness of the method, as well as an example of the calculation of the size of a pair of hydropneumatic tanks using this method, which are installed and operating in a large float glass factory located in the outskirts of the city of Bogota, Colombia. Finally, the results from this calculation and the final sizes of the tanks are compared with results obtained using traditional methods and conclusions are presented regarding the applicability of the method.

Keywords : Capacity; hydropneumatic tanks; volume.