Jet pumps are a class of liquid-handling device that makes use of the momentum of one fluid to move another. Ejectors and injectors are the two types of jet pumps of interest to chemical engineers.
The ejector, also called the siphon, exhauster, or eductor, is designed for use in operations in which the head pumped against is low and is less than the head of the fluid used for
pumping.
The injector is a special type of jet pump, operated by steam and used for boiler feed and similar services, in which the fluid being pumped is discharged into a space under the same pressure as that of the steam being used to operate the injector. As drawing shows a simple design for a jet pump of the ejector type. The pumping fluid enters through the nozzle at the left and passes through the venturi nozzle at the center and out of the discharge opening at the right. As it passes into the venturi nozzle, it develops a suction that causes some of the fluid in the suction chamber to be entrained with the stream and delivered through this discharge. The efficiency of an ejector or jet pump is low, being only a few percent. The head developed by the ejector is also low except in special types. The device has the disadvantage of diluting the fluid pumped by mixing it with the pumping fluid. In steam injectors for boiler feed and similar services in which the heat of the steam is recovered, efficiency is close to 100 percent. The simple ejector or siphon is widely used, in spite of its low efficiency, for transferring liquids from one tank to another, for lifting acids, alkalis, or solid-containing liquids of an abrasive nature, and for emptying sumps.
ELECTROMAGNETIC PUMPS
The necessity of circulating liquid-metal heat-transfer media in nuclear-reactor systems has led to development of electromagnetic pumps. All electromagnetic pumps utilize the motor principle: a conductor in a magnetic field, carrying a current which flows at right angles to the direction of the field, has a force exerted on it, the force being mutually perpendicular to both the field and the current. In all electromagnetic pumps, the fluid is the conductor. This force, suitably directed in the fluid, manifests itself as a pressure if the fluid is suitably contained. The field and current can be produced in a number of different ways and the force utilized variously.
Electromagnetic pumps are available for flow rates up to 2.271 103 m3/h (10,000 gal/min), and pressures up to 2 MPa (300 lbf/in2) are practical. Performance characteristics resemble those of centrifugal pumps.
