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The Ram Pump team has designed, constructed, and began testing a small-scale hydraulic ram pump during the spring of 2013. The team focused on obtaining a flow rate of 70 mL/s (equivalent to filling a 750 L chemical stock tank in three hours) and pumping the water up a vertical height of 7.0 meters. Our goal is to optimize and modify the current ram pump for implementation in a water treatment plant in Honduras during the winter of 2014.

The ram pump that is designed in the lab is electricity free and only uses gravity and hydraulic principles. The 'water hammer effect,' or the surge in pressure of the water due to the closing of the waste valve, is used in the ram pump to move the water. The ram pump will be placed below the water treatment plant and will use the momentum of the incoming water to drive the water to the chemical stock tanks and the restrooms located above the plant.