A Trompe draws air down a pipe along with a large amount of water. The original use of a trompe was to create an air blast for a furnace. This was common until the invention of electric blowers.

Various intake configurations, especially jet-shaped flow patterns, increase the volume of air and/or the depth to which the air can be drawn down. In many intake configurations, a funnel-shaped swirl of water is formed at the top of the trompe. The funnel shape breaks up into individual bubbles which continue to be drawn down and around into the SEPARATION CHAMBER by the swiftly moving water.

When the water reaches the separation chamber, the water slows down as the chamber widens, and the bubbles rise up out of the water, creating a pocket of air above the water. The chamber has two exits. Most of the water goes up the large overflow pipe. The air goes up a separate pipe, which also draws some water up along with the air. The water flows out the top in pulses.

As the water travels down the intake pipe and throughout the system, it absorbs oxygen from the air. Oxygenation takes only a small amount of air. (A lot more air is moved; a little of that air oxygenates a lot of water.) The added oxygen helps fish to breath. Additionally, a gaseous exchange occurs in the trompe section where the air bubbles are under pressure. This acts as a chemical filter, removing nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorous compounds from the water.

There are a number of variations which can improve the efficiency of this basic pulser pump design. For example the air outlet can feed a standard AIR LIFT PUMP, through a tube.

When utilized in the proper environment, the Pulser's elegance is its phenomenal simplicity coupled with an intrinsic harmony with nature. The design shown here was created by Brian White, who may actually have invented this type of pump. He came up with the idea himself, but doesn't know whether or not others have before him. In any case, he has applied modern tools (such as plastic piping and backhoes) to pulser pump design and building, and widely and freely distributes the information for the benefit of anyone who might be able to use it.

(This is a still representation and possibly also a low-resolution image of a fully animated pump.) Contact: Brian White Inventor gaiatechnician@yahoo.com http://nxtwave.tripod.com/gaiatech/index.html