Sampling pump with packer

A groundwater sampling apparatus for withdrawing groundwater samples from a groundwater monitoring well, said apparatus having dedicatable inground components to prevent the apparatus from contaminating another well, said apparatus including a gas-actuated water sampling pump having an inlet, an outlet and a first gas chamber for receiving a gas therein, a gas-actuated packer associated with said pump, said packer having a second gas chamber for receiving gas therein, and a controller selectively communicable with said sampling pump and said packer, said controller including:

• a source of said gas under pressure;
• first valve means connected to said source of said gas and being actuable into a pressurizing mode to provide gas communication between said source of said gas and said first gas chamber of said sampling pump and actuable into a relief mode to provide gas communication between said gas chamber and a region having a pressure lower than that of said source;
• second valve means connected to said source of said gas and being actuable into a pressurizing mode to provide gas communication between said source of said gas and said second gas chamber of said packer;
• and
• pneumatic timing control means for selectively actuating said first valve means into a pressurizing mode for a first predetermined time period and actuating said first valve means into a relief mode for a second predetermined time period, thereby causing the pressure of said gas in said first gas chamber to be alternately raised and lowered;
• said controller systems being portable so as to be selectively connectable to and disconnectable from said sampling pump in said monitoring well or to a correlative dedicated inground sampling pump in similar monitoring wells.

A groundwater sampling apparatus for withdrawing groundwater samples from a groundwater monitoring well, said apparatus having dedicatable inground components to prevent the apparatus from contaminating similar groundwater monitoring wells, said apparatus comprising:

• a gas-actuated pump adapted to be submerged in the groundwater within said well for pumping a portion of said groundwater therefrom, said pump being substantially permanently installable in, and dedicatable to, said well and having a pump body portion including a first gas chamber, a groundwater chamber having an inlet and an outlet, and a flexible bladder for isolating said first gas chamber from said groundwater chamber, said groundwater chamber being in communication with said groundwater in said well through said inlet when said pump is submerged therein, substantial portions of said pump, including said pump body portion and said flexible bladder being composed of a polymeric material;
• a gas actuated packer associated with said pump, said packer reducing the volume of said portion of said groundwater which needs to be pumped in order to purge said well by isolating said portion of said groundwater, said packer having a second gas chamber for receiving gas therein, said gas-actuated packer being composed of a polymeric material;
• and
• a wellhead assembly substantially permanently installable on, and dedicatable to said well and including a wellhead body portion adapted to be secured to said well to isolate the interior of said well from the above-ground surroundings, said wellhead assembly further including a first gas conduit having one end sealingly connected to said first gas chamber and an opposite end fixedly and sealingly connected to said wellhead body portion, a second gas conduit having one end sealingly connected to said second gas chamber and an opposite end fixedly and sealingly connected to said wellhead body portion, a groundwater conduit having one end sealingly connected to said outlet of said groundwater chamber and substantially uninterruptedly passing through said wellhead assembly to an opposite end in communication with the above-ground surroundings for collecting a sample quantity of said groundwater from said well;
• and
• controller apparatus including means selectively connectable to, and disconnectable from, said wellhead assembly and in fluid communication with said first and second gas conduits for supplying an actuating gas to said first and second gas chambers, said first gas chamber of said pump having the pressure of said actuating gas in said first gas chamber alternately pressurized and relieved in order to cause said bladder to alternately contract and relax to actuate said pump.