Modelling of the Cross Angle and its Impact on Pump Performance

A secondary swash plate angle, also known as a cross angle, has been used in the past to reduce flow ripple with great success. However, for the past two decades, research in this field has been scarce. In this paper, a pressure controlled 9-piston pump is investigated to determine the effects of the cross angle on commutation, acting forces and torques, as well as volumetric flow rate pulsations. A detailed description of the piston kinematics, the simulation model used, and the subsequent simulation results are presented in this contribution.

Optimization of valve plate applied in secondary unit and noise reduction

Secondary unit, in term of application, is the combination of pump and motor, the valve plate specifically designed for pump or motor may not be suitable for a secondary unit. This paper mainly discusses design of valve plate of secondary unit applied in mobile crane, several critical points needed to be noticed during design have been discussed, furthermore, by adopting the proposed method to optimize a valve plate, which originates from closed-loop pump and now is used in opened-loop system, noise reduction was realized. Firstly, 1D simulation models, including pump condition and motor condition, were established in AMESim to obtain cylinder pressure, flow ripple and other critical parameters; secondly, by using Pumplinx, 3D numerical simulation was conducted to evaluate the cavitation risk; finally, a test bed was set up to validate the simulation result. Simulation result agreed well with the tested one. Both of them verified practicability of the proposed method. This research may provide a guidance for engineers and scholars who are interested in pump and motor.

A CFD-Based Comparison of Different Positive Displacement Pumps for Application in Future Automatic Transmission Systems

The efficiency requirements for hydraulic pumps applied in automatic transmissions in future generations of automobiles will increase continuously. In addition, the pumps must be able to cope with multiphase flows to a certain extent. Given this background, a balanced vane pump (BVP), an internal gear pump (IGP) and a three-dimensional geared tumbling multi chamber (TMC) pump are analyzed and compared by a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach with ANSYS CFX and TwinMesh. Furthermore, test bench measurements are conducted to obtain experimental data to validate the numerical results. The obtained numerical results show a reasonable agreement with the experimental data. In the first CFD setup, the conveying characteristics of the pumps with pure oil regarding volumetric efficiencies, cavitation onset and pressure ripple are compared. Both the IGP and the BVP show high volumetric efficiencies and low pressure ripples whereas the TMC shows a weaker performance regarding these objectives. In the second CFD setup, an oil-bubbly air multiphase flow with different inlet volume fractions (IGVF) is investigated. It can be shown that free air changes the pumping characteristics significantly by increasing pressure and mass flow ripple and diminishing the volumetric efficiency as well as the required driving torque. The compression ratios of the pumps appear to be an important parameter that determines how the multiphase flow is handled regarding pressure and mass flow ripple. Overall, the BVP and the IGP show both a similar strong performance with and without free air. In the current development state, the TMC pump shows an inferior performance because of its lower compression ratio and therefore needs further optimization.

A Fast and Effective Method for the Optimization of the Valve Plate of Swashplate Axial Piston Pumps

This research presents a lumped parameter numerical model aimed at designing and optimizing an axial piston pump. For the first time, it has been shown that a lumped parameter model can accurately model axial piston pump dynamics based on a comparison with CFD models and experimental results. Since the method is much more efficient than CFD, it can optimize the design. Both steady-state and dynamic behaviors have been analyzed. The model results have been compared with experimental data, showing a good capacity in predicting the pump performance, including pressure ripple. The swashplate dynamics have been investigated experimentally, measuring the dynamic pressure which controls the pump displacement; a comparison with the numerical model results confirmed the high accuracy. An optimization process has been conducted on the valve plate geometry to control fluid-born noise by flow ripple reduction. The NLPQL algorithm is used since it is suitable for this study. The objective function to minimize is the well-known function, the Non-Uniformity Grade, a parameter directly correlated with flow ripple. A prototype of the best design has been realized and tested, confirming a reduction in the pressure ripple. An endurance test was also conducted. As predicted from the numerical model, a significant reduction of cavitation erosion was observed.

A Numerical Analysis of an Innovative Flow Ripple Reduction Method for External Gear Pumps

In this paper, an innovative solution to minimize noise emission, acting on the flow ripple, in a prototype External Gear Pump (EGP) is presented. Firstly, a new tool capable to completely simulate this pump’s typologies, called EgeMATor, is presented; the hydraulic model, adopted for the simulation, is based on a lumped parameter method using a control volume approach. Starting from the pump drawing, thanks to different subroutines developed in different environments interconnected, it is possible to analyze an EGP. Results have been compared with the outputs of a three-dimensional CFD numerical model built up using a commercial code, already used with success by the authors. In the second section, an innovative solution to reduce the flow ripple is implemented. This technology is called Alternative Capacitive Volumes (ACV) and works by controlling and uniformizing the reverse flow, performing a consistent reduction of flow non-uniformity amplitude. In particular, a high reduction of the flow non-uniformity is notable in the frequency domain on the second fundamental frequency. The technology is easy to accommodate in a pump housing, especially for high-pressure components, and it helps with reducing the fluid-borne noise.

Flow Ripple Reduction of Axial-Piston Pump by Structure Optimizing of Outlet Triangular Damping Groove

The triangular damping groove on the valve plate can effectively reduce the discharge flow ripple of an axial piston pump, which structural parameters will directly affect the pump’s dynamic characteristics. Herein, a multi-parameter data-based structure optimizing method of the triangular damping groove is investigated using numerical models and simulation results. The mathematical models of a nine-piston pump are proposed and developed by MATLAB/Simulink, and the simulation results are verified by experimental results. Then, the effects of width angle and depth angle on discharge flow are analyzed. Based on the analysis of groove parameters, an optimizing index, which considering the time domain characteristics of discharge flow, is proposed. As results show, comparing with the initial specific groove structure, the amplitude of flow ripple is reduced from 14.6% to 9.8% with the optimized structure. The results demonstrate that the outlet flow ripple can be significantly reduced by the optimized structure, and the proposed multi-parameter optimizing method can play a guiding significance in the design of low-ripple axial piston pumps.

Theoretical and Simulation Investigations on Flow Ripple Reduction of Axial Piston Pumps Using Nonuniform Distribution of Pistons

The output flow ripple of the axial piston pump is one of the excitation sources for the hydraulic system vibration. The amplitudes of its specific harmonics must be reduced to avoid the resonance with the hydraulic pipeline. In this paper, a method on the nonuniform distribution of the pistons is put forward to adjust the flow ripple. The deflection angles of the pistons are used to describe the distribution rule. The distribution rule is imported to the Fourier expansion of the flow rate of each single-piston chamber, and then every single flow rate is superposed to obtain the Fourier coefficient of total flow rate that becomes the function of deflection angles. After this, objective optimization design is carried out to reduce the amplitudes of specific harmonics. Finally, the dynamic simulation model of the nonuniformly distributed axial piston pump is established to verify the effects of objective optimization. The results show that the amplitude of the ninth harmonic of the flow ripple can be reduced by about 40%, and the reductions are about 99% for the 18th and 27th harmonic.

Acoustic Amplification of Flow Ripple and Cavitation Damage in an Aerospace Fuel System Component

In a recent investigation of external fuel leaks from an aerospace pressure control valve, cavitation damages were discovered in a small deadheaded cavity, which was created by the axial clearance between the mating subcomponents. Experiments using high bandwidth pressure sensors showed that there were severe pressure fluctuations in the cavity and that the pressure repeatedly fell below the local vapor pressure of the fuel, which would cause cavitation. Spectral analyses showed resonance-like amplification of flow ripple in the valve surrounding inside the valve cavity. The apparent resonance frequency matched the computed fundamental Helmholtz resonance frequency of the cavity. These findings led to a venting solution of the deadheaded cavity by placing an appropriately sized through hole. Back-to-back testing with unvented valves showed stark improvements of the vented solution. This paper presents test and analytical data on the formation of a Helmholtz resonator in the small deadhead cavity of a gas turbine fuel delivery system component. This paper also demonstrates the validity of simple engineering formulas widely available in acoustics literature for predicting the Helmholtz resonance frequencies as a function of neck geometry, neck arrangement, and fuel properties.

A CFD Approach for the Simulation of an Entire Swash-Plate Axial Piston Pump Under Dynamic Operating Conditions

The paper proposes a CFD approach for the simulation of a swash-plate axial piston pump including the full 3D geometry of the real component. Different meshing techniques are integrated in order to reproduce all the internal motions of the pump. The overset mesh procedure is used to simulate the dynamic evolution in regions’ shape and the variable orientation between parts in the piston-slipper ball joints while the alternating motion of the piston is accounted for by sliding interfaces with the neighboring regions. The multiple dynamics of the different moving elements are implemented in terms of superposing motions in order to reproduce the real position time histories as a function of the rotational speed and the swash plate inclination angle. The proposed numerical model includes all the leakages that characterize the coupling of the many components of the pump and nominal values are assumed (i.e. 10μm) throughout the entire simulation. A pressure-dependent fluid density approach is adopted to improve the performance prediction of the pump under real operating conditions. Moreover, the turbulent behavior of the flow is addressed by means of the two equation k-omega SST model. Therefore the proposed modeling approach highlights the capabilities to address any type of swash-plate axial piston pump in order to simulate the entire machine under dynamic operations; the numerical results are discussed in terms of flow ripple, pressure distribution and fluid-dynamic forces.