Search Results

External gear pumps are positive displacement devices which perform with excellent efficiencies over a wide load and speed range. This wide range of performance is primarily due to micron-level leakage gaps in such machines which prevent large leakages at increasing loads. The present paper details a novel approach implemented in the commercial CFD tool PumpLinx that can capture the details of the micron level gaps, and model such machines accurately. The steps in creation of the model from original CAD geometry are described. In particular, the CFD mesh is created using a specialized template structured meshing method within PumpLinx especially created for external gear pumps and motors. This makes process of mesh creation and flow solution through complicated geometries of a gear pump efficient and streamlined.

This paper discusses the holistic approach of simulating a low pressure pump (LPP) including test stand flow dynamics. The simulation includes all lines and valves of the test stand representing realistic test operating conditions in the simulation. The capability to capture all line dynamics enables a robust design against resonances and delivers high-quality performance data. Comparison with actual test data agrees very well giving us confidence in the prediction capability of proposed method and CFD package used in the study. Despite the large spatial extent of the simulation domain, Simerics-MP+ (aka PumpLinx) is able to generate a feasible mesh, together with fast running speed, resulting in acceptable turn-around times. The ability to still model small gaps and clearance of the LPP very efficiently enables inclusion of realistic tolerances as experienced on hardware.

Metal foam with their high porosity and heat storage capacity can be combined with phase change materials to be a powerful heat storage device. Numerical simulations of metal foam behavior can be challenging due to their complex geometric patterns necessitating high mesh requirements. Furthermore, simulations of the inner workings of a metal foam heat exchanger comprising of a large number of individual metal foam canisters can be impossible. The objective of the current work is to develop a computational model using a proprietary CFD tool Simerics-MP/Simerics-MP+® to simulate the workings of a metal foam heat exchanger with phase change element. A heat transfer coefficient capturing this heat transfer between wax and metal is used to formulate the “simplified” mixture model. The versatility of the proposed model is in the universality of its application to any shape or structure of metal foam. The computational model developed is tested to replicate the results of the 3D simulation.

The oil flow rate in an automotive vane pump varies by virtue of the eccentricity between the inner rotor and the chamber wall. The movement of the chamber wall is facilitated by a ring-spring assembly which is pivoted and moves depending on the balance of system oil pressure and the pre-tensioned spring. In this paper, the ODE of kinetics of the solid piece spring motion is dynamically coupled with CFD simulation of oil flow in a vane pump. A re-meshing step is taken at every time step based on the update of the fluid domain which is determined from the ring position. The algorithm is implemented in the general purpose CFD code PumpLinx and applied to an automotive vane oil pump. The simulation results of pump performance curve are compared with the measurement data, together with the ring positions comparison. A very good agreement is observed between the simulation results and measurement data.

Centrifugal pumps are widely used in different thermal fluid systems in automobile industries. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of such a thermal fluid system depends on the accurate component modeling of the system components. This paper presents CFD analysis of a centrifugal pump with two different approaches: Transient (moving grid) and the steady state - Multiple Reference Frame (MRF) methods using a commercial CFD solver Simerics MP+®. In addition, flow and pressure drop data obtained using CFD simulations of a vehicle coolant hydraulic system was compared to results from rig test data. The Transient method incorporates the real motion of the pump blades geometry and temporal flow solutions are obtained for instantaneous positions of the blade geometry. In MRF approach, the flow governing equations for the stationary zone are solved in the absolute/inertial reference frame, whereas flow in the moving zone is solved in the relative/non-inertial reference frame.

The thermal performance of an engine coolant system is efficient when the engine head temperature is maintained within its optimum working range. For this, it is desired that air should not be entrapped in the coolant system which can lead to localized hot spots at critical locations. However, it is difficult to eliminate the trapped air pockets completely. So, the target is to minimize the entrapped air as much as possible during the coolant filling and deaeration processes, especially in major components such as the radiator, engine head, pump etc. The filling processes and duration are typically optimized in an engine test stand along with design changes for augmenting the coolant filling efficiency. However, it is expensive and time consuming to identify air entrapped locations in tests, decide on the filling strategy and make the design changes in the piping accordingly.

Trapped air bubbles inside coolant systems have adverse effect on the cooling performance. Hence, it is imperative to ensure an effective filling and de-aeration of the coolant system in order to have less air left before the operation of the coolant system. In the present work, a coolant/air multiphase VOF method was utilized using the commercial CFD software SimericsMP+® to study the coolant filling and subsequent de-aeration process in a Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) cooling system. First, validations of the numerical simulations against experiments were performed for a simplified coolant recirculation system. This system uses a tequila bottle for de-aeration and the validations were performed for different coolant flow rates to examine the de-aeration efficiency. A similar trend of de-aeration was captured between simulation and experimental measurement.