Thermal Modelling of External Gear Machines and Experimental Validation

Rituraj Rituraj, Andrea Vacca and Mario Antonio Morselli
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Rituraj Rituraj: Maha Fluid Power Research Center, Purdue University, Lafayette, IN 47905, USA
Andrea Vacca: Maha Fluid Power Research Center, Purdue University, Lafayette, IN 47905, USA
Mario Antonio Morselli: Stem Numerical Engineering, 41121 Modena, Italy

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-24

Abstract: The flow of energy within external gear machines (EGMs) leads to the variation of fluid temperature in the EGMs, which affects their performance. However, the common approaches for the simulation of EGMs assume isothermal conditions. This isothermal assumption negatively impacts their modelling accuracy in terms of the internal flows which are dependent on the fluid temperature (via fluid properties). This paper presents a lumped parameter based thermal model of EGMs where the fluid temperature in the EGM is evaluated considering the effects of compression/expansion, internal flows, and power losses. Further, numerical techniques are developed to model each of these three aspects. The thermal model is validated via the outlet temperature and volumetric efficiency measurements obtained from experiments conducted on six units of an EGM taken as a reference with different internal clearances. The results from the model show that the fluid temperature increases as it is carried from the inlet side to the outlet side during the pumping operation. However, the fluid at the ends of the shafts has the highest temperature. By comparing the isothermal simulation results with the proposed thermal model, the results also point out how the isothermal assumption becomes inaccurate, particularly in conditions of low volumetric efficiency.

Keywords: thermal model; gear pump; pump modelling; simulation tool; outlet temperature; pump efficiency; volumetric efficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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