The Performance Analysis and Prospective of Cooling Pump Based on CFD Technique

摘要

Background: Water pump is the core of engine cooling system, the irrational design willmake the engine too warm or too cold, both will influence the efficiency of the engine. Therefore, it issignificant for an engine to design one good water pump. Various patents have been discussed in thisarticle.Objective: In this study, we designed a good water pump to match its engine cooling system to reducethe cost of R&D by design and simulation.Methods: According to the actual working characteristics of an automotive centrifugal pump, we builtits computational fluid model. At 80°C and different speeds, using freshwater as cooling liquid, ComputationalFluid Dynamics (CFD) technique was used to analyze the 3D turbulent flow inside thepump. Following this, the static pressure, speed and the turbulent kinetic energy distribution of the internalflow field of the pump were discussed. The pump head and efficiency were stimulated by usingthe CFD technique and compared with the results obtained from the experiments.Results: The experimental results showed that the obtained pump head and efficiency were in goodagreement and the accuracy of the performance prediction can be guaranteed within 10%. When thespeed was constant, in the case of small flow, the measured pump flow and head were different fromCFD numerical simulation, while the consistency of efficiency was better. When the pump exceededthe maximum performance point under the constant speed, the flow continued to increase, the headdifference in the centrifugal pump between CFD simulation and test became larger, and the measuredtest efficiency declined continuously from the maximum.Conclusion: The results showed that the complex condition of running water inside the pump can beexactly stimulated by the CFD technique, especially about the pump head and its efficiency, whichprovided the theoretical foundation for the later structural designs and optimization of the pump conduit.