A Systematical Study of the Influence of Blade Length, Blade Width, and Side Channel Height on the Performance of a Side Channel Pump

Abstract

Two modular side channel pump models have been investigated both numerically and experimentally. For both modular designs, different side channels and impellers could be studied, with the aim to get information about the influence of the different geometries on the performance and the inner flow phenomena of the pump. By understanding the geometry influences, statements about the design process of the pump are possible. Changes of the geometry of the side channel or the impeller affect the flow in both components. This means that the geometrical dimensions must always be related to each other, in order to make statements about influences of the geometry on the characteristics. Thus, various geometrical configurations are setup, their sizes in industrial pumps are indicated and their influence is investigated by simulations. To evaluate the gained numerical data, it is important to understand the influence of mesh and simulation setup on the results. Therefore, a grid study was conducted and additionally the turbulence model was varied. In this paper, two parameters are focused on: these are the side channel height to the blade length (h/l) and the depth of the side channel in relation to the width of the blade (t/w).

Effects of the geometrical conditions on the performance of a side channel pump: A review

“…The fluid flows in a straight line to the pump inlet, and kinetic energy is converted into pressure energy and the head is developed after numerous reentries into the rotating impeller and creates a high momentum exchange from the blade to the fluid and leaves through the outlet of the pump in a helical or spiral form. This effect causes an upturn in the pump head (pressure) from about 5 to 10 times better than the impeller of a common pump rotating at the same speed . The electrical energy produced by the pump motor is converted to mechanical energy.…”

“…This makes the flow of fluids in this kind of pump very complex as depicted in Figure . The pump does not transport the same volume of fluid that enters out; meanwhile, some portion of the fluid moves back into interrupter gap and is conveyed by the pressure side of the blade to the suction side . Shirinov and Oberbeck explained the movement of gas in the side channel pump.…”

“…The turbulence and the circulation models are largely used to describe the performance of the pump and also the characteristic curve computation. The side channel pump efficiency is usually below 40% because it is a type of a regenerative pump . Basically, the flow is very dependent on the orientation of the impeller, impeller blade, and the side channel.…”

“…Over the years, the enhancement of the total efficiency of this pump still remains a challenge to engineers and scientists. The flow rate of fluid in the side channel pump is significantly influenced by the impeller designs on this basis substantial consideration needs to be given to the design, development, and optimization of the impeller and side channel gap …”

Performance evaluation of a regenerative pump under fluid viscosity enhancement

“…It was found that there was an optimum chevron angle of around 30 0 [13]. Fleder and Böhle studied the effect of the variation of the blade length, blade width, and side channel height by the help of dimensionless parameters [14]. Karanth et al used CFD analysis to enhance the performance of regenerative pump.…”