Gear pumps represent the majority of the fixed displacement machines used for flow generation in fluid power systems. In this context, the paper presents a review of the different methodologies used in the last years for the simulation of the flow rates generated by gerotor, external gear and crescent pumps. As far as the lumped parameter models are concerned, different ways of selecting the control volumes into which the pump is split are analyzed and the main governing equations are presented. The principles and the applications of distributed models from 1D to 3D are reported. A specific section is dedicated to the methods for the evaluation of the necessary geometric quantities: analytic, numerical and Computer-Aided Design (CAD)-based. The more recent studies taking into account the influence on leakages of the interactions between the fluid and the mechanical parts are explained. Finally the models for the simulation of the fluid aeration are described. The review brings to evidence the increasing effort for improving the simulation models used for the design and the optimization of the gear machines.

Models for Flow Rate Simulation in Gear Pumps: A Review

Numerical Analysis of External Gear Pumps Including Cavitation

The paper presents an extensive analysis of the influence on the suction capacity of the main geometric parameters of gerotor lubricating pumps The study was carried out using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model developed with the commercial software PumpLinx® The model of a reference gerotor unit was validated experimentally in terms of delivered flow rate in different operating conditions, in open and closed circuit configuration In the former case, different geometries of the inlet pipe were tested In the latter, the influence of the suction pressure at constant speed was analyzed After the model validation, several geometric features were changed to assess their influence on the volumetric efficiency in conditions of incomplete filling, such as the thickness and the diameter of the gears, the position of the inlet pipe with respect to the rotors (radial, axial, and tangential), and the shape of the port plate

Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis of Gerotor Lubricating Pumps at High-Speed: Geometric Features Influencing the Filling Capability

Recently several works have been published on numerical simulation of an external gear pump (EGP). Such kinds of pumps are simple and relatively inexpensive, and are frequently used in fluid power applications, such as fluid power in aeronautical, mechanical, and civil engineering. Nevertheless, considerable effort is being undertaken to improve efficiency and reduce noise and vibration produced by the flow and pressure pulsations. Numerical simulation of an EGP is not straightforward principally for two main reasons. First, the gearing mechanism between gears makes it difficult to handle a dynamic mesh without a considerable deterioration of mesh quality. Second, the dynamic metal-metal contact simulation is important when high pressure outflow has to be reproduced. The numerical studies published so far are based on a two-dimensional (2D) approximation. The aim of the present work is to contribute to the understanding of the fluid flow inside an EGP by means of a complete three-dimensional (3D) parallel simulation on a cluster. The 3D flow is simulated in a LINUX cluster with a solver developed with the OPENFOAM Toolbox. The hexahedral mesh quality is maintained by periodically replacing the mesh and interpolating the physical magnitudes fields. The meshing contact point is simulated with the viscous wall approach, using a viscosity model based on wall proximity. The results for the flow rate ripples show a similar behavior to that obtained with 2D simulations. However, the flow presents important differences inside the suction and the discharge chambers, principally in the regions of the pipes' connection. Moreover, the decompression slot below the gearing zone, which can not be simulated with a 2D approximation, enables a more realistic simulation of a contact ratio greater than 1. The results are compared with experimental measurements recently published.

Three-Dimensional Numerical Simulation of an External Gear Pump With Decompression Slot and Meshing Contact Point

Although gerotor pumps are used in a wide range of industrial applications, higher work pressure causes shock or collision among pump components, which leads to large stress fluctuations and shortened pump life expectancy. This paper therefore proposes a novel variable clearance design that diminishes such component collisions. After a geometric mathematical model is constructed of variable clearance rotors, a fluid analysis model is developed based on a relief groove design. Applying the model to two fixed clearance and three variable clearance designs demonstrates the effects of various fixed clearance sizes on gerotor pump performance and identifies the differences between fixed and variable clearance designs. The results support the feasibility of the proposed design: the appropriate variable clearance designs maintain robust flow characteristics and effectively reduce shock and collision among pump components, thereby reducing stress level, increasing stability, and extending the life expectancy of the gerotor pumps.

Flow Characteristics of Gerotor Pumps With Novel Variable Clearance Designs

A gerotor pump, which is widely used in the automotive industry for engine oil lubrication, produces an instantaneous flow fluctuation and the estimation of this is fundamental in order to evaluate the pump quality for silent and smooth operation. The intricate aspects of the pumping process of a gerotor pump make computational fluid dynamics the appropriate tool for modelling and simulation to provide insights into its flow characteristics. Because the instantaneous flow is rather dependent on the teeth contact, a new boundary condition of a virtual wall was developed, which allows simulation of the teeth contact in the interteeth radial clearances. This new boundary condition is utilized in a three-dimensional model of the gerotor pump with mesh deformation and remeshing at every time step by means of a home-made ad-hoc code programmed by the present authors and named viscous wall cell. The code has been integrated into the computational fluid dynamics solver. The interteeth clearances are studied under the following different operating conditions (working pressures and rotational velocities): first, no contact points (no teeth contact is studied in order to prove that, even if the interteeth radial clearance is sufficiently small, the leakage cannot be negligible); second, all contact points (the ideal approach is considered with zero interteeth radial clearances used to model zero manufacturing tolerances); third, one contact point at different locations (the existence of manufacturing tolerances and the teeth contact approach make the pumpâ€™s operation and its pumping mechanism more realistic in the simulation). The numerical instantaneous flow is compared with the analytical instantaneous flow, with the instantaneous flow modelled by using the bond graph technique, and with the experimental determination of the flow ripple for a specific unit. The results obtained show the importance of simulating the teeth contact and prove to be an excellent estimation of the instantaneous flow behaviour to obtain the dynamic properties of a gerotor pump under more realistic conditions than its design.

Pedro-Javier Gamez-Montero

Papers

Influence of the interteeth clearances on the flow ripple in a gerotor pump for engine lubrication