scholarly journals On the Optimization of a Centrifugal Maglev Blood Pump Through Design Variations

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Wu ◽  
Jiadong Huo ◽  
Weifeng Dai ◽  
Wei-Tao Wu ◽  
Chengke Yin ◽  
...  

Centrifugal blood pumps are usually designed with secondary flow paths to avoid flow dead zones and reduce the risk of thrombosis. Due to the secondary flow path, the intensity of secondary flows and turbulence in centrifugal blood pumps is generally very high. Conventional design theory is no longer applicable to centrifugal blood pumps with a secondary flow path. Empirical relationships between design variables and performance metrics generally do not exist for this type of blood pump. To date, little scientific study has been published concerning optimization and experimental validation of centrifugal blood pumps with secondary flow paths. Moreover, current hemolysis models are inadequate in an accurate prediction of hemolysis in turbulence. The purpose of this study is to optimize the hydraulic and hemolytic performance of an inhouse centrifugal maglev blood pump with a secondary flow path through variation of major design variables, with a focus on bringing down intensity of turbulence and secondary flows. Starting from a baseline design, through changing design variables such as blade angles, blade thickness, and position of splitter blades. Turbulent intensities have been greatly reduced, the hydraulic and hemolytic performance of the pump model was considerably improved. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) combined with hemolysis models were mainly used for the evaluation of pump performance. A hydraulic test was conducted to validate the CFD regarding the hydraulic performance. Collectively, these results shed light on the impact of major design variables on the performance of modern centrifugal blood pumps with a secondary flow path.

2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Coull

Prior to the detailed design of components, turbomachinery engineers must guide a mean-line or throughflow design toward an optimum configuration. This process requires a combination of informed judgement and low-order correlations for the principle sources of loss. With these requirements in mind, this paper examines the impact of key design parameters on endwall loss in turbines, a problem which remains poorly understood. This paper presents a parametric study of linear cascades, which represent a simplified model of real-engine flow. The designs are nominally representative of the low-pressure turbine blades of an aero-engine, with varying flow angles, blade thickness, and suction surface lift styles. Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) calculations are performed for a single aspect ratio (AR) and constant inlet boundary layer thickness. To characterize the cascades studied, the two-dimensional design space is examined before studying endwall losses in detail. It is demonstrated that endwall loss can be decomposed into two components: one due to the dissipation associated with the endwall boundary layer and another induced by the secondary flows. This secondary-flow-induced loss is found to scale with a measure of streamwise vorticity predicted by classical secondary flow theory.


Author(s):  
B. Qian ◽  
D. Z. Wu

The vibration performance of centrifugal impellers is of great importance for pumps in some application areas such as automobiles and ships. Apart from mechanical excitations for instance, unbalanced rotor and misalignment, attentions should be concentrated on the hydraulic excitations. The complex internal secondary flow in the centrifugal impeller brings degradation on both hydraulic and vibration performances. On the purpose of repressing the internal secondary flow and alleviating vibration, an attempt of optimization by controlling the thickness distribution of centrifugal impeller blade is given. The vibration performances of the impellers are investigated numerically and experimentally. Meanwhile, further study on the mechanism of the influence of the thickness distribution optimization on vibration is conducted. There is a relative velocity gradient from suction side (SS) to pressure side (PS) due to the Coriolis force, which causes non-uniformity of energy distribution. By means of thickness distribution optimization, the impeller blade angle on the PS and SS along the blade-aligned (BA) streamwise location is respectively modified and therefore the flow field can be improved.


Author(s):  
R. Pichler ◽  
Yaomin Zhao ◽  
R. D. Sandberg ◽  
V. Michelassi ◽  
R. Pacciani ◽  
...  

In low-pressure-turbines (LPT) around 60–70% of losses are generated away from end-walls, while the remaining 30–40% is controlled by the interaction of the blade profile with the end-wall boundary layer. Experimental and numerical studies have shown how the strength and penetration of the secondary flow depends on the characteristics of the incoming end-wall boundary layer. Experimental techniques did shed light on the mechanism that controls the growth of the secondary vortices, and scale-resolving CFD allowed to dive deep into the details of the vorticity generation. Along these lines, this paper discusses the end-wall flow characteristics of the T106 LPT profile at Re = 120K and M = 0.59 by benchmarking with experiments and investigating the impact of the incoming boundary layer state. The simulations are carried out with proven Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) and large-eddy simulation (LES) solvers to determine if Reynolds Averaged models can capture the relevant flow details with enough accuracy to drive the design of this flow region. Part I of the paper focuses on the critical grid needs to ensure accurate LES, and on the analysis of the overall time averaged flow field and comparison between RANS, LES and measurements when available. In particular, the growth of secondary flow features, the trace and strength of the secondary vortex system, its impact on the blade load variation along the span and end-wall flow visualizations are analysed. The ability of LES and RANS to accurately predict the secondary flows is discussed together with the implications this has on design.


2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (03) ◽  
pp. 1450045
Author(s):  
HUACHUN WU ◽  
GAO GONG ◽  
ZHIQIANG WANG ◽  
YEFA HU ◽  
CHUNSHENG SONG

Hydraulic performance is an especially important factor for maglev axial blood pumps that have been used in patients with heart disease. Most maglev axial blood pumps basically consist of a straightener, an impeller and a diffuser. The diffuser plays a key role in the performance of the maglev axial blood pump to provide an adequate pressure head and increase the hydraulic efficiency. Maglev axial blood pumps with various structural diffusers exhibit different hydraulic performance. In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was performed to quantify hydrodynamic in a maglev axial blood pump with a flow rate of 6 L/min against a pressure head of 100 mmHg to optimize the diffuser structure. First, we design the prototype of diffuser structure based on traditional design method, establish blood flow channel models using commercial software ANSYS FLUENT. Specifically, compare the performance of pump with the diffusers of different parameters, such as the leading edge blade angle, blade-thickness and blade-number. The results show that the diffuser structures with the thickening blade by arc airfoil law, blade-number of 6, leading edge blade angle of 24°, and trailing edge blade angle of 90° exhibited the best hydraulic performance which could be utilized in the optimization design of maglev axial blood pumps.


Author(s):  
Samuel P Lee ◽  
Simon M Barrans ◽  
Ambrose K Nickson

Current trends in the automotive industry towards engine downsizing means turbocharging now plays a vital role in engine performance. The purpose of turbocharging is to increase the engine inlet air density by utilising, the otherwise wasted energy in the exhaust gas. This energy extraction is commonly accomplished through the use of a radial turbine. Although less commonly used, mixed flow turbines can offer aerodynamic advantages due to the manipulation of blade leading (LE) angles, improving performance at low velocity ratios. The current paper investigates the performance of a mixed flow turbine with four volute designs, two radial and two tilted volutes each with one variant with an aspect ratio (AR)=0.5 and one with AR = 2. To ensure constant mass flow parameter (MFP) for aerodynamic similarity, volute area to radius ratio (A/r) was manipulated between the design variants. The maximum variation of cycle averaged normalized efficiency measured between the designs was 2.87%. Purely in the rotor region, the variation in normalized cycle averaged efficiency was 3%. The smallest volute AR designs showed substantial secondary flow development. The introduction of volute tilt further complicated the secondary flow development with the introduction of asymmetry to the flows. It was established that both AR and tilt have a notable effect on secondary flows, rotor inlet conditions and over all mixed flow turbine performance.


Author(s):  
Filippo Rubechini ◽  
Matteo Giovannini ◽  
Andrea Arnone ◽  
Daniele Simoni ◽  
Francesco Bertini

Abstract This paper deals with the design of passive control devices for reducing the impact of secondary flows on the aerodynamics of low-pressure turbine (LPT) stages. A novel kind of device is introduced which consists of shelf-like fences to be added to the blade surface. Such a device is intended to hinder the development of secondary flows, thus reducing losses and flow turning deviation with respect to the straight blade. The first part of this work is devoted to the design of the blade fences, whereas the second part addresses the experimental validation of the device. The blade fences are designed on a LPT stator vane, in an engine-like environment. As secondary flows generated by one blade row produce their major effects on the downstream one, and hence on the stage performance, the assessment is performed on a stator-rotor configuration. Steady calculations are considered for the design, then the optimal geometry is verified via unsteady calculations to include the effects of the actual interaction. The geometry and layout of the blade fences are effectively handled by means of a parametric approach, which enables the fast generation of several configurations. An optimization procedure, based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) is exploited to drive the fences design. The analysis of the relative merit of each solution is carried out using a state-of-the-art CFD approach. Finally, a detailed comparison between the original blade and the one equipped with fences is presented, and the physical mechanisms responsible for the mitigation of secondary flow losses are discussed in detail.


2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pranay Seshadri ◽  
Shahrokh Shahpar ◽  
Paul Constantine ◽  
Geoffrey Parks ◽  
Mike Adams

Turbomachinery active subspace performance maps are two-dimensional (2D) contour plots that illustrate the variation of key flow performance metrics with different blade designs. While such maps are easy to construct for design parameterizations with two variables, in this paper, maps will be generated for a fan blade with twenty-five design variables. Turbomachinery active subspace performance maps combine active subspaces—a new set of ideas for dimension reduction—with fundamental turbomachinery aerodynamics and design spaces. In this paper, contours of (i) cruise efficiency, (ii) cruise pressure ratio (PR), (iii) maximum climb flow capacity, and (iv) sensitivity to manufacturing variations are plotted as objectives for the fan. These maps are then used to infer pedigree design rules: how best to increase fan efficiency; how best to desensitize blade aerodynamics to the impact of manufacturing variations? In the present study, the former required both a reduction in PR and flow capacity—leading to a reduction of the strength of the leading edge bow wave—while the latter required strictly a reduction in flow capacity. While such pedigree rules can be obtained from first principles, in this paper, these rules are derived from the active subspaces. This facilitates a more detailed quantification of the aerodynamic trade-offs. Thus, instead of simply stating that a particular design is more sensitive to manufacturing variations; or that it lies on a hypothetical “efficiency cliff,” this paper seeks to visualize, quantify, and make precise such notions of turbomachinery design.


Author(s):  
S. Kathiravan ◽  
Roberto De Prosperis ◽  
Alessandro Ciani

Due to recent advancements made in computational technology, CFD tools are capable of accurately capturing complex physical phenomenon. The proposed novel CFD methodology improves the prediction reliability and capability of Gas Turbine Blade heat transfer and secondary flow behaviour. This paper discusses a robust CFD based methodology to validate the complex gas turbine blade cooling design using detailed 3D flow & conjugate heat transfer analysis. Both primary and secondary flow domains along with blade metal are considered in one single integrated CFD model. This will capture the coupled heat transfer and tip vortices mixing effects and hence accurately predict the secondary cooling flow. The secondary flow path geometry consists of serpentine passages with turbulator features in the flow path to improve the effective heat transfer. Several sensitivity studies were performed using the above model to understand the impact of turbulator fillets, tip hole coating thickness, domain interface and suitably accounted for in the full scale simulation. The numerical simulation results were extensively validated with GE industrial Frame5 gas turbine prototype test thermocouple data and thermal profiles (span-wise) obtained from metallographic images. This novel method gives a thorough understanding of flow-thermal physics involved in serpentine cooling and helps to optimize effective cooling flow usage.


Author(s):  
Giulio Zamboni ◽  
Liping Xu

The exit flow field of the fan root of large turbofan engines defines the inlet conditions to the core compressor. This in turn could have significant impact to the performance of the core compressor. This study is aimed to resolve two related issues concerning the impact of the fan root flow on the core compressor performance: to establish the effect of an increased loss at the inlet on the engine specific fuel consumption (SFC) and to assess the effect of the radial distribution of the fan root flow on the engine performance. With understanding of these issues, the geometric parameters and design details which can produce a more uniform core flow at the exit of the fan stage module can be identified. The fan root flow is analysed with methods of different complexity and fidelity. A simple cycle analysis is used to assess the impact on engine SFC of a stagnation pressure deficit at the fan root; a throughflow code is used for the preliminary study of the curvature effect of the root flow path and 3D RANS CFD calculations are then used to simulate the flow path from the inlet of the fan to the first stage of the core compressor. The adequacy of the application of the numerical code in this case has been assessed and confirmed by the comparison with the experimental data for two rig configurations. The results of this study show that the flow at the fan hub region is very complex and dominated by 3D effects. The interaction of the secondary flow with real geometries, such as leakage flows, is found to have a strong detrimental effect on the core performance. The curvature of the hub end-wall is a key parameter controlling the fan root flow topology; it influences the strength of the secondary flow, the spanwise distribution of the flow and its sensitivity to leakage flow. With this understanding it is possible to redesign of the fan hub flow path to reduce the loss generation by a significant amount.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 4103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Rehman ◽  
Bo Liu ◽  
Muhammad Afzaal Asghar

A detailed numerical analysis of secondary flows in a transonic turbine is presented in this paper. The turbine stage is optimized by mitigating secondary flow through the method of non-axisymmetric endwall design. An automated optimization platform of NUMECA/Design3D was coupled with Euranus as a flow solver for the numerical investigation. The contoured endwalls of the stator and the rotor hub were designed based on equidistant Bézier curves along the camber line in the blade channel. The initial design samples were ten times the number of the design variables, and were generated through the LHS method for database generation. The optimization of the endwalls was achieved by using a state-of-the-art multi-objective optimization algorithm, NSGA-II, connected with the BPNN to increase the isentropic efficiency and decrease the secondary kinetic energy, while the mass flow and the degree of reaction were constrained to remain on the datum value as in the original geometry. The individual optimization of the hub endwalls of the stator and the rotor produced an increase in the efficiency of 0.27% and 0.25%, respectively, resulting in a cumulative improvement of 0.46% in the efficiency. The increase in the performance was analyzed at part-load conditions, and it was further confirmed through unsteady simulations.


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