Author(s)

S. Pirker & S. Silber

Abstract

CFD simulation of a sealless pump configuration S. ~irker' & S. silber2 ' ~ e ~ a r t m e n t of Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer, Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria 2 Department of Electrical Drive and Power Electronics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria Abstract In a sealless centrifugal pump configuration a permanent magnet impeller is levitated and driven by an external rotating electromagnetic field. The radial position of the impeller is controlled by a bearingless motor while the axial position should adjust itself passively by balancing out hydrodynamic forces and the restoring force of the impeller's permanent magnet. First, the complex flow situation around a fixed impeller is simulated by means of a three-dimensional unsteady CFD simulation. In contrast to conventional pumps the secondary leakage streams are quite dominant and have to be included into the simulation. Rotorstator interactions are accounted for by sliding meshes. Secondly, based on the complex overall

Keywords