A SIMULATION APPROACH FOR THE EVALUATION OF POWER LOSSES IN THE AXIAL GAP OF GEROTOR UNITS

This paper presents a simulation approach for the analysis of the flow in the axial gap of Gerotor pumps. The modeling approach is based on the coupling of a 2D CFD model of the lateral gap with a lumped parameter model for the description of the displacing action realized by the Gerotor unit. The CFD analysis takes advantages of OpenFOAM open source libraries and is performed in co-simulation with the lumped parameter model, previously presented and validated by the authors. Available experimental results are compared against the model predictions, as pertains the flow/pressure characteristic and port flow fluctuations. The paper describes the potentials of the proposed approach for quick predictions of the actual configuration of the lateral gap of the rotors as a function of the geometric clearances.