Experimental and numerical analyses to improve the design of engine coolant pumps

Abstract

In this paper, an experimentally based procedure is presented to re-orient the design point of the pump in order to minimize the energy absorbed during the homologation cycle or during any real driving one. During it, in fact, every benefit on the pump's efficiency is appreciated and produces fuel consumption and CO2 reduction. The procedure takes the advantage from a dynamic test bench for coolant pump, realized and engineered at University of L'Aquila. It has been linked to a model-based methodology, which evaluates, according to a specified vehicle's mission profile, the speed and load variation of the engine propelling the vehicle, and, therefore, the pump speed. The knowledge of the engine cooling circuit for closed and fully opened thermostat allows the calculation of the flow rates and pressure delivered in each time instant of the drive cycle. The speed-flow rate-pressure delivered pump profile has been reproduced on the bench, and all the relevant quantities have been measured: an exact evaluation of the scatter of the efficiency of the pump, the instantaneous power and the overall energy absorbed have been obtained. Results show how the pump efficiency is far from its Best Efficiency Point. This conclusion invited the Authors to reorient the design pump considering an operating condition, which has a greater occurrence among all the operating points characteristic of a drive cycle. Four pumps have been designed following this approach, showing a sensible reduction of the energy absorbed: this represents a key point also for pump electrification.