DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF A DRIVETRAIN INTEGRATED PULSATION COMPENSATOR FOR PUMPS

A rotary mechanical pulsation compensator is developed from the well-known Helmholtz resonator. It consists of the pump rotor, a torsionally compliant coupling, and the remaining drivetrain. Deformation and strength requirements on the coupling are formulated for a beam concept and applied in combination with a radial piston pump. Future applications with constant rotational speed of the driving motor are discussed and the issue of multiple pump pulsation harmonics is addressed. A coupled hydraulic-mechanical model is set up for the pump drivetrain and the attached hydraulic system. In the frequency domain, parameter studies are carried out with respect to variable displacement. To account for hydraulic system resonances in different system configurations, outlet pipeline length and cylinder capacity are also varied. In the time domain, startup is simulated with an explicit estimate of geometric pump flow rate pulsation. It is investigated if pressure measurements during a slow startup procedure can prove the compensator effect by approaching stationary conditions.