Within automotive sector, there are several high-performance applications, like, for instance, those referred to racing and motorsport, where cooling needs are usually fulfilled by simple circuits with conventional low-efficiency pumps. The cooling needs in these applications are represented by low flow rates delivered (in the range of 10 - 50 L/min). The operating conditions of these small pumps are usually characterized by very high revolution speeds, which intrinsically cause low efficiency and critical intake phenomena (cavitation) if the design is not specifically optimized to address these concerns.
Hence, in this paper a small-size pump operating in the racing sector has been designed using a model-based approach, built and tested having reached both high efficiency (aimed to 50%) and absence of intake operational problems (cavitation). Starting from the specific cooling request (design flow rate equal to 14.0 L/min and pressure rise equal to 2.5 bar), the very limited space available on board oriented the design to an operational revolution speed of 12000 RPM. The interest of this study was to introduce a so high revolution speed in more conventional automotive cooling pumps electrically assisted, keeping high efficiency. In fact, the strong reduction of the size of the pump allows an easy and correct positioning on board.
The model-based design was done by a two-steps procedure. The first made use of a 0D model which, catching main physical phenomena of the flow even in simplified form, leads to an optimum geometrical design for the impeller and the volute. A final refinement has been done with a CFD code predicting the off-design performance and limiting cavitation zones. Cavitation, which is one of the most critical issues of high-speed pumps, was completely investigated through a CFD numerical analysis.
The pump has been prototyped and tested on a dynamic test bench for pumps, which reproduces homologation cycles and real driving. A good agreement has been reached between theoretical and experimental results, being the mean relative error on pressure rise for all operating point close to 4 %. This model-based procedure opens the way to support the development of electric water pumps for more conventional applications (automotive, light duty engines) in which a redesign will be focused to manage the thermal state of the engine and reduce the energy absorbed during the homologation cycle.
