A Forced Vortex Pump for High Speed, High Pressure, Low Flow Applications

The simple forced vortex pump design presented in this paper has demonstrated usefulness in satisfying the requirements of propulsion systems for aircraft and rocket motors. A simplified theory of design is expanded, and theoretical and actual performance curves along with sketches and photographs of this type of pump are presented. This pump, with its small size, light weight, high operating speed, and simplicity of design, establishes itself as a centrifugal type pump in a range of flows and pressures normally considered to be the domain of larger, heavier, more costly, and complex positive displacement pumps.