Investigation of Overall Efficiency in the First Few Hours of a Pump's Life

The Fluid Power Institute of the Milwaukee School of Engineering under contract from the US Army MERADCOM (Mobile Equipment Research and Development Command) has tested eighteen external spur gear pumps supplied by three different manufacturers to evaluate the changes in overall efficiency in the first few hours of the pump's life. The pumps were subjected to a common break-in procedure except that the contamination level of the oil in six of the 18 test pumps was changed significantly to determine the effects on overall efficiency. The paper discusses the break-in procedure, contamination levels and results of the test program.