Original Paper (Invited) Cavitation in a Shaft-less Double Suction Centrifugal Miniature Pump

Based on the consideration that the cavitation would affect the operation stability of miniature pumps, the 3-D turbulent cavitating flow in a test pump was simulated by using a mixed cavitation model and k-ω SST turbulence model. In order to investigate the influence of inlet geometry parameters on the cavitation performance of the miniature pump, two more impellers are designed for comparison. Based on the results, the following conclusions are drawn: 1) Cavitation performance of the double suction shaft-less miniature pump having different impeller is equivalent to the centrifugal pump having ordinary size, though the flow passage at impeller inlet is small; 2) The miniature pump having radial impeller can produce much higher pump head, but lower cavitation performance than that having the impeller based on the conventional design method; 3) It is believed that by applying the double suction design, the miniature pump achieved relatively uniform flow pattern upstream the impeller inlet, which is favorable for improving cavitation performance