Optimising Hydrogen Pump performance – Inducer design for cavitation mitigation
(2024) MVKM05 20232Department of Energy Sciences
- Abstract
- The aviation sector's contribution to global CO2 emissions requires the exploration of sustainable energy alternatives, with hydrogen emerging as a promising candidate. Despite their potential, hydrogen aircraft propulsion systems are not yet commercially viable, primarily due to technical challenges such as cavitation in hydrogen pumps. This study aims to analyse and optimise the design of hydrogen pumps, focusing on cavitation mitigation to enhance efficiency, reliability, and safety. Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, the research investigates existing cavitation mitigation techniques and evaluates their effectiveness. The study also proposes best design practices for hydrogen pumps, particularly the inclusion of an... (More)
- The aviation sector's contribution to global CO2 emissions requires the exploration of sustainable energy alternatives, with hydrogen emerging as a promising candidate. Despite their potential, hydrogen aircraft propulsion systems are not yet commercially viable, primarily due to technical challenges such as cavitation in hydrogen pumps. This study aims to analyse and optimise the design of hydrogen pumps, focusing on cavitation mitigation to enhance efficiency, reliability, and safety. Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, the research investigates existing cavitation mitigation techniques and evaluates their effectiveness. The study also proposes best design practices for hydrogen pumps, particularly the inclusion of an inducer to increase inlet pressure and minimise cavitation risk. Preliminary designs were generated using CFTurbo, with meshing performed via TurboGrid and ICEM CFD, and simulations conducted in ANSYS CFX. The results demonstrate significant improvements in cavitation performance through optimised inducer design, providing valuable insights for advancing hydrogen technology in aviation. These findings contribute to the development of a better hydrogen infrastructure, essential for the broader adoption of hydrogen as a clean energy source. (Less)
- Popular Abstract
- How is a pump supposed to help with stopping climate change?
We are all well aware now that climate change has come and irreversible changes to our earth's ecosystem are near. In an effort to stop them we have to use more sustainable fuels and invest in technologies that make that possible.
One of the areas where that change is the trickiest is aviation. It's an industry requiring a lot of energy and, as of now, most of that energy is extracted using conventional fuels. Here is where the hydrogen comes in. If we manage to develop a reliable hydrogen fuel system, we could use a sustainably produced hydrogen to replace traditional fuels in a majority, or even the whole of aviation industry. But because a fuel system has a lot of... (More) - How is a pump supposed to help with stopping climate change?
We are all well aware now that climate change has come and irreversible changes to our earth's ecosystem are near. In an effort to stop them we have to use more sustainable fuels and invest in technologies that make that possible.
One of the areas where that change is the trickiest is aviation. It's an industry requiring a lot of energy and, as of now, most of that energy is extracted using conventional fuels. Here is where the hydrogen comes in. If we manage to develop a reliable hydrogen fuel system, we could use a sustainably produced hydrogen to replace traditional fuels in a majority, or even the whole of aviation industry. But because a fuel system has a lot of elements there's a lot of issues coming into play.
Paper "Optimising Hydrogen Pump performance – Inducer design for cavitation mitigation" deals with one of them, which is cavitation in pumps. Cavitation is a lot like boiling, where liquid transforms into gas, however because it's caused by the change of pressure, and not temperature like with boiling, it can become a very volatile process that causes a lot of damage to the fuel system elements. Because hydrogen is best stored in a liquid form at a very low temperature it is much less stable to work with, especially inside the pump where a lot of forces interact with it. That's where there's a high chance of cavitation happening.
That research aims to lower the chances of cavitation happening by adding an inducer before the pump and investigating its design and influence on the pump’s performance. Inducer is an additional screw-like part that can be added before a pump to slowly and slightly rise the pressure before it. However, to make sure the chances are lowered as much as possible a lot of different designs of the inducer were tested. First, a design was made with a CFTurbo software, then a mesh was created in TurboGrid and ICEM CFD and then all of that was used to simulate the flow in a Computational Fluid Dynamic software called CFX. The data from that simulation was used to assess the designs and choose the one that increased the pressure the most. That design allows us to see that adding and inducer is in fact beneficial even with a cryogenic fluid and assess what parameters are best to use in a pump like that. Then people designing a pump later on can use these findings in their design, without having to do that analysis first. It all contributes to the sustainable change and brings us closer to the future without conventional fuels. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9178548
- author
- Humelanc, Karolina LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MVKM05 20232
- year
- 2024
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Hydrogen Pump, Cavitation, Cryogenic Hydrogen, Radial Pump, Centrifugal Pump, Aerodynamic Design, CFD
- report number
- ISRN LUTMDN/TMHP-24/5602-SE
- ISSN
- 0282-1990
- language
- English
- id
- 9178548
- date added to LUP
- 2024-12-12 10:43:42
- date last changed
- 2024-12-12 10:43:42
@misc{9178548,
abstract = {{The aviation sector's contribution to global CO2 emissions requires the exploration of sustainable energy alternatives, with hydrogen emerging as a promising candidate. Despite their potential, hydrogen aircraft propulsion systems are not yet commercially viable, primarily due to technical challenges such as cavitation in hydrogen pumps. This study aims to analyse and optimise the design of hydrogen pumps, focusing on cavitation mitigation to enhance efficiency, reliability, and safety. Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, the research investigates existing cavitation mitigation techniques and evaluates their effectiveness. The study also proposes best design practices for hydrogen pumps, particularly the inclusion of an inducer to increase inlet pressure and minimise cavitation risk. Preliminary designs were generated using CFTurbo, with meshing performed via TurboGrid and ICEM CFD, and simulations conducted in ANSYS CFX. The results demonstrate significant improvements in cavitation performance through optimised inducer design, providing valuable insights for advancing hydrogen technology in aviation. These findings contribute to the development of a better hydrogen infrastructure, essential for the broader adoption of hydrogen as a clean energy source.}},
author = {{Humelanc, Karolina}},
issn = {{0282-1990}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Optimising Hydrogen Pump performance – Inducer design for cavitation mitigation}},
year = {{2024}},
}