Internal Flow Mechanism of Axial-Flow Pump With Adjustable Guide Vanes Available to Purchase

Axial-flow pumps are widely used in many fields where low pumping head and large flow rate are required such as irrigation and drainage, flood control, bio-environmental protection and inter-basin water diversion. Conventional axial-flow pump diffuser is designed with post fixed guide vanes to eliminate circulation, diffuse water and decrease flow velocity while converting dynamic energy to pressure energy. Under designed flow rate the inlet setting angle of the fixed guide vanes is designed to be equal to the outlet flow angle of the impeller blades which is regarded to be the best operating condition. Under off-design conditions the outlet flow angle of the impeller blades does not match the inlet setting angle of guide vanes any more. As a result hydraulic losses are increased, flow separation appeared and vortex generated inside the diffuser, the operation conditions of pump is deteriorated, bringing in bad cavitation characteristics, more energy consumption and lower pumping efficiency. The proposal of Axial-flow pumps with adjustable guide vanes are put forward in this paper, in which the inlet setting angle of guide vanes can be adjusted to coordinate with the change of flow rate and impeller blade setting angle and guarantee the outlet flow angle of impeller blades matching the inlet setting angle of guide vanes. The three-dimensional time-averaged N-S equations, closed by the standard κ–ε turbulence model, are adopted to simulate the internal flow fields of axial-flow pumps with fixed and adjustable guide vanes, and their performances are predicted. The internal flow mechanism of an axial-flow pump with adjustable guide vanes is investigated, and computational fluid dynamics is adopted to simulate and analyze the internal flow fields. Computation results indicate that the value of the highest pumping efficiency is slight changed while the vane setting angle is adjusted when the inlet setting angles of blades are fixed and the setting angles of guide vanes are regulated. Under off-design conditions the flow conditions inside the diffuser of axial-flow pump with adjustable guide vanes can be improved, the hydraulic loss reduced and the pumping efficiency can be raised effectively.