This project was based on vertical pumps used at airports to pump jet fuel. The primary objective of this project was to create a visual model of the vertical pump for KCF Technologies to use as a communication tool. This model was built using 3D printing and other manufacturing tools and was also aimed to illustrate the problems faced by the pump. Vertical pump faces numerous undesired problems and this project focused on mass unbalance and vibration at resonance frequency.
First, we studied about a vertical pump, its functioning and identified the current problems faced by it. Next, we went through a series of concept selection process to decide on what subsystem to focus on for the model. Concept screening and concept scoring were the vital parts of the selection process and helped decide the specific pump parts for the prototypes. We designed multiple prototypes and kept learning from each one. Each prototype gave insights to how to improve the prototype and how to show the functionality of the parts. The alpha prototype helped understand how the parts are interconnected and also helped select the subsystem for our beta prototype. Our final design has 3 main parts diffuser bowl, shaft and impeller and some supplemental parts
Alpha Prototype:
The alpha prototype was aimed to build a model to help KCF communicate the issues they are having with the vertical pump to their customers. The vertical pump faces problems because of its shape due to vibration. These problems are mainly resonance frequencies and mass imbalance. Our prototype represents these problems well because it clearly represents the shape and height of the pump.
Beta Prototype:
For our beta prototype, we decided to focus on all three because their functioning is very interconnected and vital. Also, the shaft faces most of the damage caused by vibrations which are caused by the movement of the impeller. The diffuser bowl mainly acts as a casing for the impeller and to guide the fluid flow in the required direction. We decided to show the working of the impeller by making a section view of the diffuser bowl so that the impeller and shaft can be seen and the process can be explained. We attached a motor to the top of the shaft which rotates the shaft and the impeller. This automated model demonstrates how the pump works and how the fluids can be pumped.
Conclusion:
The final design was presented to the founder of KCF. He was very impressed with design we came up with. The visual working model was very helpful to see the problem faced by the vertical pump.