🏆 Best K-12 Engagement

The objective of this project is to research and design novel, non-smooth surface textures that can be applied to impeller blades to reduce drag and improve efficiency.

 

 

Team Members

Ali Almuallim    Blake Hellman    Haiming Lu    Erik Malanoski    Alexander Sakal    Karol Szostak                  

Instructor: Robert Kimel

 

Project Poster

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Project Video

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Project Summary

Overview

As companies are pushed more and more to reduce their carbon footprint, efficiency has become an important focus in many industries, including pump design. Traditional optimization techniques rely on changing impeller blade geometry, though this can only have so much effect. However, new research into naturally occurring non-smooth surface textures has the potential to reduce drag forces on impeller blades even further. Traditional manufacturing constraints have prevented widespread implementation of this technology, but new advancements in 3D-printing could potentially open the door to industrial implementation of this technology. 


Objectives

Our team was tasked by Flowserve to research non-smooth biomimetic surfaces and their viability in improving pump efficiency. We would then take this research to create a 3D-printable texture that can be applied to an impeller to achieve the desired efficiency improvement.

Approach

– Our team was given a list of needs and requirements from Flowserve, though a few more were added as we started our research into non-smooth drag-reducing surfaces.
 

– Next, we gathered research on a variety of potentially viable surface textures from shark scales to bird feathers. We took care to be as meticulous as possible as Flowserve had expressed that the accompanying research report would be where the true success of the project lay. With a solid base, they’d be able to continue this research internally once we were done with our part. 


– Based on our initial research, we modeled six textures based on biomimetic, drag-reducing surfaces. After running CFD analysis on these models, we took our best two designs and created two new hybrid textures to capitalize on the benefits of both. 


– After this, it came time to test these textures on an actual impeller. We applied our textures to a sample impeller via SOLIDWORKS’ built-in 3D Texture tool and printed them out for testing. 


– While we tried to find a better set-up, we eventually settled on a 3D-printed pump design that would allow us to collect the necessary measurements. Once the parts were printed it came time to collect data. 


– Using our rig, we collected measurements on flow rate and pressure head for both of our final two hybrid textures. We attempted to vary the motor rpm, but the rig couldn’t handle it and failed to prime itself so that we could collect data. 


– After we got our data, we were able to combine them with the motor specs to calculate efficiency. Based on these results as well as what we got from our initial flat plate analysis, we were able to confirm our results to a reasonable confidence level. 

Outcomes

Our tests were unable to reduce efficiency, so we were not able to get concrete numbers on how this would benefit the client. However, Flowserve expressed satisfaction with our research and stated how they intend to use our two write ups (the research report and the final report) to continue this research internally where there teams have better facilities to actually test these designs.

 

K-12 Materials

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