Thermal Analysis of Magnetically-Coupled Pump for Cryogenic Applications

Magnetically-coupled pump is under evaluation at Kennedy Space Center for possible cryogenic applications. A major concern is the impact of low temperature fluid flows on the pump performance. As a first step toward addressing this and related issues, a computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer tool has been adopted in a pump geometry. The computational tool includes (i) a commercial grid generator to handle multiple grid blocks and complicated geometric definitions, and (ii) an in-house computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer software developed in the Principal Investigator's group at the University of Florida. Both pure-conduction and combined convection-conduction computations have been conducted. A pure-conduction analysis gives insufficient information about the overall thermal distribution. Combined convection-conduction analysis indicates the significant influence of the coolant over the entire flow path. Since 2-D simulation is of limited help, future work on full 3-D modeling of the pump using multi-materials is needed. A comprehensive and accurate model can be developed to take into account the effect of multi-phase flow in the cooling flow loop, and the magnetic interactions.