Where published:International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
Year:2022
Hook and claw pumps are used for recirculation of excess hydrogen in fuel cells. Optimization of the pump design is essential. Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) is an effective method for performance optimization. However, it is difficult to conduct CFD simulation because of the sharp cusp of the rotor profile. Cut cell Cartesian mesh could be the solution to handle these complex and moving geometries. The aim of this paper is to evaluate ANSYS Forte for hook and claw pumps. Firstly, the conservation accuracy of the cut cell cartesian mesh is verified using an adiabatic piston cylinder case. Then, the simulation results of the hook and claw type pumps are compared with experimental data. Finally, simulation results of air and hydrogen are compared. The results show that the CFD simulation of hook and claw pumps using cut cell cartesian mesh could provide an efficient and effective approach for the optimization of the system.
In this research, the cut cell cartesian mesh generated in ANSYS Forte has been evaluated for numerical accuracy and feasibility for a complex hook and claw pump application. Firstly, an adiabatic compression and expansion process in a simple piston cylinder was studied in detail. The conservation accuracy of the cut cell method was demonstrated. In the second part of the study, the claw pump was simulated under different discharge pressures and the inlet volume flow rate was compared to the experimental results. Additionally, two fluids air and hydrogen were analyzed under 1.31 bar discharge pressure. the flow field data of velocity vectors, gas temperature, and pressure contours were compared.
SCORG is a mesh generation software for positive displacement machines, and has been successfully used to predict performance of roots blowers, air compressors, oil-injected compressors, and water-injected compressors.