The trochoidal-gear technology has been growing in groundbreaking fields. Forthcoming applications are demanding to this technology a step forward in the conceiving stage of positive displacement machines. The compendium of the qualities and the inherent characteristics of trochoidal-gear technology, especially towards the gerotor pump, together with scale/size factor and magnetic-driven transmission has led to the idea of a magnet-sleeve-sealed variable flow mini trochoidal-gear pump. From its original concept, to the last phase of the design development, the proof of concept, this new product will intend to overcome problems such as noise, vibration, maintenance, materials, and dimensions. The paper aims to show the technological path followed from the concept, design, and model, to the manufacture of the first prototype, where the theoretical and numerical approaches are not always directly reflected in the prototype performance results. Early in the design process, from a standard-commercial sintered metal mini trochoidal-gear unit, fundamental characteristics and dimensional limitations have been evaluated becoming the strategic parameters that led to its configuration. The main technical challenge to confront is being sealed with non-exterior driveshaft, ensuring that the whole interior is filled and wetted with working fluid and helping the hydrodynamic film formation, the pumping effect, and the heat dissipation. Subsequently, the mini pump architecture, embodiment, methodology, materials, and manufacture are presented. The trend of applications of polymer composite materials and their benefits wanted to be examined with this new mini pump prototype, and a pure polyoxymethylene mini trochoidal-gear set has been designed and manufactured. Finally, both the sintered and the polymer trochoidal-gear units have been experimentally tested in an in-house full-instrumented mini test bench. Although the main goal of the presented work is the development of a new mini trochoidal-gear pump prototype rather than a numerical study, the results have been compared with numerical simulation. Subsequently, the prototype of the mini trochoidal-gear pump is a feasible proof of concept supported by functional indexes and the experimental results.

Gear pumps make a group of the most popular hydraulic energy generators. Research and development works concerning those units have been going on for decades, and thanks to them gear pumps feature very good operating parameters. However, even well-designed gear pumps will not work properly if the physical properties of the working fluid are incorrect. One of such properties is compressibility of the fluid, which largely depends on the amount of gas dissolved in the medium. For this reason, the aim is to reduce the amount of gas dissolved in the working medium. It can be done using both chemical and physical methods. Because chemical methods can affect the chemical composition of the working fluid, it is the physical methods that are usually used in hydraulic systems.This paper presents preliminary visualization research into the influence of an ultrasonic degassing system on the operation of a hydraulic gear pump. Apart from that, operation of such a system and its theoretical impact on the work of the gear pump is discussed Experimental study, using a high-speed camera, was carried out in order to verify the theoretical description.

Chambers in the Gerotor pump units are separated by metal-to-metal geometrically form-closed higher pair active contacts in the lobes of star and ring components. With rotation when the chamber volumes expand and contract, the active contacts move on lobe profiles and are subjected to deformations due to contact stress caused by fluid pressure and transmitted torque. Evidently at two transition active contacts, which separate the high-pressure chambers from the low-pressure chambers, gaps are generated due to contact deformations. However, it is for a short period of time during operation and mostly not at the same time in the two transition contacts. From our experimental visual investigation by photoimaging technique on flow processes, we have visualized that at some angular positions of the star–ring, cavitation occurs inside the chamber. In an earlier work, in the estimation of gaps in transition contacts, we have first evaluated the stresses, deformations at all ideally form-closed active contacts in our chosen Gerotor pump using static structural analysis in the Ansys^® environment. In the present work, to investigate the flow characteristics, including the formation of cavitations in the Gerotor pump, numerical analysis using the computational fluid dynamics tool in the Ansys^® environment has been carried out. We analyze the flow process for the different angular positions of a star. Results obtained by the numerical analysis have good agreement with the flow patterns visualized experimentally.

Despite their complex design, cycloidal gearboxes are characterized by high efficiency. Nevertheless, due to friction, some power is lost during gearbox operation. Basically, these losses occur in two structural nodes: the cycloid gearing and the output mechanism. Since the first of these nodes has been well discussed in the literature, the output mechanism will be discussed in this article. The design of the output mechanism has a significant impact on mechanical power losses. There are several mechanism design solutions. One of them is a mechanism with serially arranged rollers. Three solutions that are different in design but work identically will be discussed. Due to this affinity, a single, common mathematical model will be used to determine the value of losses. As will be shown, the value of losses is directly affected by the backlash, number, and diameter of the rollers used in the output mechanism and indirectly by the ratio and eccentricity of the cycloidal gearbox. Sample calculations were carried out using the developed model of mechanical power losses in the output mechanism. This made it possible to analyze the distribution of backlash created by manufacturing tolerances. It was also shown that the backlash has a significant effect on the number of rollers involved in torque transmission, as well as on the distribution of loads, contact pressures, and mechanical power losses.

The article describes the course of the ultrasonic cavitation in a hydraulic tank and the hydrodynamic cavitation in a gear pump. The course of those phenomena was confirmed in experimental tests carried out with the use of a tank and a pump made of transparent plastics. It has been proved that the oscillator-cavitation system made according to the original project is useful to induce the phenomenon of ultrasonic cavitation. It has also been shown that the PIV visualization method, consisting in a special system of illuminating transparent objects and recording the flow through those objects with a fast camera, is useful for the studying of the cavitation phenomena. A visible interaction between the ultrasonic and the hydrodynamic cavitation was observed. The induction of ultrasonic cavitation in the tank causes degassing of the oil, and the degassed oil supplying the pump reduces the hydrodynamic cavitation in its internal channels and clearances. This is an example of beneficial effects of the ultrasonic cavitation on the operation of a pump and a hydraulic system. The presented work is an example of effective co-operation between the communities of Wroclaw University of Science and Technology and Igor Sikorsky Kiyv Politechnic Institute, National Technical University of Ukraine.