Optimal design of gear pumps for exhaust gas aftertreatment applications

In this paper an innovative procedure for determining the optimal design of an external spur gear pump for a particular emission reduction application in automobiles has been proposed. The pump forms the main part of a mechatronic system that controls the flow rate of a mixture of urea in water to catalytically reduce emissions in diesel engines. The proposed research proves to be an advance in gear machine design by using a multi-objective based genetic algorithm, to determine the optimal design of the gears and the casing by maximizing the volumetric efficiency, minimizing pressure overshoots, localized cavitation and noise emissions. The research uses HYGESim (Hydraulic GEar machines Simulator) simulation tool, which is being developed by the authors' research group, for calculating the important performance features of the machine. The best designs for the machine based on enhancement in performance are presented. Results in terms of simulations and tests which validate the effectiveness of the proposed novel design methodology are also presented. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.