Cavitation Erosion Mechanism of Port Plate of Hydraulic Axial Plunger Pump

Abstract

The port plates of hydraulic axial plunger pumps are tested for cavitation erosion damage,then two port plates,which have some difference near the pressure relief groove,result in different solutions under the same testing condition.Aiming at these two port plates,computational fluid dynamics analysis is done to obtain velocity distribution of port plates at different position,and the curves of pressure and velocity versus the rotating angle of cylinder,then the cavitation erosion mechanism of port plate is obtained, i.e.cavitation erosion not only depends on the values of pressure and velocity nearby the port plate,but also on the velocity direction (impingement angle).To reduce cavitation erosion damage on high pressure pump port plate,the method is presented that the impingement angle should be restricted in the range of 30°～60°,during the early stage of oil back flushing,by changing the structure of port plate.According to this cavitation erosion mechanism of port plate,the impingement angle is restricted in the range of 30°～48°during the early stage of oil back flushing.Tests in respect of avoiding cavitation erosion damage show that the life of port plate can be prolonged to more than 4 times that of the previous one.