CFD ANALYSIS AND OPTIMIZATION OF PULSATOR USING TAGUCHI METHOD

Pulsator(impeller) in the top loaded washing machine gives poor performance while cleaning the dirt as compared with agitator. Optimization of it, considering all the parameters regarding its contribution towards increasing the turbulent flow inside the drum will impact on its performance. Minitab 16 statistical software is used in the optimization process by preparing tabulation which shows valuable parameters column along with results column. After filling all the values, we can easily present the results in the form of pie chart, bar chart, etc., from that, the best effective parameters and its values were taken and declared. The design of the pulsator is made as per accurate dimensions using the CATIA V5 software. Indeed a design of the washing machine drum with the impression of the impeller was also made. A step file copy of washing machine drum is saved as export file to ANSYS. CFD in ANSYS workbench which is being used widely for solving many fluid flow problems, is used here to set out the results for optimized pulsator. The main important factor to improve is turbulence inside the washing machine drum which is directly proportional to fluid velocity at points. The most influencing parameters were changed in various levels as per analysis on the design which is being made in CATIA V5. A separate step file is made for every set of values as generated in Minitab.