Design Parameter Analysis for Inducers

Abstract Inducer has many design parameters and is an important hydraulic component to improve cavitation performance of pump, yet there are no mature methodologies completely determine the geometrical parameters for inducer. The design parameters of general industrial inducers are divided into performance ones and geometric ones, the latter are further subdivided into four kinds, matching ones, blade angle ones, cascade ones, and et al. There is a relation between cascade solidity and tip length-diameter ratio, but the two are currently only selected based on experience. It is not clear to determine the optimal values of them in current inducer design. In this paper, the relationship between the parameters and inducer performance is analyzed, and the origin of how and why to determine the value of the parameters is investigated. Three principles by which reasonable inducer can be designed is summarized. The relationship between cascade solidity, length-diameter ratio and blade number and some problems related are analyzed. Finally, the pump of cavitation speed is 870 is selected as an example to design the inducer, subsequently the original vibration is effectively eliminated by installation of the inducer.