Reply to "Aluminum Water Pump Issue"

1997 SAE International Congress & Exposition

Feb. 24-27, Detroit, MI

COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN OF A WATER PUMP IMPELLER FOR THE CHRYSLER 4.0 LITER 6 CYLINDER ENGINE

H. Didandeh, C. Toksoy, F. Cutler, A. Ecer, Technalysis, Inc.

H. Fromm, P. Tejero, J. Fitzsimons, W. Robertz, Chrysler

Introduction

Design of an automotive water pump requires selection of an impeller geometry which can be constructed of stamped metal or molded plastic. Generally, the cost of the impeller itself is not of major importance and its efficiency is not optimized in detail. The major concern has been the ability to deliver the desired flow rate. Therefore, most of the present automotive water pump impeller designs tend to be rather inefficient yet easy to manufacture. In the present study, an existing impeller was replaced by a new design which can deliver the same flow rate with considerably higher efficiency. The improvement is significant in terms of the overall efficiency of the engine. The plastic impeller contains efficiently designed curved blades which results in improved performance.