Abstract
The regenerative pump is a kind of turbomachine which is capable of developing high pressure rise at relatively lower flow rates compared to the centrifugal and axial pumps. Although the efficiency of regenerative pumps is much lower than other turbomachines, still they have been widely used in many industrial applications for working at low specific speeds. There are some theoretical models to analysis the pump performance, however, the effect of the blade angle on the pump performance has not been covered in any model to date. In the present study, experimental study on the regenerative pump performance according to the impeller blade angle and its shape has been carried out. The straight radial blades with forward, backward and chevron blades which have inclined angles of $15^{\circ}$, $30^{\circ}$ and $45^{\circ}$ were tested. The pump performance characteristics as the pressure head, efficiency were obtained depending on the flow rate for every impeller, and their results, expressed in appropriate non-dimensional coefficients, were compared and analysed in detail. From the experimental results, it was found that the pressure head and the efficiency depend strongly on the blade angles as well as the blade type. These experimental data has made it possible to better understand the effects of the blade angle on the pump performance, and widen the applicability of the current performance analysis and design models with including the effect of blade angles.
