Received August 2, 2019, accepted August 15, 2019, date of publication August 20, 2019, date of current version

September 3, 2019.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2936489

Research on Pressure Pulsation Characteristics

of Gerotor Pump for Active Vibration
Damping System
WENBIN CAO 1, YINSHUI LIU 1,2 , JIE DONG 1, ZHUANG NIU3 , AND YOUCHENG SHI 2
1 School of Energy and Power Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou 730050, China
2 School of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
3 Wuxi Research Institute, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuxi 214174, China

Corresponding author: Yinshui Liu (liuwater@hust.edu.cn)

This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 51575200, and in part by the National
Key Research and Development Program of China under Grant 2016YFC0304800.

ABSTRACT High response, stable operation, small volume active vibration damping system and other
intelligent hydraulic equipment have become the inevitable trend of future development. A compact
low-pulsation gerotor pump is designed to meet these requirements, the theoretical flow pulsation of 8/9 tooth
gerotor pump is analysed, and its pressure pulsation characteristics are also studied in this paper. The
combined pulsation buffer is placed at the bottom valve plate high-pressure port of pumps. High-pressure oil
passes through the honeycomb damping hole and enters the diaphragm volume chamber of the accumulator
to form a combined pulsation buffer. Considering the effect of the pulsation buffer structure to reduce flow
pulsation at different speeds, a test bench for high-speed gerotor pump pulsation characteristics is built, and
the pressure pulsation of the gerotor pump with and without pulsation buffer is analysed at different speeds.
Results show that the pressure pulsation frequency increases with pump speed. When the speed reaches
5500 r/min, 8/9 tooth gerotor pump without pulsation buffer outlet pressure pulsation reached 13.797% and
that with pulsation buffer outlet pressure pulsation decreased to 9.871%, showing a 28.46% decline rate.
At pump rotation speeds are 1500 r/min and 2500 r/min, the pulsation reduction ratios are 37.78% and
35.36%. The pressure pulsation of the gerotor pump can be evidently reduced by designing a combined
pulsation buffer in this paper. Therefore, this high-speed and low-pulsation gerotor pump is suitable for
active vibration damping system and other intelligent hydraulic equipment.

INDEX TERMS Active vibration damping system, gerotor pump, low pulsation, pulsation buffer.

I. INTRODUCTION linear characteristics of an automotive electro-hydraulic

The gerotor pump is often used in lubrication oil system
for internal combustion engines and hydraulic system power
device [1]–[4]. Recently, gerotor pumps have been gradually
applied to intelligent hydraulic equipment due to its compact
structure, few parts, small flow pulsation, less tooth surface
wear and suitability for high speed [5]. The gerotor pump
with pulsation buffer studied in this paper is used in auto-
motive active vibration damping systems in pursuit of excel-
lent ride comfort and comprehensive vehicle dynamic per-
formance. Some scholars have studied the characteristics of
automotive vibration damping systems [6]–[8], Wenlin Wang
developed a full mathematical model to describe the non-
The associate editor coordinating the review of this article and approving
it for publication was M. Jahangir Hossain.
damper, the results show that the force equilibrium, flow
continuity with flow losses because of volumetric change
and differential pressure, total flow through the valve system
under different control modes, and dynamics of the floating
piston, which is balanced by the fluid and gas pressures,
system pressure pulsation affects the stability of the vibration
damping system [9]. The active vibration damping system
power unit that we designed is mainly composed of a low
pulsation gerotor pump and a motor as shown in Figure 1.
This power unit has a rated working pressure about 2.5 MPa
and can also be used in low pressure Electro Hydrostatic
Actuator (EHA) systems. Its compact pulsation buffer can
also be used in other high pressure pump EHA systems.
Consequently, the performance of this compact low pulsation
gerotor pump at different speeds is studied.

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 W. Cao et al.: Research on Pressure Pulsation Characteristics of Gerotor Pump for Active Vibration Damping System
FIGURE 1. Active vibration damping system power unit.
The objectives of the gerotor pump performance study
are as follows. The first objective is to optimise the design
of the tooth profile curve of the gerotor pump with dif-
ferent numbers of teeth. Cai Hao designed a gerotor oil
pump with a new rotor profile for performance improve-
ment and found that the new profile could increase the aver-
age pump flow rate in low-speed condition, reduce wear
and experience low fluid resistance on the inner rotor [10].
Andrew Robison and Andrea Vacca researched multi-
objective optimisation of circular-toothed gerotors for
kinematics and wear by genetic algorithm using auto-
motive applications and compared them with the opti-
misation results, mathematically demonstrating that some
circular-toothed gerotors in the industry have reached an
optimal solution [11]. Yii-Wen Hwang and Chiu-Fan Hsieh
designed the inner rotor profile by equidistance to an epitro-
choidal (or extended epicycloid) curve and suggested an
enhanced design for improving the carryover phenomenon
of the gerotor pump; the results shown that even with one
difference of tooth number, the model can determine the
feasible design region from the undercutting analysis [12].
Giovanni Jacazio set up a comparison between several profile
geometries to maximize the pump displacement, and mathe-
matically described using a simple unified approach, while
the comparison indexes are defined and discussed [3]. All
of these studies are about the tooth profile curve. The sec-
ond objective is to study hydraulic component friction pair
applicable materials in different working environments, such
as engineering plastics, the application of plastics in the
construction of fluid power elements and systems intro-
duces considerable benefits, such as mass, vibration and
noise reduction and improved tribological properties [5].
J. Stryczek designed and manufactured a Polyformalde-
hyde(POM) gerotor pump and found that excessive increase
in oil temperature and rotational speed results in increased
POM gear temperature, consequently reducing POM gear
strength [13]. Justyna Krawczyk studied the construction and
results of experimental research of gerotor pump with gears
comprising POM and PPS; the results proved that the pump
with gears comprising plastic can operate at high speeds (up
to 4000 rpm) at working fluid temperature of 25◦ C–50◦ C and
116568
4 MPa working pressure at the outlet of the pump [14], [15].
The third objective involves the flow characteristics and
efficiency of gerotor pump. The present study particularly
focuses on the flow leading to pressure pulsation performance
of gerotor pump in extreme environments [16]–[19]. Pressure
pulsation occurs in all positive displacement pumps. Zhang
Zuti used a new approach on reducing the pressure pulsation
and vibration of seawater piston pump through integration of
a group of accumulators; the results indicated that pressure
pulsation rate was as high as 17%, and the pressure pul-
sation rate can be reduced below 5% in the working range
after integrating accumulators and optimising the precharge
pressures [20]. Hao Tian designed a new relief chamber that
connected to the trapped volume to absorb the pressure
pulsation in place of the traditional relief grooves to avoid
the reconciliation between cross port leakage and pressure
pulsation reduction of an external gear pump [21]. For relief
groove less pressure ripple reduction in the meshing region,
Zhu et al. proposed a ripple chamber that connects to the
trapped region via a fixed orifice [22]. Jeonggyun Ham used
CFD method to improve the performance of a gerotor oil
pump, he designed a relief groove and the results show that
volumetric efficiency can reach to 90.6%, with the increase
of rotation speed, the pressure in the chamber is increased,
However, the pressure ripple and average pressure decrease
when the relief groove is used [23]. Considering the actuat-
ing fluid properties for the loaded condition specification of
gear pump design elements, Svishchev A.V. and Aistov I.P.
presented the mathematical model for the additional dynamic
force calculation due to actuating fluid pressure pulsation in
the discharge chamber of the gear pump [24]. Liu Ying-Yuan
studied the effect of working condition on pressure pulsations
of an internal gear pump, the results indicate that work-
ing pressure has a significant effect on pressure fluctuation
of the internal gear pump, while the rotating speed has a
complex influence on the pressure pulsation behavior [16].
D. Rabsztyn and K. Klarecki experimental tests of pres-
sure pulsation of gear pumps, research has shown that
increase of pumping pressure and temperature of the oil
causes significant increase of the pressure pulsation ampli-
tude resulting from the eccentricity of gearwheels [17]. Gero-
tor gear pumps produce significant flow pulsations that
result in pressure pulsation, which interact with the sys-
tem where they are connected, shortening the life of both
the pump and circuit components, M Garcia-Vilchez used
a new methodology involving computational fluid dynamics
and time-resolved particle image velocimetry is presented,
which allows the obtaining of the instantaneous flow of
the pump in a direct mode without altering its behaviour
significantly [25]. The volumetric cavity change between the
gerotor pump gears causes a change in the pump output
flow, resulting in pressure pulsations. Accordingly, some
researchers have carried out research on the flow charac-
teristics of gerotor pumps [26]–[29]. Gustavo Raush inves-
tigated a new experimental approach to obtain direct and
non-invasive measurement of the pulsating flow of internal
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W. Cao et al.: Research on Pressure Pulsation Characteristics of Gerotor Pump for Active Vibration Damping System

wheeled hydraulic pumps, he found that the method to pro- TABLE 1. Design parameters of the gerotor pump.
vide a fast non-invasive flow pulsation measurement is not
only used for pumps but could also be extended to compare
ageing effects of other kinds of fluid power devices [30]. The
pulsation of gerotor pump at high speed seriously affects the
reliability of the gerotor pump and also affects the stability
of the active vibration damping systems; thus, investigat-
ing the ways to reduce pressure pulsations of the gerotor
pump is meaningful. Pressure pulsation reduction presents
two approaches: one is to actively reduce the generation of
pressure pulsations by using design port plate shape, and the
other is to passively reduce the generated pressure pulsation.
Hee Jee Sung investigated a port plate with relief grooves to
reduce the pressure pulsation and found that these grooves
were effective at reducing and stabilising the pressure pulsa-
tion of the pump outlet and the chamber [31]. Pedro Javier
Gamez-Montero designed a GeroMAG pump conceived as
a variable flow pump to accomplish a standard volumetric
flow rate at low rotational speed with satisfactory volumetric
efficiency [32].
In this paper, we focus on the need for analysing the cause
of the flow pulsation of 8/9 tooth gerotor pump and designing
a compact structure gerotor pump with pulsation buffer to
reduce the gerotor pump pressure pulsation, researching the
effect of the pulsation buffer structure to reduce flow pulsa- FIGURE 2. Gerotor tooth profiles.
tion at different speeds, building a test bench for high-speed
gerotor pump pulsation characteristics and experimentally
analysing the pressure pulsation of the gerotor pump with and the active damping system. M. Fabiani used a new derivative-
without pulsation buffer at different speeds. The results show integral approach based on volumes swept by vector rays; this
that the designed compact structure 8/9 tooth gerotor pump approach is easy to implement and requires less computer
with pulsation buffer can remarkably reduce pressure pulsa- time to achieve the same level of accuracy [33]. The inner
tion and suitable for vibration damping system to improve and outer rotors with eight and nine teeth, respectively, are
stability. analysed in this paper to calculate a single volume chamber
variation by numerical integration. Figure 3a-3b shows the
inner and outer rotor single control volume, which is delim-
II. GEROTOR PUMP FLOW CHARACTERISTICS ANALYSIS
ited by the two contact points (e.g. A and B in Figure 3) of
AND DESIGN OF THE PULSATION BUFFER
the inner and outer rotors. O1 and O2 are inner and outer rotor
A. WORKING PRINCIPLE AND TOOTH PROFILE
centres, respectively.
DESIGN OF GEROTOR PUMP
V1 is made by the contact line and contact points A and
Active vibration damping system gerotor pump is an internal
B radius, which is sector AO2 B area product with W (tooth
gear pump comprising an inner and outer rotor with eight and
width). V2 is made by contact line AB, outer gear root circle
nine teeth in this paper. This pump has nine contact lines and
arc MP and two segments PB and MA, which is ABPM area
forms nine volume chambers. All volume chambers change
product with tooth width. Ri1 and Ri2 are inner rotor radius
with the rotation angle, thereby completing the suction and
of points A and B, respectively. Meanwhile, Re1 and Re2 are
discharge process. Table 1 shows the design parameters of
outer rotor radius of points A and B, respectively.
the high-speed gerotor pump. The internal and external rotor
With the rotation of inner and outer rotors, the distance
tooth profile curves are shown in Figure 2. The internal rotor
from contact points A and B to the centre of the inner and outer
and the shaft are connected by six locating pins. This type
rotors changes, causing the variation of V1 and V2 . The inner
of connection has high positioning accuracy and ensures the
and outer rotors in this study demonstrate 1 tooth difference.
stability of the gerotor pump at high speed. The outer rotor
Assume that the rotation angle of the outer rotor is dα, and
tooth profile centre is designed with nine oil holes to improve
the rotational speed of the inner rotor dβ = 9/8dα. The
oil absorption characteristics.
inner rotor volume variation in Figure 4 shows that contact
points A and B respectively undergo dµi1 and dµi2 ; that is
B. GEROTOR PUMP FLOW PULSATION ANALYSIS to say, the actual contact points of A and B are A00 and B00 , and
The gerotor pump pressure pulsation is caused by flow pulsa- the volumes that Ri1 and Ri2 will sweep are 12 WR2i1 dµi1 and
1 2
tion, high pressure pulsation will cause vibration and noise in 2 WRi2 dµi2 , respectively Given that the inner rotor rotates

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FIGURE 4. Inner rotor volume variation.

FIGURE 5. Outer rotor volume variation.

FIGURE 3. Two control volumes.

the volume of the two micro-element volumes of 12 WR2e1 dγe1
and 12 WR2e2 dγe2 . By analogy, the volume of V1 is calculated,
faster than points A and B, the actual contact points of A and the variation of volume V2 is calculated by Equation (4).
and B are not A0 and B0 , respectively, which will result in a
1
change in the volume of the two micro-element volumes of dV2 = W (R2e1 − R2e2 )dα (4)
1 2 1 2 2
2 WRi1 dγi1 and 2 WRi2 dγi2 . Owing to the rotation of vector
ray Ri1 , V1 is reduced, but the volume 12 WR2i1 dγi1 will enter The total volume variation can then be calculated by equa-
control volume V1 . Therefore, the net V1 volume variation of tion (5).
vector ray Ri1 can be calculated by Equation (1). 1 h  i
1 1 dV = dV1 + dV2 = W R2e1 − R2e2 dα+(R2i2 − R2i1 )dβ
dV10 = −( WR2i1 dµi1 + WR2i1 dγi1 ) (1) 2
2 2 (5)
Different from vector ray RI 1 , vector ray Ri2 rotates and Equation 5 can be simplified as (6), which is the volume
causes V1 enlargement. The volume 12 WR2i2 dγi2 will outflow change transient value in a single tooth chamber of an
from control volume V1 ; therefore, the net V1 volume varia- 8/9 tooth gerotor pump.
tion of vector ray Ri2 can be calculated by Equation (2),  
dV 1  9
001 1 = W R2e1 − R2e2 + (R2i2 − R2i1 ) (6)
dV1 = WR2i2 dµi2 + WR2i2 dγi2 (2) dα 2 8
2 2
That is, Dβ = dµi1 + dγi1 , dβ = dµi2 + dγi2 . According to Equation 6, the curve of single volume cavity
Therefore, with outer rotor rotation angle for the 8/9 tooth gerotor pump
in this paper can be solved as shown in Figure 6.
100
dV1 = dV10 + dV1 = W (R2i2 − R2i1 )dβ (3) The 8/9 tooth gerotor pump has nine volume chambers, and
2 each volume chamber has a 40◦ phase angle. Summing the
The outer rotor volume variation shown in Figure 5, with the volume change rate of nine volume chambers, the theoretical
rotation of the outer rotor, V2 also changes, and vector Re1 displacement of the pump is found to vary with the outer rotor
and AM segment will reduce outer control volume. The outer angle, as shown in Figure 7. The theoretical displacement
rotor is slower than the contact points due to the difference of the pump is 14.59 ml/r. Therefore, the theoretical flow
in the number of teeth, which will also result in a change in pulsation of the gerotor pump is 1.57%.

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FIGURE 6. Single volume variation with the outer rotor rotation angle.
FIGURE 7. The total volume variation with the out rotor rotation angle.
C. PULSATION BUFFER VOLUME CALCULATION
The positive displacement pump works by changing the
sealed volume chamber, thereby introducing flow pulsation.
A high-performance gerotor pump should be considered to
meet the intelligent hydraulic equipment requirements for
stable operation and small volume. A pulsation buffer to
suppress flow pulsation is also designed in this paper. In one
cycle of the flow pulsation, the accumulator must complete
the oil absorption and the oil discharge once. The gas of
the accumulator is extremely late to exchange heat with
the outside world; therefore, this process can be considered
adiabatic.
p0 Vsk = p1 V1k = p2 V2k = C
1V = V1 − V2
In equation (7) and (8), p0 is accumulator inflation pres-
sure; Vs is accumulator inflation volume; p1 and p2 are the
maximum and minimum values of the pressure pulsation,
respectively; 1V is the volume of instantaneous flow above
average flow during a pulsation cycle. Thus, the accumulator
VOLUME 7, 2019
TABLE 2. Pressure pulsation simulation results.
volume can be obtained as follows: (9)
1V
Vs =  1  1 (9)
φ k φ k
1− x − 1+ x
100 100
When filling with nitrogen or air, k = 1.4, and the ratio of
precharge pressure to work pressure φ is 0.7. The accumu-
lator working pressure is set to 2.5 MPa, and the residual
pulsation value is 0.5. The calculated effective gas volume of
the accumulator is 17.29 ml. The size of the pulsation buffer
evidently helps reduce the pulsation. Owing to structural
size limitations, the accumulator volume chamber cannot be
extremely large. Given that the lowpulsating gerotor pump
designed in this paper is used in the active vibration reduction
system, the designed pulsation buffer volume chamber size is
30 ml, minimising pressure pulsation.
D. THE PRESSURE PULSATION SIMULATION
ANALYSIS OF GEROTOR PUMP
A single volume chamber variation is calculated by numerical
integration as shown in Figure 6. The 8/9 tooth gerotor pump
has 9 volume chambers, and each volume chamber has a
40◦ phase angle. Simulation model is established as shown
in Figure 8, the pulsation damper designed in this paper is
located at the high-pressure port of the bottom valve plate, and
the parameters of each component in the simulation model are
set according to the actual model structure.
The gerotor pump with pulsation buffer studied in this
paper is used in automotive active vibration damping sys-
tems, it’s maximum working speed is 5500 r/min. The pump
pressure pulsation simulation results at 5500 r/min speed
show in Figure 9, pressure pulsation rate is 8.484and 5.204%
without and with pulsation buffer, respectively, the pressure
reduction ratio is 38.66%. This is good for improving the
comprehensive performance of the active damping system.
In order to study the pressure pulsation characteristics of
this compact low-pulsation gerotor pump at different speeds,
experiments were carried out at different speeds. The sim-
(7) ulation and experiment results are compared in Figure 14.
Table 2 shows the simulation pulsation value at different
(8)
speeds from 1500 r/min to 5500 r/min.
E. STRUCTURAL DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE
OF GEROTOR PUMP
The three-dimensional structure of the gerotor pump will be
assembled into the power unit of the active vibration damping
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FIGURE 8. The 8/9 tooth gerotor pump simulation model.
FIGURE 9. Gerotor pump pressure pulsation simulation results at
5500 r/min.
system is shown in Figure 10. The combined pulsation buffer
is placed at the bottom valve plate highpressure port of pump.
When the pump is working, highpressure oil at the bottom
valve plate port passes through the honeycomb damping hole
and enters the diaphragm volume chamber of the accumulator
to form a combined pulsation buffer. The inflation valve
connects to the base and inflates through the air pump. Pul-
sation buffer precharge pressure is approximately 1.5 MPa.
The accumulator diaphragm uses fluorine rubber to improve
fatigue life in high operating temperature.
The key components of the gerotor pump are manufac-
tured by slow wire cutting, computerized numerical control
machining and heat treatment of key components, such as
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FIGURE 10. Structure of three-dimensional model of gerotor pump:
1-screw plug; 2-check valve; 3-base; 4-bottom valve plate; 5-eccentric
ring; 6-top valve plate; 7-bearing; 8-seal; 9-pump shaft; 10-inner rotor;
11-out rotor; 12-needle bearing; 13-honeycomb damping hole; 14-rubber
diaphragm; 15-diaphragm pressure plate; 16-O-ring; 17-press plate.
gears, valve plates and shaft, to improve mechanical prop-
erties. Figure 11 shows the manufactured key components.
III. EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH OF GEROTOR PUMP
PRESSURE PULSATION CHARACTERISTIC
A. GEROTOR PUMP PULSATION CHARACTERISTIC
TEST BENCH
Figure 12 shows the gerotor pump test bench. The test
pump is driven by a three-phase asynchronous motor
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FIGURE 11. Manufactured key components of the gerotor pump.
(TE6000-7.5HP835-190102), its maximum speed can reach
7000 r/min and the motor speed is regulated by frequency
converter (ABB-ACS550-01-015A-4). A pressure sensor
(HM90A-H2-3-V2-F2-W2) set at the outlet of the test pump
uses hydraulic multimetre (Multi System 5060 Plus) to col-
lect test pressure data, and the sampling rate for the mea-
surement is 10 kHz. A throttle valve (25 path) is set at
the pump outlet line to adjust the load pressure of the test
pump.
The pressure pulsation is tested at different rotation speeds
under two conditions (with and without pulsation buffer) to
obtain the pulsation buffer effect on the output pulse pulsation
of the gerotor pump.
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FIGURE 12. Experimental device of gerotor pump.
B. GEROTOR PUMP PRESSURE PULSATION WITH AND
WITHOUT PULSATION BUFFER
Figures 13a–13e show the outlet pressure pulsation measure-
ment results with time. The outlet pressure pulsation is tested
at different speeds from 1500 r/min to –5500 r/min. The shaft
rotation speed affects the frequency of the pressure pulsation.
The 8/9 tooth gerotor pump has nine sealed volume chambers.
Figures 13a–13e show that the pulsation frequency increases
with speed. Figure 13a shows that the gerotor pump rotation
speed is 1500 r/min. The blue curve indicates the outlet pres-
sure pulsation of the gerotor pump with no pulsation buffer,
and the pressure pulsation is larger than the red curve (with
pulsation buffer). Thus, the combined pulsation buffer plays
a positive role in reducing pulsation. With the increase in the
rotational speed, the effect of the pulsation buffer to reduce
the pulsation is gradually reduced. This condition is due to the
deterioration of the pump’s oil absorption characteristic when
the rotational speed is increased, and considerable pulsation
change will be observed due to insufficient oil absorption.
Figure 14 shows the outlet pressure pulsation rate column
chart, The experimental results pulsation rate are higher than
the simulation results about 4%, that is mainly due to the
impact of the actual pump cavity structure and piping system
on the test data. The pressure pulsation of the gerotor pump
with buffer is considerably lower than that without buffer.
Table 3 shows the experimental pulsation calculation value
at different speeds from 1500 r/min to 5500 r/min. The effect
of the speed on pulsation of the gerotor pump is small, such
as that of non-pulsation buffer. The pressure pulsation rate
is 12.461% at 3500 r/min and 12.958% at 4500 r/min. The
pressure pulsation difference is only 0.49%. Given a pulsation
buffer, the pressure pulsation rate is 9.794% at 3500 r/min and
9.844% at 4500 r/min. The pressure pulsation difference is
only 0.05%. Thus, the speed has minimal effect on pressure
pulsation.
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FIGURE 13. Gerotor pump pressure pulsation with/without pulsation buffer in different rotation speed.

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FIGURE 14. Experimental and simulation results of the pulsation rate.
TABLE 3. Pressure pulsation experimental results.
However, the pressure pulsation with and without pulsation
buffer at the same rotation speed shows a large difference.
At pump rotation speed of 1500 r/min, the pressure pulsa-
tion rate is 12.303% and 7.655% without and with pulsation
buffer, respectively, and pressure reduction ratio is 37.78%.
At pump rotation speed of 5500 r/min, the pressure pulsa-
tion rate is 13.797% and 9.871% without and with pulsation
buffer, and pressure reduction ratio is 28.46%. Therefore,
combined pulsating buffer can considerably reduce pressure
pulsation. This is important for improving the stability of
the active damping system and reducing system noise and
vibration.
The simulation and experimental results show that com-
bined pulsation buffer has different effects on reducing the
pulsation at different speeds. During the experiment, the noise
generated by the gerotor pump at different speeds was mea-
sured, and the monitoring point is 0.5 m from the gerotor
pump. Moreover, the noise of the pump increases with speed.
The influence of the rotational speed of the gerotor pump
on the pressure pulsation, which may be due to increased
cavitation noise from insufficient oil absorption at test rota-
tion speeds of 1500, 2500, 3500, 4500 and 5500 r/min, was
analysed. The noise test results are shown in Figure 15. The
effect of the inlet suction characteristics of the gerotor pump
on the output pressure pulsation characteristics of pumps was
explained.
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FIGURE 15. Gerotor pump noise at different speeds.
IV. CONCLUSION
In this paper, we analyzed the cause of the flow pulsation
of 8/9 tooth gerotor pump, the theoretical flow pulsation
of this pump is 1.57%. And then we designed a compact
structure with combined pulsation buffer gerotor pump for
active damping system, its pressure pulsation characteristics
are studied.
A combined pulsation buffer is placed at the bottom valve
plate high-pressure port of pumps to reduce pump outlet
pressure pulsation. High-pressure oil at the bottom valve plate
port passes through the honeycomb damping hole and enters
the diaphragm volume chamber of the accumulator to form
a combined pulsation buffer. The experimental results show
that the gerotor pump can operate normally at 5500 r/min,
and the designed combined pulsation buffer structure is rea-
sonable and effective. Moreover, the diaphragm accumulator
can precharge 0.6 times the rated working pressure with gas
and ensure certain air tightness.
The 8/9 tooth gerotor pump simulation model is estab-
lished, and it’s pressure pulsation characteristics have been
analysed, the results have the same trend as the test results.
but, the experimental results pulsation rate are higher than the
simulation results about 4%, that is mainly due to the impact
of the actual pump cavity structure and piping system on the
test data.
The pressure pulsation experimental results of this active
vibration damping system gerotor pump structure with and
without pulsation buffer at different speeds are as follows.
A combined pulsation buffer can effectively reduce the pul-
sation of the gerotor pump outlet pressure, and the pressure
pulsation frequency increases with pump speed. At pump
rotation speeds of 1500 and 2500 r/min, the pressure pulsation
frequency is relatively low, and pump absorption pressure
pulsation characteristics are satisfactory, the combined pul-
sation buffer evidently absorbs the pulsation effect, and the
pulsation reduction ratios are 37.78% and 35.36%. At pump
rotation speeds of 3500, 4500 and 5500 r/min, the pres-
sure pulsation frequency is relatively high, and pulsation
buffer absorption characteristics are get low, the pulsation
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reduction ratios are 21.4%, 24.03% and 28.46%, which can
also effectively reduce the pressure pulsation. Therefore, this
high-speed and low-pulsation gerotor pump is suitable for
high stability requirements active vibration damping system
and other intelligent hydraulic equipment.
In addition, the noise generated by the gerotor pump at
different speeds are studied, and the results show that the
noise of the pump increases with speed. The noise can reach
88.7 dB when the speed is 5500 r/min. Follow-up research
should consider the friction properties of gerotor pump gear
and valve plates materials at high speed, and also optimise
pump structure to reduce noise to improve the performance
of this compact, high-speed and low-pulsation gerotor pump,
thereby improving the comprehensive performance of the
active vibration damping system.
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WENBIN CAO received the B.S. and M.S.
degrees in mechatronic engineering from the
Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou,
China, in 2010 and 2013, respectively, where he
is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in mecha-
tronics engineering. Since 2013, he has been
a Teacher with the Mechatronics Engineering
Department, College of Energy and Power Engi-
neering, Lanzhou University of Technology. His
current research interests include high-speed gero-
tor pumps and motors, and other hydraulic components and systems.
VOLUME 7, 2019
W. Cao et al.: Research on Pressure Pulsation Characteristics of Gerotor Pump for Active Vibration Damping System
YINSHUI LIU received the B.S. and M.S. degrees
from the Lanzhou University of Technology,
Lanzhou, China, in 1995 and 1998, respectively,
and the Ph.D. degree from the Huazhong Univer-
sity of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, in
2002, all in mechanical engineering. From 2002
to 2004, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher with
the College of Materials Science and Engineering,
Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
In 2004, he joined the School of the Mechanical
Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology,
where he has been a Professor, since 2009. In 2013, he was a Professor
with the College of Energy and Power Engineering, Lanzhou University of
Technology. He is currently the Director of the Department of Fluid Power
Control Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. His
current research interests include water hydraulics components and system,
water mist technology, marine mechatronic systems, and hydraulic systems.
JIE DONG was born in Shandong, China, in 1996.
She received the bachelor’s degree from the
Lanzhou University of Technology, in 2017, where
she is currently pursuing the master’s degree with
the College of Energy and Power Engineering. Her
current research interests include water hydraulic
piston pumps and servo valves.
VOLUME 7, 2019
ZHUANG NIU received the M.S. degree from the
Huzhong University of Science and Technology,
Wuhan, China, in 2011. From 2011 to 2015, he was
a Hydraulic Engineer and the Director of the Prod-
uct Development Institute, Sany Group Hangzhou
Lilong Hydraulic Company Ltd. He was involved
in the development of hydraulic pumps and valves
for construction machinery. Since 2015, he has
been the Deputy Director of the Institute of Marine
Special Pump and Valve, Wuxi Research Institute,
Huazhong University of Science and Technology. He is mainly involved in
the research and development of components and systems of low-viscosity
media, micro-fluids, and deep-sea hydraulic.
YOUCHENG SHI received the B.S. and M.S.
degrees in mechanical engineering from the
Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou,
China, in 2012 and 2015, respectively. He is cur-
rently pursuing the Ph.D. degree with the School of
Mechanical Science and Engineering, Huazhong
University of Science and Technology. His current
research interests include diesel engine SCR tech-
nology, and hydraulic components and systems.
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