Project Overview

In October 2016, Dr. Ghoneim as well as RIT student, Zhen Yin developed and completed preliminary testing of a compliant/flexible body pump. Through applications of finite element analysis as well as taking advantage of composite material properties, it was demonstrated that a compliant body pump is able to have a high volumetric efficiency when compared to typical rigid pumps. Pumping potential, or the relative change in volume to change in length of a compliant body pump, was introduced by Dr. Ghoneim as a performance metric for understanding the volumetric efficiency of flexible body pumps.

High volumetrically efficient pumps are useful in a variety of scenarios: whether a pump is required to move large volumes of fluid, or certain scenarios constrain spatial limits, compliant body pumps are able to perform tasks with a high pumping potential. The goals of this project are to design, manufacture, and test a compliant body pump constructed of a flexible matrix composite. The test facility must measure the relation between applied torque to angle of twist. The design must have a pumping potential of that equal to or greater than 4, equivalent to the pumping potential of the heart. Pump power efficiency and volumetric efficiency must be optimized. The pump and test fixture must be designed and constructed within a $2000 budget.

The pumping potential (PP) of a compliant pumping structure can be defined as the relative change in structure volume to the change in length, and is utilized to evaluate the volumetric efficiency of such pumping structures. Based on previous research and analysis of the PP of a flexible matrix composite (FMC) hyperbolic pumping chamber consisting of carbon fiber and polyurethane, it was hypothesized that such a structure could have significant pumping potential. Motivated by the pumping efficiency of another common compliant pump, the heart, a coupled FMC-based pumping system was designed and manufactured with key characteristics in mind. The composite, through geometry design, fiber orientation and material selection, could induce a negative Poisson’s ratio to the pumps, resulting in the unique property of expansion under stretching, and contraction under compression. 

Pump chambers were designed with such material properties with consideration to the hand lay-up manufacturing process required for the composite design, as well as interfacing 2 mirrored pumping chambers. A test stand was designed such that the composite pumps, could be actuated under torsion simultaneously to produce and measure key characteristics of the pumping system. The test stand was designed with the consideration of having to apply a uniform and consistent oscillatory torque to the pump chambers, while accounting for the expected circumferential and longitudinal deformation of the pump chambers which generated the pumping action. From the design and testing of a novel compliant composite pumping system, as well as a unique and precise electromechanical test facility, the pumping potential of the FMC based pumps was determined to 8.12. Furthermore, the material properties of such a composite were verified via torque vs. angle of twist data generated via a hysteresis loop. Beyond volumetric efficiency, power efficiency of the pump was determined to be 27.7% by comparing output power via pumping to input power required to operate the system.

Figure 1.0: Critical compliant body pump dimensions from Dr. Ghoneim's research and theoretical analysis. 

Figure 1.1: 3D CAD rendering of finalized design.

Figure 1.3: Assembled pumping system.

A link to the project summary can be found here. 

Project Information

Team Members

Meeting Minutes and Interview Notes

Table PD4: Interview Notes Table.

Work Breakdown By Phase:

MSD I & II:

• Planning & Execution
• Project Photos and Videos
• Gate Reviews

MSD I:

• Problem Definition
• System Level Design 
• Preliminary Detailed Design 
• Detailed Design 

MSD II:

• Build & Test Prep
• Sub-system Build and Test
• Integrated System Build and Test
• P19605 Customer Handoff & Final Documentation

Work Breakdown: By Topic

Project Management

• PRP
• Requirements
• Schedule
• Risk & Problem Management

Design Tools:

• Use Cases
• Benchmarking
• Functional Decomposition
• Morphological Chart
• Pugh Concept Selection

Design Documentation:

• BOM
• Mechanical Drawings 
• Electrical Schematics
• Software
• Manuals

Implementation:

• Mock-ups
• Test Fixtures
• Prototyping

Validation:

• Test Plans
• Analysis Results
• Simulations
• Test Results

Presentation and Dissemination

• Technical Paper
• Poster

Documentation:

systemModel.m