Case Study:

The GEROTOR type ROPIMA (Rotary Piston Machines) was first proposed by Galloy in 1848
[1] as a rotary steam engine, although later it found its more appropriate application as
lubrication pump. The orbital principle was patented in the midst of the 1960s, as reported in a
technical bulletin of Danfoss, by Lynn I. Charlson – the founder of Char-Lynn Company,
Minnesota, USA. The ROPIMA come under the category of positive displacement machines,
which are similar to rotor dynamic machines in construction. Besides the presence of rotating
member (rotor) and a static member (stator) their operations/working principles are more similar
to the gear-pumps with the high pressure liquid being pumped into the volume trapped between
chambers formed by a higher pair contact between stator and rotor which undergoes a volume
change to give the motoring action.

Leakage through active transition contacts in LSHT (Low Speed High Torque) orbit motor
from the high-pressure zone (HPZ) to low-pressure zone (LPZ), at lobe 4 shown in above
Figure.1, is a significant area of research in the present time. Gamez-Montero and Codina [2] has
evaluated the flow characteristic of a trochoidal-gear pump analytically and experimentally to
understand the performance of a trochoidal-gear pump. On recent investigation, Stryczek et al
[3] has shown the flow pattern through experiments. They have shown the leakage flow pattern
past active transition contacts in Gerotor pumps. Most recently, the pattern of leakage flow
through the active contacts is studied by Maiti et al. [4] using CFD analyses in support of the
experimental results by Stryczek et al. [3]. In this Maiti et al. tried visualize the leakage flow
pattern through some arbitrary gaps. They have not shown the proper gap generation. Due to
fluid pressure, the gap is generally generated at the transition contact point, mainly at lobe 4, due
to contact deformations in lobe 3, 2, and 1. However, the generation of gap not only depends
upon the fluid pressure/loads, but also it depends on the manufacturing errors, tolerance thermal
and dynamic effects. This effect can generally be seen in the form-closed gerotor or orbit motor
unit. In case of interference fit in orbit motor, the gap generation is very much effected [5,6,7].
From the available literature, it is very clear that, the deformation analysis in orbit motor is a
statically indeterminate problem. However, the generated gap can be obtained in a form-closed
orbit motor with three methods such as: a) hit and trial method [8], b) Analytical method [9], and
c) numerical/finite element method. Gamez-Montero [10] has considered frictions at contacts in
their FEM analyses of the trochoidal gear pump.

Analysis of Active Contacts:

As a case study, the gap between active transition contacts is estimated in finite element analysis
with variation in pressure and angular position. As in orbit motor used for the current
investigation as per Table 1, the angular position of a single power stroke is 8.57 degree, and
therefore the analysis is restricted to the variation within this angular position.