Virtual Instruments and Experiments in Engineering Education Lab Setup with Hydraulic Pump

Abstract

Fluid machinery courses demand, besides theoretical approach, also good practice and laboratory exercises. After course completion, students should be aware of all aspects of good practice and possible problems. Focus of this paper is on hydraulic pumps and designed demonstrational-educational test rig. It is possible to demonstrate and educate students in following: Bernoulli equation, Euler equation for turbomachinery, hydraulic losses, Venturi flow meter - geometry and measurements, cavitation and swirling flow phenomena, as well as in practical issues such as pump testing after international standard ISO 9906, pump control and energy efficiency issues, determination of hydraulic system characteristics, volumetric calibration of the Venturi flow meter, and etc. Students are educated how to choose and connect pressure transmitters, as well as how to calibrate them, how to apply and upgrade developed LabVIEW application. In addition, many components of the installation are transparent, such as pipes at the pipe inlet and pressure side, Venturi flow meter, maul and calibration tank, as well as pump spiral casing. Flow visualization and application of modern measurement technique, such as particle image velocimetry are possible in this way. Following experiments of this test rig, students arc motivated to generate technical electronic report. In addition are presented virtual experiments, designed in LabVIEW for testing pumps in parallel and series modes.