Testing methods and performance of IMGC fountain effect pump

✍ Scribed by A. Rivetti; G. Martini; G. Birello; A. Merlo; E. Roncari

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 597 KB
• Volume: 33
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0011-2275
• DOI: 10.1016/0011-2275(93)90175-n

✦ Synopsis

A fountain effect pump has been built at the Italian Institute of Metrology (IMGC) with the aim of supplying a closed-loop circuit, intended as a secondary facility for calibration and testing of LHe II flow meters. The pump performance, in terms of pressure -flow rate curves at different values of power input ranging from 3 to 1 1 W, was obtained using a simple open-loop testing arrangement equipped with an externally operat@d regulating valve acting as a variable impedance. Construction details of the pump and of the testing loop are given, together with the results. Since the experimental set-up could not ensure adequate stability of bath temperature and level, a more sophisticated testing apparatus is presented, at present in the design phase, which is able to work with saturated or subcooled helium and which allows good stability of external parameters to be obtained.