Pump Core Design

For the first turbopump we are building, one of the major items we wanted to develop was a common, reusable pump core that contains all of the important rotating internals such as bearings and the main shaft. This would allow us to change the turbine and pump designs without having to completely redesign a new core with different internals. Furthermore, this is where the main seals are located to isolate the water and air from the sensitive bearings.

The body of the core is 6061-T6 aluminum with threaded mounting holes for the pump and turbine housings. Numerous bores are to be machined into the stock that will accept the different rotating components and will need to have a high degree of concentricity to prevent shaft binding and premature wear on the bearings.