Temperature Characteristics of the Port Plate Pair in an Integrated Seawater, Desalination Power Recovery Motor Pump: A Multi-Field Coupling Study

In order to reduce the energy consumption of a reverse osmosis seawater desalination system, a study was conducted on the port plate pair that affects the efficiency of the integrated seawater desalination power recovery motor pump. Based on its structural characteristics, a reverse thrust model of the port plate pair was established. A fluid–solid heat multi-field coupling simulation platform was built to study the temperature characteristics of the port plate pair under different conditions. A design method was proposed to use the local temperature characteristics of the port plate pair as the range of residual compression force coefficient values. When the residual compression force coefficient is determined to be 1.05, the compression force of the port plate pair is 33,019 N, the power loss is 307 W, and the temperature reaches 45.1 °C. The simulation accuracy is verified to be 97.31% through experiments. This solved the power loss and local high-temperature problems of the port plate pair and improved the efficiency of the integrated seawater desalination power recovery motor pump.