The geometry of the Moineau pump

Jens Gravesen
Technical University of Denmark, Department of Mathematics

26 March 2008

Abstract

The Moineau pump was invented in 1931 by the French engineer René Moineau
and exhibits an intriguing geometry. The original design is based on hypo- and epi-
cycloids and all except one design has either cusps or less severe inflexion points
with infinite curvature. By using the support function to represent planar curves it
is possible to make an explicit analysis of a general design and we can show that
points of infinite curvature are unavoidable.

Key words: Moineau pump, envelope, support function.

1 Introduction

The Moineau pump is an invention from 1931 by the French engineer René
Moineau, see [11]. The Moineau pump has two parts rotating relative to each
other in an eccentric motion. The shapes in an axial cross section are in the
original design based on epi- and hypo-cycloids. In 2006 the large Danish pump
manufacturer Grundfos wanted an investigation of other possible designs and
brought the problem to the 57th European Study Group with Industry held
at the Technical University of Denmark. All but one of the classical designs
possesses points with infinite curvature and it is of particular interest too see
if that can be avoided.

In a previous analysis of the scroll compressor [3] planar curves was represented
by specifying the radius of curvature as a function of tangent direction. In the
present work we specify the support as a function of normal direction. In both
cases it is trivial to find a point with a given tangent or normal and this makes

Email address: j.gravesen@mat.dtu.dk (Jens Gravesen).

 C1
H2
P 6
δ
?

C2

Fig. 1. The circle C1 rolls inside the circle C2 and the point P rolls back and forth
on the diameter H2 . To the right P and H2 are offset with δ.
it possible to get closed analytical expressions for the envelope of a moving
curve.

The support function is a classical tool in convex geometry [2] and was first
suggested for use in geometric design by M. Sabin in 1974 [12]. Lately there
has been renewed interest in this representation [1,5,7,10,13,14]. Using the
support function it is possible to analyse a general design and show that
infinite curvature can not be avoided.

The paper is organised as follows. In Section 2 we introduce the original designs

and explain how the pump works. In Section 3 we introduce the representation
by the support function and give some properties of the representation. In
Section 4 we analyse a general design, show that points of infinite curvature
can not be avoided and give a few examples of new designs.

2 The original design

If a circle C1 with radius 1 rolls inside a circle Cn of radius n then a fixed

point P on C1 traces a hypo-cycloid Hn with n cusps, see Fig. 3. In the case
where n = 2 the hypo-cycloid is simply a diameter of C2 traced twice, once
in each direction, see Fig. 1. The rolling of C1 inside C2 also defines a motion
in the plane and under this motion the point P moves along H2 . If we offset
both P and H2 with the same amount δ we obtain the rotor, a circle, moving
back and forth in the stator, two parallel lines with semicircles attached at the
ends. The picture is a horizontal section in the pump and the areas to each
side of the rotor are sections in two pump chambers.

To construct the pump we now lift the right hand picture in Fig. 1 to horizontal
planes z = constant, see Fig. 2 to the left. We then roll each copy of the circle
C1 , to which the rotor is attached, a distance proportional to the height z, see
the second picture in Fig. 2. Finally we rotate each horizontal plane, with both
the rotor and the stator, such that all copies of the circle C1 are back to the
original position, see the third picture in Fig. 2. The stator is now formed by

2
Fig. 2. The construction of the pump is illustrated in the first three pictures and
the pumping in the last two pictures.

the thick “rounded rectangles”, the rotor is formed by the thick small circles,
and the space in between forms two series of pump chambers. In Fig. 2 the
horizontal sections in one of the pump chambers are coloured in gray but only
a portion corresponding to half the height of a pump chamber is shown, (any
other portion can be found by symmetry). As all copies of C1 now are above
each other they form a cylinder as do the copies of C2 . If the C1 cylinder now
rolls inside the C2 cylinder the thick small circles moves back and forth inside
the “rounded rectangles”. As we see from the difference between the third
and the last picture this has same effect as a vertical translation followed by a
rotation, i.e., the pump chambers are moved up (or down) by a screw motion.
For more pictures and animations, see [8,9].

2.1 The n + 1:n hypo-cycloid construction

Consider Fig. 3. We have three circles C1 , Cn and Cn+1 with radii 1, n, and n+1
respectively. Rolling C1 inside Cn and Cn+1 produces the two hypo-cycloids Hn
and Hn+1 respectively. Now consider the motion generated by letting Cn roll
inside Cn+1 and let Hn follow the motion. It is easily seen that Hn+1 is (part of)
the envelope for this moving curve. Furthermore, a straightforward calculation
shows that the cusps of Hn stays on Hn+1 during the motion, see [6]. We can
now perform the same procedure as above. Lift the construction to horizontal
planes z = constant, roll each copy of Cn a distance proportional to z, and
rotate each horizontal plane such that the copy of Cn returns to its original
position. This way n + 1 series of pump chambers are formed and when the
cylinder formed by the copies of Cn rolls inside the cylinder formed by the
copies of Cn+1 the pump chambers move up or down by a screw motion, see
[8,9].

3
 C1 C1
C2 C3 C1
H2 C4
H3 H4
H3
C3 C4 H4 C5 H5

3:2 4:3 5:4

Fig. 3. Above the n + 1:n hypo-cycloid construction for n = 2, 3, 4. Below offsets of

the same constructions. In the 3:2 construction we have zoomed in on a point where
a semicircle connects to the offset H3 . The zoom uses different scales in the x and
y direction.

In the patent [11] the construction is offset, probably to avoid the cusps. If
an offset of a curve passes through a centre of curvature, i.e., intersects the
evolute, then a cusp is formed. So to avoid cusps a curve can at most be offset
out to the minimum radius of curvature. The hypo-cycloids have zero radius
of curvature at the cusps so even though the offset is visually fine the offsets
do have cups, see Fig. 3.

2.2 The n + 1:n epi-cycloid construction

Consider Fig. 4. We have three circles C1′ , Cn and Cn+1 with radii 1, n, and n+1
respectively. Rolling C1′ outside Cn and Cn+1 produces the two epi-cycloids En
and En+1 respectively. Now consider the motion generated by letting Cn roll
inside Cn+1 and let En follow the motion. As in the previous cases En+1 is
(part of) the envelope for this moving curve and the cusps of En+1 stays on
En during the motion, see [6]. A pump is constructed by the same procedure
as in the hypo-cycloid case and n + 1 series of pump chambers are formed.
Once again the cusps of a epi-cycloid has infinite curvature, so an offset has
cusps too, as is clearly seen in Fig. 4.

4
 C1′
C1′ C1′
C1 C2 C3

E1 E2
C3 C4 E3
C2
E2 E3 E4

2:1 3:2 4:3

Fig. 4. Above the n + 1:n epi-cycloid construction for n = 1, 2, 3, below offsets.

C1 C6
C1 C1
H2 E6
C2 H6 H4 H6
H4 H8
E2 C4
C4 E4 E4
E6 C6 E8 C8

A1

A3
A2
A2 A3 A4

2:1 3:2 4:3

Fig. 5. The construction consisting of alternating arcs of hypo- and epi-cycloids.

2.3 The n + 1:n hypo-epi-cycloid construction

Consider Fig. 5. We have three circles C1 , C2n , C2n+2 with radii 1, 2n, and
2n + 2 respectively. If we take every second arc of the hypo-cycloid H2n and
every second arc of the epi-cycloid E2n we obtain a curve An consisting of
alternating arcs of hypo- and epi-cycloids. Each of these arcs are obtained by
rolling C1 on the inside or the outside of C2n . We now let An follow the motion
generated by letting C2n roll inside C2n+2 . It can be shown that the outer part

5
of the envelope is An+1 , that the tangents agree at each point in A2n ∩ An+1 ,
and that there in general are n+1 points of contact except at specific instances
where two points of contacts come together, see [6]. By the same procedure
as in the case hypo-cycloid or epi-cycloids, n + 1 series of pump chambers are
formed and when the cylinder formed by the copies of C2n rolls inside the
cylinder formed by the copies of C2n+2 the pump chambers move up or down
by a screw motion, see [8,9]. This construction is without cusps but there are
n inflexion points on An and here the curvature is infinite.

3 The support function

We first introduce a rotating frame (e, f ) and the rotation matrix R,

     
cos φ − sin φ cos φ − sin φ
e(φ) = 
 , f (φ) = 
 , R(φ) = 
 . (1)
sin φ cos φ sin φ cos φ

Now let h : R → R be a real C 2 function and consider the parametrisation

x(φ) = h(φ) e(φ) + h′ (φ) f (φ). (2)

Differentiation yields x′ (φ) = (h(φ) + h′′ (φ)) f (φ) so x is regular if and only if
ds
= h(φ) + h′′ (φ) 6= 0. (3)
dφ
In that case the tangent is t = ±f (φ) and the normal is n = e(φ) 1 . Hence

h = x · f = x · n = distance from origo to the tangent line. (4)

That is, h is the support function for the curve parametrised by x. We have
d2 x dt dφ dt
2
= = = (h + h′′ )−1 f ′ = −(h + h′′ )−1 e. (5)
ds ds ds dφ
We see that if h is a C k function with k ≥ 2 and satisfying (3) then the
parametrisation by arc length is C k even though the parametrisation (2) is
only C k−1 . We also see that the signed radius of curvature is given by
ds
ρ= = h(φ) + h′′ (φ). (6)
dφ

Any planar curve with non vanishing curvature, i.e., without inflexion points,
can be given as (2). If h is the support function of curve x then the rotated
1 If ρ > 0 then (t, n) = (f , e) is a negatively oriented basis

6
curve R(t) x has the support function φ 7→ h(φ − t), the translated curve x + a
has the support function φ 7→ h(φ) + a · e(φ), and the scaled curve cx has the
support function ch, see [1,5,7,10,12–14].

We can not use the normal direction as a parameter across an inflexion point,
but the modification in [4] allows us that.

Theorem 1 Consider an ordinary inflexion point (x0 , y0 ) with curvature κ =

κ1 s + 21 κ2 s2 + O(s3 ), where s is arc length and κ1 > 0. Denote the normal
direction by φ and let φ0 be the normal direction at the inflexion point. We
can introduce a parameter u such that u2 = φ − φ0 and the support function
can be written s
2 2 2 3
h = x0 + y0 u + u + O(u4 ). (7)
3 κ1
Furthermore,
s s
dh 2 d2 h 1 1
= y0 + u + O(u2 ) and = + O(1). (8)
dφ κ1 dφ2 2κ1 u

Proof. By a rotation we may assume that φ0 = 0. Then we have

dφ κ2 κ1 κ2
= κ = κ1 s + s2 + O(s3 ) and u2 = φ = s2 + s3 + O(s3 ).
ds 2 2 6
Thus s
2 κ2
s= u − 2 u2 + O(u3 ), (9)
κ1 3κ1
and
1 1 1 1
cos(φ) = 1 − κ21 s4 − κ1 κ2 s5 + O(s6 ), sin(φ) = κ1 s2 + κ2 s3 + O(s4 ).
8 12 2 6
The curve can now be parametrised as
 
1 1
Z Z x0 − − κ s3
6 1
κ s5
+ O(s )
24 2
5
x= t ds = f (φ) ds = 
 .
1 2 5
y0 + s − 40 κ1 s + O(s6 )

Finally, the support function can be written

y0 κ1 2 2κ1 + y0 κ2 3
µ ¶
h = x · n = x · e(φ) = x0 + s + s + O(s4 ).
2 6
d d
Substituting (9) into this expression shows (7). Using that du
= 2u dφ , equa-
tions (8) is a now a straightforward calculation. 2

7
4 General designs

We consider designs as in Fig. 5, i.e., designs consisting of arcs with alternating

signs of curvature. We start with one positively curved arc of the rotor. This
arc is then moved around by the motion generated by a circle rolling inside
another circle and we find the stator as the envelope of this moving curve.
Then we reverse the viewpoint and consider the rotor as fixed while the stator
is moving. Now the full rotor can be found as an envelope of this new moving
curve.

The motion generated by rolling a circle of radius b inside a circle of radius a

is given by
x 7→ R(t) x + c e(αt), (10)
where c = a − b and α = b/(b − a). In particular, if we have a circle of radius
n rolling inside a circle of radius n + 1 then c = 1 and α = −n. Observe that
α < 0 if a > b. Now consider the motion of the curve (2),

X(φ, t) = R(t) x(φ) + c e(αt) = h(φ) e(φ + t) + h′ (φ) f (φ + t) + c e(αt). (11)

We have a point on the envelope if and only if the velocity and the tangent
are parallel. The partial derivatives of X are
∂X
= (h(φ) + h′′ (φ)) f (φ + t), (12)
∂φ
∂X
= h(φ) f (φ + t) − h′ (φ) e(φ + t) + αc f (αt). (13)
∂t
So we have a point on the envelope if and only if ∂X/∂t is orthogonal to
e(φ + t), i.e., if and only if
∂X
0= · e(φ + t) = −h′ (φ) + cα sin(φ + t − αt) (14)
∂t
or
h′ (φ)
sin(φ + (1 − α)t) = . (15)
cα
We can solve this equation with respect to t and obtain the complete solution
³ ´
1−σ h′ (φ)
2kπ + 2
π + σ arcsin cα
−φ
tσ,k = , σ = ±1, k ∈ Z. (16)
1−α
The value of k only matters in a few instances, so in the following we will just
write tσ . Observe that
v
à à !! u à !2
1−σ h′ (φ) uh′ (φ)
cos(φ + (1 − α)tσ ) = cos π + σ arcsin =σ 1−t
.
2 cα cα
(17)

8
The normal of the envelope X(φ, tσ ) is the normal of x(φ) rotated through
the angle tσ , i.e., it is e(φ + tσ ). So the normal direction of the envelope is
à à ! !
1 1−σ h′ (φ)
φσ = φ + tσ = 2kπ + π + σ arcsin − αφ , (18)
1−α 2 cα

and the derivative with respect to φ is

r ³ ´2
σh (φ) − cα 1 − hcα(φ) ′
′′ 2
dφσ
= r ³ ′ ´2 . (19)
dφ
(1 − α)cα 1 − hcα
(φ)

The support function of the envelope is hσ = X(φ, tσ ) · e(φσ ) which becomes

v
u à !2
u h′ (φ)
hσ = h(φ) + c cos(φσ − αtσ ) = h(φ) + σc t
1− . (20)
cα

The first derivative with respect to normal direction is

à ! à !
dhσ dtσ dtσ
= h′ (φσ − tσ ) 1 − − c sin(φσ − αtσ ) 1 − α
dφσ dφσ dφσ
à ! à !
dtσ h (φ)
′
dtσ α−1 ′
= h′ (φ) 1 − −c 1−α = h (φ), (21)
dφσ cα dφσ α

and the second derivative is

r
h′ (φ) 2
³ ´
2 ′′
2
d hσ α − 1 ′′ dφσ
à !−1
c(1 − α) h (φ) 1 − cα
2
= h (φ) = r . (22)
dφσ α dφ ³
h′ (φ) 2
´
−σh′′ (φ) + cα2 1− cα

If we interchange what is moving and what is fixed and reverse the time
then we just have to interchange a and b. Then c is replaced with −c and α
with 1 − α. Making the appropriate modifications to (18) we find the normal
directions
õ à !!
1 σ−µ h′ (φ)
¶
φσ,µ =φ+ 2ℓ − 2k + π + (µ − σ) arcsin . (23)
α 2 cα

The support functions are

v
u à !2
h′ (φ)
u
hσ,µ = h(φ) + (σ − µ)c 1 − t
, (24)
cα

9
and the first and second derivative are
dhσ,µ
= h′ (φ), (25)
dφσ,µ
r
h′ (φ) 2
³ ´
2
2
d hσ,µ h (φ)cα
′′
1− cα
= . (26)
dφ2σ,µ
r
h′ (φ) 2
³ ´
(µ − σ)h′′ (φ) + cα2 1− cα

We collect the information in the following theorem

Theorem 2 Let a positively curved arc of the rotor have the support function
φ 7→ h(φ) and let the motion be generated by a circle of radius n rolling inside
a circle of radius n + 1, where n ∈ N. Let
1
φ1 (φ) − (nφ − arcsin(h′ (φ)/n)) ,
n+1
1
φ−1 (φ) = (π + nφ + arcsin(h′ (φ)/n)) ,
n+1
1
φ−1,1 (φ) = φ + (π − 2 arcsin(h′ (φ)/n)) ,
n
and
1q 2
h1 (φ) = h(φ) + n − (h′ (φ))2 ,
n
1q 2
h−1 (φ) = h(φ) − n − (h′ (φ))2 ,
n
2q 2
h−1,1 (φ) = h(φ) − n − (h′ (φ))2 .
n
Then the positively and negatively curved arcs of the rotor have the support
functions
³ ´
φ 7→ h(φ + 2kπ/n), φ 7→ h−1,1 φ−1
−1,1 (φ + 2kπ/n) , k = 0, . . . , n − 1,

respectively, and the positively and negatively curved arcs of the stator have
the support functions
³ ´ ³ ´
φ 7→ h1 φ−1
1 (φ + 2kπ/n) , φ 7→ h−1 φ−1
−1 (φ + 2kπ/n) , k = 0, . . . , n,

respectively. We can parametrise the arcs as

³ ´ ³ ´
2kπ 2kπ
x(φ) = h(φ) e φ + n
+ h′ (φ) f φ + n
,
³ ´ ³ ´
2kπ
x−1,1 (φ) = h−1,1 (φ) e φ−1,1 (φ) + + h′ (φ) f φ−1,1 (φ) + 2kπ
n n
,
³
2kπ
´ n+1 ′ ³
2kπ
´
x1 (φ) = h1 (φ) e φ1 (φ) + n+1 + h (φ) f φ1 (φ) + n+1 ,
n
³
2kπ
´ n+1 ′ ³
2kπ
´
x−1 (φ) = h−1 (φ) e φ−1 (φ) + n+1 + h (φ) f φ−1 (φ) + n+1 .
n

10
A straightforward calculation shows that
à r !2
³ ´2
h′
h − σcα 1 −
′′
cα
ρσ = ρ − r ³ ´2 , (27)
h′
h′′ − σcα2 1− cα
r ³ ´2
′′ 2 2 2 ′ 2 h′
(h ) + c α − (h ) − 2σch ′′
1− cα
ρσ,−σ = ρ − 2 r ³ ´2 . (28)
h′
2h′′ − σcα2 1− cα

We will now analyse the situation at the endpoints of the arcs of the horizontal
sections of the pump.

Theorem 3 Consider a Moineau pump design where the horizontal sections

of both the stator and rotor consists of smooth arcs with alternating strictly
positive and strictly negative curvature in the interior. If the support function
of the positively curved arc of the rotor either has an expansion

hm
h = h0 + h1 (φ − φ0 ) + (φ − φ0 )m + O((φ − φ0 )m+1 ), (29)
m!

where hm 6= 0, or an expansion

2h3 3 h4 4
h = h0 + h1 u2 + u + u + O(u5 ), (30)
3 2

where u2 = φ − φ0 and h3 6= 0. Then there are points with infinite curvature

in the design.

Proof. As the arcs of the stator, with support functions h1 and h−1 respec-
tively, have to connect, the normal directions φ1 and φ−1 have to agree at the
endpoints. Hence (h′ )2 = c2 α2 at the endpoints. By a rotation we may assume
that φ = 0 at the endpoint we consider.

First we consider the case (29). If m = 2 then it is easily seen that

h22 + O(φ1/2 )
ρσ = ρ − → ρ − h2 = h0 , for φ → 0. (31)
h2 + O(φ1/2 )

If m ≥ 4 then we have

c2 α2 h1−2h m
(m−1)!
φm−1 + O (φm+1 )
ρσ = ρ − q m−1
³ m+1
´ → ρ, for φ → 0. (32)
−σcα2 −2hm
h1 (m−1)!
φ 2 +O φ 2

11
If m = 3 and h3 6= −α2 h1 then we have
³ q ´2
h3 − σcα −h3 /h1 φ2 + O(φ3 )
ρσ = ρ − ³ q ´ → ρ, for φ → 0. (33)
h3 − σcα2 −h3 /h1 φ + O(φ2 )

Finally, if m = 3 and h3 = −α2 h1 then we obtain

(α2 − 1)α4 c2 φ2 + O(φ3 )

ρ−1,1 = ρ + → ρ, for φ → 0. (34)
α2 h1 φ + O(φ2 )

d d
We now consider the case (30). As du
= 2u dφ we have

dh d2 h 1
= h1 + h3 u + h4 u2 + O(u3 ) and 2
= h3 + h4 + O(u).
dφ dφ u

Substituting this into (27) yields

ρσ = h0 + O(u) → h0 , for u → 0. (35)

As ρ1 ≥ 0 and ρ−1 ≤ 0, we can conclude that ρ1 = ρ−1 = 0 at the endpoint of

the arcs of the stator in the cases (31), (32), (33), and (35). Similar ρ ≥ 0 and
ρ−1,1 ≤ 0 so in the case (34) we have ρ−1,1 = ρ = 0 at the endpoint of arcs of
the rotor. In all cases the design has points of infinite curvature. 2

4.1 Examples

We will consider a deformation of the 3:2 hypo-epi-cycloid design. We let c = 1

and α = −2. An epi-cycloid arc of the rotor has the support function
à ! à ! à !
2φ ′ 2φ ′′ 4 2φ
h(φ) = 3 cos , h (φ) = −2 sin , h (φ) = − cos ,
3 3 3 3
h i
with φ ∈ − 4π
3
, 4π
3
. If we preserve the values of h, h′ , and h′′ at the endpoints
then we consider deformations h + η, where
4π 4π 4π 4π 4π
· ¸ µ ¶ µ ¶ µ ¶
′ ′′
η: − , → R, with η ± =η ± =η ± = 0.
3 3 3 3 3
One possibility is
N
à !à à à ! à !!!
3 2φ ℓ 2φ 2φ
+ bℓ sinℓ
X
η(φ) = cos a0 + aℓ cos .
3 ℓ=1 3 3

See Figure 6 for a few examples of such deformations.

12
 2
2

1
1
–2 –1 1 2
–2 –1 1 2 –2 –1 1 2
0

–1 –2 –1

–2 –2

–4
–3
–3

–6 –4
–4

–5
–5

¡1
(a0 , b1 ) = − 12 , 0 (a0 , b1 ) = 0, 16
¢ ¡ ¢ ¡ ¢
(a0 , b1 ) = 8, 0

Fig. 6. Below new designs of a Moineau pump. Above the radius of curvature of the
arcs of the stator and the arcs of the rotor are shown with solid and dotted lines
respectively.
5 Conclusion

The support function representation of planar curves are used to define and
analyse designs of Moineau pumps. In particular, it is proved that if the rotor
and stator consists of alternating arcs with positive and negative curvature
then it is impossible to avoid points with infinite curvature in the design.

It is an open problem whether the inclusion of straight lines in the design allows
for other curvature bounded designs than the 2:1 hypo-cycloid construction
in Figure 1.

Acknowledgement

I am indebted to the participants in ESGI 57 for valuable discussions on the

Moineau pump. I will in particular thank Helge Grann and Troels Jepsen from
Grundfos who brought the Moineau pump to the study group.

References

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with Piecewise Linear Support Functions over Spherical Triangulations, in

13
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eds.), Springer Verlag, 2007, pp. 42–63.

[2] Bonnesen, T. and Fenchel, W., Theory of convex bodies. BCS Associates,
Moscow, Idaho, 1987.

[3] Gravesen, J. and Henriksen, C., The geometry of the scroll compressor, SIAM
Review 43, 113–126 (2001).

[4] Gravesen, J., The Intrinsic Equation of Planar Curves and G2 Hermite
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[5] Gravesen, J., Surfaces parametrised by the normals, Computing 79, 175–183
(2007).

[6] Gravesen, J. et al., Mathematical problems for Moineau pumps, 2006, in Final
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Verlag, 2007, pp. 719–723.

[8] Gravesen, J., The Moineau Pump, Technical University of Denmark, 2007,
http://www2.mat.dtu.dk/people/J.Gravesen/MoineauPump/

[9] Gravesen, J., Spherical curves for the design of conical Moineau pumps, SIAM
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