Impeller for electrostatic spray gun
AssigneeGraco Minnesota Inc.
InventorsMark E. Ulrich, Jason J. Willoughby
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An alternator, such as for use in an electrostatic spray gun, comprises an electromagnetic alternator, a housing and an impeller. The electromagnetic alternator has a shaft. The electromagnetic alternator is disposed within the housing. The housing has an air aperture. The impeller is mounted to the shaft within the housing so as to be aligned with the air aperture. The impeller includes blades having curved leading and trailing edges. In one embodiment, each blade has a curvature so as to be perpendicular to the air aperture across an entire arc over which each impeller blade has a line of sight of the air aperture.
Claims19
An electrostatic spray gun comprising:
- a spray gun housing connected to an air inlet and a fluid inlet;
- a spray tip assembly;
- a valve disposed fluidly between the fluid inlet and the spray tip assembly;
- a power supply disposed within the spray gun housing;
- an electrode mounted to the spray tip assembly and electrically coupled to the power supply;
- and
- an alternator assembly disposed within the spray gun housing to provide power to the power supply, the alternator assembly comprising:
- an electromagnetic alternator;
- and
- an impeller mounted within the spray gun housing and fluidly coupled to the air inlet, the impeller having curved blades that have curved leading and trailing edges, wherein the trailing edge of each blade extends along an arc having a greater length than an arc formed by the leading edge of the same blade.
An electrostatic spray gun comprising:
- a spray gun housing connected to an air inlet and a fluid inlet;
- a spray tip assembly;
- a valve disposed fluidly between the fluid inlet and the spray tip assembly;
- a power supply disposed within the spray gun housing;
- an electrode mounted to the spray tip assembly and electrically coupled to the power supply;
- and
- an alternator assembly disposed within the spray gun housing to provide power to the power supply, the alternator assembly comprising:
- an electromagnetic alternator;
- an alternator housing having four inlet openings extending through the alternator housing, the electromagnetic alternator disposed in the alternator housing, and the electromagnetic alternator comprising a stator surrounding a rotor;
- a shaft extending from the rotor;
- and
- an impeller mounted within the spray gun housing and fluidly coupled to the air inlet, the impeller comprising:
- eight curved blades;
- and
- an annular hub disposed about a hub axis and mounted to the shaft, the curved blades extending from the hub and having curved leading edge and trailing edge surfaces, each blade having a curvature so as to be substantially perpendicular to the inlet opening across an entire arc over which each blade has a line of sight of the inlet opening;
- and
- wherein the inlet openings extend along axes that intersect to form a rectilinear shape centered on the hub axis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.