Back to results
US 10,539,142 B2Granted
Rotary pump with axially displaceable, closeable rotor
AssigneeGrundfos Holding A/S
InventorThomas Blad
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A centrifugal pump assembly has an electric drive motor (2) and at least one impeller (10; 10′), which is movable in an axial direction (X) between at least two functional positions. In one functional position a flow path through the impeller (10; 10′) is essentially closed and in another functional position the flow path through the impeller (10; 10′) is opened. The impeller (10; 10′) in a first functional position is held by a magnetic force (FM) or a spring force and in a second functional position is held by a hydraulic force (FH) produced by a delivered fluid. An impeller is provided for the centrifugal pump assembly.
Claims20
A centrifugal pump assembly comprising:
- an electric drive motor;
- at least one impeller movable in an axial direction between at least two functional positions, wherein in one functional position a flow path through the impeller is essentially closed and in another functional position the flow path through the impeller is opened, wherein the impeller in a first functional position is held by a permanent magnetic force resulting from an axial offset of the permanent magnet rotor relative to the stator of the drive motor and the at least one impeller is held in a second functional position by a hydraulic force produced by a delivered fluid, wherein the hydraulic force is greater than the permanent magnetic force holding the at least one impeller in the first functional position and the hydraulic force is increased if the drive motor is switched on and the hydraulic force decreases if the drive motor is switched off.
An impeller for a centrifugal pump, the impeller comprising:
- a first peripheral impeller edge surface;
- a second peripheral impeller edge surface;
- at least one exit opening;
- and
- at least one entry opening defined by the first peripheral impeller edge surface and the second peripheral impeller edge surface, wherein the entry opening is situated in a peripheral section of the impeller, the first peripheral impeller edge surface being configured to be in direct contact with an annular wall when the impeller is in a first functional position, the second peripheral impeller edge surface being configured to be located at a spaced location from the annular wall to define a gap between an inner edge surface of the annular wall and the second peripheral impeller edge surface when the impeller is in the first functional position, wherein the impeller is held by a magnetic force in the first functional position and the impeller is held by a hydraulic force produced by a delivered fluid in a second functional position, wherein the hydraulic force is greater than the permanent magnetic force holding the at least one impeller in the first functional position and the hydraulic force is increased if the drive motor is switched on and the hydraulic force decreases if the drive motor is switched off.
2 more elements
A centrifugal pump assembly comprising:
- an electric drive motor;
- a closure element comprising a closure element inner surface, the closure element inner surface being parallel to a longitudinal axis of the closure element;
- an impeller movable in an axial direction between at least a first functional position and a second functional position, wherein in the first functional position a flow path through the impeller is essentially closed and in the second functional position the flow path through the impeller is opened, wherein the impeller in a first functional position is held by a magnetic force and in a second functional position is held by a hydraulic force produced by a delivered fluid, wherein the impeller is moved from the first functional position to the second functional position via the hydraulic force when the hydraulic force is greater than the magnetic force, wherein the hydraulic force increases when the electric drive motor is switched to an actuated state and the hydraulic force decreases when the electric drive motor is switched to a non-actuated state, the impeller having a first impeller peripheral surface portion and a second impeller peripheral surface portion, the first impeller peripheral surface portion being in contact with the closure element inner surface when the impeller is in the first functional position, the second impeller peripheral surface portion being located at a spaced location from the closure element to define a gap between the closure element inner surface and the second impeller peripheral surface portion, the first impeller peripheral surface portion and the second impeller peripheral surface portion being located at a spaced location from the closure element when the impeller is in second functional position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.