Back to results
US 10,767,648 B2Granted
Vane oil pump with a relief passage covered by an inner rotor to prevent flow to a discharge port and a rotor passage providing flow to said port
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsAbdelkrim Zouani, Vidya Marri, Michael Stanley
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vane pump has a housing defining a closed conduit fluidly coupling a discharge port and a planar surface, and an inner rotor eccentrically supported within a cam. The rotor has an outer perimeter defined by wall sections separated by axial slots. The rotor defines another closed conduit extending from one of the wall sections to a rotor end face that is configured to overlap with the closed conduit.
Claims18
A vane fluid pump for a vehicle component comprising:
- a drive shaft rotatable in a first direction;
- a cam defining a continuous inner wall surrounding a cavity;
- an inner rotor supported within the cam and drivably connected to the drive shaft for rotation in the first direction, the inner rotor having a cylindrical outer wall extending between first and second end walls, the cylindrical outer wall defining (n) slots spaced about the cylindrical outer wall to provide (n) outer wall sections, each outer wall section bounded by adjacent slots, the inner rotor defining (n) fluid passages, each fluid passage having an entrance intersecting a respective one of the (n) outer wall sections and an outlet intersecting the first end wall;
- a series of vanes, each vane positioned within a respective slot of the inner rotor and extending outwardly to contact the continuous inner wall of the cam;
- and
- a pump housing supporting the drive shaft, the cam, the inner rotor, and the series of vanes, the pump housing defining a planar surface between an inlet port and a discharge port, the first end wall of the inner rotor supported by the planar surface, the housing defining a relief passage having an entrance intersecting the planar surface and an outlet intersecting the discharge port;
- wherein the inner rotor, the cam, and the vanes cooperate to form a plurality of variable volume pumping chambers to pump fluid from a fluid inlet of the pump to a fluid outlet of the pump in response to the drive shaft rotating in the first direction;
- wherein each of the (n) fluid passages is configured to overlap the relief passage to provide a fluid connection between the associated pumping chamber and the discharge port as the drive shaft rotates in the first direction;
- and
- wherein the relief passage is otherwise covered by the first end wall of the inner rotor to prevent fluid flow through the relief passage and to the discharge port as the drive shaft rotates in the first direction.
7 more elements
A vane pump inner rotor comprising:
- a body having a series of side wall sections and a series of slots extending between a first end face and a second end face opposite to the first end face, the side wall sections and the slots alternating about a perimeter of the body, the body defining a series of fluid passages, each side wall section defining an entrance to an associated fluid passage, each fluid passage having an outlet intersecting the first end face;
- wherein the entrance of each fluid passage is spaced apart from and nonintersecting with the first end face and the second end face of the inner rotor;
- wherein the outlet of each fluid passage is spaced apart and nonintersecting with the second end face and side wall sections;
- and
- wherein each fluid passage is spaced apart from and nonintersecting with the second end face.
2 more elements
A vane pump comprising:
- a housing defining a fluid inlet a fluid outlet with a discharge port, and a closed conduit fluidly coupling the discharge port and a planar surface;
- a drive shaft supported by the housing for rotation in a first direction;
- a cam supported within the housing;
- and
- an inner rotor drivingly connected to the drive shaft for rotation in the first direction, the inner rotor eccentrically supported within the cam, the inner rotor having an outer perimeter defined by wall sections separated by axial slots to define pumping cambers therebetween, and defining another closed conduit extending from one of the wall sections to a rotor end face and configured to overlap with the closed conduit to provide a fluid connection between the closed conduit and associated pumping chamber of the inner rotor and the discharge port as the drive shaft rotates in the first direction to pump fluid from the fluid inlet to the fluid outlet;
- wherein the closed conduit is otherwise covered by the rotor end face of the inner rotor to prevent fluid flow through the closed conduit and to the discharge port as the drive shaft rotates in the first direction;
- wherein the closed conduit intersects the planar surface at a first angular distance upstream of a leading edge of the discharge port;
- wherein the another closed conduit of the inner rotor intersects the one of the wall sections and the rotor end face at a second angular distance from an associated upstream axial slot;
- and
- wherein the second angular distance is greater than the first angular distance.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.