Bearing housing and bearing subassembly for use in side channel blower and side channel blower employing same

A bearing housing and bearing subassembly for use in a regenerative side channel blower of the type having a blower housing having an internal cavity formed therein defining a toroidal flow channel for a fluid, an impeller having blades rotatably mounted in said internal cavity of said blower housing, and a drive shaft rotatably mounted in said blower housing on which said impeller is mounted for rotation therewith about a longitudinal axis of said drive shaft, said blower housing further comprising an outer casing, and an inner casing removably coupled to one another, which together cooperatively define the internal cavity of the blower housing, and with the outer casing thereof having a cylindrical rim defining a central circular opening extending through the outer casing, and wherein the cylindrical rim has a threaded portion formed thereon, the bearing housing and bearing subassembly comprising:

• a bearing housing and a bearing mounted in said bearing housing for axially supporting said impeller in an adjustable manner, said bearing housing being adjustably mountable in the blower housing of the regenerative side channel blower to allow for an axial depth adjustment of the position of the impeller relative to the blower housing to, in turn, adjust the clearance between the impeller and the blower housing, wherein said bearing housing has a threaded portion rotatably and threadably engageable with the threaded portion of the blower housing to allow for said axial depth adjustment via rotational adjustment of said threaded portion of said bearing housing relative to the threaded portion of the blower housing;
• wherein said bearing housing is generally cup-shaped and has a closed end defining a basewall and an opposite open end, and a generally cylindrical sidewall having a first end secured to said basewall and a second end defining said open end, said sidewall having an outer surface with said threaded portion of said bearing housing being formed thereon adjacent to said basewall thereof;
• and
• wherein said bearing housing is mountable on the outer casing of the regenerative side channel blower via said threaded portion thereof being threadably engageable with the threaded portion of the cylindrical rim of the outer casing of the blower housing.