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AssigneePyrotek, Inc.
InventorsMark A. Bright, Jason Tetkoskie, Richard S. Henderson, Herbert L Ritchie, Jr., Jorge A. Morando
Estimating the term…
The present invention is directed to a molten metal pump comprising an elongated pumping chamber tube with a base end and an open top end. A shaft extends into the tube and rotates an impeller therein, the impeller rotates proximate the base end. The tube has a diameter at least 1.1 times the diameter of the impeller. The pumping chamber tube preferably has a length at least three times the height of the impeller. The base end includes an inlet and the top end includes a tangential outlet. Rotation of the impeller draws molten metal into the pumping chamber and creates a rotating equilibrium vortex that rises up the walls of the pumping chamber. The rotating vortex adjacent the top end exists the device via the tangential outlet.
A molten metal pump comprising an elongated straight-walled non-parabolic chamber having a base end and a top end, a shaft disposed within said chamber and an impeller rotatable by said shaft, said impeller disposed proximate said base end, said chamber having an intermediate width diameter at least 1.1 times a diameter of the impeller, said base end including an inlet located on a lower most wall of the chamber and said top end including an outlet, wherein said inlet is vertically aligned with a longitudinal axis of said shaft, wherein a distance between said inlet and said outlet is at least three times a height of said impeller, and wherein a bearing surface is provided between a radial edge of the impeller and the inlet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.