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US 12,000,406 B2Granted
Impeller bearings for pumps
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsDavid Raju Yamarthi, Brian G. Brzek, Adam Joseph Wangler, David Justin Brady, Prachi Anand Tappu, Santosh Pattnaik, Mohan Kannaiah Raju
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Impeller bearings for pumps are disclosed. An example fluid pump includes a motor, a shaft coupled to a rotor of the motor, an impeller coupled to the shaft, a first radial bearing positioned around the shaft of the motor aft of the motor, and a second radial bearing positioned around the impeller.
Claims20
A fluid pump comprising:
- a motor;
- a shaft coupled to a rotor of the motor;
- an impeller coupled to the shaft forward of the motor, the impeller including expeller vanes;
- a first radial bearing positioned around the shaft aft of the motor;
- a thrust bearing coupled to the shaft aft of the motor, the thrust bearing separate from the first radial bearing;
- and
- a second radial bearing positioned around the impeller, wherein the second radial bearing is a foil bearing through which fluid flows, the fluid to contact the expeller vanes after flowing through the second radial bearing.
4 more elements
A fluid pump comprising:
- an impeller engaged with a shaft, the impeller including blades to pump fluid;
- and
- an impeller bearing radially positioned around a portion of the impeller, at least a portion of the impeller bearing positioned forward of the blades of the impeller, the impeller bearing and the impeller to define a flow path between the impeller bearing and the impeller, wherein the fluid in the flow path contacts the impeller bearing and the impeller at a same axial position defined by the fluid pump.
A fluid pump comprising:
- means for pumping fluid;
- means for positioning the means for pumping fluid;
- means for driving a rotation of the means for positioning;
- and
- means for supporting the means for pumping fluid, wherein the fluid flows through the means for pumping fluid after the fluid flows between the means for supporting and the means for pumping fluid, wherein the fluid remains in the fluid pump between flowing between the means for supporting and the means for pumping fluid and flowing through the means for pumping fluid.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.