Pump suction vacuum lift vortex control
AssigneeMidwest Energy Services Company
InventorEugene K. Kempers
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention involves positioning the working end of a vertical pump below the surface elevation of the fluid, enclosing a space around the pump with a structure extending below the surface and having a submerged opening to the main reservoir, and drawing a vacuum in the enclosed space in order to raise the surface elevation in the enclosed chamber in order to maintain a minimum working depth for the vertical pump that will prevent air entrainment by vortexing during periods of low fluid levels outside the chamber.
Claims9
A suction pump vortex control system which comprises:
- a. means defining an enclosure having at least one opening to a fluid reservoir and with other openings sealed from the atmosphere,
- b. vacuum lift wall means in the enclosure communicating sealably with the other walls of the enclosure to form a pumping chamber wherein said wall means includes said at least one opening into the chamber and being disposed below the surface of the reservoir between said chamber and said fluid reservoir,
- c. a suction pump intake positioned in the enclosure above the bottom of the chamber of said enclosure for a pump connected to said intake which has a required submergence depth for prevention of vortexing,
- d. means for introducing and maintaining a vacuum in said chamber which is sufficient to lift the fluid level in the enclosure to the required submergence depth of the pump while fluid is pumped.
A method of eliminating vortexing in a suction pumping system having less than the required pump submergence depth for elimination of vortexing which comprises:
- a. enclosing an inlet for a pump in a vacuum resistant chamber,
- b. sealing the chamber from the atmosphere,
- c. connecting the chamber to a fluid reservoir through at least one submerged opening in the chamber,
- d. lifting the fluid in the chamber above the reservoir level to the required level for vortex elimination, with a chamber vacuum, and,
- e. pumping the reservoir fluid with the fluid pump while maintaining the fluid level in the chamber with the chamber vacuum.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.