Dual volute molten metal pump and selective outlet discriminating means

An ordered unitary non-metallic functionally cooperative assembly of a filter, pump and remotely controlled fluidics diverter valve operable when submersed in molten aluminum and/or zinc metals at temperatures in excess of 750.degree. C. which comprises a rectilinear box-like base housing unit, the base plate and two top plate elements being planar and parallel to one another;

• said base supported on the flat floor of a melting furnace by a plurality of downwardly depending spacer button legs, which upon submersion in functional position and use establish a molten metal lower level ingress interiorly of said box housing and pump;
• said dual planar to elements being likewise similarly spaced apart to severally function to filter both said lower level and said upper level ingress of molten metal interiorly of said pump housing;
• said housing interiorly adapted to support a power drive upwardly extending elongated air-cooled vertical pump driven shaft centrally positioned above and within the pump section of said housing, said driven shaft within said housing driving a pair of back-to-back vertically adjacent volute impeller pumps operating in fixed and separate volute chambers within said housing:
• filtered molten-metal ingress means through said two top elements comprising a multi-plate filter to remove particulates less dense than said melt and similar lower level ingress through the said restricted planar floor filter zone to remove particulates of greater density than said melt;
• said diametrically opposed volute pumps driven by said common vertical shaft discharging continuous filtered and controlled molten metal streams into and through the common ingress port of a fluidics diverter valve provided with a selective downstream fluid control means comprising compressed gas ingress ports adapted to selectively impinge substantially inert gas under pressure directly upon said molten metal diverter valve power stream to redirect through fluidics principles molten metal stream flow downstream thereof through a predetermined one of said available channels of said fluidics diverter valve to a preselected downstream station, said gas ingress control means operable from a control point remote from said assembly.

A molten metal submersible fluidics operated dual directional non-metallic fluidics diverter valve and alternative flow direction remote control device operable at temperatures in excess of 750.degree. C. by which an upstream first entry conduit carrying a pre-filtered liquid molten metal downstream under a pre-established constant head and filtered flow rate originating from an integral upstream molten metal pump and co-submersible and integral therewith interiorly of a metal melting furnace exiting into said entry conduit as a particulate-free power stream is divergible into a preselected one of two alternate bifurcating downstream conduits by means of a transition piece of expanding internal volume thereby creating a fluidics control zone, said control zone transition piece bifurcated interiorly, downstream and centrally by fixed placement therein of a triangular shaped splitter element the apex of said triangle directed upstream determining a point of origin of a fluidics controlled diversion of direction of the original liquified metal power stream into a selected one of two bifurcated downstream conduits;

• a pair of diametrically aligned, oppositely disposed compressed, essentially inert, gas inlet orifices within a zone of influence of the said pre-filtered first powered stream and conduit, adapted to provide controlled alternative inert gas flow under pressured ingress to within and egress from selected single ones of said orifices upon demand and pair of external gas conduits remotely operatively associated with a common source of said compressed inert gas providing a source injection of said gas through a preselected one of said inlet orifices to impact internally said molten metal power stream upstream of said transition piece effecting thereby a fluidics directional control upon said power stream as it passes into and through said fluidics diverter control device.

A remote controlled directionally selective non-metallic fluid flow control unit adapted to be submersed in molten metal liquid metal held within a melting furnace at temperatures at temperatures in excess of 750.degree. C., which comprises in ordered sequence:

• a molten metal pump having an upper and lower melt ingress means, a lower pump intake adapted to remove suspended particulates more dense than said melt and an upper pump intake adapted to remove suspended particulates of less density than said melt;
• a single vertical driven shaft driving a pair of oppositely disposed volute impeller pumps horizontally about, said shaft downstream of said dual filters but discharging the filtered melt therefrom downstream in a single coherent stream under relatively constant head and flow rate into the single melt ingress port of a fluidics diverter valve control means;
• said fluidics control valve having oppositely disposed substantially inert gas injection control ports having egress into a directional transition control entry zone of increasing downstream volume characteristic of a fluidics diverter valve, said ports oppositely disposed about the single melt ingress port and immediately downstream of the melt entry into said valve;
• said dual and oppositely disposed gas injection ports oriented to direct, from a remote control station, an impinging flow of pressurized gas through one preselected control port to activate said melt stream to flow into and through a preselected one of the two bifunctional diverting downstream channels characteristic of said fluidics diverter valve.