Method of scavenging air and oil and gear pump therefor
AssigneeSundstrand Corporation
InventorRichard M. Hutchison
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of scavenging air and oil from a component (3) of an aircraft for returning the oil to a reservoir (4) for recirculation to the component involves the use of a gear pump (1) for scavenging the oil and gas. The gear pump centrifugally separates oil from the air and returns only the separated oil to the reservoir through outlets located upstream of the mesh zone of the gears while the air is discarded whereby lower discharge pressure of the gear pump is attained and there is no longer a need for a separate air-oil separator.
Claims15
A gear pump comprising first and second intermeshing gears capable of being rotatable driven for pumping a liquid, means for housing said first and second intermeshing gears, said housing means including and inlet means for communicating the gear pump with a source of liquid which may contain a gas, the rotation of the intermeshing gears and the resulting centrifugal force on the liquid being pumped causing separation of liquid from the gas where the liquid supplied to the gear pump through said inlet means contains a gas, wherein said housing means further includes first outlet means for discharging only liquid which has been separated from the gas when the liquid supplied to the gear pump contains a gas, and second outlet means for discharging gas and any remaining liquid, wherein said second outlet means in located in said housing means adjacent a mesh zone of the inter meshing gears on a side of the gears opposite to that of the inlet means, and wherein said first outlet means is located in said housing means intermediate said second outlet means and said inlet means such that the first outlet means is located upstream with respect to the travel direction of the gears and the liquid pumped thereby from the mesh zone of the gears and said second outlet means.
A system for scavenging a liquid which may contain a gas, comprising an apparatus through which liquid can be circulated, a liquid reservoir and means defining a fluid path for conveying liquid scavenged from said apparatus to the reservoir, wherein said means defining a fluid path includes a gear pump comprising first and second intermeshing gears capable of being rotatably driven for pumping a liquid, means for housing said first and second intermeshing gears, said housing means including an inlet means for communicating the gear pump with a source of liquid which may contain a gas, the rotation of the intermeshing gears and the resulting centrifugal force on the liquid being pumped causing separation of liquid from the gas where the liquid supplied to the gear pump through said inlet means contains a gas, wherein said housing means further includes first outlet means for discharging only liquid which has been separated from the gas when the liquid supplied to the gear pump contains a gas, and second outlet means for discharging gas and any remaining liquid, wherein said second outlet means in located in said housing means adjacent a mesh zone of the intermeshing gears on a side of the gears opposite to that of the inlet means, and wherein said first outlet means in located in said housing means intermediate said second outlet means and said inlet means such that the first outlet means is located upstream with respect to the travel direction of the gears and the liquid pumped thereby from the mesh zone of the gears and said second outlet means, the inlet means of said gear pump being in fluid communication with the apparatus for scavenging liquid therefrom and the first outlet means of said gear pump being in fluid communication with said reservoir for returning liquid which has been separated from gas to the reservoir.
A method of separating a liquid containing a gas from the gas, comprising pumping the liquid containing gas through a gear pump comprising a pair of intermeshing gears so that at least a portion of the liquid is centrifugally separated within the pump from the gas, and separately discharging the separated liquid and the gas with any remaining liquid from the gear pump with said separated liquid being discharged at a location upstream of a mesh zone of the intermeshing gears and in a direction of the tangential velocity of the centrifugally separated liquid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.