US 5,630,699 AGranted

Pump box with replaceable erosion protector

AssigneeDurametallic Corporation

InventorsMichael P. Kirby, Sarath Rujakaruna, Jorge Mellado

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Abstract

A mechanical seal is disposed in surrounding relationship to a pump shaft within an enlarged-bore seal chamber defined by the pump housing to create a sealed relationship therebetween. The mechanical seal includes a gland ring stationarily fixed to the pump housing for closing off an outer end of the enlarged-bore seal chamber. An annular erosion protector is disposed within the enlarged-bore chamber in close and generally overlapping relationship to the inner axial face of the gland ring. This annular protector has radially projecting protrusions which project axially inwardly along the outer portion of the enlarged-bore chamber, and also preferably has an annular part which projects radially inwardly so as to effectively cover substantially the entire inner face of the gland ring. The erosion protector is effective in significantly eliminating direct erosion-contact of pump fluid against both the gland ring and the surrounding wall of the seal chamber.

Claims19

Dependent claims

In a pump arrangement having a housing provided with a large-bore seal chamber defined and surrounded by an axially elongated annular boundary wall, a rotatable shaft mounting thereon a pumping element, said shaft projecting substantially axially through said seal chamber, and a mechanical seal assembly cooperating between said shaft and said housing for sealing said seal chamber from the surrounding atmosphere, said mechanical seal assembly including first and second relatively rotatable seal rings disposed in axially adjacent and surrounding relationship to said shaft and having axially opposed annular seal faces maintained in relatively rotatable sealing engagement with one another, said first seal ring being nonrotatably connected to said shaft and said second seal ring being nonrotatably mounted relative to said housing, said mechanical seal assembly also including a gland ring nonrotatably mounting said second seal ring thereon and projecting radially outwardly of said shaft and being fixedly but releasably connected to said housing for substantially closing off an outer axial end of said seal chamber, said gland ring defining thereon an axially-oriented inner end face defining an outer axial end boundary of said seal chamber, the improvement comprising an erosion protector ring means positioned within said seal chamber for substantially covering and protecting said annular boundary wall and said gland inner end face from erosion by pumping fluid contained within the seal chamber, said protector ring means including a first axially elongated annular wall part which is substantially concentrically disposed within said annular boundary wall in closely adjacent and directly radially opposed relation for covering said annular boundary wall, said protector ring means also including a second annular wall part which is fixed to and projects radially inwardly from said first annular wall part and is disposed directly axially adjacent in close and axially opposed overlapping relation to the gland inner end face for covering same, said second annular wall part projecting radially inwardly toward said shaft and terminating at a central opening defined by an inner annular edge wall which is disposed in closely adjacent and surrounding relationship to said second seal ring, and said protector ring means further including a plurality of flow-disrupting axially-elongated projections which are fixed thereto and project radially inwardly from said first annular wall part, said projections being disposed in angularly spaced relation around said protector ring means.

The combination comprising a pump housing provided with a enlarged-bore seal chamber defined and surrounded by an axially elongated annular boundary wall, a rotatable shaft projecting axially through said seal chamber, and a mechanical seal assembly cooperating between said shaft and said housing for sealing said seal chamber from the surrounding atmosphere, said mechanical seal assembly including first and second relatively rotatable and opposed seal rings disposed in axially adjacent and surrounding relationship to said shaft and having opposed annular seal faces maintained in relatively rotatable sealing engagement with one another, the mechanical seal assembly also including an annular gland ring disposed in surrounding relationship to the shaft and nonrotatably supporting thereon one of said seal rings, said annular gland ring projecting radially outwardly for fixed but detachable securement to the housing, the gland ring having an inner axially-oriented gland face which at least partially defines one axial boundary of the seal chamber for isolating the chamber from the atmosphere, and erosion protector means positioned within the seal chamber for minimizing erosion of chamber walls by pump fluid contained therein, said erosion protector means including a generally annular wall which is positioned directly axially adjacent and in close and axially opposed overlapping relation to the inner gland face, said erosion protector means also including a plurality of projections which are disposed adjacent a radially outer portion of said seal chamber and project axially and radially inwardly into said seal chamber, said projections being spaced angularly around said seal chamber and being fixedly joined to and projecting from said annular wall, and fastening means mounted on said gland ring and being fixedly but releasably joined to said erosion protector means for fixedly but releasably mounting said erosion protector means directly on said gland ring in coaxial relation therewith.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.