Impeller for a regenerative turbine fuel pump

An open vane type impeller for use in a regenerative pump for pumping fluids, the pump having a pump housing including a pumping chamber, with said impeller being adapted to cooperate with the pumping chamber for pumping fluids therethrough, with said impeller comprising:

• a core having an axis of rotation;
• a plurality of vanes radially extending from said core, with each said vane having an outer edge defining an outer circumference of said impeller, with said outer circumference being adapted to cooperate with the pumping chamber so as to allow fluid communication between opposite sides of the impeller, with said fluid communication occurring outside said outer circumference thereby defining the open vane type impeller, with each said vane having a leading surface, a trailing surface and a sidewall between said leading surface and said trailing surface, with said outer edge intersecting said trailing surface at a substantially right angle;
• a plurality of partitions interposed between said vanes such that said vanes and partitions define a plurality of vane grooves, with said fluid being pumped by said vanes through said vane grooves such that said fluid flows along a generally spiral path within the pumping chamber thereby defining a primary vortex;
• and,
• a substantially constant width relief extending along the entire length of each said vane between said core and said outer edge and being connected between said trailing surface and said sidewall, with said relief extending between said sidewall and said trailing surface and intersecting said sidewall at a distance of about 50% of the width of said sidewall as measured between said trailing surface and said leading surface;
• wherein said relief causes said fluid flowing along said generally spiral path to also rotate about an instantaneous axis of said generally spiral path thereby defining a secondary vortex so as to reduce fluid turbulence.