Washer pump
AssigneeBowles Fluidics Corporation
InventorsShridhar Gopalan, Alan Romack, Chunling Zhao
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An enhanced pump assembly includes an impeller and volute casing designed to provide high operating pressures (“P”) and flow rates (“Q”) with low energy usage. The impeller has a central shaft carrying radially projecting curved primary vanes, and each primary vane also has a twist in the radial direction. Secondary impeller vanes define triangular connecting fillet-like wall segments connecting each primary vane to the impeller shaft. The casing of the pump has a slight spiral deviation so that the pump chamber's radial sidewall flares away from the swept area of the impeller's vanes to define a fluid outlet that contributes to higher P-Q performance, especially when pumping colder fluids.
Claims17
A pump assembly configured to pressurize a fluid comprising:
- a volute defining a fluid inlet for receiving the fluid;
- a casing configured with the volute to define a pumping chamber that is in fluid communication with said inlet;
- a rotatably supported impeller configured operate within said pumping chamber,
- a volute fluid passage communicating the pump chamber and the fluid outlet for discharging fluid medium under pressure during a rotation of the impeller;
- wherein said impeller has a central axis of rotation and a central shaft aligned along said impeller's axis of rotation and carrying a plurality of radially projecting curved primary vanes;
- wherein each primary vane has a twist in the radial direction so that each vane has provides an angled, convex leading surface;
- wherein said impeller also has a plurality of radially projecting secondary vanes affixed to said central shaft such that each secondary vane is also aligned with and affixed to said radially projecting curved primary vanes;
- wherein said volute has an exterior sidewall that has a constant internal first radius over a first sidewall portion and transitions to a second sidewall portion of increasing radius;
- wherein said second sidewall portion defines a first end at a sidewall transition point which is tangent to said constant radius sidewall segment, and defines a second end which is tangent to said volute's fluid outlet and has a second radius that is greater than said first radius.
An impeller adapted for use in a centrifugal pump assembly having a volute, an inlet and an outlet, comprising:
- a central shaft and a central axis of rotation, wherein said shaft is aligned along said impeller's axis of rotation;
- a plurality of radially projecting curved primary vanes carried by said central shaft;
- wherein each primary vane has a twist in the radial direction so that each vane has provides an angled, convex leading surface;
- a plurality of radially projecting secondary vanes affixed to said central shaft such that each secondary vane is also aligned with and affixed to said radially projecting curved primary vanes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.