Priming valve system for pre-priming centrifugal pump intakes
AssigneeWaterous Company
InventorDavid William Johnson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A priming valve for priming a centrifugal pump includes a valve assembly separating an inlet chamber from an outlet chamber. The inlet chamber is fluidly coupled to an intake for the centrifugal pump and the outlet chamber is fluidly coupled to a priming pump. A control valve is provided to operate the valve assembly in order to fluidly connect the inlet chamber with the outlet chamber. While the valve assembly fluidly connects the inlet chamber with the outlet chamber, the priming pump can operate to replace air in the intake and the centrifugal pump with water.
Claims17
A priming valve system coupleable with a centrifugal pump having a plurality of intakes, comprising:
- a priming pump;
- a plurality of priming valves each fluidly coupled with one of the plurality of intakes of the centrifugal pump, each of the plurality of priming valves being fluidly coupled with the priming pump;
- a control system coupled to each of the plurality of priming valves to selectively transition each of the plurality of priming valves between an open position and a closed position, wherein upon transition of one of the plurality of priming valves to the open position and during operation of the priming pump, air is pumped out of an intake corresponding to said one of the plurality of priming valves.
A method of priming a centrifugal pump having a plurality of intakes, comprising:
- providing a priming system having a priming pump and a plurality of priming valves, each of the plurality of priming valves fluidly coupled to one of the plurality of intakes;
- opening one of the plurality of priming valves to ambient air;
- and
- operating the priming pump to remove air from an intake corresponding with said one of the plurality of priming valves.
A system for water delivery on a vehicle comprising:
- a priming pump;
- a centrifugal pump;
- a plurality of intakes positioned on the vehicle and coupled with the priming pump and the centrifugal pump;
- a plurality of priming valves fluidly positioned between each of the plurality of intakes and the priming pump;
- and
- a control system coupled to each of the plurality of priming valves to selectively transition each of the plurality of priming valves between an open position and a closed position, wherein upon transition of one of the plurality of priming valves to the open position and during operation of the priming pump, air is pumped out of an intake corresponding to said one of the plurality of priming valves.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.