Axial Flow Pump with Cuboid Stator and Magnetic Coupling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional pumps in liquid-cooled computer equipment systems face challenges in providing high flow and pressure while minimizing space usage and leakage risks, especially in densely packed server racks where space is limited and redundancy is crucial.
Innovation Solution
A microaxial pump design with a housing, impeller, and stator configuration that maximizes flow capacity while minimizing height, using a permanent magnet sleeve and external motor to eliminate shaft penetration and reduce leakage risks, allowing for multiple pumps to be packaged in a small form factor for redundancy and efficient coolant flow.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional pump designs are used to provide high flow and pressure, then pumping performance is improved, but the footprint and volume increase
Solution Approach 1:
The pump design transitions from a conventional radial configuration to an axial flow configuration, changing the dimensionality of fluid movement from radial to axial direction. This allows the impeller to move fluid parallel to the shaft axis, maximizing flow capacity within a compact footprint and resolving the contradiction between high flow rate and small footprint requirements
2Power
If shaft penetration is used to drive the impeller, then mechanical power transmission is achieved, but leakage risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The design extracts and eliminates the shaft penetration component from the pump housing. Instead of driving the impeller through a penetrating shaft that creates leakage paths, the impeller is driven magnetically through a non-contact magnetic coupling mechanism. This removes the source of potential leakage while maintaining effective power transmission to the impeller
Solution Approach 2:
The mechanical shaft-driven system is replaced with a magnetic coupling system. The motor shaft rotates a magnetic driver that magnetically couples to the impeller, eliminating the need for physical shaft penetration through the pump housing. This substitution maintains power transmission capability while eliminating leakage risks associated with mechanical shaft seals and penetrations
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The microaxial pump design achieves high flow rates and pressures with reduced space requirements, eliminates leakage risks, and enables easy serviceability by fitting within existing server infrastructure, supporting increased cooling demands in high-density server environments.
Implementation Method 1
A microaxial pump comprises a housing defining a bore and a fluid inlet and fluid outlet at each end of the bore. A magnet sleeve is supported for rotation in the bore and defining a longitudinal axis of the pump. A permanent magnet is mounted on the magnet sleeve. A stator is mounted around the housing and comprises a coil arrangement adapted to impart a varying magnetic field through the housing to drive the magnet sleeve about its longitudinal axis
Implementation Method 2
An impeller is mounted on the magnet sleeve for rotation with the magnet sleeve about the longitudinal axis to drive fluid in a flow along the bore of the housing from the fluid inlet to the fluid outlet, the flow being in the direction of the longitudinal axis, through the impeller
Data Source
AI summary
An axial flow pump comprises a housing having a bore, a cylindrical permanent magnet within the housing bore, and at least one impeller inside the permanent magnet and adapted to cause fluid to flow within the cylindrical permanent magnet. The permanent magnet is configured to rotate in the bore around its longitudinal axis. A motor lamination stack surrounds the cylindrical permanent magnet. The motor lamination stack is formed substantially as a cuboid, extending in a width and height direction perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the cylindrical permanent magnet. The diameter of the bore is at least 80% of the dimension of the cuboid in the height direction. A coil of the motor lamination is configured to be energized and to create a rotating magnetic field in the lamination stack to rotate the cylindrical permanent magnet around its longitudinal axis. The coil is disposed to one or both sides of the pump.