External Gear Pump with Integrated Prime Movers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional gear pumps suffer from contamination issues due to the interlocking of gear teeth, leading to sheared materials that can damage operational components, and have complex configurations with external prime movers and separate storage devices, which increase the risk of contamination and system complexity.
Innovation Solution
The design features two independently driven fluid drivers with their own prime movers, integrated within the pump casing, which eliminates the need for external motors and reduces contamination by synchronizing their operation to prevent backflow and minimize contact between gear teeth, thus reducing the risk of material shear and system failure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If gear teeth interlock to transfer rotary motion from drive gear to driven gear, then fluid is pumped from inlet to outlet, but sheared materials are generated causing contamination and system failure
Solution Approach 1:
The pump is divided into two independent fluid drivers (drive gear and driven gear), each with its own prime mover. This segmentation eliminates the interlocking gear teeth mechanism, preventing sheared materials from being generated while maintaining fluid pumping capability through independent operation of the two gears.
Solution Approach 2:
The harmful interlocking mechanism between gear teeth is extracted/removed from the system. The driven gear is no longer meshed with the drive gear but instead independently driven, eliminating the source of contamination while preserving the essential pumping function.
2Ease of operation
If prime mover is disposed outside the pump with shaft extending through casing, then drive gear can be rotated, but contamination risk increases due to sealed openings and additional components
Solution Approach 1:
The prime mover is merged with the pump casing, forming an integrated unit. The motor is positioned inside the casing with the drive gear, eliminating the need for external shafts and seals that penetrate the casing, thereby removing contamination pathways while maintaining the drive functionality.
3Manufacturing precision
If separate bearing blocks are used to align gears, then gear center axes are properly aligned, but device complexity and weight increase due to additional components and seals
Solution Approach 1:
The bearing block functionality is merged into the pump casing itself. The casing is designed with integrated bearing surfaces and alignment features that directly support and align the gear center axes, eliminating the need for separate bearing blocks and their associated seals, thereby reducing component count while maintaining alignment precision.
Data Source
AI summary
A pump includes a casing defining an interior volume. The pump casing includes at least one balancing plate that can be part of a wall of the pump casing with each balancing plate including a protruding portion having two recesses. Each recess is configured to accept one end of a fluid driver. The balancing plate aligns the fluid displacement members with respect to each other such that the fluid displacement members can pump the fluid when rotated. The balancing plates can include cooling grooves connecting the respective recesses. The cooling grooves ensure that some of the liquid being transferred in the internal volume is directed to bearings disposed in the recesses as the fluid drivers rotate.