External Gear Pump Seal and Bracket Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing pipeline pumps, such as external gear pumps and centrifugal pumps, face challenges in handling low viscosity and low lubricating petroleum products like crude oil, requiring high pressures and large footprints, and often suffer from leakage and maintenance issues due to complex designs and multiple stages.
Innovation Solution
A compact external gear pump design with an innovative bracket and seal system, allowing for cartridge mechanical seal options, leak detection, and axial/radial load support, along with modular gear sections to increase flow rate while maintaining pressure, and the ability to operate in both clockwise and counter-clockwise orientations without changing input/output piping.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If existing external gear pumps are used for hydraulic applications, then the pump structure is simple, but they cannot handle the lower viscosity and reduced lubricating properties of crude oil and other petroleum products
Solution Approach 1:
The patent modifies the pump design parameters including gear geometry, clearance dimensions, and sealing configurations to accommodate low viscosity petroleum products. The gear pump is adapted with specific tooth profiles and clearance gaps that maintain effective pumping action with crude oil's reduced lubricating properties, resolving the contradiction between handling diverse fluids and maintaining reliable performance.
2Adaptability or versatility
If progressing cavity pumps are used to handle petroleum products, then they can manage the fluid properties, but the pump becomes extremely long with a large footprint
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a compact gear pump design that segments the pumping function into efficient rotational gear mechanisms rather than requiring the extended progressive cavity structure. This segmentation allows the same petroleum product handling capability to be achieved in a much more compact footprint, eliminating the need for extremely long pump bodies while maintaining effectiveness with viscous and low-viscosity fluids.
3Stress or pressure
If existing pumps are used to achieve high pressure for low viscosity fluids, then pressure can be generated, but the pump requires complex multi-stage designs increasing maintenance needs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a continuous single-stage gear pumping action that generates high pressure through sustained rotational motion and progressive fluid displacement. This continuous action eliminates the need for multiple discrete stages and intermediate pressure vessels, achieving high pressure output while maintaining simple single-stage architecture that reduces maintenance requirements compared to complex multi-stage designs.
4Productivity
If existing pumps are used for crude oil transport, then pumping function is provided, but leakage and maintenance issues occur due to complex designs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and addresses the leakage problem by implementing dedicated sealing mechanisms specifically designed for the gear pump configuration, including seal chambers and sealing surfaces that isolate the pumping action from external environments. This targeted extraction of sealing functions from the overall design allows the pumping productivity to be maintained while reliability is improved through dedicated leakage prevention features.
Data Source
AI summary
One or more techniques and/or systems are disclosed for a pump technology that provides for more effective and efficient transfer of liquids, such as petroleum products and components, to and through pipelines. Such a technology can comprise a type of external gear pump that creates higher flow, resulting in higher pressures in the pipeline, to move the liquids, while providing for longer pump life, simpler and less maintenance, and fewer undesired conditions, with a smaller footprint, in a cost-effective system.