Homogenous Gear Pump Components Eliminate Bearing Gaps
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing gear pumps are costly to manufacture due to the need for additional handling systems and operating stages when spraying or pressing bearing axles onto gearwheels, and they require softer slide bearing sleeves, which can lead to undefined gaps and positioning tolerance issues.
Innovation Solution
Manufacturing gearwheels and bearing axles as a single homogenous workpiece of synthetic material, eliminating the need for additional bearing sleeves and allowing for injection molding, which simplifies the manufacturing process and avoids gaps between components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If bearing axles are made of different material (metal or ceramic) than gearwheels (synthetic material) and are sprayed or pressed onto them, then the bearing axles provide stronger mechanical support, but the manufacturing process becomes more costly and complex due to additional handling systems and operating stages
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the bearing axle and gearwheel into a single homogenous workpiece made of synthetic material, eliminating the need for separate manufacturing and assembly processes. This merging resolves the contradiction by maintaining mechanical strength through integrated design while dramatically simplifying manufacturing to a single injection molding operation, removing the need for costly spraying or pressing operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses the same synthetic material for both the bearing axle and gearwheel, creating a homogenous workpiece. This homogeneity resolves the contradiction by enabling a unified manufacturing process that is both cost-effective and simple, while the integrated structure ensures adequate mechanical support without requiring stronger but more complex multi-material construction.
2Ease of operation
If softer slide bearing sleeves are used with metal or ceramic bearing axles, then the bearing axles can rotate smoothly, but undefined gaps occur behind the sleeve and positioning tolerance issues arise
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the slide bearing sleeve from the system by integrating the bearing function directly into the homogenous workpiece. This resolves the contradiction by achieving rotational smoothness through the integrated bearing surface while completely eliminating the positioning tolerance issues and undefined gaps that arise from using separate softer sleeves with metal or ceramic axles.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the bearing function with the gearwheel and axle structure by creating a homogenous workpiece where the bearing surface is an integral part of the synthetic material component. This integration resolves the contradiction by ensuring both rotational smoothness and precise positioning tolerance without the need for separate bearing sleeves that create gaps and tolerance issues.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple separate components (gearwheels, bearing axles, slide bearing sleeves) are assembled, then the pump can be manufactured with modular components, but the positioning tolerance of several components must be taken into account and manufacturing becomes more costly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple separate components (gearwheel, bearing axle, and bearing surface) into a single homogenous workpiece made of synthetic material. This resolves the contradiction by eliminating positioning tolerance accumulation that occurs with multiple assembled components, while the integrated design maintains the necessary functional adaptability through the unified structure.
Solution Approach 2:
While the patent creates a homogenous workpiece, it maintains functional segmentation by keeping the gearwheel and bearing functions integrated within the same component structure. This approach resolves the contradiction by eliminating assembly-related tolerance issues while preserving the functional versatility needed for different operating conditions.
Data Source
AI summary
A gear pump has two engaging gearwheels disposed between a suction chamber and a pressure chamber, with the gearwheels borne on bearing axles that are connected to the gearwheels. The gearwheels and the bearing axles are each manufactured of the same material as a homogenous workpiece. This provides for both simple construction of the gear pump and good pump operating properties. Preferably the gearwheels and bearing axles are made of a synthetic material.