Compact Lubricant Injector Layout for Direct Metering Flow
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing lubricant injectors are complex, require significant space, and are difficult to manufacture due to multiple components and return springs, and often need multiple lubricant supply points, which increases installation space and complexity.
Innovation Solution
A lubricant injector design with a housing, control piston, and metering piston featuring direct connections between metering chambers and outlets, reducing the need for intermediate channels and restoring elements, allowing for efficient lubricant delivery to multiple outlets with a single inlet and simplified structure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional lubricant injector design with multiple return springs and connecting channels is used, then reliable lubricant delivery is achieved, but device complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the first return spring from the traditional two-spring design, leaving only a second return spring for the metering piston. The control piston is designed without a return spring, using the metering chamber pressure differential instead to return the piston to its initial position. This extraction of unnecessary components reduces complexity while maintaining reliable lubricant delivery through the preserved metering mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The control piston serves multiple functions: it controls lubricant flow from the inlet to the metering piston, responds to pressure differentials to switch between metering chambers, and eliminates the need for a separate return spring mechanism. The metering piston also performs dual function by both metering lubricant and returning to its initial position using the same second return spring that previously only served the control piston.
2Quantity of substance
If traditional lubricant injector with two return springs and multiple connecting channels is used, then sufficient lubricant delivery per pump cycle is ensured, but installation space requirement increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a linear arrangement with separate control and metering chambers to a compact integrated design where the control piston and metering piston share the same cylindrical space. The control piston operates in an annular space around the metering piston, effectively utilizing radial dimension to reduce overall injector length while maintaining sufficient metering chamber volume for adequate lubricant delivery.
3Quantity of substance
If metering chamber is made large enough to ensure sufficient lubricant delivery, then lubricant quantity per pump cycle is sufficient, but installation space increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control piston is positioned in the annular space between the housing and the metering piston, creating a nested arrangement where the control mechanism is contained within the metering mechanism's cylindrical envelope. This nesting allows the control chamber to share the same radial space as the metering chamber, reducing the overall injector diameter while maintaining sufficient metering volume for adequate lubricant delivery per pump cycle.
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 design results in a robust, space-saving, and easy-to-manufacture lubricant injector that can supply multiple consumers with lubricant efficiently, reducing installation space and costs while eliminating the need for complex adjustments and additional components.
Implementation Method 1
the control piston can be displaced, under the lubricant pressure present at the lubricant inlet, against the action of a first return spring, into a metering position
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3a~3c
AI summary
Disclosed is a lubricant injector (1) having a housing (34) with at least one lubricant inlet (6) and at least one lubricant outlet (26; 50), and a control piston (12) and a metering piston (16), wherein the control piston (12) is configured so as to guide lubricant from the lubricant inlet (6) to the metering piston (16) and the metering piston (16) is configured so as to convey the lubricant provided by the control piston (12) to the at least one lubricant outlet (26; 50), wherein the metering piston (16) has a first metering chamber (18) configured as a first piston working space, and a second metering chamber (20) configured as a second piston working space, which chambers are in each case directly connected to the at least one lubricant outlet (26; 50), such that lubricant can be guided from both the first and the second metering chambers (18; 20) to the at least one lubricant outlet (26; 50), and a lubricant injector block (100) having at least two such lubricant injectors (1).