Magnetic Pump Composite Shell Eddy Current Reduction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional magnet-driven centrifugal pumps face challenges with eddy current losses due to metallic containment shells, limiting their application, and lack access for sensing properties of process fluids within the containment shell, making it difficult to monitor and ensure proper pump operation.
Innovation Solution
A magnet-driven pump design with a composite containment shell made from PEEK and randomly aligned carbon fibre strands, featuring monitoring ports and channels for fluid flow, which reduces eddy current losses and allows for the sensing of fluid properties, and uses injection moulding for cost-effective and efficient manufacturing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a metallic containment shell is used, then the pump structure is strong and durable, but eddy current losses increase with shell diameter, rotational speed, and wall thickness
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies composite materials by replacing the traditional metallic containment shell with a non-conductive material such as carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP). This composite material maintains the structural strength and durability required for the containment shell while eliminating the electrical conductivity that causes eddy current losses. The non-conductive nature of the composite material breaks the eddy current path, thereby resolving the contradiction between strength and energy loss.
2Loss of energy
If carbon fibre composites or ceramics are used for the containment shell, then eddy current losses are reduced or eliminated, but set-up costs, unit manufacturing costs, and part yield costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent specifies carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) as the preferred composite material, which offers a balance between eliminating eddy currents and maintaining manufacturability. CFRP can be manufactured using established composite manufacturing techniques that are more cost-effective than ceramic processing, thereby reducing the significant cost increase associated with alternative non-conductive materials.
3Ease of operation
If a thin-walled metallic containment shell is used, then the pump allows fluid recirculation for lubrication, but eddy current losses increase and the shell becomes more prone to pressure-related failures
Solution Approach 1:
The use of composite materials allows the containment shell to be designed with optimized wall thickness that is sufficient for pressure containment without being so thin as to cause eddy current issues. The composite material's high strength-to-weight ratio enables a shell design that maintains structural integrity under pressure while the non-conductive nature eliminates eddy current losses, thereby resolving the contradiction between operational ease and energy loss.
4Device complexity
If no monitoring ports are provided, then the pump structure remains simple, but sensing of fluid properties within the containment shell becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces monitoring ports as separate access points that segment the containment shell structure to allow sensor insertion. These ports provide dedicated pathways for fluid sampling and property measurement without requiring complex integration of sensors into the main pump structure, thereby maintaining relative simplicity while enabling effective detection and measurement of fluid properties.
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 minimizes eddy current losses, reduces manufacturing costs, and enables effective monitoring of fluid properties, ensuring proper pump operation and robustness under high pressures and corrosive conditions.
Implementation Method 1
at least one magnet for coupling the input and output shafts such that motion of the input shaft causes motion of the output shaft
Implementation Method 2
The use of these materials results in high set-up costs, unit manufacturing costs and costs associated with the yield of the parts produced. The pump needs to have process fluid recirculated through the back of the wet side of the pump
Data Source
AI summary
A magnetic pump comprising: a pump body supporting an output shaft on a wet side of the pump and having an inlet and at least one outlet for pumped fluid; an input drive element on a dry side of the pump, at least one magnet for coupling the input and output shafts such that motion of the input shaft causes motion of the output shaft, a pressure containing structure mounted on the pump body for separating the dry and the wet sides, wherein the pump includes: one or more pathways through which pumped fluid can pass so as to lubricate one or more moving parts within the pressure containing structure, and a monitoring port/channel through which one or more properties of pumped fluid passing through the one or more pathways can be sensed.