Motor Pump Bearing Support Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Canned motor pumps face challenges in achieving both proper component alignment and field serviceability, with existing pumps either having poor alignment but being serviceable or having good alignment but not being easily maintainable in the field.
Innovation Solution
A motor pump design featuring a bearing support member with a pilot section and a sleeve with an undulating surface, providing multiple contact locations for precise alignment and easy assembly/disassembly, allowing for field serviceability without specialized tools.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a bearing support member with pilot section is inserted into a sleeve with undulating surface to achieve clearance-less fit, then component alignment precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sleeve features an undulating surface with multiple contact locations instead of a smooth cylindrical surface. This curved/wavy interface geometry provides multiple high-point contact areas between the bearing support member and sleeve, ensuring precise alignment and clearance-less fit while maintaining manufacturability through standard forming processes.
2Manufacturing precision
If multiple contact locations are provided between bearing support member and sleeve, then alignment accuracy is improved, but ease of manufacture deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The undulating surface is formed as an integral part of the sleeve structure, creating multiple contact points through controlled curvature variations. This approach achieves high alignment accuracy without requiring separate alignment features or complex assembly procedures, as the undulating geometry self-aligns during insertion.
3Reliability
If the pump design achieves proper component alignment, then reliability is improved, but field serviceability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The pump is divided into separable modules including the bearing support member, sleeve, and end caps that can be independently removed and reassembled. The bearing support member with pilot section can be extracted from the sleeve without specialized tools, enabling field serviceability while maintaining alignment through the pilot section's undulating interface geometry.
Solution Approach 2:
The bearing support member is designed to be extractable from the sleeve through the undulating interface, allowing bearings to be replaced in the field. The pilot section with multiple contact locations ensures that when reinserted, the component returns to its precise aligned position without requiring specialized alignment tools or procedures.
Data Source
AI summary
An improved motor pump that enables the serviceability thereof, as well as improved clearance between components of the motor pump, the motor pump including a stator assembly, a rotor assembly having a front bearing for supporting a motor shaft and a bearing support member for receiving the front bearing, and a sleeve assembly including a sleeve. Both the bearing support member and the sleeve have respective pilot sections. An interface surface is defined between the bearing support member and the sleeve that includes an undulating surface with separate but multiple contact locations therebetween. The bearing support member is inserted into the sleeve so that the respective pilot sections engage to thus provide essentially a clearance-less fit therebetween.