Explosion-Proof Electric Pump With Flame Arrester Leak Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electric pumps in explosive environments face challenges in pre-maintaining sealing systems safely due to the risk of spark ignition, leading to incomplete explosion-proof behavior and costly, complex solutions that only intervene after damage occurs.
Innovation Solution
An electric pump design with a detection device and flame arrester element in a collection chamber, allowing for early detection of sealing faults and preventing flame propagation, ensuring explosion-proof behavior and enabling pre-maintenance in potentially hazardous environments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a detection probe is inserted inside the oil chamber to enable preventive maintenance, then the ability to detect sealing faults early is improved, but the risk of spark ignition in explosive environments increases
Solution Approach 1:
A flame arrester element is introduced as an intermediary component between the detection probe and the explosive environment. This flame arrester allows the detection probe to remain positioned inside the oil chamber for effective monitoring while preventing flame propagation to the external explosive atmosphere, thus resolving the contradiction between early fault detection capability and explosion risk
2Object-affected harmful factors
If existing explosion-proof solutions are implemented, then safety in explosive environments is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of implementing complex explosion-proof solutions throughout the entire detection system, the invention applies explosion protection locally and selectively at the critical interface where the detection probe penetrates the pump housing. The flame arrester element provides targeted explosion containment only where needed, significantly reducing overall system complexity while maintaining safety
Solution Approach 2:
The explosion protection function is extracted as a separate, dedicated flame arrester component rather than being integrated into the detection probe or pump housing structure. This modular approach simplifies the overall design by isolating the explosion containment function to a single element that can be independently selected and replaced
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 solution enables reliable pre-maintenance of sealing systems and effective explosion-proof behavior in electric pumps, even in environments with potentially explosive gases, while being simpler and more cost-effective than existing solutions.
Implementation Method 1
a protection device, associated with the detection device, resistant to flame propagation, predisposed to ensure an explosion-proof behaviour, retaining a possible flame front, which could develop at the detection device, inside the collection chamber
Implementation Method 2
after exceeding a certain concentration value of the pumping liquid salts, inside the oil chamber, the cooling fluid becomes conductive, thereby activating the detection member, which detects the presence of an electric current in the circuit in which it is inserted
Data Source
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AI summary
The electric pump (1 ) comprises a motor member (6) predisposed to drive in rotation a pump shaft (8) about its longitudinal axis (A), at least one pumping stage (4) comprising an impeller (9) fixed to the pump shaft (8) and a diffuser member (71 ) fixed relative to the impeller (9), to pump a pumping liquid, a collection chamber (10) for detecting the pumping liquid and a detection assembly (30), predisposed to detect the presence of the pumping liquid inside the collection chamber (10).