Centrifugal Pump Gap Seal with Segmented Webs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Centrifugal pumps in motor vehicles face inefficiencies due to the gap seal between the impeller and housing parts, which affects the flow and efficiency, and existing designs struggle to balance efficiency with manufacturing costs.
Innovation Solution
The gap seal is enhanced by arranging offset ring-shaped webs on the cover disk and housing part, with multiple deflections and varying chamber cross-sections, and using injection molding for cost-effective production, including inclined transverse channels and tapered webs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If the gap between the cover disk and housing part is reduced to improve throttling effect, then pump efficiency is improved, but manufacturing tolerances cause the cover plate to grind on the housing part
Solution Approach 1:
The gap seal is divided into multiple chambers by ring-shaped webs, creating a segmented structure that extends the flow path. This segmentation allows the gap to remain larger (avoiding grinding) while still achieving high throttling effect through the extended and multi-deflected flow path across multiple chambers.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from a simple radial gap seal to a multi-dimensional structure with ring-shaped webs extending in the axial direction. These webs create multiple chambers that extend the flow path in the axial dimension, achieving high throttling effect without reducing the radial gap size, thus avoiding grinding issues.
2Loss of energy
If the gap seal is designed with complex structure to improve throttling effect, then pump efficiency is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The gap seal structure is merged with the cover disk and housing part by integrating the ring-shaped webs directly into these components. This merging eliminates the need for separate gap seal components and simplifies assembly, reducing manufacturing cost while maintaining the multi-chamber throttling structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The ring-shaped webs serve multiple functions: they create the multi-chamber throttling structure, extends the flow path, provide structural support, and can be integrated into existing cover disk and housing part manufacturing processes. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional components and simplifies manufacturing.
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
This design achieves a high throttling effect, increasing efficiency and reducing manufacturing costs, while allowing for cost-neutral production using plastic components and minimizing material usage.
Implementation Method 1
The throttling has a decisive influence on the efficiency of the centrifugal pump. The gap seal throttles the flow from the high-pressure, radially outer side to the low-pressure, radially inner side of the impeller.
Implementation Method 2
Liquid located in the center of the impeller reaches the impeller blades and is conveyed radially outwards to the outlet channel when the impeller rotates.
Implementation Method 3
the flow experiences several deflections as a result, which leads to a particularly high throttling effect of the gap seal. The alignment of the webs to the transverse channel creates high levels of turbulence in the flow
Implementation Method 4
the components delimiting the gap seal can be simply joined axially and manufactured inexpensively, for example using the injection molding process
Implementation Method 5
the webs taper towards their free end. With this design, the cover plate and housing can be easily produced during production using the injection molding process. This leads to very low production costs
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
AI summary
In a centrifugal pump (1) for delivering liquids in a motor vehicle, annular webs (22 - 24, 28, 29) project into a gap seal (17) between a housing part (16) and a cover disc (16) of a rotor (9). The webs (22 - 24, 28, 29) are arranged on both components of the housing part (16) and of the cover disc (15) and delimit chambers (25 - 27) which accelerate, decelerate and divert a flow. In this way, the gap seal (17) has a high throttling action.