Pump Rotor with Axially Sliding Vanes for Viscous Fluid Handling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing displacement pumps face challenges in efficiently handling highly viscous fluids due to their difficulty in pumping such materials effectively.
Innovation Solution
A pump design featuring a rotor member with radial arms and vane elements that create pie-shaped chambers varying in volume, utilizing a passageway and drive cam surface interaction to move fluid through a series of chambers, including a one-way check valve for fluid recycling, facilitating efficient movement of viscous materials.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional displacement pumps are used to handle highly viscous fluids, then the pump structure is simple, but the pumping efficiency deteriorates due to difficulty in moving viscous materials
Solution Approach 1:
The pump divides the pumping chamber into multiple discrete pie-shaped chambers using radial vanes and partition walls. Each chamber independently handles viscous fluid, allowing sequential processing and improving overall pumping efficiency without requiring complex external mechanisms
Solution Approach 2:
The pump employs a rotating rotor with movable radial vanes that dynamically adjust chamber volumes during rotation. The vanes slide within grooves to expand chambers during intake and compress them during discharge, enabling efficient handling of viscous fluids through dynamic volume variation rather than fixed geometry
Solution Approach 3:
The patent introduces cam surfaces as intermediary elements that convert rotational motion into the reciprocating motion of radial vanes. These cam surfaces mediate between the simple rotational input and the complex reciprocating vane movement, achieving efficient viscous fluid pumping without direct complex mechanical linkages
2Productivity
If radial vanes are used to create pie-shaped chambers, then fluid intake and discharge efficiency improves, but the complexity of controlling vane movement increases
Solution Approach 1:
The pump merges the drive mechanism and vane control into a single integrated rotor assembly. The radial vanes are directly mounted on the rotor and driven by cam surfaces attached to the same rotor, eliminating separate control mechanisms and reducing overall system complexity while maintaining efficient fluid movement
Solution Approach 2:
The radial vanes are designed to be self-regulating through spring-loaded mechanisms that automatically maintain contact with cam surfaces. The vanes self-adjust their position based on chamber pressure differentials, eliminating the need for external control systems while ensuring efficient fluid intake and discharge
3Reliability
If check valves are added for fluid recycling, then pumping reliability improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The pump extracts the check valve function from a separate component and integrates it directly into the rotor assembly. The check valves are positioned within the rotor to recycle fluid directly at the source, reducing the need for external valve systems and associated complexity while improving pumping reliability
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 pump effectively handles both highly viscous and runny fluids by creating a vacuum to draw in fluid and using cam surfaces to control vane movement, ensuring efficient intake and discharge, even with viscous materials.
Implementation Method 1
A vacuum is created as individual vane elements pass the intake opening to expand one chamber nearby the intake opening from 0-volume to maximum volume, sucking the fluid material at the intake opening into the expanding chamber.
Implementation Method 2
a one-way check valve in at least one of the radial arms opens in response to a predetermined elevated pressure of fluid material captured in an accumulation cavity in the second side of the rotor member
Data Source
AI summary
A pump for fluid material includes a housing and a rotor member within the housing mounted to rotate between a passageway end plate and a drive end plate each having inward facing cam surfaces. The housing, plates, and rotor member in assembly form a passageway between a passageway cam surface and a first side of the rotor member. This places the passageway's intake opening and discharge opening in communication with each other along the passageway. The rotor member's vane elements are configured to slide laterally and move reciprocally as the rotor member rotates, moving the fluid material being fed into the intake opening, through the passageway, and finally out the discharge opening.