Screw Pump Radial Gap for Multiphase Fluid Handling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional pumps and motors fail to effectively operate with high viscosity and multiphase fluids, particularly those containing solids or steam vapor, due to material limitations and design vulnerabilities such as gas locking, erosion, and inefficiency.
Innovation Solution
A pump/motor assembly featuring a stator and rotor with opposite-handed threads and a radial gap between vanes, allowing for efficient fluid movement and sealing, even with significant radial gaps, which increases operational lifetime and tolerance for high viscosity and multiphase fluids.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional pumps are used with high viscosity and multiphase fluids, then the pump can operate with these fluids, but the pump fails due to gas locking, erosion, and material vulnerability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the geometric parameters of the pump chambers by introducing a radial gap between the rotor and stator vanes, allowing the pump to accommodate high viscosity and multiphase fluids without gas locking while maintaining operational reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs composite material strategies by combining different vane configurations (rotor and stator vanes with opposite handed threads) and material properties to create a pump that resists erosion and can handle multiphase fluids effectively
2Adaptability or versatility
If the radial gap between rotor and stator vanes is increased, then the pump can handle larger particles and high viscosity fluids, but the sealing effectiveness may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the radial gap parameter to a specific range that maintains effective sealing while accommodating high viscosity fluids and larger particles, resolving the contradiction between sealing effectiveness and fluid handling capability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes fluid dynamics principles to maintain sealing effectiveness across the radial gap through the interaction between rotor and stator vanes, allowing the gap to be sufficiently large for particle accommodation while still achieving proper sealing
3Speed
If centrifugal pumps are used, then fluid can be pumped at high speed, but the pump is vulnerable to gas locking and solid damage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the pumping action into discrete rotor and stator vane interactions, creating a positive displacement mechanism that avoids the continuous flow patterns of centrifugal pumps, thereby eliminating gas locking vulnerability while maintaining high speed capability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent inverts the conventional centrifugal approach by using rotor and stator vanes with opposite handed threads to create a screw-type positive displacement mechanism, which fundamentally changes the pumping action to be resistant to gas locking and solid particle damage
4Reliability
If progress cavity pumps are used, then positive displacement pumping is achieved, but the pump is vulnerable to heat, aromatics, and power limitations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs composite material strategies by combining different vane configurations and material properties to create a pump that resists heat and aromatic degradation while maintaining positive displacement pumping capability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the operational parameters by introducing a radial gap that allows for reduced power transmission requirements and improved heat dissipation, thereby reducing vulnerability to thermal and chemical degradation
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 maintains efficiency and operational reliability with high viscosity and multiphase fluids, including those with large particles, and extends the pump/motor assembly's operational range and flexibility, reducing wear and improving performance across various fluid compositions.
Implementation Method 1
wherein a fluid seal is formed across the radial gap
Implementation Method 2
each one being provided with one or more vanes having an opposite handed thread with respect to the thread of the one or more vanes on the other and arranged such that a radial gap is located between the one or more stator vanes and the one or more rotor vanes, the stator and rotor co-operating to provide, on rotation of the rotor, a system for moving fluid longitudinally between them
Data Source
AI summary
A pump assembly comprising a stator and a rotor having vanes of opposite handed thread arrangements is described. A radial gap is located between the stator vanes and the rotor vanes such that rotation of the rotor causes the stator and rotor to co-operate to provide a system for moving fluid longitudinally between them. The operation of the pump results in a fluid seal being is formed across the radial gap. The described apparatus can also be operated as a motor assembly when a fluid is directed to move longitudinally between the stator and rotor. The presence of the fluid seal results in no deterioration of the pump or motor efficiency, even when the radial gap is significantly greater than normal working clearance values. Furthermore, the presence of the radial gap makes the pump/motor assembly ideal for deployment with high viscosity and/or multiphase fluids.