Vacuum Pump Lubricant Collar With Porous Ring for Inverted Operation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing lubricant supply systems for vacuum pumps, such as turbomolecular vacuum pumps, face challenges in ensuring reliable and uniform lubricant transfer to rolling bearings, with issues like uneven oil distribution and increased churning losses due to gravity and centrifugal forces, especially when the pump is inverted.
Innovation Solution
A lubricant supply system featuring a lubricant container body with a collar surrounding the lubricant transfer device and a porous material for capillary action, which collects and recirculates excess lubricant, ensuring consistent lubrication and minimizing losses by preventing undesired dripping into the bearing, regardless of pump orientation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a felt wick is used to supply oil to the bearing, then lubrication is provided, but uneven oil distribution occurs due to varying factors like taper angle, transfer rate, and shaft speed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the felt wick with a porous ceramic ring that provides more consistent capillary action for oil distribution. The porous structure ensures uniform oil flow to the bearing surfaces regardless of shaft speed or taper angle variations, eliminating the uneven distribution problem associated with felt wicks.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the material parameter from organic felt to inorganic porous ceramic, which fundamentally alters the oil transfer mechanism. This material substitution provides more stable and predictable capillary forces that are less sensitive to operational parameters like shaft speed and taper angle, thereby improving oil distribution uniformity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the vacuum pump is operated in inverted position, then installation flexibility is improved, but oil churning losses increase due to centrifugal forces acting on the lubricant transfer device
Solution Approach 1:
The porous ceramic ring maintains effective oil transfer in inverted positions through capillary action that is independent of gravity direction. The porous structure's capillary forces dominate over centrifugal forces, preventing oil churning losses even when the pump is installed in inverted orientation, thus enabling installation flexibility without energy penalties.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces the gravity-dependent wick-based oil delivery system with a capillary-action-based porous ceramic system. This substitution eliminates the adverse effects of centrifugal forces in inverted positions, as capillary action in the porous material is not significantly affected by orientation or rotational centrifugal forces, thereby reducing oil churning losses.
3Quantity of substance
If excess oil drops from the lubricant transfer device, then lubrication is provided, but oil may return to the container body or drip into the bearing in an undesired manner
Solution Approach 1:
The porous ceramic ring provides controlled oil delivery through its porous structure, which regulates oil flow via capillary forces. This prevents excessive oil dropping and ensures oil is delivered at the correct rate and location, eliminating the problem of uncontrolled oil return or undesired dripping into the bearing.
Solution Approach 2:
The porous ceramic ring acts as an intermediary between the oil reservoir and the bearing, mediating the oil transfer process. It controls the oil flow rate and distribution through its porous structure, preventing both insufficient lubrication and excessive oil delivery, thereby improving lubricant delivery control and 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 system ensures reliable and efficient lubricant transfer and recirculation, maintaining consistent lubrication and reducing churning losses, even when the vacuum pump is inverted, by utilizing a collar and porous materials for effective capillary action.
Implementation Method 1
a porous material for capillary action, which collects and recirculates excess lubricant
Data Source
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AI summary
Lubricant supply system comprising a lubricant container body defining a lubricant reservoir wherein the lubricant container body comprising an indentation of through-hole to receive a lubricant transfer device of a vacuum pump. Therein, the indentation of through-hole is surrounded by a collar extending from the lubricant container body.