Patent ID: 6309193
Filing Date: 2001-10-30
Classification: F01P,F04D,F05D

Abstract:
A liquid-pumping apparatus, which is so constructed as to be suitable for incorporation into an engine having a liquid-cooled cooling system containing a quantity of a liquid coolant, the apparatus being suitable for circulating the coolant, wherein:the apparatus includes a rotatable impeller, mounted in a fixed housing;the housing defines a pump chamber, in which the coolant being pumped is conveyed through the impeller;the apparatus includes a means for rotating the impeller;the apparatus includes a movable swirl-inducing means;the movable swirl-inducing means is so located in relation to the impeller as to be effective to impart a bias condition onto the flow of coolant passing through the impeller;the movable swirl-inducing means is movable through a range of conditions, between a flow-reducing bias condition and a flow-boosting bias condition;the movable swirl-inducing means is so arranged in conjunction with the impeller as to induce, during operation of the pump, a biassing swirl in the flow of liquid passing through the impeller;the movable swirl-inducing means is so arranged that movement thereof produces a corresponding change in the degree of swirl bias induced;the apparatus includes a temperature-transducer, having an output member;the output member is movable through a range of positions, in response to changes in temperature of the coolant, between a cold-liquid position and a hot-liquid position of the output member;the apparatus includes a connecting means, which operatively connects the output member of the temperature transducer to the movable swirl-inducing means, whereby movement of the output member produces a corresponding movement of the movable swirl-inducing means;the connecting-means comprises a means for moving the movable swirl-inducing means;the apparatus is so arranged that when the output member of the temperature is in the cold-liquid position, the movable swirl-inducing means is in the flow-reducing bias condition, and when the movable member is in the hot-liquid position, the movable swirl-inducing means is in the flow-boosting bias condition.