RADIAL PUMP

Abstract: Radial pump with a rotary shaft (4) on which an eccentric (6) is fitted. A sleeve (8) to which a plurality of pistons (12) is connected is fitted rotatably on the eccentric (6). The connection between the sleeve (8) and the pistons (12) is achieved by a part made of elastically deformable material (9) which is fitted around the sleeve (8). A controlled opening and closing movement of the pistons is thus obtained through rotation of the pump shaft (4). More than one series of pistons can be fitted around the shaft.

Description: RADIAL PUMP The invention relates to a radial pump according to the first part of Claim 1. Such a pump is known from the book "DIE PUMPEN Ar- beitsweise Berechnung Konstruktion", 13., neubearbeitete Auf- lage", published by Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York 1977, Fig. 74.5 of Hellmuth Schulz. In this case the connecting part is designed as in the case of a crosshead internal combustion engine, i.e. it is composed of a piston- cylinder guide which is connected at one side to the eccen¬ tric by means of a drive rod and at the other side to the pump piston by means of a fixed pin which carries out only a to and fro movement. This produces a complex construction with a large number of bearing points. All these bearing points have to be lubricated. If adequate lubrication cannot be ensured, rolling bearings must be used. This involves a large amount of space and more noise during rotation. Al¬ though rolling bearings have lower requirements as regards lubrication than plain bearings, it nevertheless remains necessary to provide lubrication. European Patent Specification 0,165,876 discloses a radial pump in which no sleeve is fitted on the eccentric and the pistons run as cam followers on the eccentric. Although the large number of bearings mentioned above is not necessary in such a design, it does mean that the lubrication require¬ ments are greater, due to the surfaces of the piston and the eccentric moving along each other. It is also necessary to provide special means for moving back the piston. In the European patent this is achieved by means of coil springs. The disadvantage of this is that control of the return move¬ ment is difficult to manage at higher speeds of rotation, certainly if a low spring pressure is being aimed at, in or¬ der to limit the power consumption by the pump as much as possible. A radial pump in which the pistons come directly into contact with an eccentric ring is known from French Patent Publication 2,123,032. There is no question here of a con- • nectiήg part between piston and eccentric ring. A leaf spring is used to drive the pistons against the eccentric ring. The object of the invention is to provide a radial pump in which, on the one hand, both the inward and the out¬ ward stroke of the piston are controlled, but in which, on the other hand, the number of bearings can be limited as much as possible, in order to be able to reduce the dimensions of the pump accordingly, and to limit the lubrication require¬ ments as far as possible. This object is achieved in a radial pump of the type described above by the characterising measures of Claim 1. Instead of using plain or rolling bearings for fixing of the "drive rods" to the sleeve, according to the invention a part made of elastically deformable material in which the drive rods are accommodated is used. This eliminates the problems with lubrication, but controlled to and fro movement of the pistons is still ensured. The nature of the elastically de¬ formable material ensures that load peaks can be avoided. Through the avoidance of load peaks, premature wear and ex¬ cessive noise caused by the pump can be limited considerably. Due to the fact that the lubrication requirements are lower now, it is possible to use the pump described above for pump¬ ing fluids in the case of which the seal to the control me¬ chanism produces very many problems, and the fluids themsel¬ ves, for example liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), have very poor lubrication properties. According to an advantageous embodiment of the inven¬ tion, a part made of elastically deformable material is present for each series of pistons. The piece of material can be placed as a ring around the sleeve and fixed to it. It is, of course, possible for the sleeve and the elastically defor- mable material to be made of one piece of the same material. According to an advantageous embodiment of the inven¬ tion, the elastically deformable material is a rubber mate¬ rial. In rubber technology many materials which can be elastically deformed a very great number of times without showing fatigue symptoms are known. In addition, the damping properties of rubber material are advantageous, in order to avoid load peaks as much as possible. According to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, each piston contains a diaphragm wedged in the pump chamber which achieves guidance of the piston. This means that the piston can tilt slightly, and a particularly good seal can be achieved between the pump chamber and the space in which the eccentric with the elastically deformable part is placed. There are consequently still possibilities for providing lubrication between the sleeve and the eccen¬ tric. According to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, the piston is provided with a rod firmly fixed to it, which rod in turn engages in the elastically deformable material. Where rubber is used as the elastically deformable material, fixing by vulcanisation has proved to be particu¬ larly advantageous. The invention will be explained in greater detail below with reference to an example of an embodiment shown in the drawing, wherein: Figure 1 shows in cross-section a rist radial pump according to the invention; and. Figure 2 shows in cross section a further embodiment of the invention. The radial pump according to the invention is indi¬ cated in its entirety by 1. It comprises a motor part 2 and a pump part 3. This radial pump can be fitted in, for example, a pressure vessel for liquefied petroleum gas. Of course, the pump is not limited to this application. A drive shaft 4, which is supported in pump part 3 by bearing ring 5, comes out of motor part 2. An eccentric 6 is fixed on motor shaft 4. Needle bearings 7, which are accommo¬ dated in a sleeve 8, are provided around eccentric 6. A part 9 made of elastically deformable material, such as rubber, is firmly fixed on sleeve 8. It is provided with holes 10 in which rods 11 (one shown) of pistons 12 engage. Pistons 12 are provided with diaphragms 13, which are clamped on the head of the piston by means of a clamping plate 14, and at the other side are wedged in the pump housing 15 for the pur¬ pose of bounding a pump chamber 16. Pump chamber 16 is pro¬ vided with an inlet valve 18 and an outlet valve 17. Since these valves are not important for the functioning of the present invention, they are shown only schematically. Inlet valve 18 is connected to an inlet 20, while outlet valve 1 is connected to an outlet 19. Pump housing 15 is coupled b means of bolts 21 to motor 2. The device described above works as follows: During the operation of the pump, shaft 4 will turn Eccentric 6 will turn with it, while sleeve 8 will remain i place through the presence of bearing ring 7, but will carr out a to and fro movement. Since only one rod 11 can be fixe to the sleeve 8 in that position, it is necessary to provid for the possibility of movement of a series of pistons befor the other rods 11. According to the invention, this i achieved by the presence of the part made of rubber materia in which the rods 11 are accommodated, more particularly th holes 10 in the part made of rubber material. This accommoda tion can be achieved by, for example, vulcanisation. Th piston 12 is guided at the other side into the pump chambe by means of diaphragm 13 " . During the rotation of shaft 4, piston 12 will carry out a slightly tilting to and fro move ment, in the course of which rod 11 carries out a pivotin movement in the deformable part 9. The occurrence of vacuu or excess pressure in chamber 16 will cause valve 18 or 17 respectively to open and material to be pumped out of inlet 20 under raised pressure to outlet 19. The use of elastically deformable material, which is preferably rubber material, means that it is no longer necessary to provide a large num¬ ber of components for bearing. In addition, load peaks of the piston, which occur particularly in the bottom and top dead centre, will be damped as much as possible, with the result that the noise of the pump decreases and its service life increases. The degree of damping and the elasticity before the rod 11 can be regulated by a suitable choice of the quan¬ tity of material surrounding rod 11 and the distance from sleeve 8. In the case of the construction described above it is possible to achieve a great displacement volume in a very limited space. The pump described above can be used in parti¬ cular for pumping LPG, but it must be understood that it is not limited to that use, and that it is possible to pump other fluids with such a pump. In Figure 2 a further embodiment of the pump accor- ding to the invention is shown. This pump can be driven with the same motor as the pump shown in figure 1 and because of that details relating thereto have been omitted. In contrast to the embodiment of figure 1 rod 11 is not received in a elastically deformable bush but it is re¬ ceived in opening 24 of sleeve 23. Rod 11 is provided near its end to be received in sleeve 23 with a circumferential projection 25. At both sides of this circumferential projec¬ tion elastically deformable links 26, such as O-rings, are provided. In this way a rubber elastic pivot point is arrang¬ ed. From comparison of both the embodiments of figure 1 and figure 2 it is clear that the elastically deformable part can be realized in several ways. For the invention it is only essential that the pivot between the rod and the sleeve com¬ prises an elastically deformable material.

Claims: C L A I M S 1. Radial pump (1) comprising a rotary shaft (4) pro¬ vided with an eccentric (6), having provided radially thereon a sleeve (8) to which at least one piston (12) fitted in a pump chamber (16) is connected by means of a pivoting connec¬ ting part (9, 11), characterised in that a plurality of pis¬ tons (12), forming a series, is present, and the connecting part (9) between the sleeve and the pistons includes a part made of elastically deformable material providing the pivot. 2. Radial pump according to claim 1, wherein the ela¬ stically deformable material comprises a bush (9) mounted around the sleeve and provided with openings to receive the connecting part (11). 3. Radial pump according to claim 1, wherein the sleeve (23) is provided with openings (24) to receive the connecting part (11), the connecting part being provided at its end near the sleeve (23) with a circumferential projec¬ tion (25) wherein between the wall of the opening (24) and the projection at least an elastically deformable ring (26) is provided. 4. Radial pump according to any of the preceding claims, in which the elastically deformable material com¬ prises a rubber material. 5. Radial pump according to any of the preceding claims, in which each piston has a diaphragm which is clamped in the pump chamber, and which realises guidance of the piston. 6. Radial pump according to any of the preceding claims, in which the piston is provided with a rod which is firmly fixed to it and engages in the elastically deformable material. 7. Radial pump according to Claim 6 in conjunction with Claim 4, in which the rod is vulcanised in the rubber material. 8. Radial pump which is equipped to pump liquefied petroleum gas.

Inventors: GROEN WIJNAND FRANCISCUS, JOOSSE WIECHER JAN HEIKO, SCHERMERS ALBERTUS CORNELIS, GROEN, WIJNAND, FRANCISCUS, JOOSSE, WIECHER, JAN, HEIKO, SCHERMERS, ALBERTUS, CORNELIS
Applicants: GENTEC BV, GENTEC B.V.
Application year: 1992
Main classification: F04B43
IPC codes: F04B1, F04B43