Patent Publication Number: US-2007102233-A1

Title: Air pumping device with silencing effect for aquarium

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention is related to an air pumping device used in an aquarium, and especially to a pumping device with a silencing effect.  
      2. Description of the Prior Art  
      A pumping device used in an aquarium mainly pumps air into water by means of an air pump to supply sufficient air for the living things bred in the aquarium. A pumping device used presently mainly has an pumping device connected exteriorly thereof with a waving arm having on its tailing end a magnet; an electrically connected coil is used to generate an alternating magnetic field to attract and repulse the magnet for making the waving arm move to and fro, thereby a diaphragm is moved to render the air pump to continuously reject air.  
      By the fact that an air pump generates unpleasant and sustaining noise during operation, some air pumps are installed with silencing equipment at air exhaust ports, silencing units are provided on the main bodies of the air pumps; thereby air pumped out by the air pumps exhausts after passing through the silencing units, and an effect of silencing can be achieved.  
      These conventional air pumps have the problem that the main bodies of the air pumps are small and the silencing units added are not large enough, hence the effect of silencing is limited. Particularly, only the air ejected from the air pumps are silenced; the noise getting in the air pumps are unable to be eliminated.  
      And some air pumps are installed with silencing equipment also at air inlets, by virtue that the areas of the air inlets are so small that only a small silencing unit can be mounted for each of them, the effect of silencing is limited too, and there is further a problem of difficulty in mounting.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      In view of the above stated limitations of the conventional techniques, the inventor of the present invention breaks through the conventional thought to provide a brand new air pumping device in which a silencing unit is not attached to the main body of the air pump, rather, the silencing unit is installed in a housing of the air pumping device; in this way, the space for the silencing unit is largely increased, and the silencing unit can be designed to have a front silencing chamber and a rear silencing chamber, and a complete silencing effect can be obtained.  
      Accordingly, the air pumping device used in an aquarium with the silencing effect provided by the present invention mainly has a housing, the housing is used to receive therein an air pump and a coil unit able to generate an alternating magnetic field; and the housing is formed therein a sealed silencing chamber covered with a covering plate. The silencing chamber has therein partitions to divide it into a front silencing chamber and a rear silencing chamber. When the air pump is operated, air is led firstly into the front silencing chamber, the air flows through the air pump and then is led into the rear silencing chamber; after an action of buffering, the air exhausts from the housing through an end of the silencing chamber.  
      Because the silencing unit is designed to be installed in the housing of the air pumping device, the space for the silencing unit is largely increased, and the silencing unit can be designed to have a front silencing chamber and a rear silencing chamber, air at an inlet as well as at an air exhaust port can both be silenced, and a complete silencing effect can be obtained, the aquarium has no more disturbing noise.  
      The present invention will be apparent in its structural features and effect of using after reading the detailed description of the preferred embodiments thereof in reference to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a side sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention having a single air pump;  
       FIG. 2  is a top view showing the embodiment of  FIG. 1 ;  
       FIG. 3  is an anatomic perspective view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1  showing a silencing chamber;  
       FIG. 4  is a side sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention having two air pumps;  
       FIG. 5  is a top view showing the embodiment of  FIG. 4 ;  
       FIG. 6  is an anatomic perspective view of a base of the embodiment of  FIG. 4 ;  
       FIG. 7  is an anatomic perspective view showing a top cover, the base and a covering plate in  FIG. 4  and showing a silencing chamber. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , they show an embodiment of the air pumping device of the present invention having a single air pump.  
      The present invention has a housing  10  composed of a top cover  11  and a base  12 , the top cover  11  has four corners extending downwards over the bottom surface of the base  12  to form feet having on their ends rubber pads  13 . The base  12  is used to receive therein the air pump  20  and a coil unit  30  able to generate an alternating magnetic field.  
      The air pump  20  has a cylinder  21 , the cylinder  21  is provided with a diaphragm  22  being slipped over a front end of the cylinder  21 ; the diaphragm  22  is connected with a waving arm  23 . The waving arm  23  has a hinge  24  on one end thereof, and has a magnet  25  on its other end.  
      The coil unit  30  mainly has a coil  31 , it is supplied with electric power from a power line  32  via a transformer  33 , so that the coil  31  can generate an alternating magnetic field to attract and repulse the magnet  25  for making the waving arm  23  move to and fro, thereby a diaphragm  22  is moved to render the air pump  20  to continuously reject air. Because this is same as the conventional techniques, no further description for it is necessary.  
      Referring to  FIG. 3 , the primary feature of the present invention is that the housing  10  is formed therein a silencing chamber  40  covered with a covering plate  41 . The silencing chamber  40  has an air inlet  42  which is provided on the covering plate  41  in this embodiment, in order that air can enter the silencing chamber  40  from the air inlet  42 . The end of the silencing chamber  40  is provided with an air exhausting pipe  43 , in order that air led in from the air inlet  42  can exhaust out of the housing at last.  
      The silencing chamber  40  is composed of a front silencing chamber  461  and a rear silencing chamber  462  to be divided into a plurality of air chambers  461   a,    461   b,    462   a  and  462   b  with partitions, the air chambers  461   a  and  461   b  are communicated with each other and also the air chambers  462   a  and  462   b  are communicated with each other by means of openings  45  provided on the partitions  44 .  
      The front silencing chamber  461  is communicated with the air inlet  42 , so that air can be led in here at the communicating area. An air outlet on the end of the front silencing chamber  461  is connected with an air inlet of the air pump  20 .  
      The rear silencing chamber  462  has an air inlet connected with an exhausting hole of the air inlet  42 , and has an end connected with the air exhausting pipe  43 , so that air can be exhausted from the housing  10 .  
      Some of the air chambers formed by dividing the front silencing chamber  461  and the rear silencing chamber  462  with the partitions  44  are tortuous air chambers; they give a buffering action for the air flowing through to get an effect of eliminating noise.  
       FIG. 3  is depicted with flowing paths L representing the directions of air flow, when in operation of the air pump  20 , air is absorbed firstly into the front silencing chamber  461  from the air inlet  42 , and then enters the air pump  20 ; after the high speed air exhausting from the air pump  20  is led into the rear silencing chamber  462  to be silenced through the buffering action, the air exhausts from the housing  10  via the air exhausting pipe  43 .  
      Because that the present invention is designed to have the silencing chamber  40  provided in the housing  10 , it can largely increase the space of the silencing unit to get the front silencing chamber  461  and the rear silencing chamber  462 , so that the air entering or exhausting from the air pump  20  can all be silenced; hence a complete silencing effect can be surely obtained, and the aquarium has no more sustaining disturbing noise.  
      And more, referring to  FIGS. 4, 5  showing an embodiment of the present invention having two air pumps, a housing  50  is provided therein with two air pumps  601  and  602 , by virtue of this, plus by providing of a coil unit  70 , the space above a base  52  is limited, a silencing chamber  80  is provided on the bottom of the base  52  and is covered with a covering plate  81  to seal the silencing chamber  80 .  
      Referring to  FIGS. 6, 7 , in view that this embodiment of the present invention has two air pumps  601  and  602 , the silencing chamber  80  must have two air inlets  82  and two air exhausting pipes  83  as are shown in  FIG. 6 .  
       FIG. 7  shows a top cover  51 , a base  52  and a covering plate  81  and showing the structure of the silencing chamber  80 . The silencing chamber  80  is formed to have two front silencing chambers  861  and two rear silencing chambers  862 .  
      The front silencing chambers  861  are communicated with the air inlets  82  to allow air to be led in; air outlets on the ends of the rear silencing chambers  862  are connected respectively to the air inlets of the two air pumps  601  and  602 .  
      The air inlets of the two rear silencing chambers  862  are connected respectively to exhausting holes of the two air pumps  601  and  602 , the ends of the rear silencing chambers  862  are connected respectively to exhausting pipes  83  in order that air is exhausted from the housing  50 .  
      A plurality of air chambers formed by dividing the two front silencing chambers  861  and the two rear silencing chambers  862  with partitions provide buffering action for the high speed air flowing through to get an effect of eliminating noise.  
       FIGS. 6, 7  are depicted with flowing paths L representing the directions of air flow, when in operation of the air pumps  601 ,  602 , air is absorbed firstly into the front silencing chambers  861  from the air inlets  82 , and then enters the air pumps  601 ,  602 ; after the high speed air exhausting from the exhausting holes of the air pumps  601 ,  602  is led into the rear silencing chambers  862  to be silenced through the buffering action, the air is exhausted from the housing  50  via the air exhausting pipes  83 .  
      Obviously, the present invention is not limited to what is depicted in the drawings; it will be apparent to those skilled in this art that various modifications or changes can be made to the elements of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention, such as increasing the amount of air pumps or air chambers of the silencing chamber, all such modifications and changes also fall within the scope of the appended claims.