Claims
- 1. A rotary sliding vane pump, comprising:
a housing containing a bore forming an interior wall, an inlet port, and an outlet port; a pumping apparatus rotateably mounted within the bore, the pumping apparatus comprising a rotor having a plurality of circumferentially spaced, radially extending slots formed therein, an equal number of vanes of a predetermined length slideably positioned within the slots, a drive attachment coupled to the pumping apparatus to rotational drive the rotor in the bore thereby urging the vanes radially outwardly and into engagement with the interior wall to form at least one pumping chamber; one or more leakage ports formed at a position in the pumping apparatus so as to allow leakage of air in the one or more pumping chamber through the one or more leakage ports; means for displaying decreasing efficiency of the rotary vane pump as air leaks from the at least one pumping chamber; and a view port formed in a back flange of the housing, the view port being positioned relative to the slots and the vanes to allow a determination of vane length wear for each vane when the vane is in engagement with the wall.
- 2. A rotary sliding vane pump according to claim 1, wherein the one or more air leakage ports are positioned such that leakage of air occurs after a predetermined amount of vane length wears.
- 3. A rotary sliding vane pump according to claim 2, wherein the one or more leakage ports are formed as a radially extending bore in the rotor at a position to form a passage between the at least one pumping chamber and one or more slots.
- 4. A rotary sliding vane pump according to claim 2, wherein the one or more leakage ports are formed as a bore extending through one or more vanes at a position to form a passage between the at least one pumping chamber and an adjacent pumping chamber.
- 5. A rotary sliding vane pump according to claim 2, wherein the one or more leakage ports are formed as an enlarged section at an open end of the one or more slots, wherein the enlarged section extends inwardly in the slots to a point where after a predetermined amount of vane length wear occurs, an open passage is formed between the at least one pumping chamber and an adjacent pumping chamber.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/767,763 filed Jan. 23, 2001, which is hereby incorporated by reference and priority under 35 U.S.C. §120 is hereby claimed.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09767763 |
Jan 2001 |
US |
Child |
10121126 |
Apr 2002 |
US |