This application is a section 371 of PCT/EP2005/007772, filed 16 Jul. 2005 and published 16 Mar. 2006 as WO 2006/27043-A1 and further claims priority from German application DE 20 2004 014 417.4, filed 10 Sep. 2004, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The invention relates to an arrangement for conveying fluids. As fluids, liquid and/or gaseous media can be conveyed.
In computers in particular, components having high heat flux densities (e.g. 60 W/cm2) are in use today. The heat from these components must first be transferred into a liquid circulation system, and from there the heat must be discharged to the ambient air via a liquid/air heat exchanger.
Dissipation of heat from components having a high heat flux density is accomplished by means of so-called heat absorbers or cold plates. In these, heat is transferred to a cooling liquid, and this cooling liquid is usually forced to circulate in a circulation system.
In this context, the cooling liquid flows not only through the heat absorber but also through a liquid pump that produces the forced circulation and produces an appropriate pressure buildup and appropriate volumetric flow through the heat absorber and an associated heat exchanger, so that the relevant heat transfer coefficients become large and the temperature gradients necessary for heat transfer become small.
A fan is usually arranged on the heat exchanger, which fan produces, on the air side of the heat exchanger, a forced convection of the cooling air as well as good transfer coefficients.
In cooling arrangements of this kind, the fan and the liquid pump are driven separately, and these components are also often physically separate from one another. Two drives are therefore required, which in most cases operate rotationally. These drives require energy and also a fairly large installation space, both of which are undesirable.
It is therefore an object of the invention to make available a novel arrangement, for conveying fluids, which conserves both energy and space.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by connecting a pump wheel to a first permanent magnet, providing a “partitioning can” hermetically separating the pump from electrical drive components but permitting magnetic coupling of the pump's permanent magnet to a second permanent magnet, forming part of a driving internal-rotor electric motor, whose stator is arranged radially surrounding the magnetic coupling components. A very compact arrangement with good efficiency is thereby obtained, since the internal-rotor motor and the magnetic coupling of the fluid pump are, so to speak, nested inside one another.
Another manner of achieving the stated object is to use the rotor of the internal-rotor motor to directly drive a fan wheel and to indirectly drive, via the magnetic coupling, the rotor of a centrifugal pump having a radially extending outlet conduit, which conduit also serves as part of a mechanical connection between the partitioning can and a surrounding, generally cylindrical, air-directing housing. This enables particularly good integration of the components of the arrangement, since the electric motor, fluid pump, fan wheel, and air-directing housing are assembled together in enormously compact fashion.
Further details and advantageous refinements of the invention are evident from the exemplifying embodiments, in no way to be understood as a limitation of the invention, that are described below and depicted in the drawings:
According to
Part 36 transitions, on its left side in
A partitioning tube or partitioning can is understood, in electrical engineering, to be a component made of a nonmagnetic material, e.g. plastic or stainless steel, which extends through at least a part of the air gap of a magnetic circuit and there forms a fluid barrier.
Adjoining portion 48 is a bearing tube 54 in which shaft 58 of an internal rotor 60 is journaled by means of two roller bearings 56. Shaft 58 is mounted on a cup-like carrier part 62 made of soft ferromagnetic material, on whose outer side is mounted a permanent ring magnet 64 that can be magnetized, for example, with four poles. This ring magnet 64 is separated by an air gap 66 from stator 68 of an electronically commutated internal-rotor motor (ECM) 70, associated with which is a circuit board 72 having electronic components (not shown), which circuit board extends parallel to portion 44 and, with reference to
Stator 68 is mounted on the inner side of a cylindrical portion 74 that preferably is implemented integrally with portion 44.
Approximately opposite ring magnet 64, a ring magnet 76 is mounted on the inner side of carrier part 62. During operation, the latter magnet rotates around partitioning can 52.
A fan wheel 80, which can be implemented e.g. as an axial, diagonal, or radial fan wheel, is mounted on cup-like carrier part 62 by means of a cup-like portion 78. Said fan wheel has an approximately cylindrical outer part 81 whose outside diameter corresponds to that of cylindrical portion 74, and fan blades 82 are arranged on said part 81 in the manner depicted (cf.
A pump wheel 90 of a centrifugal pump or other hydraulic machine 91 is mounted rotatably on shaft 50, said wheel preferably being implemented integrally with a plastic-matrix first permanent magnet 92. The latter preferably has the same number of magnetic poles as ring magnet 76 (which hereinafter will also be referred to as a second permanent magnet) and forms with the latter a magnetic coupling 93 that transfers the torque generated by motor 70 through partitioning can 52 to pump wheel 90, and thereby drives the latter at the rotation speed of internal rotor 60.
During operation, liquid is thereby taken in through fitting 40 in the direction of an arrow 94, and conveyed in the direction of an arrow 96 through outlet fitting 34.
Rotor 60 thus drives both fan wheel 80 via a direct mechanical coupling, and pump wheel 90 via magnetic coupling 93.
It is very advantageous (because of the space saved) that motor 70 and magnetic coupling 93 lie in the same drive plane, magnet 92 of pump wheel 90 being the innermost rotating element. This allows the diameter of magnet 92 to be made as small as is tolerable given the torque to be transferred.
Because magnet 92 rotates directly in the pumped fluid, the fluid immediately adjacent to it adheres directly to it and moves at the same circumferential speed. This fluid likewise adheres at the interface to the stationary partitioning can 52, and is thus at a standstill there. A continuous speed gradient exists between these two extreme values. The fluid in the gap between first magnet 90 and stationary housing 52 is thus exposed to shear stresses. The viscosity of the fluid results in frictional losses. These are governed by the diameter of the rotating surfaces, the square of which affects the frictional torque. The frictional power dissipation thus increases as the cube of the diameter (D3) of the rotating surfaces, and can be minimized in the context of the present invention.
The design that is depicted and described enables very high efficiency for a pump of this kind that is driven via a magnetic coupling 93, since the rotating surfaces on first magnet 92 can be made small. The minimum possible diameter is determined, as already stated, by the torque that must be transferred by magnetic coupling 93. If the diameter were made even smaller, this would result in a decrease in the pump's power level, i.e. in the context of an arrangement according to the present invention, the magnetic coupling can be designed so that very good efficiency is obtained at the working point.
Further optimization is possible by using particularly high-grade magnetic materials for permanent magnets 76 and 92. The diameter of the rotating surfaces can thereby be further reduced, resulting in especially high efficiency; costs, are however, correspondingly increased.
Assembly (
Firstly pump wheel 90 is placed onto shaft 50, and cylindrical part 36 is then closed off in liquid-tight fashion by cover 38.
The journaling of pump wheel 90 is accomplished usually with plain bearings, although other bearings are also possible. Pump wheel 90 is retained by a magnetic pull, i.e. the attraction between magnets 76 and 92, and can additionally be mechanically secured, for example by snap rings, thrust washers, etc.
Circuit board 72 and stator 68 are installed inside cylindrical portion 74. Shaft 58 of cup-shaped part 62, on which part magnets 64 and 76 as well as fan wheel 80 are installed, is then installed in bearing tube 54 by means of bearings 56.
Fan wheel 80 can already be balanced prior to assembly, or also when it is already installed in the arrangement.
In this case a retaining shell 102, which in the assembled state fits over and braces the free end of shaft 50, is mounted in inflow 40 by means of three supporting legs 100, only two of which are visible in
First magnet 92 here has depressions 104, 106 at both ends. Arranged in each of these depressions is a respective thrust washer 108, 110, of which washer 108 is arranged between portion 48 and depression 104. The other washer 110 is arranged between a raised rim 112 of bearing shell 102 and depression 106. Pump rotor 90 is thereby also securely axially journaled on shaft 50.
Circuit board 72 is shown in
Upon assembly, firstly pump wheel 92 is placed onto shaft 50, and then part 38, 40 having bearing shell 102 is installed in the manner depicted. Part 38, 40 can be connected in liquid-tight fashion to portion 36 of the pump housing by, for example, laser welding in the region of a parting line 114. A journaling system that is very secure and long-lived, and in which rattling of pump wheel 90 is reliably prevented, is thereby obtained.
Shaft 58, which journals rotor 60 of ECM 70 and fan wheel 80, is here again journaled by means of two ball bearings 56 in a bearing tube 54 that is implemented integrally with partitioning can 52. The cavity of bearing tube 54 continues to the right in
A spacing member 122 is located between the outer rings of ball bearings 56. Shaft 58 is displaceable in the inner rings of the two ball bearings 56. Located between the inner ring of the left ball bearing 56 and a depression 124 of rotor hub 126 is a compression spring 128 that is compressed upon installation of shaft 58, the right end of shaft 58 being briefly displaced into recess 120, which therefore needs to be provided only because of this special installation method. This rightward displacement of shaft 58 is produced by a corresponding rightward displacement of fan wheel 80.
Hub 126 has, for this purpose, an axial projection 130 with which, in the context of this displacement, it pushes against the left side of a latching member 131 and via said member against the left side of the left ball bearing 56, and thereby presses the outer rings of the two ball bearings 56 into bearing tube 54. Fan wheel 80 is then automatically displaced by the compressed spring 128 back to the left into the final position that is shown, in which context a snap ring 132 at the right end of shaft 58 abuts against the right side of the inner ring of the left ball bearing 56. In the context of this operation, latching member 131 latches into the inner wall of bearing tube 54 in the manner depicted, and thus retains ball bearings 56 in bearing tube 54.
The left end of shaft 50 is mounted in an axial projection 136 of partitioning can 52, which projection protrudes into an opening 138, complementary thereto, of magnet 92 of magnetic coupling 93.
Fan wheel 80 is manufactured from plastic, and its hub 126 is mounted by plastic injection molding, in the manner depicted, on shaft 58.
From this hub 126, a first cylindrical portion 78a extends to the right in
This magnetization has four so-called interpolar gaps 142, i.e. in normal circumstances there are no physical interruptions in ring magnet 140 but only interruptions in its magnetization. The magnetization is indicated in the usual way by “N” (north pole) and “S” (south pole), i.e. ring magnet 140 is magnetized diametrally and has an approximately trapezoidal magnetization that, in the context of a ring, enables optimum utilization of the magnetic material. Other types of magnetization are, of course, not precluded. A trapezoidal magnetization is often also referred to as a “rectangular” magnetization, “trapezoidal” and “rectangular” being in this case synonymous to an electrical engineer.
The magnetization of ring magnet 140 is preferably, as depicted, four-pole on both sides. Other numbers of poles are not precluded. But because magnet 92 that is connected to pump wheel 90 has a small diameter, and because it should have the same number of poles as ring magnet 140, numbers of poles exceeding four, or at most six, are difficult to achieve and cause a reduction in the torque that can be transferred by magnetic coupling 93.
Motor 70 is usually a three-phase motor. Its electronic commutation can be controlled by Hall sensors or also by sensing of the voltages induced in the windings, according to the so-called “sensorless” principle. Alternatively, it is also possible to implement motor 70 with only a single winding strand or with two winding strands. Such motors are usually referred to as “single-phase” motors, although they can have only one phase or also two phases. Here again, these are specialized electrical-engineering expressions that are familiar to one skilled in this art.
For secure connection to the plastic of cylindrical portion 78A, ring magnet 140 preferably has a turned-out hollow 142 into which portion 78a extends. Magnet 140 can be a so-called plastic-matrix magnet in which hard ferromagnetic particles are arranged in a plastic matrix. With a magnet of this kind, a connection to parts 78a and 78c can be made particularly easily and securely. Other forms of this magnet are, however, also possible. For example, ring 140 can also be constructed from four individual magnets, in a manner familiar to one skilled in electrical engineering.
Cylindrical portion 78a transitions, via a short radial portion 78b, into a second cylindrical portion 78c that extends to the left parallel to first cylindrical portion 78a and at a distance therefrom, and that transitions at its left end via a radial portion 78d into the actual fan wheel 80 with its blades 82, and is preferably integral with the fan wheel. Connecting ribs 78e, one of which is indicated in
Ring magnet 140 extends in an annular space between the inner side of stator 68 and the outer side of partitioning tube 46. In the terminology of electrical engineering, this annular space is also referred to as an “air gap.” Outer side 144 (
It is possible, in this manner, to accommodate a sufficiently large volume of magnetic material in the small air gap between stator 68 and partitioning tube 46. (Be it noted here that
As
Internal magnet 92 of magnetic coupling 93 is connected to a bearing bushing 148 that rotates on the stationary shaft 50; rings 108, 110 serve as axial bearings.
The elimination of a carrier part 62 made of metal, such as the one used in
Substantial advantages of an arrangement according to the present invention are:
What is obtained, by way of the invention, is therefore a very compact arrangement that requires only one shared electric motor for air cooling and to drive the liquid pump. A cylindrical element (cf.
Many variants and modifications are of course possible, within the scope of the present invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
20 2004 014 417 U | Sep 2004 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/EP2005/007772 | 7/16/2005 | WO | 00 | 9/18/2008 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2006/027043 | 3/16/2006 | WO | A |
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