Patent Application
20250116278
The present invention relates to the field of water pump, and more particularly, to an impeller structure for a water pump rotor and to a water pump using said impeller structure.
As shown in
An upward force of buoyancy occurs when the impeller 12 is rotating, such that the impeller 12 is lifted, bringing the impeller top cover 122 to adversely impact and rub against an inner side of the inlet 114 of the volute casing 11. The friction between the impeller 12 and the volute casing 11 results in wearing and overall increased power consumption of the impeller 12 and many other problems, such as reduced operation efficiency, increased noise, decreased flow of fluid, and shortened service life of the impeller.
To solve the problem of the wearing of the impeller 12, a wear ring 125 is provided on an upper surface of the impeller top cover 122 of the impeller 12 for impacting and rubbing against the inner side of the inlet 114 of the volute casing 11. With the provision of the wear ring 125, the friction between the impeller 12 and the volute casing 11 is avoided. However, the impacting and rubbing of the wear ring 125 against the volute casing 11 still causes increased power consumption, reduced operational efficiency, reduced flow of fluid, shortened service life of the impeller 12 and produces noise. In particular, when the wear ring 125 is worn out after having been used over a long period of time, the problem of impacting and rubbing of the impeller 12 against the inner side of the inlet of the volute casing 11 would finally appear again.
It is therefore tried by the inventor to develop an improved impeller structure to overcome the problems existed in the prior art water pump.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide an impeller structure for a water pump rotor and a water pump using said impeller structure, so as to solve the problems in the prior art water pump.
To achieve the above and other objects, the impeller structure for a water pump rotor according to the present invention includes an impeller, which includes an impeller base, an impeller top cover, and a plurality of vanes. The impeller top cover is provided with a centered eye, and the vanes are located between the impeller top cover and the impeller base. The impeller top cover has an outer side surface defining an impeller top surface, and the impeller base has an outer side surface defining an impeller bottom surface. At least one of the impeller top surface and the impeller bottom surface has at least one fluid-impeding flange provided thereon.
The water pump according to the present invention includes a volute casing and an impeller. The volute casing has an inlet and an outlet, and internally defines a volute chamber communicable with the inlet and the outlet. The impeller is mounted in the volute chamber and includes an impeller base, an impeller top cover, and a plurality of vanes. The impeller top cover is provided with a centered eye that is located in alignment with the inlet on the volute casing, and the vanes are provided between the impeller top cover and the impeller base. The impeller top cover has an outer side surface defining an impeller top surface, and the impeller base has an outer side surface defining an impeller bottom surface. At least one of the impeller top surface and the impeller bottom surface has at least one fluid-impeding flange provided thereon.
With the above arrangements, the fluid-impeding flange is able to reduce an upward force of buoyancy of the fluid occurred in the volute casing when the impeller rotates. This condition prevents or largely reduces the impacting or rubbing of the impeller against an inner side surface of the inlet on the volute casing and effectively reduces frictional resistance and power consumption of the impeller when the same rotates in the volute casing. Therefore, the impeller produces less noise and enables upgraded operating efficiency, increased flow of fluid, and prolonged service life.
The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein
The present invention will now be described with some preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Please refer to
The impeller 22 is mounted in the volute chamber 213 and includes an impeller base 221, an impeller top cover 222, and a plurality of vanes 223. The impeller top cover 222 is located above and spaced from the impeller base 221, such that a dividing space 214 is existed between the impeller top cover 222 and the impeller base 221. The impeller top cover 222 is located below the inlet 214 of the volute casing 21 and is provided with a centered eye 2221, which is aligned with the inlet 214 and communicable with the dividing space 224 of the impeller 22. The vanes 223 may be, for example, blades or ribs, and are located in the dividing space 224 between the impeller base 221 and the impeller top cover 222.
Each of the vanes 223 has its upper edge and lower edge integrally formed with or connected to two opposing inner side surfaces of the impeller top cover 222 and the impeller base 221, respectively. In the latter case, the upper edges and the lower edges of the vanes 223 may be connected to the two opposing inner side surfaces of the impeller top cover 222 and the impeller base 221 by gluing, ultrasonic bonding, mortise and tenon joint, or other equivalent joinery techniques, such that the vanes 223 are firmly clamped between the impeller top cover 222 and the impeller base 221. In some operable embodiments, the vanes 223 are integrally formed with the inner side surface of the impeller base 221 while the inner side surface of the impeller top cover 222 is connected to the upper edges of the vanes 223. Alternatively, the vanes 223 can be integrally formed with the inner side surface of the impeller top cover 222 while the inner side surface of the impeller base 221 is connected to the lower edges of the vanes 223.
The impeller top cover 222 has an outer side surface, i.e. the up-facing outer side of the impeller top cover 222, as shown in
In the illustrated preferred embodiment, the fluid-impeding flange 225 is provided on and protruded downward from the impeller bottom surface 2212. In some other variant embodiments, the fluid-impeding flange 225 is provided on and protruded upward from the impeller top surface 2222. Alternatively, the fluid-impeding flange 225 is provided on each of the impeller top surface 2222 and the impeller bottom surface 2212 to protrude upward and downward therefrom, respectively. Further, the fluid-impeding flange 225 can be provided, for example, on a main surface or a peripheral area of the impeller bottom surface 2212 and/or the impeller top surface 2222 without particular restriction. The fluid-impeding flange 225 may be, for example, an annular body without being limited thereto. In some equivalent embodiments, the fluid-impeding flange 225 can be in the form of a plurality of successive tooth-like bodies spaced and arranged on the main surface or along the peripheral areas of the impeller bottom surface 2212 or the impeller top surface 2222.
The impeller 22 is electrically connected to and driven by an electric motor 26 located outside the volute casing 21. When the impeller 22 rotates, fluid is sucked in by a centrifugal force produced by the rotating impeller 22 to flow through the inlet 214 of the volute casing 21 and the centered eye 2221 of the impeller 22 into a central area of the impeller 22. The fluid then flows radially from the central area along the dividing space 224 toward an outer periphery of the impeller 22 and finally flows into the volute chamber 213. A part of the fluid flowed to the outer periphery of the impeller 22 flows into a cavity below impeller, which is generally denoted as DS, while the other part of the fluid flowed to the outer periphery of the impeller 22 flows into a cavity above impeller, which is generally denoted as US. With the fluid-impeding flange 225 provided on the impeller bottom surface 2212, the cavity below impeller DS has an increased flow resistance and therefore allows less fluid to flow into the cavity below impeller DS.
On the other hand, more fluid is allowed to flow into the cavity above impeller US. This condition effectively reduces a difference in pressure between the spaces above and below the impeller 22 and accordingly, largely reduces the upward force of fluid buoyancy occurred when the impeller 22 rotates. With the reduced upward force of fluid buoyancy, it is able to avoid or largely reduce the impacting and rubbing of the impeller top surface 2222 against the upper inner side of the volute casing 21.
In the impeller structure for a water pump rotor according to the present invention, at least one of the impeller bottom surface 2212 and the impeller top surface 2222 of the impeller 22 is provided with the fluid-impeding flange 225, such that the difference in pressure between the spaces above and below the impeller 22 is reduced to thereby decrease the upward force of fluid buoyancy in the volute casing 21 occurred when the impeller 22 rotates. This condition effectively reduces the frictional resistance and operational power consumption of the impeller 22 in the water pump to thereby largely increase the operational efficiency, the flow of fluid, and service life of the impeller 22. With the present invention, it is able to overcome the problems in the conventional water pump that the impeller is lifted by an upward force of fluid buoyancy when it is rotating to thereby cause impacting and rubbing of the impeller top cover against the inner side of the inlet on the volute casing of the water pump. Also, compared to the impeller of the conventional water pump, the impeller structure according to the present invention eliminates the wear ring to enable reduced weight and operating load of the impeller 22.
The present invention has been described with a preferred embodiment thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the described embodiment can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.
