Patent Application
20050169777
(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a piston pump and, more particularly, to an electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump.
(b) Description of the Related Art
An air pump is a device used to increase air pressure by reducing volume of the air. Air pumps are usually classified into three types—reciprocating, centrifugal, and axial-flow, and the reciprocating type is most commonly used due to its' ability to obtain a wide pressure range.
A reciprocating pump is also called a reciprocating piston pump for that it has a piston reciprocating in a fixed space to compress air and thus increase pressure. Presently, electromagnetic force is often used to drive the piston, as illustrated in
However, the reciprocating piston pump illustrated in
In view of above, the present invention provides an electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump which solves the discontinuous pressure problem preexisting in conventional electromagnetic reciprocating piston pumps, increases pump efficiency, effectively lowers the number of parts used in a pump, decreases pump body mass, and increases airflow.
An object of the invention is to provide an electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump capable of getting continuing air pressure so as to resolve the discontinued pressure problem in conventional electromagnetic reciprocating piston pump.
Another object of the invention is to effectively increase airflow and pressure and to improve reciprocating piston pump efficiency.
Another object of the invention is to effectively reduce number of parts in electromagnetic reciprocating piston pumps and to make the reciprocating pump size smaller.
An electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump according to the invention includes a first tube, a second tube, two annular separation plates, a plurality of pistons, and an electromagnetic coil.
The first tube accommodates the aforementioned pistons to revolve inside therein, and it has a plurality of first and second through holes. The second tube has an intake opening and an exhaust opening, and wraps the first tube inside. In addition, the two annular separation plates are disposed inside the second tube to divide the inner space of the tube into a first airproof space and a second airproof space, where the first airproof space connects the intake opening and communicates inner space of the first tube via the first though holes, and the second airproof space connects the exhaust opening and communicates inner space of the first tube via the second through holes. Moreover, the electromagnetic coil is mounted on outside walls of the first tube in the first airproof space for exerting electromagnetic force onto the pistons.
The first tube of the invention has a low friction coefficient, and it can be made of copper and the second tube can be made of plastic.
In a first embodiment, the diameter of first through holes decreases and the number of first through holes decreases as the holes get far away from the intake opening; moreover, the diameter of second through holes decreases and the number of second through holes decreases as the holes get far away from the exhaust opening.
In a second embodiment, an electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump of the invention further comprises a plurality of annular separation plates which are placed inside the second airproof space and divide the second airproof space into a plurality of airproof spaces which are not in communication with each other. Each of the airproof spaces connects an exhaust opening and communicates inner space of the first tube via the second through holes.
In a third embodiment, a plurality of electromagnetic revolutionary piston pumps of the invention can be connect together to form a multistage electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump capable of obtaining higher air pressure.
Through the design of the invention, the electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump is able to: 1. have continuous air pressure and increased airflow; 2. avoid the usage of parts like back-pressure valve, and thus effectively reduces the number of pump parts used and the pump size; 3. lower the energy loss in the system, and hence increases work efficiency and reduces working cost.
The invention provides an electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump using externally-added magnetic force to allow pistons to revolve fast and continuous inside an annular (doughnut shape) tube formed with through holes, and thus to compress air.
Referring to
The inner doughnut tube 12 is wrapped inside the outer doughnut tube 11, and the inner doughnut tube has a plurality of through holes 121 and 122 arranged on its' sidewall. The two annular separation plates 13a and 13b are placed inside the outer doughnut tube 11 but outside the inner doughnut tube 12, dividing the inner space of the outer doughnut tube 11 into two airproof spaces 111 and 112 that do not communicate with each other. The airproof space 111 connects an intake opening 10a closer to the annular separation plate 13a, and communicates with the space inside the inner doughnut tube 12 via the through holes 121. The airproof space 112 connects an exhaust opening 10b closer to the annular separation plate 13b, and communicates with the space inside the inner doughnut tube 12 via the through holes 122. The intake opening 10a and the exhaust opening 10b are so arranged that a phase difference of 180 degrees exists therebetween. Furthermore, the electromagnetic coils 15a to 15e are mounted on the outside walls of the inner doughnut tube 12 inside the airproof space 111 and are used for producing magnetic force to drive the pistons 14a to 14e placed inside the inner doughnut tube 12. So when these pistons 14a to 14e pass through an electromagnetic field created by the electromagnetic coils 15a to 15e, the pistons 14a to 14e can be accelerated forward one by one.
For example, at the instant when the piston 14b is accelerated up, the resulting vacuum inside the inner doughnut tube 12 sucks the air inside the airproof space 111 into the inner doughnut tube 12 via the through holes 121 on the inner doughnut tube 12. The sucked in air is then compressed and pushed forward by another accelerated piston 14a that follows immediately after the piston 14b. The compressed air is then sent to the airproof space 112 via the through holes 122, and finally discharged from the exhaust opening 10b connecting with the airproof space 112. Afterwards, the pistons 14a to 14e are no longer under the influence of magnetic force, and slow down naturally due to the friction between itself and the inner doughnut tube 12 until they pass through the electromagnetic coils 15a to 15e again for another compressing stroke. In the process of speeding up pistons 14a to 14e, because the pistons in front is faster than the pistons on the back, the distances between pistons would prevent them from colliding with each other.
Moreover, in order that the airproof space 111 is able to store pressure and avoid the pistons 14a to 14e from colliding and thus generating noise after the air is released from airproof space 112, the size and distribution of the through holes 121 and 122 on the inner doughnut tube 12 corresponding to the acceleration and the deceleration of the pistons in the embodiment vary from big to small, dense to sparse, respectively. In other words, the diameter of the through holes 121 gets smaller and the distribution of the through holes 121 becomes sparser as the through holes get farther away from the intake opening 10a. The diameter of the through holes 122 gets smaller and the distribution of the through holes 122 becomes sparser as the through holes get farther away from the intake opening 10b.
On the other hand, for the purpose of quickly reducing the speed of the pistons 14a to 14e to a preferred value without applying extra external force, such as the electromagnetic force, before the pistons 14a to 14e enter the next compressing stroke, the diameter of inner doughnut tube 12 of the electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump 1 decreases gradually as it gets far away from the exhaust opening 10b. In addition, a rubber ring 16 with diameter slightly larger than the inside diameter of the inner doughnut tube 12 is placed inside the inner doughnut tube 12 near the annular separation plate 13a to buffer the pistons 14a to 14e.
Referring to
Referring to
The laminated silicon sheet assembly 141 is formed to have a central through hole 141a and two grooves 141b on opposite sides. The central through hole 141a is for accommodating the permanent magnet 142 to strengthen the magnetic force between the piston 14a and each of the electromagnetic coils 15a to 15e, while the grooves 141b are served as air gaps. In this way, the piston 14 will be adjusted automatically due to the magnetic resistance variation when the piston 14a passes the air gap 153. Thus, the minimum magnetic resistance caused by the laminated silicon steel assembly 141 and the maximum magnetic force applied to the piston 14a are ensured. Therefore, the contour of the grooves 141b can be shapes other than rectangular as illustrated in
In addition, the silicon steel sheet assembly 141 is placed in the piston collar 143, and is fixed in place by two clip caps separately mounted on two sides of the piston collar 143. Moreover, one rubber stopper 145 is mounted on each clip cap 144 mounted to provide necessary area for compressing air and to lower the noise created by the movement of piston 14a in the inner doughnut tube 12. The washers 146 and fixing bolts 147 are then used to fix the clip caps 144 and rubber stoppers 145 in place.
Referring to
Referring to
Since the pistons of the invention revolve inside the inner doughnut tube continuously, the invention can therefore generate continuous pressure without a backpressure valve and have the same pressure range as a conventional reciprocating pump. In addition, since the loss of magnetic energy in the invention relates only to the friction between pistons and the tube wall during the acceleration process, the loss of the electromagnetic energy can be reduced effectively and work efficiency can be raised.
Please note that even though the outer doughnut tube in the aforementioned embodiments is made of plastic, the material of outer doughnut tube is not limited thereof. In addition, the material of the inner doughnut tube is not limited to copper; other low friction coefficient materials can be used as well. Moreover, the phase difference between the intake opening and exhaust opening is not restricted to 180 degrees; it can be varied according to design needs.
While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements as would be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 093102494 | Feb 2004 | TW | national |
