Patent Application
20200309153
Pump motors and pump motor controls generate waste heat energy while operating. A number of methods have been developed to remove the excess heat energy and prevent the pump motor and motor controls from overheating. For example, a forced convection fan can be provided to drive air over the motor, motor casing, and the motor controls. Heat sinks may be used in combination with the forced convection fan to more efficiently concentrate thermal energy for dissipation. Pumps can also be configured with a wet rotor, where the fluid (e.g. water) being pumped surrounds the rotor during operation. A thermally conductive shell positioned in between the rotor and the stator, can also be included in a wet rotor pump to improve the efficiency of heat dissipation.
While the use of a convection fan can successfully dissipate heat in some applications, water and other liquids can have a larger thermal capacity than air and can accordingly be more effective mediums for removing heat energy from a motor or drive heatsink. However, wet rotor configurations may not be ideal in some applications, including those with process water having debris or other contaminants that can clog or otherwise adversely affect the rotor. For example, wet rotors may not be ideal for use in a pump system for swimming pools. Thus, it can be helpful to provide a structure for cooling pumps that uses a fluid, such as water, for dissipating heat from one or more pump components, while ensuring that the pump and any cooling circuit are not adversely affected by the fluid.
Some embodiments of the invention provide a pump system for pumping water for pools or other flow systems. The pump system can include a pump, a motor configured to operate the pump, an electronic assembly configured to control the motor, and a cooling system. The cooling system can include a heat sink in thermal communication with the water and a heat-pipe arrangement that includes at least one heat pipe configured to transfer heat between the heat sink and at least one of the motor or the electronic assembly. In some forms, the heat sink is configured to be at least partly immersed in the water during operation of the pump. The heat sink can be arranged on an end plate of the pump and/or can be arranged downstream of an impeller of the pump. The heat sink can be arranged on an outlet pipe of the pump system. The heat sink can be part of a plurality of heat sinks, each in thermal communication with the water and the heat-pipe arrangement.
In some forms, the at least one heat pipe includes a parallel arrangement of multiple heat pipes configured for parallel transfer of heat from the electronic assembly and the motor. The at least one heat pipe can include a series arrangement of multiple heat pipes configured for series transfer of heat from the electronic assembly and the motor. The at least one heat pipe can include at least a first heat pipe in parallel with a second heat pipe, and a third heat pipe in series with the first and second heat pipes.
In some forms, the heat-pipe arrangement further includes an intermediate heat transfer plate. The at least one heat pipe can further include a first heat pipe configured to transfer heat to the intermediate heat transfer plate from the at least one of the motor or the electronic assembly, and a second heat pipe configured to transfer heat from the intermediate heat transfer plate to the heat sink. The electronic assembly can be secured to the motor via the intermediate heat transfer plate. The first heat pipe can be configured to transfer heat from the motor to the intermediate heat transfer plate, and the at least one heat pipe can further include a third heat pipe configured to transfer heat from the electronic assembly to the intermediate heat transfer plate. The intermediate heat transfer plate can be arranged to directly receive heat conductively from a pole of a stator of the motor. The first heat pipe can be secured with a clamp plate to a pole of a stator of the motor.
Some embodiments of the invention provide a cooling system for a pump system that is configured to pump water for pools or other flow systems, the pump system including a pump, a motor configured to operate the pump, and an electronic assembly configured to control the motor. The cooling system can include a heat sink in thermal communication with the water and a heat-pipe arrangement that includes at least one heat pipe configured to transfer heat between the heat sink and the at least one of the motor or the electronic assembly.
In some forms, the heat sink is configured to be exposed to flow of the water during operation of the pump. The heat sink can be arranged in at least one of a window of an end plate of the pump, downstream of an impeller of the pump, or an outlet pipe of the pump system. The at least one heat pipe can include one or more of a parallel arrangement of multiple heat pipes configured for parallel transfer of heat from the electronic assembly and the motor, or a series arrangement of multiple heat pipes configured for series transfer of heat from the electronic assembly and the motor. The heat-pipe arrangement can further include an intermediate heat transfer plate. The at least one heat pipe can further include a first heat pipe configured to transfer heat to the intermediate heat transfer plate from the at least one of the motor or the electronic assembly and a second heat pipe configured to transfer heat from the intermediate heat transfer plate to the heat sink. The intermediate heat transfer plate can be arranged to directly receive heat conductively from a first pole of a stator of the motor, and the heat-pipe arrangement can be configured to transfer heat to the intermediate heat transfer plate from one or more of a second pole of the stator or a third pole of the stator.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of embodiments of the invention:
The following discussion is presented to enable a person skilled in the art to make and use embodiments of the invention. Various modifications to the illustrated embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles herein can be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from embodiments of the invention. Thus, embodiments of the invention are not intended to be limited to embodiments shown, but are to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein. The following detailed description is to be read with reference to the figures, in which like elements in different figures have like reference numerals. The figures, which are not necessarily to scale, depict selected embodiments and are not intended to limit the scope of embodiments of the invention. Skilled artisans will recognize the examples provided herein have many useful alternatives and fall within the scope of embodiments of the invention.
It should be noted that with respect to the thermal circuits diagrams contained herein, like circuit element labels relate to like physical structures, but not necessarily to identical physical structures or physical structures with equal thermal resistances or other thermal characteristics. For example, multiple resistances may be labeled as RHS because the resistances correspond to the same type of general structure—a heat sink—but not all resistances labeled RHS necessarily have equal thermal resistance values.
Before any embodiments of the invention are explained in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the attached drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. For example, the use of “including,” “comprising,” or “having” and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items.
As used herein, unless otherwise specified or limited, the terms “mounted,” “connected,” “supported,” and “coupled” and variations thereof are used broadly and encompass both direct and indirect mountings, connections, supports, and couplings. Further, unless otherwise specified or limited, “connected” and “coupled” are not restricted to physical or mechanical connections or couplings.
As used herein, unless otherwise specified or limited, “at least one of A, B, and C,” and similar other phrases, are meant to indicate A, or B, or C, or any combination of A, B, and/or C. As such, this phrase, and similar other phrases can include single or multiple instances of A, B, and/or C, and, in the case that any of A, B, and/or C indicates a category of elements, single or multiple instances of any of the elements of the categories A, B, and/or C.
As noted above, pump systems for pumping water for swimming pools or other fluid flow systems can benefit from a cooling system that transfers heat from one or more pump system components to the water being pumped by the pump system. Different pump systems, for example, can include a motor and a variety of electronics, which can be damaged or have a reduced operational life if exposed to overheating over time.
To address this need, or others, embodiments of the invention may include a cooling system in which one or more heat pipes are configured to transfer heat from one or more pump system components, such as a motor and electronics, to at least one heat sink. The heat pipe(s) and heat sink(s) of the cooling system can be arranged to provide a thermal pathway that transfers heat from the motor/drive components to a water flow driven by the pump. In this way, heat can be transferred to the water flow during pump operation.
Although some examples below focus expressly on liquid cooling via heat pipes, other cooling modes can be included in some embodiments. For example, in some embodiments, cooling systems according to the invention can include a convection fan in addition to the heat pipe/heat sink arrangement.
The pump system 10, including the motor 16 and the drive 22 can generate a substantial amount of heat, which may need to be rejected to a cold sink in order to maintain optimal operation of the pump system 10. Accordingly, for example, a cooling system according to an embodiment of the invention can be situated between the motor 16 and either or both of the end plate 18 and the fluid outlet 13, according to examples discussed below. In this way, for example, the cooling system can provide a thermal pathway from the motor 16, the drive 22, and other relevant components, to the fluid flowing through the pump system 10.
Referring now to
Generally, some circulator pumps for circulating water have components that seal the motor stator from contact with the water. As shown in
Heat pipes can be used in different combinations and configurations in different embodiments, and can be arranged to move heat to and from any variety of components. In the pump system 112, for example, at least one heat pipe 124 is connected to the motor 116. The heat pipe(s) 124 can, for example, directly receive heat from a pole or poles of the motor stator (e.g., as shown). In some embodiments, at least one heat pipe can be connected to the electronics assembly 114 for a similar purpose.
In some embodiments, other bodies can be arranged to transfer heat between sets of different heat pipes, or to transfer heat between the heat pipes and other objects. As shown in
Generally, one or more of the heat pipes 124 can be a closed loop natural convection cooling device that consists of a sealed envelope, a wick (in some cases), and a working fluid. The sealed envelope can be a sealed tube made of a thermal conductor such as copper, aluminum, stainless steel, or a superalloy with an alkali metal, among others. The sealed envelope is compatible with the working fluid, the working fluid being water, a refrigerant, ammonia, acetone, ethanol, mercury, among others selected based on the operating temperature of the heat pipe application. Generally, as heat moves into one portion of the heat pipe, the working fluid can vaporize, resulting in general expansion and convection away from the source of heat. As the vaporized fluid reaches a cooler portion of the heat pipe, it will lose heat to the surroundings, via the walls of the heat pipe, condense, and then begin to circulate back to the heat source. In this way, for example, relatively high levels of heat transfer can be achieved.
Heat pipes in embodiments of the invention can exhibit any variety of geometries, materials, fluids, heat capacities, and so on. For example, the heat pipes 124 are illustrated as generally thin, rectangular, bendable bodies, with generally uniform cross-sections. This may be particularly suitable, for example, for cooling of pump systems that exhibit relatively close clearances as well as relatively high rates of heat generation. In other embodiments, however, other configurations are possible.
Generally, a heat sink can be disposed in a number of locations on a pump system to transfer heat out of pump system and into the flow of water. In some embodiments, a heat sink can be configured to be at least partly immersed in the water during operation of the pump. In some embodiments, fins or other structures can be disposed at least partly between the heat sink and the pump-driven water flow. As in the embodiment of
In different embodiments, a heat sink can be formed with different shapes, surfaces, or other characteristics. For example, the surface area of the heat sink 122 that is exposed to the water flow can be increased via optimized sizing of the heat sink 122 or via particular surface geometry, such as protrusions in the fins, post or other geometries, as shown in
In some embodiments, a heat sink can be usefully arranged downstream of an impeller, such as may increase the convective coefficient for water flowing across the heat sink. In some embodiments, as illustrated in
Some embodiments can include multiple heat sinks to receive heat from one or more heat pipes for rejection to pump water. In such cases, a number of combinations of heat sink arrangements can be provided. For example, one or more heat sinks can be mounted on a seal plate of the pump and one or more heat sinks can be mounted on an outlet pipe of the pump system. In further examples, two or more heat sinks can be mounted on the outlet pipe of the pump system, or two or more heat sinks can be mounted on the seal plate of the pump.
In the embodiment illustrated in
As noted above, a cooling system for a pump system can include a variety of heat pathway arrangements formed from one or more heat sinks, and one or more heat pipes to transfer heat from a pump motor or an electronics assembly to the flow of water. In this regard, for example, heat pipes, heat sinks, and other components of a cooling system can be arranged in a variety of combinations, with the various components in parallel, in series, and any combination of a parallel or series arrangement, to effect appropriate heat transfer (e.g., as described above).
A representative physical embodiment of the thermal circuit of
Thus, the stator heat pipes 234, and the heat transfer plate 238, can be arranged to conductively receive heat from one or more poles of the stator of the motor 216. Further, the heat-sink heat pipes 236 are secured in parallel with each other between the heat transfer plate 238 and the heat sink 232. Also, the heat sink 232 is exposed to the flow of water Y through the pump system 212. Thus, a thermal pathway from multiple poles of the stator of the motor 216 to the flow of water is provided. Further, due to the generally L-shaped and partly vertical orientation of the heat pipes 234, 236, a particularly effective natural circulation can be established within the heat pipes 234, 236.
In some embodiments, other structures can be provided. For example, the heat-sink heat pipes 236 can be sandwiched between the intermediate heat transfer plate 238 and a support plate, such as an L-bend aluminum construct that can support motor electronics (not shown in
In some embodiments, as also noted above, the heat pipes can be used to move heat in parallel from a motor and from motor electronics. For example, in the embodiment illustrated in
As illustrated in
In some embodiments, a cooling system can include two parallel heat transfer pathways, with dedicated cooling for separate components of a motor assembly. For example, as shown in the thermal circuit in
In other embodiments, other configurations are possible. For example, each of the heat pipes 436 can be placed in communication with a respective dedicated heat sink, for dedicated rejection of heat to the water flow Y. In some embodiments, one or both of the heat pipes 436 can be configured to transfer heat to the water flow Y at a seal plate of a pump system (or elsewhere), rather than at the fluid outlet 413.
In other embodiments, other configurations are possible. For example, those of skill in the art will recognize, according to the principles and concepts disclosed herein, that various combinations, sub-combinations, and substitutions of the components discussed above can provide appropriate cooling for a variety of different configurations of motors, pumps, electronic assemblies, and so on, under a variety of operating conditions.
The previous description of the disclosed embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the invention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/823,434, filed on Mar. 25, 2019, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62823434 | Mar 2019 | US |
