Rotating piston for pumps

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10859162-B2
Application number	US-201916416658-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 20, 2019
Priority date	Dec 30, 2015
Publication date	Dec 8, 2020
Grant date	Dec 8, 2020

Abstract

A piston is the driven component within a pump. The piston is driven along a longitudinal axis to pump a fluid through the pump. The fluid flows through the piston between an upstream end of the pump and a downstream end of the pump. The piston outputs the fluid into the downstream end of the pump at a vector offset from the longitudinal axis, thereby inducing rotation of the piston throughout the pumping process. Rotating the piston encourages even wear on various components within the pump, such as sealing rings surrounding the piston, thereby increasing the lifespan of the components and increasing the efficiency of the pump.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A pump comprising:
a cylinder;
a piston disposed within the cylinder and configured to reciprocate along a spray axis, the piston including at least one outlet;
a first seal disposed between the cylinder and the piston;
a second seal disposed between the cylinder and the piston;
wherein the at least one outlet is disposed on a portion of the piston between the first seal and the second seal; and
wherein the at least one outlet is configured to expel paint into a chamber defined by the first seal, the second seal, and the cylinder at an orientation offset from the spray axis to induce rotation of the piston relative to the cylinder.

2. The pump of claim 1 , wherein the cylinder includes:
an upstream end;
a downstream end; and
an outlet port extending through a side wall that extends between the upstream end and the downstream end, wherein the outlet port is extends through the side wall at a location disposed between the first seal and the second seal.

3. The pump of claim 2 , wherein:
the piston includes a piston rod having a first end and a second end;
the first end extends out of the downstream end of the cylinder and is configured to connect to a drive mechanism to be driven by the drive mechanism.

4. The pump of claim 3 , wherein the first end includes a neck and a rod head.

5. The pump of claim 1 , wherein:
the piston includes a first contact region formed on an exterior of the piston and disposed proximate a first end of the piston, the first contact region configured to contact and fluidly seal against the first seal during reciprocation of the piston;
wherein the at least one outlet is formed in the piston on an upstream side of the first contact region and wherein the at least one outlet is configured to expel the paint into the chamber to induce rotation of the first contact region relative to the first seal.

6. The pump of claim 5 , wherein the piston comprises:
a piston head; and
a piston rod connected to the piston head;
wherein the first contact region is formed on the piston rod and the at least one outlet extends through the piston rod.

7. The pump of claim 6 , wherein the at least one outlet comprises at least one side bore shaped to redirect the paint from a central bore of the piston rod and expel the paint into the chamber.

8. The pump of claim 7 , wherein:
the at least one side bore includes one or more angled surfaces, the one or more angled surfaces configured to redirect the flow of the paint along one or more vectors during reciprocation of the piston rod; and
each of the one or more vectors is orientated away from the piston rod and offset from the longitudinal axis such that the redirecting of the paint along the one or more vectors by the one or more angled surfaces causes rotation of the piston rod during reciprocation of the piston rod.

9. The pump of claim 6 , wherein the at least one outlet comprises:
at least one flute formed on an exterior of the piston rod, the at least one flute including one or more angled surfaces configured to redirect the flow of the paint and expel the paint into the chamber at the at least one orientation offset from the axis.

10. The pump of claim 9 , wherein the at least one flute includes a first flute and a second flute that are at least partially disposed between and bounded by the piston head and the piston rod.

11. The pump of claim 6 , wherein the piston head is joined to the piston rod such that the piston head and the piston rod simultaneously rotate during reciprocation of the piston.

12. The pump of claim 11 , wherein each orientation of the at least one orientation is in one of the clockwise or counterclockwise direction about the piston, and the piston rod threadedly screws into the piston head in the same clockwise or counterclockwise direction such that the threaded connection between the piston rod and the piston head is at least one of tightened and maintained in tightness by each reciprocation cycle.

13. The pump of claim 5 , wherein the piston includes a second contact region formed on an exterior of the piston and disposed proximate a second end of the piston, the second contact region configured to contact and fluidly seal against the second seal during reciprocation of the piston.

14. The pump of claim 13 , wherein the second contact region is formed on an exterior of a piston head of the piston, the piston head joined to a piston rod.

15. The pump of claim 14 , wherein the at least one outlet is configured to expel the paint into the chamber to induce rotation of the second contact region relative to the second seal.

16. A paint spraying system comprising:
the pump of claim 1 ; and
a spray gun fluidly connected to receive paint from the pump and configured to spray the paint onto a surface;
wherein the piston is configured to reciprocate within the cylinder to drive paint from a reservoir to the spray gun.

17. A method of pumping paint under pressure, the method comprising:
driving reciprocation of a pump rod of a double displacement pump along a longitudinal axis within a cylinder of the pump;
flowing paint out of the pump rod and into a chamber defined by the cylinder of the pump through at least one outlet formed in the pump rod, wherein the at least one outlet expels fluid into the chamber along at least one orientation offset from the axis thereby inducing rotation of the pump rod relative to the cylinder;
wherein at least a portion of the pump rod contacts and seals against a first seal disposed within the cylinder, an interface between the pump rod and the first seal at least partially defining the chamber.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the step of flowing paint out of the pump rod and into the chamber defined by the cylinder of the pump through the at least one outlet formed in the pump rod includes:
flowing the paint through a central bore formed in the pump rod; and
flowing the paint out of the central bore and into the chamber through at least one side bore extending through the pump rod to the central bore, the at least one side bore forming the at least one outlet;
wherein the at least one side bore includes one or more angled surfaces, the one or more angled surfaces configured to redirect the flow of the paint along one or more vectors during reciprocation of the piston to induce the rotation of the piston.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the step of flowing paint out of the pump rod and into the chamber defined by the cylinder of the pump through the at least one outlet formed in the pump rod includes:
flowing the paint through at least one flute formed on an exterior of the pump rod, the at least one flute defining the outlet and including one or more angled surfaces configured to redirect the flow of the paint and expel the paint into the chamber at the orientation offset from the axis.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein the step of flowing paint out of the pump rod and into the chamber defined by the cylinder of the pump through the at least one outlet formed in the pump rod includes:
flowing the paint out of the pump rod and into the chamber through a first outlet formed in the pump rod and through a second outlet formed in the pump rod;
wherein the first outlet is oriented to expel paint into the chamber and induce rotation of the pump rod in one of the clockwise and counterclockwise direction; and
wherein the second outlet is oriented to expel paint into the chamber and induce rotation of the pump rod in the same one of the cl

Assignees

• Graco Minnesota Inc

Inventors

• Horning Jeromy D
• Lins Christopher A
• Klaverkamp James A

Classifications

• F04B53/143

  Sealing provided on the piston · CPC title

• F04B53/12

  arranged in or on pistons · CPC title

• F04B19/22

  of reciprocating-piston type · CPC title

• F04B17/06 Primary

  Mobile combinations · CPC title

• F04B7/06

  the pistons and cylinders being relatively reciprocated and rotated · CPC title