Liquid pump including a gas accumulation area and rankine cycle device including a liquid pump

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9850783-B2
Application number	US-201514661731-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 18, 2015
Priority date	Apr 1, 2014
Publication date	Dec 26, 2017
Grant date	Dec 26, 2017

Abstract

A liquid pump includes: a casing; a feed pipe bringing liquid from outside the casing to inside the casing; a pump mechanism provided in the casing and including a suction hole for sucking in the liquid and a discharge hole for discharging the liquid sucked in via the suction hole; a suction space positioned in the casing on a suction-hole inlet side and making a flow path formed by the feed pipe and the suction hole communicate with each other; and a discharge space positioned on a discharge-hole outlet side in the casing and communicating with the discharge hole. The suction space includes a gas accumulation area that is positioned above a center of an opening at casing-side end of the feed pipe, when viewed vertically and that accumulates gas brought into the casing through the feed pipe together with the liquid to separate the gas from the liquid.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A liquid pump comprising:
a casing;
a feed pipe that brings liquid from outside the casing to inside the casing;
a pump mechanism that is provided inside the casing, and that includes a suction hole through which the liquid is sucked in and a discharge hole through which the liquid sucked in via the suction hole is discharged;
a suction space that is extended from an opening of the feed pipe to an inlet of the suction hole in the casing, and that connects a flow path formed by the feed pipe to the suction hole;
a discharge space that is positioned on a side with an outlet of the discharge hole in the casing and that connects to the discharge hole; and
a member that is provided on a line segment connecting the center of the opening at the end of the feed pipe on the side with the casing and a center of the inlet of the suction hole,
wherein the suction space includes a gas accumulation area that is positioned above a center of the opening of the feed pipe on a side with the casing, in a cross section view of the liquid pump, and that accumulates gas brought into the casing through the feed pipe together with the liquid to separate the gas from the liquid,
the suction space includes a reservoir area that holds the liquid, and
the end of the feed pipe on the side with the casing is positioned at a height of the inlet of the suction hole or above the inlet of the suction hole, in the cross section view of the liquid pump.

2. The liquid pump according to claim 1 , wherein an inner peripheral surface of the casing includes, as space-forming parts, only a part that forms the suction space and a part that forms the discharge space.

3. The liquid pump according to claim 1 , further comprising a shaft,
wherein the pump mechanism sucks in the liquid via the suction hole and discharges the liquid via the discharge hole by rotation of the shaft.

4. The liquid pump according to claim 1 , further comprising a dividing member that divides the suction space into an upper space that is in contact with the end of the feed pipe on the side with the casing and a lower space that is in contact with the inlet of the suction hole.

5. The liquid pump according to claim 1 , wherein a straight line that extends along a central axis of the feed pipe to inside the casing and a straight line that passes a center of the inlet of the suction hole and is orthogonal to the inlet of the suction hole are included in different planes.

6. The liquid pump according to claim 3 , wherein, when a first line segment and a second line segment are projected on a plane orthogonal to the rotation axis of the shaft, an angle between the first line segment and the second line segment is in a range of 90° to 270°, the first line segment connects the center of the opening at the end of the feed pipe on the side with the casing and the rotation axis of the shaft, the second line segment connects a center of the inlet of the suction hole and the rotation axis of the shaft.

7. The liquid pump according to claim 3 , further comprising an electric motor that is provided inside the casing, is connected to the pump mechanism via the shaft, and drives the pump mechanism.

8. The liquid pump according to claim 7 , wherein the electric motor is provided in the discharge space.

9. A Rankine cycle device comprising:
a heater that heats working fluid;
an expander that expands the working fluid heated by the heater;
a radiator that dissipates heat of the working fluid expanded by the expander; and
a liquid pump according to claim 1 ,
wherein the working fluid in a liquid state flowing out from the radiator is brought, as the liquid, to inside the casing via the feed pipe.

10. The liquid pump according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a discharge pipe that discharges the liquid discharged from the pump mechanism to the discharge space via the discharge hole; and
a flow path formed by the discharge pipe communicating with the discharge space.

11. The liquid pump according to claim 2 , further comprising:
a discharge pipe that discharges the liquid discharged from the pump mechanism to the discharge space via the discharge hole; and
a flow path formed by the discharge pipe communicating with the discharge space.

12. The liquid pump according to claim 8 , further comprising:
a discharge pipe that discharges the liquid discharged from the pump mechanism to the discharge space via the discharge hole; and
a flow path formed by the discharge pipe communicating with the discharge space.

13. The liquid pump according to claim 1 , wherein the member includes at least two of a pump case, a lower bearing member, and a shaft.

14. The liquid pump according to claim 1 , wherein the pump mechanism includes a pump case between an upper bearing member and a lower bearing member, the upper bearing member includes the discharge hole, and the lower bearing member includes the suction hole.

15. The liquid pump according to claim 4 , wherein the dividing member includes a plurality of communication paths.

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Hikichi Takumi
• Kido Osao
• Okaichi Atsuo
• Tomigashi Yoshio

Classifications

• F04D9/003

  separating and removing the vapour · CPC title

• F04D13/06

  the pump being electrically driven · CPC title

• F04D13/16

  with storage reservoirs · CPC title

• F04C15/06 Primary

  Arrangements for admission or discharge of the working fluid, e.g. constructional features of the inlet or outlet · CPC title

• F04C15/008

  Prime movers · CPC title