Axial-flow pumps and related methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9909588-B2
Application number	US-201113194529-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 29, 2011
Priority date	Jul 30, 2010
Publication date	Mar 6, 2018
Grant date	Mar 6, 2018

Abstract

Miniature (mesoscale) axial-flow pumps including an inlet guide, a stator spaced apart from the inlet guide, and a rotor rotatably disposed between the inlet guide and the stator.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An axial-flow pump comprising:
a housing having an internal surface defining a channel having an inlet portion and an outlet portion, the channel extending through the housing;
an inlet guide having a body and a plurality of axial vanes spaced at equiangular intervals about a perimeter of said body and extending outward from the body and from each vertex of said body, the inlet guide configured to be coupled in fixed relation to the housing inside the channel;
a stator spaced apart from the inlet guide, the stator having a stator body and a plurality of curved vanes extending outward from the stator body, the stator configured to be coupled in fixed relation to the housing inside the channel closer to the outlet portion than is the inlet guide, the curved vanes each having a concave upstream surface;
a rotor rotatably disposed between the inlet guide and the stator, the rotor having a rotor body and a plurality of curved vanes extending outward from the rotor body that each have a concave downstream surface, the rotor configured to be coupled to a motor or turbine to rotate the rotor relative to the inlet guide and the stator to pump fluid through the channel in a flow direction from the inlet guide toward the stator;
where the pump is configured such that if:
the rotor rotates at 10,000 revolutions per minute (rpm), the pump can pump liquid through the channel at a volumetric flowrate of a unit volume per second, where the unit volume is at least two times the channel volume along the length of the inlet guide, the rotor, and the stator.

2. The pump of claim 1 , further comprising a motor or a turbine coupled to the rotor such that the motor or the turbine can be actuated to rotate the rotor.

3. The pump of claim 2 , where the pump is configured such that if the rotor rotates at 30,000 rpm, the pump can pump liquid through the channel at a volumetric flowrate of a unit volume per second, where the unit volume is at least twenty times the channel volume along the length of the inlet guide, the rotor, and the stator.

4. The pump of claim 3 , where the pump is configured such that if the rotor rotates at 50,000 rpm, the pump can pump liquid through the channel at a volumetric flowrate of a unit volume per second, where the unit volume is at least thirty times the channel volume along the length of the inlet guide, the rotor, and the stator.

5. The pump of claim 2 , where the rotor has at least two longitudinally-spaced cross-sectional shapes at which each rotor vane has a surface that is parallel to a radial axis extending from the rotational axis of the rotor in the respective cross-sectional plane.

6. The pump of claim 2 , where the stator has at least two longitudinally-spaced cross-sectional shapes at which each stator vane has a surface that is parallel to a radial axis extending from the longitudinal axis of the stator in the respective cross-sectional plane.

7. The pump of claim 2 , where the rotor has a maximum transverse dimension of less than 10 millimeters (mm).

8. The pump of claim 7 , where the rotor has a maximum transverse dimension of less than or equal to 7 millimeters (mm).

9. The pump of claim 2 , where the pump is configured such that if the rotor rotates at 10,000 revolutions per minute (rpm), the pump can generate a pump head of at least 0.12 meters (m) while pumping liquid through the channel at a volumetric flowrate of 1.2 milliliters per second (mL/s).

10. The pump of claim 1 , where the inlet guide includes a domed upstream end.

11. The pump of claim 1 , where the stator includes a domed downstream end.

12. An axial-flow pump comprising:
a housing having an internal surface defining a channel having an inlet portion and an outlet portion, the channel extending through the housing;
an inlet guide having a body and a plurality of axial vanes spaced at equiangular intervals about a perimeter of said body and extending outward from the body, the inlet guide configured to be coupled in fixed relation to the housing inside the channel;
a stator spaced apart from the inlet guide, the stator having a stator body and a plurality of curved vanes extending outward from the stator body, the stator configured to be coupled in fixed relation to the housing inside the channel closer to the outlet portion than is the inlet guide, the curved vanes each having a concave upstream surface;
a rotor rotatably disposed between the inlet guide and the stator, the rotor having a rotor body and a plurality of curved vanes extending outward from the rotor body that each have a concave downstream surface, the rotor configured to be coupled to a motor or turbine to rotate the rotor relative to the inlet guide and the stator to pump fluid through the channel in a flow direction from the inlet guide toward the stator;
where the pump is configured such that: the maximum transverse dimension of any of the rotor is less than or equal to 8 millimeters (mm);
and if the rotor rotates at 10,000 revolutions per minute (rpm), the pump can pump liquid through the channel at a volumetric flowrate of at least 2 milliliters per second (mL/s).

13. The pump of claim 12 , further comprising a motor or a turbine coupled the rotor such that the motor or turbine can be actuated to rotate the rotor.

14. The pump of claim 13 , where the pump is configured such that if the rotor rotates at 30,000 rpm, the pump can pump liquid through the channel at a volumetric flowrate of at least 15 mL/s.

15. The pump of claim 14 , where the pump is configured such that if the rotor rotates at 50,000 rpm, the pump can pump liquid through the channel at a volumetric flowrate of at least 25 mL/s.

16. The pump of claim 13 , where the rotor has at least two longitudinally-spaced cross-sectional shapes at which each rotor vane has a surface that is parallel to a radial axis extending from the rotational axis of the rotor in the respective cross-sectional plane.

17. The pump of claim 13 , where the stator has at least two longitudinally-spaced cross-sectional shapes at which each stator vane has a surface that is parallel to a radial axis extending from the longitudinal axis of the stator in the respective cross-sectional plane.

18. The pump of claim 13 , where the inlet guide includes a domed upstream end and a domed downstream end.

19. The pump of claim 13 , wherein said stator body has a substantially circular cross-sectional shape.

20. The pump of claim 13 wherein said stator body has a rectangular cross-sectional shape.

21. The pump of claim 13 wherein said stator body has a triangular cross-sectional shape.

Assignees

• Choudhuri Ahsan
• Univ Texas

Inventors

• Choudhuri Ahsan

Classifications

• F04D29/528

  especially adapted for liquid pumps · CPC title

• F04D13/04 Primary

  the pump being fluid driven · CPC title

• F04D29/548

  Specially adapted for liquid pumps (F04D29/56 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F04D3/00 Primary

  Axial-flow pumps (priming or boosting F04D9/00) · CPC title

• F04D13/0606

  Canned motor pumps · CPC title