AU626762B2

AU626762B2 - Guided vanes power system

Info

Publication number: AU626762B2
Application number: AU82659/91A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Norbert Josef Kunta
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1988-02-19
Filing date: 1991-08-23
Publication date: 1992-08-06
Anticipated expiration: 2009-02-17
Also published as: AU8265991A

Description

CP~

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 626762 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

(ORIGINAL)

Class Int. Class Application Number: Lodged: Complete Specification Lodged: Accepted: Published: Priority a :Related Art: o 0 o 9O 90 9 9 0:Name of Applicant: o.Norbert Josef Kunta Actual Inventor(s): Norbert Josef Kunta 0l0oo Address for Service: a 9 o 0 00 9 09 PHILLIPS ORMONDE FITZPATRICK Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys 367 Collins Street Melbourne 3000 AUSTRALIA Invention Title: GUIDED VANES POWER SYSTEM 9 0 o* Our Ref 226177 POF Code: 118041/76364 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to applicant(s): 6006 Guided Vanes Power System This invention relates generally to power systems and in particular to a power system incorporating guided vanes. The power system according to the invention is applicable for use as a hydraulic or pneumatic motor. It is to be appreciated, however, that the invention is not limited to that application.

A guided vanes power system has been developed by the present applicant and is described in Australian Patent No. 612465, details of which are incorporated 04.0 S herein by reference. To maintain optimal operation of this power system, regular inspection of the inner S surfaces and vanes should be conducted to check for wear 1 and/or damage thereof. Although this inspecticL should S ideally be conducted with the power system disassembled, Sthis would in practice be inconvenient to the user because of the time lost in disassembling and reassembling the power system after inspection.

It would therefore be advantageous to have a power system including means to facilitate this inspection 0090 S without the need to disassemble the power system.

With this in mind, the present invention provides a guided vanes power system including, a hollow~stator body having an inner wall of non-circular cylindrical form, and closure means closing off each end of said stator body such that a cavity is defined within said stator body 4 between said closure means, a rotor rotatably mounted within said cavity, said rotor having a plurality of slots formed therein said slots being spaced around the periphery of the rotor and extending radially inwardly from the periphery of the rotor and being aligned with the axis of rotation of the rotor, a vane located in each of said slots, said vanes being slidable in said slots between outwards and inwards positions, said vanes having an outer edge arranged to be in contact with said inner wall of said stator body, and guide means on each respective closure means for positively displacing said I vanes as said rotor rotates in use, said guide means being 0 VF -2- I -i rr*~ arranged to keep said outer surfaces of said vanes in sliding contact with said inner wall during said rotation, at least two fluid passages extending into said cavity through which operating fluid can be introduced into and removed from said cavity, a o o he 0 a 9 a VF 2a 0 00 SVF2a 0^ 4 00 1 000 4y ui 00 0^ 0 0 -ar ranged to kto ai p n o -I--c-s rd-iing t with said inner wall during ai rotation wherein at least one inspection access opening is provided on at least one of the closure means for allowing inspection of the inner surfaces and the vanes of the power system.

The inspection access opening(s) is preferably located ajacent a shortest diameter portion of the cavity. The inspection access opening(s) preferably has a width sufficient to allow the vanes to be extracted through the opening.

An engagement means is preferably provided on each vane for engagement with a vane extraction means and may *o preferably be a threaded bore located at the end of the vane.

o Two inspection access openings is preferably provided on one of the closure means. Alternatively an inspection access opening can preferably be provided on each of the closure means.

The inspection access opening is preferably closed by a plug, the peripheral end of the plug being flush with a: the inner wall of the cavity when fully secured within the access opening. The inspection access opening and plug 0 o preferably respectively support co-operating screwthreads.

An embodiment of the invention is described in detail in the following passages of the specification which refer to the accompanying drawings. The drawings, however, are merely illustrative of how the invention might be put into effect, so that the specific form and arrangement of the various features as shown is not to be understood as limiting on the invention.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is an end view of a guided vane power system according to the invention shown with a lower portion of the end plate removed such that the internal arrangement of components can be viewed; Figure 2 is a side view of the hydraulic power system of Firure 1 shown with a lower portion in cross-section; and

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y 3 Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view along line II-II of Figure 1 showing the plug according to the present invention.

Referring initially to Figures 1 and 2, the guided vanes power system includes a stator 1 having a central cavity 2 in which a rotor 3 rotates in use. The cavity 2 has an inner wall 5 which is of non-circular cylindrical form having a twin centered symmetric elliptical shape.

The stator 1 includes a central portion 4 with the cavity 2 formed therein and two end plates 6 which close off each side of the cavity 2. Each end plate 6 has an opening 7 through which the shaft 8 of the rotor 3 extends. In an 0 alternative embodiment one of the end plates 6 may support a thrust bearing for supporting one end of the shaft 8.

Each end plate 6 carries an oval shaped guide plate 11 which is secured to the inner wall of or is integrally

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0 formed with the end plate 5 and which is shaped complementarily to the cavity inner wall 5. That is, when the end plates 6 are mounted to the central portion 4, a uniform width guide track 12 is defined between the Speripheral edge 13 of the guide plates 11 and the cavity owall 5. A section of that oval shaped guide track 12 is shown in the lower portion of Figure 1.

.2 The rotor 3 includes the shaft 8 having a rotor head 14. That head 14 is of circular form and is coaxial with the shaft 8. The head 14 includes a recess 15 at each end thereof, the two recesses being of circular shape and coaxial with the axis of the shaft 8. A shoulder 16 is thus formed around the periphery of the head portion 14 and that shoulder 16 locates in the guide track 12. The inner diameter of that shoulder 16 is substantially the same dimension as the long diameter of the guide plate 11 and the outer diameter of the shoulder 6 is substantially the same dimension as the shortest diameter of the cavity 2.

The rotor head 14 carries a plurality of vanes 18 which locate in slots 19 formed around the periphery of the head 14. The vanes 18 are able to slide in the slots 39 19 between an outer position wherein the vane 18 is at its 4 I m m

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maximum radial extension from the head 14 and an inner position where the vane 18 is at its minimum radial extension therefrom. As the rotor 14 rotates in use, the vanes 18, the end regions of which locate in the guide track 12, are positively displaced by that guide track 12 to move between the inner and outer positions. The radially outer edge of the vanes 18 have a small groove 22 running the length thereof and a teflon strip 23 or other wear resistant sealing element is located in that groove 22. The teflon strip 23 seals with the cavity inner wall 5 and in use slides smoothly thereon.

4,00 oo oThe manner in which the vanes 18 are positively oo displaced in the slots 19 ensures that the vanes 18 smoothly follow in the guide track 12 as the rotor 14 Op 0 rotates. The vanes 18 are not assisted in this movement by springs or fluid pressure, and the end regions of the vanes 18 slide smoothly in the guide tracks 12, lubricated by the operating fluid used to drive the power system or by other means.

The stator 1 has a plurality of pressure chambers 24 40,404 formed therein and those pressure chambers 24 are recessed 4440 4o relative to the cavity inner wall 5 as depicted in Figure 1. Fluid passages are provided in one of the end plates 6 0 which are in communication with those pressure chambers 24. In the present embodiment there are four pressure chambers 24 with two being shown in Figure i. The other 44 44I two pressure chambers 24 are provided on the opposite side S of the stator 1. The central portion 4 has four communication passages 25, two of which are shown in Figure 1, each in communication with a separate pressure chamber 24, the communication passages 25 extending parallel to the rotational axis of the rotor 3 and each being in communication with passages in the end plate 6.

The stator 1 is provided with bolt holes 26, and bolts (not shown) are used to bolt the two end plates 6 onto the central portion 4.

At least one inspection access opening 31 is provided through one of the end plates 6 to allow 39 inspection of the internal surfaces of the power system VF 5 without having to disassemble the system. The heaviest wear on the internal surfaces occurs at or adjacent where the vanes 18 are at their inner position. This occurs when the vanes 18 reaches the area of the guide track 12 adjacent the shortest diameter of the cavity 2 as indicated by numeral 29 in Figure 1. The vanes 18 begin and end their radial stroke at that area 29 resulting in the heaviest wear there. It is therefore preferable to provide an inspection access opening 31 adjacent that area 29. As there is a second area 29 on the guide track 12 diametrically opposite to the first area 29 at which the 294od 0 vanes 18 are at their inner position, a second inspection Saccess opening 31 can also be located there. This second a• inspection access opening 31 can be provided on the same 0000 15. or on the opposite end plate 6. Two openings 31 are shown 0 0 in Figure 1 within one of the end plates 6. In the above 0. noted areas, the inspection access openings 31 would also be located between the pressure chambers 24 allowing their ready inspection.

The or each access opening 31 is wide enough to o allow the vanes 18 to be extracted from the cavity 2 094* 4 0 through the opening 31. To facilitate this removal, a threaded bore 20 is provided in the end region of each vane 18. An extractor rod (not shown) can therefore be screwed into the bore 20 to enable removal or insertion of the vanes 18.

4, A plug 33, as shown in Figure 3, is used to close t off each opening 31 which is circular and threaded to accommodate the threaded end 34 of the plug 33. The peripheral face 35 of the plug 33 is flush with the inner surface of the end plate 6 when fully secured therein.

Other shapes of access openings 33 and alternative closure means are also envisaged.

It is to be appreciated that various modifications and additions may be made to the power system without departing from the ambit of the invention defined in the claims appended hereto. I 39 6

Claims

2. A guided vanes power system according to claim 1 wherein the inspection access opening(s) is located adjacent a shortest diameter portion of the cavity.
3. A guided vanes power system according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the inspection access opening(s) has a width sufficient to allow the vanes to be extracted through the opening.
4. A guided vanes power system according to claim 3 wherein an engagement means is provided on each vane for I engagement with a vane extraction means, A guided vanes power system according to claim 4 wherein the engagement means is a threaded bore located u& at the end of the vane. U L, F -7- iA I I I I I I l7 I I Ii i r 300 o i' 0 00 0 3 83 00 0 40 4 O
6. A guided vanes power system according to any preceding claim wherein two inspection access openings are provided on one of the closure means.
7. A guided vanes power system according to any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein an inspection access opening is provided on each of the closure means.
8. A guided vanes power system according to any preceding claim wherein the inspection access opening is closed by a plug, the peripheral end of the plug being flush with the inner wall of the cavity when fully secured within the access opening.
9. A guided vanes power system according to claim 8 wherein the inspection access opening and plug respectively support co-operating screwthreads.
10. A guided vanes power system substantially as hereinbefore described with respect to what is shown in the accompanying drawings. DATED: 24 March 1992 4 0 0 4 o I o 04 PHILLIPS ORMONDE FITZPATRICK Attorneys for: NORBERT JOSEF KUNTA c\ jA 4,u 8 I m ABSTRACT A guided vanes power system including, a hollow stator body having an inner wall of non--circular cylindrical form, and closure means closing off each end of said stator body such that a cavity is defined within said stator body between said closure means and a rotor rotatably mounted within said 0cavity The rotor has a plurality of slots (19) So formed therein said slots (19) being spaced around the periphery of the rotor and extending radially inwardly from the periphery of the rotor and being aligned with the axis of rotation of the rotor A vane (18) is located in each of said slots said vanes being slidable in said slots (19) between outwards and inwards positions, said vanes (18) having an outer edge arranged Q 4,0 to be in contact with said inner wall of said stator o body Guide means (11) are provided on each respective closure means for positively displacing said, vanes as said rotor rotates in use, said guide means (11) being arranged to keep said outer surfaces of said vanes (18) in sliding contact with said St. inner wall during said rotation. At least one inspection access opening (31) is provided on at least one of the closure means for allowing inspection of the inner surfaces and the vanes (18) of the power system. 0731b L-