FI127796B - A pump of a pump unit and a method for generating over-pressure fluid - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a pump (6) of a pump unit (100), that comprises a kinetic pump being an electric and pneumatic machine driven by the machine means arrange to control the pump velocity, the pump (6) being medium lubricated fluid bearings (FB) comprising direct driven pump.

Description

A PUMP OF A PUMP UNIT AND A METHOD FOR GENERATING OVERPRESSURE FLUID

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Technical field

In a very general level, the invention relates to clean technology of rotating machines. Even more particularly, the invention relates to turbo-machines that are suitable for operation as turbo-pumps in industrial applications. Furthermore, the invention relates to systems for applications in which pressurized fluids are required. Especially the invention relates to a pump according to the pre-amble part of an independent claim directed to a high velocity high pressure pump. The invention concerns also a pump unit that comprises at least one high velocity high pressure pump according to the invention.

Background technology

Fluid transference from a first location to another location does not always occur autonomously. Even if it were occurring so, by gravity for example, the desired amount of fluid as well as the speed may require increasing the kinetic energy of the fluid. This is achieved with pumps. The fluid itself may be in a form of a gas, liquid, or a suspension of such fluid components, also solid particles may be constituents of a multi-phase fluid that comprises at least two fluid components thereof

Typically most important parameters to describe a pump are the mass-flow, operating pressure and the intake power, in addition to the efficiency. These parameters are related to the capability to pump amount of the fluid, its volume and/or mass. The efficiency is related to the economic-features, i.e. how much of the pump-intake energy, from an electricity net for example, can be used for the fluid energy increase, or, for example how high the pumped fluid can be elevated against the gravity.

In a generalized maimer, the structural classification of the operation principles of the pumps can be classified coarsely to replacing or dislodging pumps and kinetic pumps according to their main operation principle.

Dislodging pump operations can be understood by a cylinder-piston geometry, where their respective movement makes the flow into and/or out of the cylinder in the phase of the piston movement in the cylinder. However, the suction phase as such can be considered as a disadvantage during which the dislodging pump the backward movement of the piston loads new portion of the fluid to be dislodged by the piston into

20175228 prh 18-12-2018 the feed line during the next forward movement. Consequently there is a variation of the fluid pressure, pulsation in a periodic operation, even although dislodging pumps may be designed to operate with in a group of pistons suitably phased for the mitigation. In addition, such a back and forth movement may produce high acceleration 5 forces to the piston and the supporting structures, when the movement direction is about change. This is important especially if the desired operation cycle frequency is high, that sets high demands to the materials being used, so that they can tolerate continuously the periodic forces expected when the pump is used.

In addition, conventional piston or screw pumps are large in size, heavy, and often 10 also noisy. They require maintenance relatively often, and especially in uncooled screw pumps, the operating efficiency is often poor. It is also so that it is difficult to generate a very high rotational speed with an overdrive gear; the overdrive gear becomes expensive and is liable to failures.

Kinetic pumps constitute their operation on central acceleration in a revolving mo15 tion. In such condition the fluid is expected to continue its kinetic state at the perimeter of the fluid volume, as there were such a centrifugal force present influencing to the fluid. Without to take any position to the rigorous nature of the centrifugal force's nature as a virtual force, it is many times used as it were a real acting force, in the calculations and pump designs.

However, when the revolving rate of a rotor of the kinetic pump being estimated on the basis of the angular velocity and/or radius, the centrifugal force can be used in the calculations as it were a real acting force. One skilled in the art should also notice that a real piece of macroscopic matter is always dislodging some of the material that is about to be pumped, although it has essentially nothing to do with the main opera25 tional principle of the pump. Thus, kinetic pumps are not considered to be dislodging pumps as such. Consequently, one way to classify the kinetic and dislodging pumps to their categories can be made according to the appropriate patent classification as such.

As disadvantages of the kinetic pumps they are suffering from cavitation for example, and the consequent wear out because of the corrosion and the consequential structural weakenings. The high velocity pumps would also require a proper lubrication to the bearings, but also seals that are sufficiently tight in the operation conditions of kinetic pumps, where applicable. When using especially high velocities, the bearing surfaces are exposed to a wear out, as the high revolution rates may fast rub the surfaces out of the operational tolerances, which consequently most likely will lead to vibration, precession, and thus to the damage to those parts, as rotors or parts thereof, that are

20175228 prh 18-12-2018 responsible of the fluid movement initiation, maintaining the movement and/or stopping it. In kinetic pumps the revolving part used to increase the kinetic energy of the fluid to be pumped is often called as impeller.

In space technology, as well as in military applications, the wear out have not been 5 considered as a problem, because of the drop and forget -type of operation of the parts in use as fuel pumps.

If the bearings of the impeller shaft fail, as a consequence of the lubrication failure for instance, an impeller that is having a vibrating shaft with such bearings, may be, or is most likely to break into pieces, especially if hits to the housing chassis consid10 ered as a flow channel extension. Consequently also the flow channel as well as the seals can get damaged so that even if the impeller were changed to new one, when the broken bearings were also changed to new ones, the flow channel at the impeller operational location may be also damaged because of the fragments of the previous impeller. Consequently the damaged parts with damaged material layers would in15 crease the turbulence and consequently add a vibrational component to the operative conditions.

Patent publications FI 82755, GB1525342, JPS63306295, US4621981, US5378121, US3574478, US2013301789, WO9641082 and US5139349 disclose techniques according to the preamble part of an independent claim directed to a pump of a pump 20 unit and an independent claim directed to a method for generating over pressure fluid.

Summary of the invention

It is an object of the present invention to implement such a solution, that previously mentioned drawbacks of the prior art could be diminished, if not completely elimi25 nated.

In particular, one further aspect of the invention in accordance to the object and other aspects is implied to solve how to protect the pump operation, i.e. for instance to avoid unnecessary wear out of the mechanical surface in the respective movement and how to make the maintenance of the pumps fast and accurate.

The objective of the invention is met by the features disclosed in the independent patent claim directed to a pump.

A pump of a pump unit according to the present invention is characterized by the features of the characterizing part of an independent claim directed thereto.

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A pump unit according to the present invention is characterized by the features of the characterizing part of an independent claim directed thereto

A pumping system according to an embodiment of the invention is using at least one pump according to an embodiment of the invention.

A pump of a pump unit according to an embodiment of the invention comprises:

- for the material transference through the pump, an inlet and an outlet for the respective material flows as a fluid flow to and out of the pump, so that the inlet is arranged to lead fluid in a flow in an inlet state into a pumping chamber and the outlet to lead fluid out in an outlet state of said pumping chamber,

- a pumping chamber, with a surrounding wall, in a rotary motion geometry, forming a cavity in the pump structure to provide a rotating geometry for a pumping action a rotor comprising an impeller to rotate around a shaft in the rotary motion geometry,

- a bearing unit for said co-axial shaft to support and position said rotor into the pumping position in the pumping chamber of the pump so that the rotor is enabled to rotate,

- a seal casing for a seal to utilize a pressure of the fluid.

According to an embodiment, the rotating shaft can be co-axial to the chamber or its part in which the rotor is intended to rotate, but is not necessarily limited only to such geometry.

According to an embodiment, the fluid pressure is utilized so that the high pressure 20 side pressure is arranged to press the seal also at the lower pressure side of the pump.

The pressure difference between the pump outlet and inlet is used in tightening of a seal at an upstream location from the pump outlet. According to an embodiment also at a tightening location downstream said upstream location is achieved by using the pressure difference to be used on the seal at the location.

According to an embodiment of the invention the pump has such a rotor that is matched to the bearings and to the pumping cavity rotatably so that the rotor distance from the pumping chamber wall is below a limiting value, representative of the pressure tolerance upstream direction in the fluid flow.

In the structure of the pump according to an embodiment of the invention, the rotor 30 distance is chosen to represent a distance value for a passing-by- flow dimension, said flow being ejected as a consequence of the impeller part in rotation at the surrounding wall, being chosen so to avoid cavitation occurrence as a consequence of the pressure gradient to the outlet side pass the rotor/impeller. The pumping rotor, comprising at least one of the following, impeller, inducer, and diffuser, is matched to the bearings

20175228 prh 18-12-2018 and to the pumping cavity rotatably so that the rotor distance from the pumping chamber wall is at least one of the following: below a limiting value, representative of the pressure tolerance upstream direction in the fluid flow for a back leakage prevention, above a limiting value, representative of the fluid flow layer at the wall or impeller 5 vane, and/or therebetween the said below limiting value and the above said limiting value.

The distance as such can be calculated according to known formulas for a certain fluid to be pumped.

According to an embodiment the pump can be arranged to measure the fluid proper10 ties and where necessary, also to modify the fluid during the pumping via the pump.

The fluid has a vector for an input state of the fluid and a vector for an output state. Comparing these states it is possible to detect, have there been occurred irreversible modifications in the fluid. Detection can be made by comparing vector components that are mutually comparable.

Presence of impurities as such may be not advantageous and removal of such in most cases were only well come.

However, the flow dynamic properties of the fluid to be pumped can be modified according to an embodiment of the invention so to aim to better power efficiency and/or pump operation life time. According to an embodiment of the invention the 20 modifications to the fluid can be made by transducers of the pump embodied, and the other kind of transducers can be used to monitor as sensors the made modifications, so to facilitate a feed-back loop type of control to the degree of the modification, by a controlling unit and/or terminal to such.

The transducer locations in the pump can be selected so that the transducers are not 25 making unnecessary turbulence to the flow to increase the pressure losses, but can be the turbulence can be used in mixing the fluid if modified at a modification area.

The pump according to an embodiment can comprise a chassis for parts being assembled to the pump chassis as modular parts, wherein the modular parts are at least one of the following to be mounted as modular parts: bearings, impeller, pumping cham30 her, inlet, outlet, seal chassis, fluid bearing housing, impeller vane, vane set.

The pump according to an embodiment can comprise such a modular part that has a surface coated with wear out protective coating, such as DLC, or such a DLC with over 90 % of sp3-bound of the bonds comprised in the DLC between the carbon atoms.

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In the pump according to an embodiment variant, only part or its counter-part in the same volume of operation is provided with the wear out protective coating, the other part so being considered as a coated with a weaker wear out protective coating or without such.

The pump according to an embodiment can comprise a labyrinth seal arrangement to provide a lubrication fluid feeding channel to the bearings.

A method according to an embodiment of the invention, for generating over-pressure fluid by means of a kinetic pump according to an embodiment, being coupled to an electric and/or pneumatic machine, such as an inverter and/or turbine, located on a 10 shaft (A) with the pump and comprising a rotor (R) with a first end and a second end whose rotational speed 20,000 rpm or above, in which method the shaft (A) is provided with fluid bearings (FB), the electric and/or pneumatic machine (M) is placed centrally on the shaft (A) with respect to the pump, the rotor (R) is mounted on a fluid bearing (FB) at least in an axial direction and the fluid bearing (FB) is selected to be 15 of the active type, wherein the rotor (R) comprises a mix-flow formation, so that the first and second ends of the rotor are used at least partly as counter surfaces for the fluid bearing (FB), and wherein the electric machine (M) is a squirrel-cage induction motor equipped with a coated (C) rotor (R) being used as the electric machine (M), and that the electric machine (M) is supplied with a necessary frequency generated 20 by an inverter or a frequency converter, and wherein the pneumatic machine has a turbine operable by a second fluid.

According to an embodiment the pneumatic machine is a turbomachine.

The method according to an embodiment variant is using a pump that is selected as a radial pump.

The method according to an embodiment variant is characterized in that the rotor is mounted on a magnetic bearing in a radial direction.

The method according to an embodiment variant is characterized in that the rotor is mounted on a fluid bearing in a radial direction.

The method according to an embodiment variant is characterized in that the radial 30 fluid bearing is selected to be of a dynamic tilting pad bearing type.

The invention relates to pumps, but also to a method for generating pressurized fluids by means of a kinetic pump which is coupled to a high-speed machine located on the same shaft with the compressor and comprising a high velocity rotor.

According to an embodiment the rotational speed of the pump is 20,000 rpm or above. 35 According to an embodiment the rotational speed has an upper range limit that is

20175228 prh 18-12-2018 below 700 000 rpm, in an advantageous embodiment below 400 000 rpm, and according to a further advantageous embodiment below 300 000 rpm. According to an embodiment of the invention the rotational speed has a lower range limit that is above 18000 rpm, in an advantageous embodiment above 40 000 rpm, and according to a 5 further advantageous embodiment above 100 000 rpm. According to an embodiment of the invention the rotational speed of the pump for the full operation is between a said upper range limit and a said lower range limit, representative of intended range of operational speed of rotation.

The machine is controllable electrically and/or pneumatically by a controller device, 10 arranged to control the pump via machine means that provide the infrastructure by the means to facilitate the rotation. In electric embodiments the electrical controller device can be supplied with an external controlling signal to produce the necessary frequency by a frequency converter and/or an inverter. According to an embodiment of the invention the controller device is embodied as a part of the pump or pump unit 15 comprising such an embodied pump. According to an embodiment at least the controller device according to an embodiment is comprised in the machine means. For example, according to an embodiment at least the pneumatic parts that makes the turbine rotatable as such can be comprised in the machine means, so that bearings, vanes, hoses and conduits as well as connectors to provide the fluid for the pneumatic 20 arrangement to rotate the turbine, in suitable part.

According to an embodiment example, machine means for the electrical embodiment at least the controller device according to an embodiment is comprised in the machine means. For example, according to an embodiment at least the electric parts that makes the pump rotatable as such can be comprised in the machine means, so that bearings, 25 vanes, hoses and cables as well as connectors to provide the power for the electric arrangement to rotate the pump, in suitable part.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the machine means comprise both type of machine means, the pneumatic and electric, to provide versatile use of the pump in alternate environmental conditions, even with or without electricity line available.

According to an embodiment at least one type of magnetic and/or gas bearing can be used. According to an embodiment the shaft of the rotor can be mounted on at least one fluid bearing, and at least one labyrinth seal and/or brush seal can be used. Fluid bearings can be lubricated with the fluid being pumped.

According to an embodiment of the invention a labyrinth seal has been so arranged 35 that at the inlet side of the rotor the fluid to be pumped is taken to the shaft-bearing surfaces to diminish the friction therebetween. Thus, extra lubricant circulation can

20175228 prh 18-12-2018 be avoided in suitable part, when the lubricant can be taken back to the input water vessel in such an embodiment.

Fluid bearings can be of different geometries and materials, including LFP (LowFriction Polymers).

According to an embodiment the pump is embodied as a combined kinetic-positive displacement pump. According to an embodiment a Barske-pump can be used in suitable part in an embodied pump and/or a pump-unit. According to an embodiment the pump and/or pump unit can be embodied also by a partial emission design.

According to an embodiment of the invention an embodied pump can be used in pumping water and other suitable fluids in liquid form by utilizing high velocity high pressure techniques (HVHP as also used for denoting purposes) in kinetic pumps, to produce large pressures, i.e. over 200 bars, with a good operating efficiency, i.e. over 50% and with a high rotation speed, i.e. over 20 000 rpm, but advantageously over 100 000 rpm.

According to an alternative embodiment of the invention the embodied pump can be used in pumping multi-phase fluids with a liquid medium. To multiphase fluids are here counted fluids that act like liquid, but can comprise in the carrier medium another phase that has at least one of the following phase components in the carrier medium: Solid phase, gas phase and a liquid, in a liquid phase, other than the carrier medium 20 liquid. The liquid phase other than the carrier medium phase can be in suitable part insoluble to the carrier medium phase, but is not limited only thereto in such an embodiment.

According to an alternative embodiment of the invention the embodied pump can be used in pumping multi-phase fluids with a gaseous medium. To multiphase fluids are 25 here counted fluids that act like liquid, but can comprise in the carrier medium another phase that has at least one of the following phase components: Solid phase, liquid phase and gas phase, in a gaseous phase, other than the medium gas. According to an embodiment, the gaseous phase may be as an enclosure to a solid and/or solid phase constituents of the fluid.

According to an embodiment such a pump is controlled by a controlling device embodied by a frequency converter. According to an embodiment of the invention the pump is directly coupled, i.e. without a transmission unit, the lubrication being implemented by a medium of the pump.

According to an embodiment the pump unit is using such a pump according to an 35 embodiment that is directly driven with water lubrication and labyrinth seals.

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According to an embodiment of the invention a pump system is comprising at least one such an embodied pump.

In addition to the liquid bearings also labyrinth seals can be used in accordance of the embodiments in suitable part.

An embodied pump can be used as a part of a pump unit. According to an embodiment of the invention the pump unit comprises valves, filters, water reservoir, control unit and logic therefore, but also in suitable part and amount of redundant pumps for acute issues in the operation.

Some preferable embodiments of the invention are described in the dependent claims 10 as examples of the embodiments. In Examples part of the text further examples are discussed.

Although embodiments of the invention use kinetic design in suitable part, it is not intention of the applicant to maintain being inventor of the kinetic principle as such, although embodiments may use the basic idea of kinetic design to utilize centrifugal 15 force and/or flow deceleration to increase pressure in the pump, or such parts as impeller, inducer and/or diffuser.

Significant advantages can be achieved with the present invention when compared to the prior art solutions. The embodied pump structure can produce high pressures with a good efficiency and reasonable power consumption can be achieved. Embodied 20 pumps can replace piston-operated pumps as the size is small for the embodied pumps and pump units, light weight, robust structure, oillessness, free of service structure, and easy to manufacture, and also the life-time expenses are low. The embodiments of the invention can also give benefit in pulsation free structure and improve the yield of the pump in the operation cycle, in comparison to that of pulsating pumps.

Further advantages are emissions free operation, energy efficiency, maintenance free, small size and light weight, modular structure, which is also facilitating redundant units and/or parallel operation, and pulsation free structure.

According to an embodiment the embodied pumps can be used in water hydraulics, metal industry, fire extinguishing techniques, water high pressure cuttings, high-pres30 sure washers, in gas cleaning, waste incinerators, oil drilling, mining industry, mobile hydraulics such as wave-plants. Also farming and animal caring applications for the water delivery to long distance can benefit from the embodiments.

Also in such applications, that can be operated without electricity, because of embodiments provided with suitable turbine devices that take the operation power from pneumatic instruments, can be used for example. According to an ensemble of embodiments of the invention, the pump power can be provided by pneumatic operation power, which can be taken from flue gas lines of power plants, other combustion engine exhaust lines, bio gas, natural gas, but where available, with a suitable turbine 5 designed for the liquid phase and/or multiphase fluid flows, to mention few examples.

As water can be used in the lubrication as the lubrication fluid, the viscosity of water has a low value and water is thus useful in lubrication in high speed pump operations of the embodiments of the invention.

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Short description of the drawings

10	Next, the invention is described in more detail with reference to the appended drawings, in which
	Fig. 1A	illustrates an example on an embodiment of the invention,
	Fig. IB	illustrates an example of an embodiment of the invention,
15	Fig. 2	illustrates schematically a pump according to an embodiment of the invention,
	Fig. 3	illustrates schematically an example of a pump system according to an embodiment of the invention,
	Fig. 4	illustrates an example of an embodiment to be used in controlling a pump, and
20	Fig 5A, 5B, 5C and 5D illustrate respective examples on impellers as such, diffusers as such, bearings as such and inducers as such,
	Fig 6	illustrates a cross section of a partial emission pump and labyrinth channel of lubricant as such,

Fig 7A illustrates a partial emission stator pump outer cover as such, and

Fig 7B illustrates a partial emission rotor pump impeller as such.

The embodiments of the invention are combinable in suitable part. A skilled person in the art knows that although same reference numerals in different Figs are used to denote to the similar kind of objects, they need not to be exactly the same, but in such a case the skilled person in the art can see from the context the difference, if any. The 30 dimensions of the objects or the shape in the examples of the Figs are not limited only to the shown dimensions or their mutual ratios.

Detailed description of the embodiments

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In an exemplary embodied pump structure of an embodied pump of a pump unit, there is a seal assembly, which is used to tighten the pump modules to the pump chassis as illustrated schematically in Fig 2. The seal assembly is arranged to use the own pressure of the fluid for the tightening against the seal housing of the pump chassis. Ac5 cording to an embodiment of the invention, the tightening surfaces are so arranged, that the high-pressure side of the of the tightening pieces or parts thereof are arranged nearer to the pump output, so that the even marginal pressure difference over the pump is pushing such a tightening piece upstream location of the piece, towards the tightening surface with the pressure at the downstream location of the piece, so that 10 the fluid pressure is because of the pressure difference due to the pump at least in some extent smaller at the upstream side than at the downstream side of the tightening piece. According to an embodiment the pump comprises a lubrication line for the fluid to be pumped as a lubricant, arranged to provide a flow backwards in respect to the fluid to be pumped in the main flow.

Fig 1A illustrates a pump unit 100 according to an embodiment of the invention. The Figs 1A and IB are also illustrative of peripherals (to mention items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, In/out terminals, conduits and cables, and chassis (Fig 7) as examples, not to limit only to the mentioned examples) to a pump 6 in the implementation of an embodied pump unit. Computer unit / PLC (programmable logic controller) as a con20 troller device 1 as such is used in an embodiment to control a displayed configurable device - frequency converter, inverter etc. 2. According to an embodiment of the invention the device can comprise a pneumatic controlling part to control in supplement or alternative an electrical embodiment to control the machine 5. According to an embodiment of the invention the machine comprises electrical means to be oper25 ated as a normal electrical motor in association to the pump 6, but according to an embodiment the machine 5 can comprise a pneumatic means or a part in supplement or alternative to the electrical means, so that the machine can be in supplement or alternative to electricity supplied and operated with pneumatic means of the machine also in such conditions where there is no electricity available. According to an em30 bodiment a turbine is comprised in a pump unit. According to an embodiment of the invention machine means comprise at least one of the following: electric inverter to drive the pump rotation, pneumatic means, and controller device, but also in addition also such additional infrastructure means that facilitate and/or participate to the rotation of the pump 6.

The dashed lines are indicative of pump unit structure embodiments that comprise at least one of the items 1, 2 and 5 in addition to the pump 6 as such according to the indicated rectangular surroundings of the dashed lines.

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According to an embodiment a fluid bearings (FB) can be used as water for example, has a suitable viscosity and stability for the purpose. The water can be supplied from a reservoir that is maintained to be as a local tap- water system with the appropriate connections and/or automated security and fuse means to control in an emergency the 5 water flow. Also natural sources of water can be used where available for the pumping. According to a mobile embodiment the water is supplied from a water tank 4, with a level indicator, LI, 3, for the feed water tank 4. According to an embodiment the level indicator can be connected to the controller device 1 to control the operation and/or to signal a message to the operator and/or to a control device about the water 10 level being out of threshold range, being too high or too low.

According to an embodiment the water being the fluid of operative fluid bearings, the water can be taken from an intake water filter 7 to do the filtration. According to an embodiment the filter can be also controlled by the pressure drop monitoring so that the pressure difference over the water filter is measured and a responsive signal in15 dicative of the replacement and/or regeneration is generated to the control device 1.

The signal can be also used for controlling the intake water control valve 8.

According to an embodiment the pressure side pressure of the pump 6 is measured by an outlet pressure indicator PI, 9. The measurement result can be turned to a responsive signal to the controller device 1. According to an embodiment the respon20 sive signal can be used in controlling the pump 6 operation aiming to a pre-set pressure value and/or keeping the pressure level in a pre-set range. This can be made via a feed-back loop. According to an embodiment the signal can be delivered in a wireless form, or via optical fibers in such embodiments in which electrical noise in form of large electric fields and/or magnetic disturbances are suspected to interfere the 25 signal.

Same way in suitable part, in supplement or alternative to the pressure monitoring, also outlet flow (mass flow or volumetric flow) indicator FI, 10 can be used to indicate the flow value. The measurement result made by a suitable transducer can be turned to a responsive signal to the controller device 1. According to an embodiment 30 the responsive signal can be used in controlling the pump 6 operation aiming to a preset pressure value and/or keeping the flow level in a pre-set range. This can be made via a feed-back loop. According to an embodiment the signal can be delivered in a wireless form, or via optical fibers in such embodiments in which electrical noise in form of large electric fields and/or magnetic disturbances are suspected to interfere 35 the signal.

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According to an embodiment it is used mass flow for the flow monitoring, especially when the fluid to be pumped is not known for the composition. Thus, the variations in the mass can be then directly observed, and the influence to the balancing of the running pump can be better estimated. When the fluid composition is known, to be 5 homogeneous, and the density is known in macroscopic terms, the flow monitoring can be then based on volume flow readings to be used in the pump control.

According to an embodiment of the invention the controller device 1 can comprise such an algorithm implementation that can optimize the pump 6 operation in respect of the pressure, flow and/or the both in respect to the intake power of the pump, for a 10 certain range of revolutions per minute. The optimization can be made for the highest or at least policies, or at least but not higher than thresholding policies in the monitoring, individually for the mentioned quantities, or both simultaneously.

Fig IB is illustrative of an embodiment of the invention. Particularly in Fig IB embodiments, the dashed lines has been used between objects 3 and 8 as well as objects 15 1,9 and 10 to illustrate electric cabling for power feed and/or signal cabling between the respective objects. Continuous line between other objects has been used in Fig IB for illustration of fluid piping, except between items 5, motor and the pump 6, where bold solid line is used for illustrate shaft to rotate the pump 6 by the motor 5, or alternatively or in supplement, pneumatic means as to replace the motor operation 20 where no electricity is available for such an embodiment for the pump operation as such. However, the dashed line boxes in Fig IB are used as in Fig 1A for indication of embodiments in suitable part.

Although the reference numerals are in Fig 1A in synergy with the reference numerals in Fig IB, in Fig IB the control device 1 has been drawn as without connection to the 25 LI in the Fig IB. The way of drawing is illustrative of such an ensemble of embodiments in which the level indicator is controlled via the intake water control valve 8 operation via an electric line, illustrated by the dashed lines.

In Fig 2 there is a schematic illustration of an embodied pump in accordance of the invention. A simplest embodiment of a pump unit 100 is a mere pump 6. According 30 to an embodiment the pump unit can comprise peripherals as illustrated, according to an embodiment variant, also integrated to the pump structures. At the left, the inlet In and outlet Out terminals are illustrating the inlet and outlet of the fluid to be pumped via the chamber Ch, in which the rotor R has been mounted for the pumping action. According to an embodiment the rotor comprises an impeller. According to an em35 bodiment of the invention the impeller has vanes that have constant form, but according to an optional embodiment of the invention the vanes are arranged by the material

20175228 prh 18-12-2018 selection and/or structure to take a certain position because of the rotational movement, in respect to the shaft A, during the pumping action. Examples on impellers with different vane structures as such are illustrated in Fig 5A, without any intention to limit the shape or geometry only to the illustrated examples.

According to such an embodiment the vane angle can be changing as a function of the angular velocity to a pre-defined value at the operational pressure of the fluid and/or flow of the fluid. According to such an embodiment, the vane attached shaft, has been balanced for the different vane angles. According to an embodiment of the invention, the balancing is made by another vane on the same shaft. In such an em10 bodiment a redundant spare pump is economically available at once, if provided with suitable valves to quickly change the fluid passage from a pump to the other in such a way embodied pump unit. The feature may have importance if one in use in a fluid pumping line turns to be inoperable in the line. According to an embodiment the shaft comprises masses at locations to balance the shaft with balancing torques at the shaft.

According to an embodiment a balancing torque has been arranged at least partly by a liquid arranged to flow in a radial annular direction of the shaft to minimize the triggering the vibrations of the shaft.

Transducers Tr in Fig 2 illustrate such ones at the fluid flow locations near the inlet and/or outlet of the fluid line. Those transducers Tr in chamber Ch are illustrated as 20 they were in the chamber Ch as being arranged for the monitoring of the state of the fluid to be pumped, at the inlet and/or outlet. Those transducers Tr in chamber W are illustrated as they were in the chamber W as being arranged for the monitoring of the state of the fluid, also to be used in the lubrication line of the pump, at the inlet and/or outlet of the line, to monitor at the respective location the fluid state, inlet state and 25 outlet state of the fluid respectively at the inlet and outlet. According to an embodiment, monitoring of various transducers can be implemented by data-logging applications and memory as such in disposal of the data-logging application, run in a micro-processor of the data logger.

Although the chambers Ch and W has been illustrated via such an embodiment in 30 which the chambers are separated, each for the optimized conditions for the purpose, in an optional embodiment the chambers are not necessarily separated from each other, but may be parts of a continuous volume of the chamber. In such an embodiment the labyrinth seal LS1 may be not needed in the separating the Ch and W, which any how are chambers of the chassis Cs. Although the lubrication Fluid compartment volume W for the fluid bearings FB has embodied separately, the inlet

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In and outlet Out can be connected to the chamber Ch in suitable part, in some embodiments via the filter F, to make sure the purity of the fluid in lubrication. According to an embodiment, the connection can be internal to the pump.

According to an embodiment of the invention the pump has a brush bearing and/or 5 brush seal. According to an embodiment at least part of the brush hairs are made of kevlar, being preferably arranged to bunches. According to an embodiment of the invention the bunches of the kevlar hairs are so arranged that they at least partly support the shaft holding the impeller. According to an embodiment an ensemble of bunches is arranged to hold the lubricating fluid for the shaft lubrication in the bearing 10 structure.

For illustrative purposes only, the bearings FB and shaft A have been drawn as they were traditional bearings for a shaft A of the rotor R, to be rotated by the motor M. The way of illustration as such is not intended to limit the structure in the embodiment, but a skilled person knows many ways to implement a fluid bearing as such for 15 a high velocity rotor. Particularly the FBs can be embodied to comprise a cavity for the lubrication fluid operating as the bearing. In such an embodiment the cavities of the FB can be coated in suitable part, in addition or supplement to the surfaces of the shaft A at the FB cavity being lubricated. Fluid bearings as such may have a labyrinth structure, in suitable part, to improve the sealing of the fluids as lubricant and/or fluid 20 to be pumped.

The filter unit F is embodied to operate as fluid purification filter to prevent particulate matter to enter to the fluid bearing cavities and thus to avoid unnecessary wear out. Also slagging to the shaft by the colloid suspended material in the fluid can be diminished by the filtration, so aiming to keep the axis of the impeller in balance.

According to an embodiment, the letter C is used to illustrate coating on a surface that may be under a wear-out threat. According to an embodiment of the invention the Rotor R, and/or the vanes or at least parts thereof can be coated by a coating. Thus, for example, if the pumped fluid were comprising colloid phase and/or particles to form a multiphase fluid or slurry, the wear out of the impeller as the rotor R can be 30 reduced by the coating. According to an embodiment the pump comprises such a modular part that has a surface coated with wear out protective coating. According to an embodiment of the invention the coating is implemented by at least one layer of DLC (Diamond Like Carbon), which comprises at least 90 % of SP3-bound orbital bonds between the carbon atoms.

20175228 prh 18-12-2018

According to an embodiment only part or its counterpart in the same volume of operation is provided with the wear out protective coating, the other part so being considered as a coated with a weaker wear out protective coating or without such.

According to an embodiment the DLC is doped for conductivity provision to dis5 charge the static electricity via the pump parts to the pump chassis. This is important, especially if flammable fluid is being pumped. According to an embodiment variant, if other coatings were in use, such coatings can be chosen that conduct electricity, or the coating is doped for conductivity that is lower than an intermediate insulation, as used in static electricity discharge as such according to the known techniques as such.

According to an embodiment the surfaces of the Fluid bearings in their fluid chamber W are in supplement or in addition coated with a coating C. According to an embodiment the coating C is same DLC material as on the rotor vanes. According to an embodiment of the invention the shaft A has been also coated with a coating C, as illustrated in Fig 2. Although the rectangles illustrative of the coating C has been 15 drawn to the bearing illustrating rectangles, the whole shaft A can be coated by the coating C, according to an embodiment variant. According to an embodiment the fluid bearing FB is bearing the shaft A in its radial direction (as illustrated by the way of drawing in Fig 2). In an embodiment the lubrication fluid is there between the fluid bearings surface and the shaft surface, at least one of them being coated according to 20 an embodiment by the coating C.

The transducer Tr is illustrative at least one quantity measurement means to measure the fluid properties for determination of the fluid state. The fluid can have as its fluid state an input state and/or output state. The fluid state can be described as a state vector with the components thereof associated to the corresponding measured quan25 tity and/or a derivative of such. The Tr also illustrates an ensemble of transducers to be used in measurements of the fluid state in accordance of the examples 11 and/or 12. Although the fluid state monitoring via suitable selection of transducers to measure the key quantities of the intended fluid, during the pumping application as such can be used in the pump controlling for the optimization of the pressure and/or flow 30 in respect of the intake power, also the wear-out monitoring for the minimization can be made by the transducer measuring signal and the responses thereto via the control by a controlling device (1) via a feed-back loop.

According to an embodiment of the invention the lubrication fluid can be taken from the same reservoir as the fluid to be pumped. However, according to a preferred em35 bodiment the lubrication fluid is cleaned from other phases of the matter, so to avoid wear out of the moving parts and/or their counter parts.

20175228 prh 18-12-2018

According to an embodiment of the invention the lubrication fluid is pressurized and the pressure in suitable part regulated to keep the shaft in balance, and the turbulence at the shaft surfaces in control. According to an embodiment the pumping pressure of the fluid to be pumped is controlling the lubrication fluid pressure, so to provide shaft 5 stress minimization where applicable. According to an embodiment of the invention the shaft A is made of material that has a spring effect in torqueing, so to provide smooth acceleration and/or deceleration, which is also aiming to the inertial forces minimization of the impeller when turning on and/or off at the respective moments of operation.

According to an embodiment of the invention the chassis Ch can comprise a heater and/or Peltier element (for cooling via electricity) to adjust the temperature of the fluid for the temperature related quantities, such as vapor pressure and/or viscosity, for example.

According to an embodiment the pump system may comprise for a pump unit a fluid 15 state pre-adjustment means to adjust the quantities of a fluid state according to an embodiment of the invention in accordance of the examples 11 and 12 in suitable part for the vectors. The number of the transducers as such is not intended to be limited only to the shown example in Fig 2. According to an embodiment a transducer can also comprise one, but also further several integrated sensors for the fluid state deter20 mination. Fluid bearings FB have been illustrated in Fig 2. However, the number of the fluid bearings as such is not intended to be limited only to the shown example of Fig 2. Also the structure with the infrastructure (Fig 1, object 4) as such can be different. A skilled person in the art knows from the embodiments as such how to mount to the embodied pump unit a fluid bearing as such.

According to an embodiment of the invention the rotor R can comprise also in addition to the impeller as such, as a kinetic energy restoration/bank facility a flywheel, arranged to maintain the rotational state of the impeller. According to an embodiment the flywheel is balanced so to avoid vibrations and consequently also avoid wear out to the moving surfaces, and/or cavitation occurrences. According to an embodiment 30 the fly wheel mass can be diversified to different location on the shaft to improve the balancing effect. Also diffuser can be used as fly-wheel in suitable part in embodiments, where applicable, as discussed elsewhere in the text.

Fig 3 is illustrating a pump system 200 example, in which there are two pump units combined as redundant pump units. The dashed double line on right of a pump unit 35 100 is illustrative of embodiments in which the pump system comprises further pump

20175228 prh 18-12-2018 units (100) according to an embodiment than just one or two. According to an embodiment the pump units can be so implemented into the system, that both pump exemplified units (100) are using the same infrastructure as indicated in Fig 1A or Fig IB, except the pump 6, which are separate pumps in a Fig 3 embodiment. Ac5 cording to a further embodiment variant of the pump system (200), also the infrastructures are separated to provide a further independency of the pump units (100) from each other. Such embodiments may be needed in atomic power plants, for example, where the redundancy demand of parallel system parts and the preservation of the operative capability are especially important in faulty conditions. According to 10 an embodiment, a pump unit (100) comprised in a pump system (200) for gaining redundancy by parallel pump units, is such an embodied pump unit that is arranged independent pump unit from other embodied pump units for operation in said pump system.

Although a pump unit with two redundant pumps was disclosed, a skilled person 15 knows from the embodiment, that also other number of pumps can be provided to the same shaft, to be exchanged from on to another by the flow passage control with a suitable ensemble of valves for the purpose. According to an embodiment, for nuclear power plants for example, the pumps of the pump unit do not need to be necessary all on the same shaft, but at least few of the redundant pumps of the unit can have 20 own shafts apart from the other pumps, for emergency situations caused by elevated temperatures, mechanical stress, wear-out of a bearing or material fault, etc.

Fig 4 is illustrative of the fluid state vectors Vin and Vout at the respective location of inlet and outlet, indicated by the sub-indexes in and out. We refer to the examples 11 and 12 for the fluid state and the consequent make-up fluid state make up via the 25 transducer Tr implemented monitoring by using a responsive signal to be formed from the logged data and to be used for controlling of the pump operation. According to an embodiment example in Fig 4 the Vin has vector components Vil to Vi-n. According to an embodiment example in Fig 4 the Vout has vector components Vol to Vo-n. The number of the components (n) is not necessarily the same for the inlet 30 and outlet fluid vectors for particular fluid in an application, however, straight comparison of the fluid state at the inlet and outlet can be quicker in such a case that at least one same quantity is monitored at the both sides, so reducing computation and signal processing needs for the controlling.

According to an embodiment, a pump unit can be arranged to make-up such a fluid 35 to be pumped that has varying viscosity for example, for example according to the kinetic state. According to an embodiment the make-up fluid can be stored in a makeup fluid vessel, to be used for example, if in an industrial process having a batch-like

20175228 prh 18-12-2018 process-cycle, the end-cycle- fluid is drifted apart from the beginning-cycle- fluid, for example. According to monitoring a fluid vector components it is possible to notice the drift, and administer the make-up fluid from the make-up fluid vessel. According to an embodiment, also the lubrication volume W can be used for make-up 5 fluid storing, the amount and timing to be administered via a valve leading to the Fluid line.

Especially the Trs at the left side of the Fig 2 need not to be the same Trs as the ones in the chamber W. The corresponding fluid vector components can be different for the pumping side than the vector components of the lubrication side.

The way of illustration made so that the number of the vector components between the Vil and Vi-n by the rectangular fields is not limited. The way of illustration is also made so that the number of the vector components between the Vol and Vo-n by the rectangular fields is not limited. The uneven area of the vector components is illustrative weight of the vector in the monitoring and the control of the pump opera15 tion in corresponding embodiments of the invention.

Fig 5A illustrates examples of impellers as such. The vanes appear as star-like assembly in the structure, and (in the middle) via cavity formation formed into the impeller chassis structures. Impellers are embodied as rotors or parts thereof in the pumping action according to the kinetic operation. According to an embodiment the specific 20 speed is low in an example of an embodiment of the invention, i.e. in the range of normal centrifugal force utilizing kinetic pump. The embodied impellers with their exemplified vane structures with the angle to the chassis represent suitability to different fluid channel formations and/or flows therein. Especially the impeller has in the flow channel a housing, provided also for a shaft or shaft for the rotational move25 ment around it in the chamber formed at least by a part of the housing, so to facilitate the pumping of the fluid. Impellers as such can provide a low specific speed in kinetic pumps. The specific speed of the pump obtained with the impeller in a pump in an embodied pump unit is dependent on the combination of the centrifugal and/or centripetal force values in combination to the torque related forces in the kinetic opera30 tion, as a skilled person in the art knows from the embodiments. In some embodiment variants addressed to kinetic Barske type pumps the specific speed can be designed higher (with a suitable impeller) than in a kinetic pump embodied as with a lower specific speed. Some of the Barske type directed kinetic embodiments can utilize additionally positive displacement in the operation, but are still considered as kinetic in 35 the operation as Barske pumps as such do.

20175228 prh 18-12-2018

According to an embodiment, the impeller can be a sort of a closed model, to have the fly-wheel properties being combined. According to an embodiment variant, also inducer and/or diffuser in suitable part in respective embodiments can be used with the impeller. According to an embodiment variant of a pump unit of the pump, at least 5 one of a diffuser and inducer was integrated to the impeller solidly.

Fig 5B illustrates examples of diffusers as such. The spiral-like formations, contracting to the hole at the middle in the structure, are arrange for the flow of a pumped fluid entrance, to the hole and via it, preferably hydraulically in stable conditions, and/or avoiding cavitation. According to an embodiment a diffuser and impeller are 10 following each other in an embodied pump, in the direction of flow. According to an embodiment a post-impeller placed diffuser is arranged to rotate according to the flow being pumped, so influencing to the eddies in the flow. According to an embodiment the rotating diffuser is arranged to dissipate the eddies of the turbulence scales in the turbulence scale at the high Reynolds number range above 100000, aiming so to the 15 hydraulic stability. According to an embodiment, an embodied pump can have in alternative or supplement a static diffuser.

According to a further variant, the diffuser is made lockable, so that according to an embodiment variant, lockable to the impeller, to rotate along within it, but according to another embodiment variant, locakble to the chassis, to be statically mounted. 20 However, the turbulence scales of the eddies can be different than in the example with rotating diffuser. According to an embodiment the rotating diffuser is freely rotating diffuser, arranged to stabilize changes in the flow. According to an embodiment an embodied kinetic pump is a Barske-type pump.

According to an embodiment of the invention, a diffuser can be made as modular 25 component to be used in a pump of a pump unit. According to an embodiment the diffuser mass can be selected to be large, so to be used as a flywheel to smoothen the fluid flow in acceleration and deceleration events.

According to an embodiment the specific speed is low in an example of an embodiment of the invention, i.e. in the range of normal centrifugal force utilizing kinetic 30 pump. The embodied diffusers with their exemplified structures with the channel with the bending angles to the chassis (left) represent suitability to fluid channel formations and/or flows therein. According to an embodiment a diffuser can be made rotatable, according to an embodiment variant freely from the impeller, according to a further variant with the impeller.

Fig 5C illustrates examples of bearings as such. The bearings embody different ways to mount a shaft or shaft of the rotor part of a pump to the pump chassis.

20175228 prh 18-12-2018

Fig 5D illustrates examples of inducers as such, to be used as such in the embodied pump structures in suitable part. According to an embodiment an inducer was used as a pre-stage for improvement of the suction at the suction side to boost the suction and consequently to reduce cavitation before impeller in the flow line for the fluid to 5 be pumped. Inducers as such can be used in an embodied pump to produce a great axial flow component, in addition to reduction of the cavitation before the impeller, According to an embodiment the pump unit comprises such a pump that has a modular mounting location ready to assemble machined for an inducer. Such inducer ready to mount pump can be used in a versatile way in manufacturing the pump for 10 different purposes, such for example to application in which NPSH-values have a further importance for the pump operation, as for example where the suction is made from a certain deepness or height. The inducer was used to increase the pressure difference over the pump of an embodied pump unit. Although impellers as such would have a low specific speed, inducers as such, as taken alone, can have high specific 15 speed.

According to an embodiment of the invention, an inducer as such as embodied can be made of elastic material, at least at the clearance surfaces. According to an embodiment such a pump of a pump unit can be made as for a promoted auto-suction implementation with such an inducer that has elastic parts with very small clearance, 20 to provide the pump with the promoted auto-suction feature to increase the suction by the small clearance. According to an embodiment the counter surfaces can be coated with a durable coating, such as DLC.

Figs 5B to 5D are also illustrative of such peripheral parts of a pump of a pump unit, especially also for optional arrangements of sets to be selected for the compositions 25 for pumps to different purposes, also as design kit members and/or maintenance/ kit members to tune up a pump with a suitable pump chamber for a purpose.

Fig 6 illustrates a cross section of a partial emission pump. According to an embodiment, labyrinth gaskets LS 1 can be used, as illustrated in the insert of the Fig 6 below the pump 6. The shadowed areas in the pump cross section illustrate solid structures 30 at the upper half of the pump. The grey areas at the insert illustrate the flow channel for the labyrinth.

Fig 7A illustrates a partial emission stator pump as such in practice in a cover chassis, assembled together with a machine means (left-back), in the Fig embodied as with a motor.

20175228 prh 18-12-2018

Fig 7B illustrates a partial emission rotor pump impeller as such. The vanes (shadowed by squared texture) are drawn thick in respect to the vane channels there between the vanes. This embodiment makes the flowing fluid to leave the rotor only from a very limited part. According to an embodiment the pressure was in the exam5 pie 240 bars at 100000 rpm (revolutions per minute).

According to an embodiment of the invention the machine means comprises such a turbine, in alternative or supplement to an electric machine means, that is arranged to be operated pneumatically by a fluid. According to an embodiment such a turbine is selected to be such a turbine, which is operable by gaseous substance, such as air. 10 According to an embodiment the turbine material is selected to tolerate flue gas, in a flue gas temperature and/or environment. Accordingly, the flue gas turbine is arranged to tolerate also acidic gaseous substances such as sulfur and/or nitrogen oxides in gas phase and/or as solved into water droplets. According to an embodiment the pneumatic fluid of the pneumatic machine is a flue gas of a combustion engine, the 15 pump with the turbine being addressed to be used within a motor applications.

From the examples as embodied, a skilled person in the art knows that the turbine can be operated by a liquid, and/or a multiphase fluid.

Example 1

An embodied pump unit was used in a mine. Waters from the mining tunnels were 20 pumped from several levels, even down to the depth of 3 km to the Earth's surface.

The pump was driven by a pump driver embodied as a frequency converter, so that the number of the pump operation cycle was increased by the frequency increase and the operation cycle was decreased by the frequency decrease. There was also a redundant pump for electricity cut offs, to be operated by pressurized air driven tur25 bomachine as a pneumatic machine.

The embodied pump unit had pressure dependence on the operation cycle rate so that increase in revolution rate correspondingly increased the pressure at the pump outlet. However, the pump unit had a design value for the revolution rate made so that elevation height was achieved. According to an embodiment the same mine used also 30 such a pump that had inducer at the suction side, so gaining extra suction capacity for suction from deeper depth than without inducer. The embodied pump unit had yield dependence on the operation cycle rate so that increase in revolution rate correspondingly increased the yield at the pump outlet. The yield was considered as a fluid flow rate of a pressurized fluid.

According to an embodiment of the invention the response curve outlet pressure versus revolution rate was linear in the used operation conditions. The linearity was in

20175228 prh 18-12-2018 the tolerances of 5 %. According to an embodiment of the invention the response curve outlet yield of fluid flow versus revolution rate was linear in the used operation conditions. The linearity was in the tolerances of 5 %.

According to an embodiment a similar pump unit with the pump was used in a geo5 thermal power plant, at an oil drilling station, and/or in a hydraulic hoisting system.

Example 2

An embodied pump unit was used in a factory. Waters from an industrial site to another industrial site in the factory area was pumped during a length of 13 km along the surface. The pump unit was used partly to compensate the flow losses of the 13 10 km horizontal tubes. However, there was also half kilometer elevation after the horizontal part of the tube to a vertical direction. The pump unit was driven by a pump driver embodied as a frequency converter, so that the number of the pump operation cycle was increased by the frequency increase and the operation cycle was decreased by the frequency decrease.

According to an embodiment the pump unit was used in a remote heating system, and/or in a watering system in a farming industry. According to an embodiment of the invention the pump was used in cultivation for watering, but also for delivering water to the remote fields for the cattle and/or the plants to grow for the cattle food.

Example 3

An embodied pump unit was used as an emptying pump unit to such fast a vessel emptying, to transfer the fluid from the vessel fast to another location. According to an embodiment the location was a remote location. According to an embodiment the distance of the fluid transfer was at least in some part in vertical direction. According to an embodiment such a pump unit was optionally used to fill a vessel fast.

According to an embodiment of the invention the pump unit was a pump of a sprinkler system, such as in a skyscraper. According to an embodiment the pump was arranged to feed a hydrant, being in suitable part connected to the tap-water system. A high pressure waterjet can be delivered a long distance rather than a mere mist, for example in corridors and/or similar kind of part in hall-kind buildings. Where applicable, 30 an embodied pump unit can be used in delivering water long distances in a form of mist consisting of very small droplets, provided that the phase transitions are controlled accordingly.

Example 4

An embodied pump unit was used to increase pressure for a cutting machine that was 35 using a waterjet as a blade. According to an embodiment variant the pump unit was

20175228 prh 18-12-2018 a pump unit of a high pressure washer, washing device to utilize pressurized water in the washing action, such as car washing for example. According to an even further variant the pump was in a pump unit of a water cannon, to be utilized in fire a extinguishing application at a vehicle, boat and/or an oil drilling station.

Example 5

An embodied pump unit was used to feed a fuel line of a combustion engine, so that the combustion engine had a carburetor having further a jet nozzle to direct the pressurized fuel to form a cone of droplets and vaporized fuel to be ignited at the ignition moment.

Example 6

The pump unit with a driver unit of an embodied pump unit was arranged to operate two pumps in a redundant system of pumps, so that when a first pump of the system was in operation the other was in rest state for spare. According to an embodiment, the system was driven so that the two pumps were altering between the state of duty 15 and rest with equal duration of the pump operation. According to an embodiment, the pump driver unit was used in driving two such redundant systems of pumps individually for each pump, and/or according to an embodiment variant as aggregated ensemble of pumps. According to an embodiment the redundant system of pumps can have also several more redundant pumps to be altered accordingly the operation cycle 20 between them. According to an embodiment, an embodied pumping system comprises in addition an embodied pump unit with embodied ensemble of pumps, also conduits, valves and the electromechanical relays for the control of the valves in control of a control signal from a corresponding unit. However, skilled person in the art can connect an embodied pump of a pump unit to a pump system, when read and 25 understood the embodiments.

Example 7

An embodied pump unit was arranged so that the suction side of the pump was feeding the pump with a larger diameter hose than the outlet side hose of the pump. According to an embodiment of the invention the pump was a pump of such a pump 30 system that had a pre-pressurizer unit to increase the pressure of the incoming fluid.

According to an embodiment of the invention the pump had an inducer to increase the suction side under pressure.

Example 8

According to an embodiment, the pumping structure comprises a cavitation chamber 35 in order to utilize the non-wanted but regularly occurring cavitation to empty the fluid

20175228 prh 18-12-2018 vessel from which the pumping action is maintained, at the very end of the vessel getting empty. Because of fast corrosion probability, the cavitation chamber interior part as such was made to be a modular element of the pump unit, so that the replacement were quickly made when necessary, i.e. to restore the tightness requirements in 5 the application specific way. According to an embodiment there was a feed-water pump embodied as a pressurizer pump. According to an embodiment the pump unit had an inducer and in another application of the pump unit a diffuser. According to an embodiment variant the diffuser was adjustable in respect of the rotation.

According to an embodiment of the invention the pump unit of the pump was de10 signed to be with promoted auto-suction feature. According to an embodiment the pump had an inducer before the impeller, but according to a further variant also an additional diffuser.

Example 9

An embodied pump unit was used to pump water in high pressure of up to 250 bars 15 with high yield of up to 1 cmpm (cubic meter per minute). According to an embodiment the pump was scaled to a domestic high pressure washer. According to an embodiment variant, the pump was scaled to a fire extinguishing application of a fire engine. In a fire engine pumping unit, two pumps were in operation, one in an active state for the operation according to the need of service, another one was a spare pump 20 to be used if mal-functioning occurred, or another task had to be done. According to an embodiment the second pump was independently operable from the first pump of the named pumping unit. According to an embodiment the fire engine had at least two pump units, each with at least one embodied pump.

Example 10

The pump unit has in the structure of it such an impeller that produces a mixed flow with axial and radial components, because of the impeller formation and vanes geometry. According to an embodiment of the invention the mixed flow pump is arranged to operate as a pre-stage of a pump system to produce large volume flow of the fluid.

Example 11

The fluid to be pumped in is the fluid to be transferred through the pump. According to an embodiment with reference to the Fig 4, the fluid to be pumped has in its input and/or output state describing vector (Vin and Vout respectively) at least one of the following quantity as a vector component: density, temperature, dynamic pressure, 35 flow rate, vapor pressure, viscosity, Reynolds number, Pecklect number, Quincke

20175228 prh 18-12-2018 number, Taylor number, Euler number, Weber number, opacity, reflection constant, refraction constant, constant of dielectricity, magnetic permeability, number of phases, concentration of each phase in the fluid as a medium, diffusion constant of each phase and a quantity proportional to the solubility of at least one pump material 5 to the fluid to be pumped. These vector components are shown as examples, without any intention to restrict the dimensionless numbers or other quantities only to the shown components in the determination of the fluid state and the influence of it to the pump operation. According to an embodiment the pump operation control is made so that it is using such a fluid input vector that is according to an embodiment con10 sidered orthogonal in such a way that the same quantity has been used only once as such, or in a transformed form in the vector as a vector component. Such a vector component is measured and/or monitored by a transducer (Tr).

According to an embodiment the pump operation control is made so that it is using such a fluid output vector that is according to an embodiment considered orthogonal, 15 i.e. in this context, in such a way that the same quantity has been used only once as such, or in such a transformed form in the vector as a vector component.

According to an embodiment the pump has a pre-adjustment means to adjust the input state of the fluid to be pumped according to at least one of the vector component of input vector and/or output vector for controlling the pumping of the fluid transfer20 ence. According to an embodiment the pump comprises a transducer at the inlet and/or at the outlet to measure a corresponding vector component.

According to an embodiment such a vector component is measured also in supplement or in addition at the lubrication line of the pump by a suitable transducer to form a responsive signal on the basis of the vector component or a combination thereof to 25 be used in the control signal formation to control the pump unit operation in a feedback loop. A make-up fluid can be used if necessary in an embodiment.

According to an embodiment the pump comprises an ensemble of transducers being arranged to modify the fluid state via at least one of the fluid vector components. In such an ensemble there can be according to an embodiment a heater, cooler, pressur30 izer, compressor, piezo-element to produce and/or measure vibrations and/or acoustic waves, a magnetic transducer to produce a magnetic field into the fluid, an electrostatic transducer to produce an electrostatic and/or electrodynamic field into the fluid, an optical transducer to conduct light into the fluid in applicable part.

According to an embodiment such measurements are aimed to avoidance of unwanted 35 phase transitions inside the pump at the high pressure. For example, if the composition of the fluid were comprising colloidal but soluble copper in at least partly solved form in normal pressure and temperature, but in elevated temperature and/or pressure the copper were about to solidify onto particles and grow, and thus would cause an electrochemical corrosion and/or wear-out, for example monitoring of opacity would facilitate a control of the colloidal phase and/or pressure to avoid such copper phase 5 to form slags the impeller, further consequently to get out of the balance and break the pump.

Example 12

The vectors of the Example 11 are used in supplement or alternative to the fluid of the lubrication line, for the fluid bearings FB (in Fig 2) or the cavities for the fluid.

The scope of the invention is determined by the attached claims together with the equivalents thereof. The skilled persons will again appreciate the fact that the explicitly disclosed embodiments were constructed for illustrative purposes only, and the scope will cover further embodiments, embodiment combinations and equivalents that better suit each particular use case of the invention, the scalability being restricted by the properties of the material selection in use.

Legend

Computer unit / PLC (programmable logic controller)

Displayed configurable device - frequency converter, inverter etc.

Level indicator for feed water tank

4 Feed water tank

Electric motor (or turbine, etc)

Pump

Intake water filtration

Intake water control valve

20175228 prh 18-12-2018

9

100

200

In

Out

A

Outlet pressure indicator

Outlet flow (mass flow or volumetric flow) indicator

Pump unit comprising a pump

Pump system

Input

Output

Shaft

M Motor (also embodied as electric and/or pneumatic machine)

R Rotor, embodied also as to comprise an impeller

FB Fluid bearings

LSI, LS2 Labyrinth seals

C Coating, embodied as DLC, for example

W Fluid compartment volume for the Fluid bearings FB

Tr

Ch

Cs

F

Transducer for measuring a fluid state quantity, Rotor Chamber

Chassis of the pump

Fluid bearings feed line filter

20175228 prh 18-12-2018

Claims (10)

A pump for a pump unit (100), characterized in that it comprises a kinetic pump (6) which is an electric machine (M) and a kinetic pump (6) which is a pneumatic machine (M), each pump being driven by respective machine means. , 5 arranged to control the speed of the pump, wherein at least one of the kinetic pumps (6) is a direct-drive pump (6) having fluid-fluid-lubricated bearings (FB). A pump according to claim 1, characterized in that the pump unit (100) comprises 10 - for transferring material through the pump (6) to the respective material of the input (In) and the output (Out) which flows as fluid flow into and out of the pump such that the input (In) is arranged to conduct fluid (Out) is arranged to conduct fluid in an initial state out of said pumping chamber (Ch), 15 - a pumping chamber (Ch) having a rotational motion geometric surrounding wall forming a cavity in the pump structure for providing rotational geometry, for pumping operation a rotor (R) comprising an impeller for rotating about an axis in a rotational motion geometry, a bearing unit (FB); to the pumping position in the pumping chamber (Ch) of the pump (6) so that the rotor (R) can rotate to effect sealing of the sealing housing to utilize fluid pressure. A pump according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said pump The rotor (R) spacing is selected to represent a spacing value for the bypass flow dimension, said flow exiting as a result of rotation of the impeller portion at the surrounding wall, and selected to avoid the occurrence of cavitation as a result of pressure gradient to the output side past the rotor / impeller. A pump according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that The pump (6) comprises a base (Cs) for parts assembled into the base of the pump as module parts, wherein the module parts are at least one of the following module module parts: 20175228 prh 18-12-2018 coils, impeller, diffuser, inductor, pumping chamber (Ch), inlet, outlet, seals, shaft (A), chassis (Cs), mounting connectors for mounting at least one of these. A pump according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the pump (6) comprises a labyrinth sealing arrangement (LSI, LS2) for providing a lubricating fluid supply channel to bearings (FB). Method for generating an overpressure fluid by means of a kinetic pump, characterized in that the pump is a pump according to one of claims 1 to 5, which is coupled to an electric machine and / or a pneumatic machine which is axial 10 (A) with a pump, comprising a rotor (R) having a first end and a second end having a rotational speed of 20,000 rpm or more, wherein the shaft (A) is provided with fluid bearings (FB), an electric machine or a pneumatic machine ( M) is disposed centrally relative to the pump on the shaft (A), the rotor (R) is mounted on the fluid bearing (FB) at least in the axial direction, and the fluid bearing (FB) is selected to be of the active type; and the other end being used at least partially as mating surfaces for the fluid bearing (FB), and wherein the electric machine (M) is a cage-wound induction motor provided with a coated (C), a rotor (R) used as an electrical machine (M) and a frequency generated by an inverter or a frequency converter20, and wherein the pneumatic machine has a turbine powered by another fluid. Method according to claim 6, characterized in that the pump is selected to operate as a radial pump. Method according to Claim 6, characterized in that the rotor (R) is mounted on a magnetic bearing in a radial direction. 25 Method according to Claim 6, characterized in that the rotor (R) is mounted on the fluid bearing in the radial direction. Method according to Claim 9, characterized in that the radial fluid bearing is selected to be a dynamic swing segment bearing type