JPH05272483A - Pump capable of self-priming at operation resuming time - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the start of pumping by self-priming action without priming at the time of resuming operation by providing at least one of a suction chamber and a discharge chamber with an opening of small passage area. CONSTITUTION:When a motor 36 and an impeller 44 stop due to power failure or the like during the operation of a pump 72, water in a body 12 flows backward by a siphon principle so as to be returned into a water drum 32 from a suction chamber 50 through a U-shape pipe 54. Water in the body 12 and in both chambers 50, 70 is then separated at the upper end of an outer cylinder part 64, and only the water in the discharge chamber 70 and suction chamber 50 is discharged into the water drum 32. When the water level of the discharge chamber 70 is lowered down to the upper end of a communicating hole 66, air flows into the suction chamber 50, and the water in the U-shape pipe 54 flows out all at once into the water drum 32, so that the water level of the suction chamber 50 is lowered. However, the water in the body 12 flows into the suction chamber 50 little by little from a small hole 78 provided at a base part 46, and eventually the suction chamber 50 and the discharge chamber 70 becomes close to the full state by the area difference of the water level. Priming is not therefore required at the time of resuming the operation of the pump after being stopped once.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pump which can be self-sufficient when it is restarted.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An impeller driven by a motor is provided as a kind of pump, and the rotation of the impeller pumps liquid from a suction pipe through a suction chamber above the impeller to a discharge chamber above the impeller. There is something to discharge.

For example, when the water stored in the water tank is pumped up and discharged by the above-mentioned pump, the pump is self-powered by the pump with one end of the suction pipe being immersed in the water tank. When the so-called priming is made in the suction chamber up to the height of the liquid surface (hereinafter referred to as the self-supplying water level) at which the pumping of the liquid can be started, and the motor is started, drainage starts. The rotation of the impeller causes the air in the suction pipe to be sucked into the suction chamber and discharged through the discharge chamber, and after almost all the air in the suction pipe has been discharged, the pumping of water is started. Then, when the motor and the impeller stop, the water in the suction chamber and the discharge chamber flows backward by the siphon principle and is discharged to the water tank through the suction pipe. When the amount of water in both chambers decreases and the water level drops, and air flows from the discharge chamber into the suction chamber, the outflow of water stops.

[0004]

In this state,
Since the water level in the suction chamber is lower than the self-supplied water level, it is necessary to prime the suction chamber to the self-supplied water level each time the pump is restarted, which is troublesome. In addition, if the pump during continuous operation is temporarily stopped due to a power failure, etc., the pump will not be self-sufficient because the pump will not be primed even if the operation of the pump is restarted. There was a problem. Furthermore, there is a problem in that the pump may be seized due to such a dry operation of the pump continuing for a long time, and the pump may be damaged or become inoperable. In addition, when this pump is used as a filter in a fish tank for watching fish, if the pump temporarily stops, the water circulation may not be restarted and the fish may die. there were.

In view of the above problems, the present invention priming at the time of restarting operation by providing an opening having a small flow passage area that does not hinder the operation of the pump in at least one of the suction chamber and the discharge chamber. The problem was to obtain a pump that starts pumping by self-sufficiency even without it.

[0006]

The gist of the first invention comprises an impeller driven by a motor, and the rotation of the impeller pumps up liquid from a suction pipe through a suction chamber above the impeller, In the pump that discharges to the discharge chamber above the impeller, make the suction chamber and the discharge chamber deeper than the minimum depth at which the pump can perform self-sufficiency, and allow liquid to flow into the suction chamber and the discharge chamber from the outside. The inflow passage has a small flow passage area that allows

Further, the gist of the second invention is that, in the above-mentioned pump, the suction chamber and the discharge chamber are communicated with each other in a small flow passage area above the impeller and at a position higher than the lowest liquid level at which the pump can perform self-supplying action. There is a communication passage.

In the first invention and the second invention, the "small flow passage area" means a flow passage area which allows the flow of liquid only at a flow rate smaller than at least the discharge capacity of the pump, and the operating efficiency of the pump. From the viewpoint of avoiding a decrease in the flow rate, it is desirable that the flow path area is such that the flow rate of the liquid is sufficiently smaller than the discharge capacity of the pump.

[0009]

The pump according to the first aspect of the invention is used with the inflow passage communicating with the liquid supply container. For example, as will be described later in detail in the section of Examples, it is used by being immersed in a liquid supply container different from the liquid tank or the like from which liquid is to be pumped, or connected to the liquid supply container by a hose or the like. Is used in. In any case, the liquid supply container plays a role of automatically priming after the pump once becomes incapable of being self-sufficient. That is, the pump stops, the liquid in the pump flows back to the suction pipe side due to the siphon principle, air enters the pump, and once the water level in the pump drops below the self-supplied water level, it is pumped through the communication passage. Liquid is supplied into the pump to restore the water level in the pump to the self-sufficient water level.

As described above, the communication passage supplies liquid into the pump later, but it is necessary that the liquid in the pump does not supply liquid when the liquid flows back to the suction pipe side by the siphon principle. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the flow passage area.

The communication passage can be provided on the suction chamber side or the discharge chamber side. If the communication passage is provided on the suction chamber side, a small amount of liquid will be sucked from the communication passage during operation of the pump. The liquid level in the container gradually decreases. Therefore, the liquid supply container needs to be automatically replenished with liquid. For example, a part of the liquid discharged from the pump may be supplied to the liquid supply container. In this case, the operating efficiency of the pump is reduced by the amount of replenishment, but since the amount is small, there is no practical problem.

On the other hand, if the communication passage is provided on the discharge chamber side, the problem of lowering the operating efficiency of the pump is eliminated, but while the pump is performing self-sufficiency, the liquid in the pump is little by little from the communication passage. Since it is discharged, it is necessary to determine the depth of the discharge chamber and the suction chamber so that all the gas in the suction chamber and the suction pipe is discharged before the water level in the pump becomes lower than the self-supplied water level. is necessary. In this respect, if the communication passage is provided on the suction chamber side, the discharge chamber and the suction chamber can be made slightly shallower because the liquid is supplied from the communication passage in small amounts while the pump is performing self-sufficiency.

On the other hand, in the pump according to the second invention,
When the pump is stopped, the water level inside the pump is prevented from falling below the self-supply level. If the pump stops while pumping the liquid, the liquid in the suction chamber and the discharge chamber will flow back and flow out from the suction pipe, but if the liquid level in the discharge chamber drops to the height of the communication passage, the liquid will flow from the discharge chamber to the communication passage. The gas is allowed to flow into the suction chamber and the suction pipe via the above, and only the liquid in the suction pipe and the portion above the communication of the suction chamber is allowed to flow out. Therefore, the water level in the discharge chamber and the suction chamber will not drop below the communication passage.If the communication passage is provided at a position higher than the minimum water level at which the pump can perform self-sufficiency, it will be possible to restart the pump. Even without priming, the pump can start pumping the liquid by itself. In addition, it is desirable that the flow passage area of the communication passage is set to a size that allows the flow of liquid between the suction chamber and the discharge chamber to be small and allows the flow of gas sufficiently.

[0014]

As described above, according to both the first invention and the second invention, it is possible to restart the pumping of the liquid without priming after the pump is once stopped. INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The pump according to the present invention is suitable for applications that require repeated operation and stop. Further, the pump according to the present invention does not run idle even when the pump is temporarily stopped due to a power failure during continuous operation and then restarted. Therefore, the seizure of the pump is prevented, and the fish in the aquarium will not die.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the first invention is applied to a pump of a filter of an aquarium for aquarium fish will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2, the filter 10 includes a main body 12 that is open at the top and a lid 14 that closes the opening. A guide portion 16 protruding forward (to the right in FIG. 1) is integrally formed at the upper end of the main body 12. Further, the lid 14 always closes the opening of the main body 12, but it can be removed if necessary.

A filter 20 is arranged in the main body 12. The filter 20 includes a filter container 22 and a filter element (not shown) housed inside the filter container 22,
The filter container 22 has a container shape along the outer wall of the main body 12. The pair of side walls 24 and the bottom wall 2 of the filter container 22
A plurality of openings 28 are formed in the filter container 6 and the filter container 22.
Water is allowed to flow in and the water passing through the filter element is filtered. The water that has been filtered by the filter 20 and then overflowed from the main body 12 is discharged from the discharge port 30 formed in the lower portion of the guide portion 16 to the water tank 32 shown in FIG. A handle 34 is provided on the pair of side walls 24 of the filter container 22.
Is removable from the body 12.

A motor 36 is arranged in the main body 12 side by side with the filter 20. An impeller 40 is fixed to an output shaft of the motor 36, a power cord 38 (see FIG. 2) is connected to a power source (not shown), and the impeller 40 is rotated by driving the motor 36. Is becoming

A housing 44 is fixed to the upper surface of the motor 36. The housing 44 includes a large-diameter base portion 46 formed so as to cover the outer circumference of the impeller 40, and the base portion 46.
A cylindrical portion 48 having a smaller diameter and concentrically extending upward is provided, and a suction chamber 50 is formed in the cylindrical portion 48. One end of a U-shaped tube 54, which is a suction tube, is fitted to the tip of the cylindrical portion 48. The U-shaped pipe 54 extends horizontally from the main body 12 to the guide portion 16 and then extends downward by being guided by a U-shaped notch 56 formed at an outer end portion of the guide portion 16 as shown in FIG. ing. A strainer 58 is attached to the other end of the U-shaped pipe 54 and is immersed in the water tank 32.

An outer cylindrical portion 64 is formed integrally with the cylindrical portion 48 of the housing 44. The outer cylindrical portion 64 extends parallel to the cylindrical portion 48 and opens upward, and also has a large-diameter communication hole 6
6 communicates with the base portion 46. Therefore, the water sucked into the suction chamber 50 is discharged from the communication hole 66 to the outer cylinder portion 64. In the present embodiment, the inside of the outer cylinder portion 64 serves as the discharge chamber 70. The water discharged into the discharge chamber 70 overflows from the upper end of the outer cylinder portion 64 and is stored in the main body 12. The cylindrical portion 48 and the outer cylindrical portion 64 of the housing 44 are formed such that the depths of the suction chamber 50 and the discharge chamber 70 are deeper than the minimum depth at which the pump 72 can perform self-supplying action.

In this embodiment, the impeller 40, the U-shaped tube 54, the housing 44, etc. constitute the pump 72.

A small hole 78 is formed in the base portion 46 of the housing 44. The flow passage area of the small hole 78 is a U-shaped tube 5.
It is remarkably smaller than the flow passage area of No. 4, and water in the main body 12 is allowed to flow into the suction chamber 50 little by little through the small holes 78.

Filtration of water in the water tank 32 by the filter 10 constructed as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. The filter 10 shown in FIGS. 3 to 8 is simplified for easy understanding of the circulation of water.

First, the end of the U-shaped pipe 54 on the strainer 58 side is immersed in the water tank 32, and the filter 10 is fixed to the side wall of the water tank 32. Then, the lid 14 is opened to prime the pump 72. As shown in FIG. 3, the outer cylinder portion 64
The discharge chamber 70 and the suction chamber 50 are filled with water by supplying water to the inside, and the water level in both chambers 70 and 50 is self-generated by the pump 72.
The air inside the character tube 54 and the suction chamber 50 is removed to raise the water level above the self-supplying level at which water can be pumped, and the main body 1
The water is supplied to the small hole 78 until the small hole 78 is submerged.
In this state, the power cord 38 is connected to the power source, and the motor 36
4, the air inside the U-shaped tube 54 becomes bubbles due to the rotation of the impeller 40, as shown in FIG.
It is sucked in and is discharged from the communication hole 66 to the discharge chamber 70 together with the water in the suction chamber 50. Then, the bubbles are discharged into the discharge chamber 70.
The water inside rises and is discharged to the outside.
Since it returns to the suction chamber 50 through 6, the air in the U-shaped pipe 54 is eventually discharged to the outside, and the U-shaped pipe 54
The water level inside rises.

At this time, the water level in the suction chamber 50 decreases due to the difference in hydraulic pressure generated by the rotation of the impeller 40,
Although the water in the discharge chamber 70 flows out to the main body 12 and the water in both chambers 50 and 70 is reduced, the pump 72 can perform the above-mentioned action without hindrance. In this embodiment, the main body 12 functions as a liquid supply container, and the small hole 78 constitutes an inflow path.
In this state, water is sucked from the main body 12 through the small holes 78, albeit little by little.

When the discharge of the air in the U-shaped tube 54 is completed,
As shown in FIG. 5, constant pumping of water in the water tank 32 is started. The water pumped to the filter 10 is discharged from the suction chamber 50 to the discharge chamber 70 as shown by the arrow, and then is stored in the main body 12 and flows into the filter container 22 through the opening 28 and is filtered by the filter element. To be done.
When the inside of the main body 12 is full, the filtered water is guided by the guide portion 16.
Is discharged into the water tank 32 through the discharge port 30. As described above, in the state where the water is circulated and filtered, the water in the main body 12 is sucked into the suction chamber 50 through the small holes 78 to reduce the operation efficiency of the pump 72, but the amount thereof is small. Therefore, there is no problem in practical use.

While the pump 72 is operating as described above, if the motor 36 and the impeller 44 are stopped due to power failure, disconnection of the power cord, etc., as shown in FIG.
The water in 2 flows back according to the siphon principle, and the suction chamber 5
It is discharged from 0 to the water tank 32 through the U-shaped pipe 54. Body 1
After the water level in 2 and the water levels in the suction chamber 50 and the discharge chamber 70 have dropped to the same height, at the upper end of the outer tubular portion 64,
The inside of the main body 12 and the insides of both chambers 50 and 70 are separated,
With the water stored therein, only the water in the discharge chamber 70 and the suction chamber 50 is discharged into the water tank 32.

When the water level in the discharge chamber 70 drops to the upper end of the communication hole 66, air flows from the discharge chamber 70 into the suction chamber 50,
The water in the U-shaped pipe 54 simultaneously flows out to the water tank 32, and the outflow stops. In this state, as shown in FIG. 7, the suction chamber 5
Although the water level of 0 is lowered to the same position as in the conventional pump, the water in the main body 12 is provided in the small hole 78 provided in the base 46.
The gas gradually flows into the suction chamber 50. And the main body 1
Since the horizontal cross-sectional area of 2 is sufficiently larger than the horizontal cross-sectional areas of the suction chamber 50 and the discharge chamber 70, the suction chamber 50 and the discharge chamber 70 are finally close to full water as shown in FIG. Therefore, when the motor 36 is restarted, for example, when the power failure ends or the disconnected power cord 38 is connected to the power source, the pump 72 restarts the water circulation by the action described above. This is the self-sufficiency action of the pump 72, and the depth of the suction chamber 50 and the discharge chamber 70 depends on the pump 72.
It is said to have a depth that allows water to be stored up to a position higher than the self-sufficient water level.

FIG. 9 shows a pump 90 according to an embodiment of the second invention.
Indicates. The pump 90 of this embodiment is operated in the atmosphere, and a suction chamber 94 and a discharge chamber 96 are provided in the pump body 92.
Also, a communication hole 98 for communicating the both is provided.
A U-shaped pipe 100 is communicated with the suction chamber 94, while a discharge pipe 102 is communicated with the discharge chamber 96. The discharge pipe 102 is a priming water for priming the inside of the main body 92 at the beginning of operation. A stopper 104 is provided.

The partition wall 106 of the main body 92 which divides the suction chamber 94 and the discharge chamber 96 is provided with a small hole 108 as a communication passage for communicating the two chambers 94, 96. Small hole 1
08 is provided at the lowest water level where the pump 90 can perform self-sufficiency, that is, at a position higher than the self-sufficiency water level. Also,
The flow passage area of the small hole 108 is made significantly smaller than the flow passage area of the U-shaped pipe 100, the flow of water between the suction chamber 94 and the discharge chamber 96 is negligibly small, and the flow of air is sufficiently large. Is being done. Therefore, the water discharged to the discharge chamber 96 flows back from the small hole 108 to the suction chamber 94, and the operation efficiency of the pump 72 is slightly reduced, but this is not a practical problem.

At the start of operation of the pump 90, the priming tap 10
The priming is performed from 4 to the discharge chamber 96 and the suction chamber 94. Water is supplied to both chambers 94 and 96 until the small hole 108 is submerged, and then the motor 110 is started to rotate the impeller 112, and drainage from the water tank 114 is started. First, the air in the U-shaped tube 100 is bubbled and discharged from the suction chamber 94 to the discharge chamber 96, and the water level in the U-shaped tube 100 rises accordingly. In this way, when all the air in the U-shaped pipe 100 and the suction chamber 94 is exhausted, a steady drainage state is entered. While this drainage is performed, the water in the discharge chamber 96 flows back from the small holes 108 to the suction chamber 94, but since the amount is small, there is no practical problem.

A water level sensor (not shown) is provided in the water tank 114. When the water level sensor detects that the water level in the water tank 114 has dropped to a predetermined position, the power source of the motor 110 is turned on by a control device (not shown). It is turned off and the motor 110 is stopped. As a result, the water in the main body 92 flows back from the U-shaped pipe 100 to the water tank 114, but when the water level in the discharge chamber 96 drops to the small hole 108, air flows from the small hole 108 into the suction chamber 94, and the U-shaped pipe 100. The water inside is aquarium 114
And the outflow stops. At this time, the water levels of the suction chamber 94 and the discharge chamber 96 are almost at the positions of the small holes 108,
Since the pump 90 has a water level that is sufficient for self-sufficiency,
When the operation of the pump 90 is restarted, the pump 90 can start draining without supplying water from the priming plug 104.

As shown in FIG. 9, when the pump 90 is restarted, the water in the suction chamber 94 moves to the discharge chamber 96, the water level in the suction chamber 94 drops below the small holes 108, and the water level in the discharge chamber 96 rises. Rises above the small hole 108. As a result, the small holes 112 are blocked by the water in the discharge chamber 96, and the inflow of air from the small holes 108 into the suction chamber 94 is prevented. In addition, although it is little by little, water flows back from the discharge chamber 96 through the small holes 108 to the suction chamber 94.
Helps self-sufficiency by raising the water level of.

During the self-sufficiency action as described above, it is desirable that the water level in the discharge chamber 96 be sufficiently high so that the small holes 108 are not exposed above the water surface even if the water surface of the discharge chamber 96 swells. On the other hand, it is desirable that the water level in the suction chamber 94 does not drop as much as possible. Therefore, the cross-sectional area of the suction chamber 94 is larger than the cross-sectional area of the discharge chamber 96, for example, 1.
It is preferably 5 times or more, and particularly preferably 2 times or more.

In this embodiment, the suction chamber 94 and the discharge chamber 96 are communicated with each other through the small hole 108, but they may be communicated with each other by connecting them with a communication pipe.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 8, it is also effective to use the small hole 108 similar to that of the embodiment shown in FIG. When the operation of the pump 72 is stopped in a state where the water level of the water tank 32 is sufficiently lower than the communication passage 66, a strong flow of backflow occurs in the U-shaped pipe 54 due to the strong siphon action, and the water level in the discharge chamber 70 is thereby increased. The air all at once drops to the communication passage 66, and the air flows into the U-shaped pipe 54, and the backflow of water due to the siphon action is stopped. However, when the water surface of the water tank 32 is only slightly lower than the communication passage 66, the siphon action is weak when the water level of the discharge chamber 70 is close to the communication passage 66, and the water in the U-shaped pipe 54 is weakened. The flow rate may be approximately equal to the inflow rate from the eyelet 78. In this case, a small amount of backflow is continuously generated, the water level of the main body 12 becomes low before the air flows in from the communication passage 66, and the suction chamber 50 and the discharge chamber 7 are stopped after the siphon action is stopped.
The water level of 0 cannot be restored to a height at which the pump 72 can perform self-sufficiency. Therefore, if the small hole 108 is provided at a position sufficiently higher than the communication passage 66, even if the siphon action is weak, if the water level of the discharge chamber 70 drops to the position of the small hole 108, air will flow in from the small hole 108 and the siphon action will occur. Since the backflow of water due to is stopped, such an inconvenience can be avoided. This embodiment can be considered to be a combination of the first invention and the second invention.

Although the respective embodiments of the first and second inventions have been described above, the present invention can be carried out in other variously modified and improved modes based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art. ..

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front sectional view of a filter equipped with a pump according to an embodiment of the first invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a state in which a lid portion of the filter is removed.

FIG. 3 is a schematic front sectional view for explaining an operating state of a pump of the filter.

FIG. 4 is a schematic front cross-sectional view showing a state different from that of FIG. 3 of the filter.

FIG. 5 is a schematic front cross-sectional view showing a state of the filter different from those in FIGS. 3 and 4.

FIG. 6 is a schematic front cross-sectional view showing another state of the filter described above, which is different from those shown in FIGS. 3 to 5.

FIG. 7 is a schematic front cross-sectional view showing a state of the filter different from those in FIGS. 3 to 6.

FIG. 8 is a schematic front cross-sectional view showing a state of the filter different from those in FIGS. 3 to 7.

FIG. 9 is a front cross-sectional view of a pump that is an embodiment of the second invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Filter 36 Motor 40 Impeller 50 Suction Chamber 54 U-Shape 70 Discharge Chamber 72 Pump 78 Small Hole 90 Pump 94 Suction Chamber 96 Discharge Chamber 100 U-Shape 104 Primer Tap 106 Partition Wall 108 Small Hole 112 Impeller

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A pump comprising an impeller driven by a motor, wherein the rotation of the impeller pumps liquid from a suction pipe through a suction chamber above the impeller and discharges the liquid to a discharge chamber above the impeller. The suction chamber and the discharge chamber are deeper than the minimum depth at which the pump is capable of self-sufficient action, and an inflow passage having a small flow passage area that allows liquid to flow into the suction chamber and the discharge chamber from the outside. A pump that can be self-sufficient at the time of re-operation. 2. A pump comprising an impeller driven by a motor, wherein the rotation of the impeller pumps liquid from a suction pipe through a suction chamber above the impeller and discharges the liquid to a discharge chamber above the impeller. A self-sufficient pump that can be self-sufficient during restarting, characterized in that a communication passage that connects the suction chamber and the discharge chamber with a small flow passage area is provided at a position higher than the lowest liquid level at which the pump can perform self-sufficiency.