JPS6365831B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A. Object of the Invention (1) Industrial Field of Application The present invention relates to a vane pump device, particularly a housing forming a pump chamber in which a suction passage and a discharge passage are communicated with each other; The chamber includes a rotary shaft that is supported eccentrically and rotatably, a rotor that is fixed to the rotary shaft within the pump chamber and has four guide grooves opened at approximately equal intervals on its outer circumferential surface; The four vane blades are slidably engaged with the four guide grooves of the rotor and are urged toward the outside of the rotor to slide against the side surface of the pump chamber by centrifugal force according to the rotational movement of the rotor; As the rotor rotates, a space defined within the pump chamber by vane blades adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction of the rotor is connected to a suction chamber connected to the suction passage and the discharge chamber. The present invention relates to a vane pump device that alternately switches between a discharge chamber connected to a passage and a discharge chamber connected to a passage.

(2) Prior Art Conventionally, in the vane pump device described above, the vane blades are generally made of metal with a relatively large weight, and a relatively large centrifugal force is applied to each vane blade to pump the pump chamber. It is in sliding contact with the inner surface.

(3) Problems to be Solved by the Invention According to the above-mentioned conventional technology, not only the driving force for rotating the rotor is relatively large, but also the wear and tear of the vane blades is relatively large.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and reduces the weight of the vane blade as much as possible to reduce the driving force of the driving means, minimizes the wear and tear of the vane blade, and furthermore, reduces the vane blade's weight to the side surface of the pump chamber. An object of the present invention is to provide a vane pump device that can always maintain an appropriate contact pressure.

B. Arrangement of the Invention (1) Means for Solving Problems According to the present invention, in the vane pump device of the above type, the vane blade is formed of synthetic resin, and one end surface of the rotor has a groove extending in the circumferential direction of the rotor. The bottoms of a pair of guide grooves that are not adjacent to each other are connected to the discharge chamber in the pump chamber when the vane blade corresponding to each guide groove is in the suction process, and to the suction chamber in the pump chamber when the vane blade is in the discharge process. A pair of pressure regulating grooves to be communicated are recessed so as not to intersect with each other, and on the other end surface of the rotor, the bottoms of the other pair of guide grooves that are not adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction of the rotor are connected to each other. Another pair of pressure regulating grooves that communicate with the discharge chamber in the pump chamber when the vane blade corresponding to the vane blade is in the suction process and communicate with the suction chamber in the pump chamber when the vane blade is in the discharge process do not intersect with each other. It is recessed like this.

(2) Effect The vane blade is made of synthetic resin, which reduces its weight. Moreover, when each vane blade is in the suction process, a portion of the positive pressure in the discharge chamber is introduced into the bottom of the guide groove by the corresponding pressure regulating groove, so each vane blade uses the positive pressure to compensate for the lack of centrifugal force due to weight reduction. In addition, it is possible to make precise sliding contact with the inner surface of the pump chamber, and on the other hand, when each vane blade is in the discharge process, a portion of the negative pressure in the suction chamber is introduced into the bottom of the guide groove by the corresponding pressure regulating groove. Therefore, even if a large force is applied to each vane blade to force it into the guide groove during the discharge process, each vane blade can be moved to the bottom side of the guide groove without difficulty, and each This is effective in preventing damage and deformation of the vane blades, and as a result, the contact pressure between each vane blade and the side surface of the pump chamber can be maintained at an appropriate level at all times.

(3) Embodiment Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In FIGS. 1 and 2, this vane pump device 1 is composed of a vane pump 2 and a brushless motor 3 as a driving means,
The brushless motor 3 is arranged to surround the vane pump 2.

The vane pump 2 includes a housing 5 forming a pump chamber 4 , a rotating shaft 6 rotatably supported by the housing 5 , and a rotor 7 fixed to the rotating shaft 6 within the pump chamber 4 . The housing 5 is formed by closing the open end of a bottomed cylindrical body 8 with eccentric outer and inner circumferences with a lid 9, and a flange 10 extending radially outward in the middle of the bottomed cylindrical body 8. Integrated. The pump chamber 4 is defined by the lid 9 and the inner surface of the bottomed cylindrical body 8. One end of the rotating shaft 6 is rotatably supported by the bottom 8a of the bottomed cylindrical body 8 via a bearing 11, and the other end is supported by the lid 9 via a bearing 12 and projects outward. Moreover, the axis of the rotating shaft 6 is set concentrically with the outer periphery of the bottomed cylindrical body 8, and is eccentric to the pump chamber 4.

The bottomed cylindrical body 8 has a suction passage 13 and a discharge passage 1.
4 are bored respectively, and the suction passage 13
The discharge passage 14 is communicated with the inner surface of the pump chamber 4 at a position shifted in the circumferential direction. Further, a suction pipe section 15 and a discharge pipe section 16 that communicate with the suction passage 13 and the discharge passage 14 individually are provided integrally with the bottomed cylindrical body 8, and a connecting pipe is provided in the middle of the suction pipe section 15 and the discharge pipe section 16. 17. This connecting pipe 17
is equipped with a relief valve 18 that only allows fluid to flow from the discharge pipe section 16 to the suction pipe section 15.

Referring also to FIG. 3, a ring-shaped rotor 7 is fixed to the rotating shaft 6, and the rotor 7 has four guide grooves extending between both ends in the axial direction.
G ₁ , G ₂ , G ₃ , and G ₄ are drilled. These guide grooves G ₁ to _{G 4} open on the outer circumferential surface of the rotor 7 at equally spaced positions in the circumferential direction of the rotor 7, and are adjacent to each other around the rotation axis 6 in a plane orthogonal to the rotation axis 6. are arranged so as to extend in directions perpendicular to each other.

Each guide groove G ₁ ~ _{G 4} has a vane blade B ₁ ~ _{B 4}
are rubbed together. Moreover, each vane blade
B ₁ to _{B 4} are made of a self-lubricating synthetic resin, such as polyphenylene sulfide resin, and are relatively lightweight. Each of the vane blades B ₁ to _{B 4} rotates while slidingly contacting the inner surface of the pump chamber 4 in accordance with the rotational movement of the rotating shaft 6 and the rotor 7, whereby the fluid sucked from the suction passage 13 is transferred to the discharge passage 14. It is discharged from.

Here, on the end surface along the axial direction of the rotor 7, pressure regulating grooves are provided as pressure regulating means for regulating the contact pressure of each vane blade B ₁ to _{B 4} to the inner surface of the pump chamber 4.
_P1 to _P4 are provided. That is, on one end surface of the rotor 7, the bottom of the first guide groove _G1 and the third,
The first pressure regulating groove P ₁ is recessed between the fourth guide grooves G ₃ and G ₄ and the outer peripheral surface of the rotor 7, and is not adjacent to the first guide groove G ₁ in the circumferential direction of the rotor 7. A third pressure regulating groove P ₃ is recessed between the bottom of the third guide groove G ₃ and the outer peripheral surface of _the rotor 7 between the first and second guide grooves G 1 and G ₂ . Accordingly, the first and third pressure regulating grooves P ₁ and P ₃ do not intersect with each other.

As is clear from Fig. 2, the first pressure regulating groove _P1 is
The first vane blade B ₁ according to the rotation of the rotor 7
It has a function of communicating the discharge chamber 4a defined between the third and fourth vane blades B ₃ and B ₄ with the first guide groove G ₁ when the blade is about to enter the suction process. Further, when the third vane blade B ₃ is about to enter the discharge process, the third pressure regulating groove P ₃ guides the third pressure regulating groove P 3 into the suction chamber 4b defined between the first and second vane blades B ₁ and B ₂ . Connect the bottom of groove _G3 . in this way,
Each pressure regulating groove P ₁ , P ₃ pressurizes the bottom of the guide groove G ₁ , G ₃ when the vane blades B ₁ , B ₃ of the corresponding guide groove G ₁ , G ₃ are in the suction process. When the vane blades B ₁ and B ₃ are in the discharge process, the bottoms of the guide grooves G ₁ and G ₃ are communicated with the suction chamber 4 b in a reduced pressure state.

Regarding the other end surface of the rotor 7, the bottoms of the other pair of guide grooves that are not adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction of the rotor 7, that is, the second and fourth guide grooves G ₂ and G ₄ , and the suction chamber 4b or the discharge chamber 4a are connected. Second and fourth pressure regulating grooves P ₂ and P ₄ (not shown) connecting the two are recessed so as not to intersect with each other. The second and fourth pressure regulating grooves P ₂ and P ₄
can exert the same pressure regulating function on the second and fourth vane blades B ₂ and B ₄ as the first and third pressure regulating grooves P ₁ and P ₃ .

The brushless motor 3 is fixed around a housing 5 concentrically with a rotating shaft 6, and has a plurality of phase (two-phase, four-pole in this embodiment) coils 2 spaced apart in the circumferential direction.
0 is wound around the stator 21, and this stator 2
The rotor 23 has a permanent magnet 22 surrounding the rotor 23 and is fixed to the rotating shaft 6, and a drive circuit 24 that distributes a drive current to each coil 20 according to the magnetic pole position of the permanent magnet 22.

The stator 21 is closely fixed to the outer surface of the bottomed cylindrical body 8 in the housing 5 . The rotor 23 is
Basically, it is formed into a cylindrical shape with a bottom, and a synthetic resin washer 25 is provided between the lid body 9 and the bearing 12.
It is fixed to the protruding end of the rotating shaft 6 with a .
Further, the permanent magnet 22 is formed in a ring shape, and is attached to the inner surface of the cylindrical portion of the rotor 23.
It is fixed so as to surround it.

The drive circuit 24 is provided on a circuit board 26 installed in a ring shape on the surface of the flange 10 of the bottomed cylindrical body 8 on the side opposite to the rotor 23 . This drive circuit 24 includes means for detecting the magnetic pole position of the permanent magnet 22, such as a Hall element (not shown), and this Hall element is embedded in the collar 10.

A ring-shaped cover 27 is attached to one axial side of the collar 10 to cover the drive circuit 24, and this cover 27 is attached to a deep-dish-shaped cover 28 that covers the rotor 23.
By caulking the outer peripheral edge of the cover 28, the cover 28 and the cover 28 are integrally fixed to the flange 10.

A screw hole 29 is formed in the bottom portion 8a of the bottomed cylindrical body 8, and by screwing a bolt into the screw hole 29, the vane pump device 1 is fixed to an appropriate position such as the body of an automobile.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained. By sequentially exciting each coil 20 in the circumferential direction by the drive circuit 24, rotational force is applied to the rotor 23, and the rotating shaft 6 is integrally moved with the rotor 23. By rotating, the vane pump 2 performs a pumping operation. As a result, fluid such as fuel is sucked into the pump chamber 4 from the suction pipe section 15 and the discharge pipe section 1
It is continuously discharged from 6.

In such a vane pump device 1, since the rotary pump 2 is arranged so as to be surrounded by the brushless motor 3, the thickness of the vane pump device 1 along the axis of the rotating shaft 6 can be made as thin as possible to make it smaller. becomes possible. Moreover, the diameter of rotor 7
Since the diameter d2 of the rotor 23 is set larger than d1, the operating torque for the rotor 7 becomes large, and the discharge flow rate and the size of the vane pump 2 are increased.
It becomes possible to set both the discharge pressure to a large value.
Furthermore, since the vane pump 2 is driven by the brushless motor 3, it is possible to prevent torque reduction, deterioration of durability, and adverse effects on electrical equipment due to sparks, which occur when a conventional brush motor is used.

Furthermore, since the vane blades B ₁ to _{B 4} are made of synthetic resin, the weight is reduced, so the power required for the brushless motor 3 can be made relatively small, and the production of the vane blades B ₁ to _{B 4} is Costs are also reduced. Moreover, as the weight of vane blades B ₁ to _{B 4} has been reduced, each vane blade is reduced by centrifugal force.
The frictional contact force of B ₁ to _{B 4} against the inner surface of the pump chamber 4 can be reduced, and the wear loss of each vane blade B ₁ to _{B 4} can be reduced as much as possible.

As the centrifugal force acting on each vane blade B ₁ to _{B 4} becomes smaller, there is a concern that the contact pressure between the vane blades B ₁ to _{B 4} and the inner surface of the pump chamber 4 will be insufficient. This problem is solved by the pressure regulating function of the pressure regulating grooves _P1 to _P4 . That is, when each vane blade _B1 to _B4 is in the suction process, a part of the fluid in the discharge chamber 4a is supplied to the bottom of the guide groove _G1 to _G4 by the corresponding pressure regulating groove _P1 to _P4 , Each of the vane blades B ₁ to _{B 4} makes up for the lack of centrifugal force with its fluid pressure (positive pressure) and comes into sliding contact with the inner surface of the pump chamber 4 .
Furthermore, when each vane blade B ₁ to _{B 4} is in the discharge process, even if a large force is applied to the vane blade B ₁ to _{B 4} to push it into the guide groove G ₁ to _{G 4} , the guide groove Pressure regulating groove P ₁ from the bottom of G ₁ to G ₄
The fluid escapes to the suction chamber 4b through ~ _P4 , and thereby each vane blade _B1 ~ _B4 is connected to the guide groove G1 _~
It can be moved smoothly to the bottom side of G ₄ to avoid applying a large load. In this way, each of the vane blades B ₁ to B ₄ can always come into sliding contact with the inner surface of the pump chamber 4 at an appropriate contact pressure due to the function of the pressure regulating grooves P ₁ and P ₂ .

C. Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, the vane blade is formed of synthetic resin, and one end surface of the rotor is provided with the bottoms of a pair of guide grooves that are not adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction of the rotor. A pair of pressure regulating grooves that communicate with the discharge chamber in the pump chamber when the vane blade corresponding to the groove is in the suction process and with the suction chamber in the pump chamber when the vane blade is in the discharge process are recessed so that they do not intersect with each other. On the other hand, on the other end surface of the rotor, the bottoms of another pair of guide grooves that are not adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction of the rotor are arranged so that when the vane blades corresponding to each guide groove are in the suction process, the bottoms of the other pair of guide grooves are arranged in the pump chamber. The other pair of pressure regulating grooves, which communicate with the discharge chamber and the suction chamber in the pump chamber when the vane blade is in the discharge process, are recessed so as not to intersect with each other, thereby reducing the weight of the vane blade. It is possible to reduce the power required for the driving means, reduce the wear and tear of the vane blades, and reduce the manufacturing cost. Moreover, when each vane blade is in the suction process, a portion of the positive pressure in the discharge chamber is introduced into the bottom of the guide groove by the corresponding pressure regulating groove, so each vane blade can compensate for the lack of centrifugal force due to weight reduction by applying the positive pressure. This allows for accurate sliding contact with the inner surface of the pump chamber, while when each vane blade is in the discharge process, a portion of the negative pressure in the suction chamber is introduced into the bottom of the guide groove by the corresponding pressure regulating groove. Therefore, even if a large force is applied to each vane blade during the discharge process to force it into the guide groove, each vane blade can be moved to the bottom side of the guide groove without difficulty. This is effective in preventing damage and deformation of each vane blade, and as a result, the contact pressure between each vane blade and the side surface of the pump chamber can be maintained at an appropriate level at all times, which can greatly contribute to improving pump efficiency. In addition, since the pressure regulating grooves, which serve as pressure regulating means for the vane blades, are recessed in the end face of the rotor, machining is extremely easy, and moreover, they are compatible with a pair of guide grooves that are not adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction of the rotor. A pair of pressure regulating grooves corresponding to the other pair of guide grooves are formed on one end surface of the rotor, and another pair of pressure regulating grooves corresponding to the other pair of guide grooves are formed on the other end surface of the rotor, so a total of four pressure regulating grooves are formed. Even if they are separated, they can be precisely arranged on the rotor end face without intersecting each other in any way.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line -- in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the rotor and vane blades. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Vane pump device, 3... Brushless motor as a drive means, 4... Pump chamber, 4a...
...Discharge chamber, 4b...Suction chamber, 5...Housing,
6... Rotating shaft, 7... Rotor, 13... Suction path,
14...Discharge path, _B1 to _B4 ...Vane blade,
_G1 to _G4 ...Guide groove, _P1 to _P4 ...Pressure adjustment groove.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A housing 5 forming a pump chamber 4 with which the suction passage 13 and the discharge passage 14 are communicated, a rotating shaft 6 rotatably supported on the housing 5 eccentrically from the pump chamber 4, and the pump chamber 4 a rotor 7 which is fixed to the rotating shaft 6 inside and has four guide grooves G ₁ to _{G 4} opened at approximately equal intervals in the circumferential direction on its outer peripheral surface; and the four guide grooves G of the rotor 7. _Four vane blades B ₁ to G ₄ are respectively slid together and urged toward the outside of the rotor 7 to come into sliding contact with the inner surface of the pump chamber 4 by centrifugal force according to the rotational movement of the rotor 7. ₄ , and the rotating shaft 6
vane blades adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction of the rotor 7;
As _the rotor ₇ rotates, a space defined in the pump chamber 4 by B ₂ , B _{3 ; B 3 ,} B ₄ ; In a vane pump device in which the chamber 4b and the discharge chamber 4a connected to the discharge passage 14 are alternately switched, each of the vane blades _B1 to _B4 is formed of synthetic resin, and one end surface of the rotor 7 has a , the rotor 7
A pair of guide grooves G ₁ that are not adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction of
When the vane blades B _{1 and} B 3 corresponding to the respective guide grooves G ₁ and G ₃ are in the suction process, the bottom part of G ₃ is inserted into the discharge chamber 4a in the pump chamber 4, and the same vane blades B ₁ and B Pump chamber 4 when ₃ is in the discharge process
A pair of pressure regulating grooves P ₁ and P 3 are recessed so as not to intersect with each other, and the pressure regulating grooves P 1 and P ₃ respectively communicate with the suction chamber 4b in the rotor 7. When the vane blades B ₂ and B ₄ corresponding to the respective guide grooves G ₂ and G ₄ are in the suction process, the bottoms of the other pair of guide grooves G ₂ and G ₄ are connected to the discharge chamber 4a in the pump chamber 4. In addition, the other pair of pressure regulating grooves P _{2 and P 4, which respectively communicate with the suction chamber 4b in the pump chamber 4 when the vane blades B 2 and B 4} are in the discharge process, are recessed so that they do not intersect with each other. A vane pump device characterized by: