US1782188A - Compressor pump - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 18, 1930. E. BARNES 1,782,183

COMPRESSOR PUMP Filed Oct. 19, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG: I.

I N VEN TOR:

W TNESSES W FM M ATTORNEYS.

1930. E. L. BARNES 1,782,188

COMPRESSOR PUMP Filed Oct. 19, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 W TNESSES I N VEN TOR:

fiwjLf /A Eugen/a L Barnes,

4. By 5% g ATTORNEYS.

Patented Nov. '18, 1930 UNITED STATES EUGENE L. BARNES, F BUFFALO, NEW YORK COMPRESSOR PUMP Application filed October 19, 1926.

My invention relates to a centrifugal pump in which centrifugal force is utilized to discharge successive lobules of a liquid such as mercury, throug 1 a passage in such a way 5 as to carry with them successive quantities of the fluid which is to be pumped or compressed.

My invention is usefully adapted to the pumping and condensing of the refrigerating fluid in refrigerating apparatus, for the pump is noiseless, efficient and compact, but it is capable of other adaptations and uses.

I will describe my invention as adapted to the centrifugal propulsion of successive glob- 1 ules of mercury, but it must be understood that the invention might be carried out with the use of some other suitable liquid.

In the accompanying drawings, the invention is shown in its preferred embodiment,

as a unit in a refrigerating system.

Fig. I shows an axial sectional view of a compressor pump and its driving motor.

Fig. II is a transverse sectional view taken in accordance with the arrows II-II in Fig.

I; and

Fig. III is a-perspective view of the stator of the pump.

In Fig. I my invention is shown in connection with an electric motor and as assembled for use as the compression element in a refrigerating system, and for this purpose the condensing coils surround the motor and pump, but such arrangement and combination are not essential to'my invention.

The bowl shaped casing 1 surmounts the base 2. The rim of the casing has a projecting flange 3. Within this casing the pump is contained. Above these parts is the electric motor 5, the cylindrical casing of which rests on the flange 3 while the condenser coils 6 surround the structure. The motor 5 rotates the central vertical shaft 7 which is supported within suitable bearings 23 and 24. To the lower end of this motor shaft is keyed the rotor of the pump which comprises a flanged member 8, an annular disk 9, and a cylindrical member 13. Members 8 and 9 are secured together by the bolts 11 and have cut out from their contacting surfaces a 09 series. of narrowing spiral passages 10 lead,-

Serial No. 142,543.

ing from the central hollow part of the rotor to its periphery. The cylindrical member 13 of the rotor is attached to the member 9 by a correspondingly flanged portion and circumferential bolts 12.

Within the hollow central portion of the cylindrical member 13 are radial vanes 14 formed upon the inner surface of the cylinder and extending inwardly towards the axis of the rotor. Above these vanes the cylindrical member is provided with a series of outlet ports 15 intermediately positioned with relation to the vanes, there being an annular interval between the cylinder of the rotor with its ports and the inner openings of the spiral passages 10. This annular interval is occupied by the depending rim of the head of the stator' 16 which is shown in detail in Fig. III.

The stator is mounted axially within the rotor and in alignment with the vertical shaft 7. It is a hollow tube surmounted by a flared head which surrounds the hub of the flanged member 8 of the rotor forming with it a narrow annular passage 17, the purpose of which will be more fully described. A series of ports 18 are located within the rim of the stator head which ports when they coincide with those of the rotor and of the spiral passages 10 form a path for the flow of the liquid which is contained within the pump.

The lower end of the stator communicates through its interior hollow portion with the low pressure refrigerant suction line 19 coupled thereto beneath the circumferential base 2.

The bowl of the pump is filled with a suitable liquid, preferably mercury, and when the pump is idle this liquid keeps the level shown in the drawings, it being free to flow within the hollow cylindrical portion of the rotor; but this liquid does not completely fill the pump casing and above its level the pump chamber 40 serves as a reservoir for the gaseous refrigerant which is to be pumped and compressed. This pump chamber is in communication with the condenser coil 6 through the upreaching discharge pipe 22 by way of which compressed refrigerant may be continually pumped to the condenser coils and there condensed.

The rotor bearing 21. consists of a ball race supported by the webbed framework 20 from the compressor casing 1 and this hearing keeps the rotor in alignment with the stator 16 without the two coming in contact except for the close fitting of the depending rim of the stator against the upper cylindrical surface of the rotor whereby the ports of the latter are successively opened and closed. \Vhen mercury is used as the liquid in the bowl of the pump it serves to lubricate this rotor bearing.

Additional bearings are provided at 23 and 24 for the motor shaft 7. The lower shaft bearing 23 is provided with a sealed gland 25 to prevent the escape of refrigerant. Integral with the cover 31 of the compressor casing 1, there is a cup-shaped projection 26 surrounding the motor shaft and ncasing the shaft bearing 23 and gland 25. In the annular space between the member 26 and the shaft jomnal 27 is a ball race 23. Beneath this is a helical spring 28 anda washer 29 which serve to compress the semi nonfrictional material 30 and washer 32 against the cap piece 33 thus forming a sealed gland. The material 30 is held in place by a diaphragm 34 the outer edge of which is secured between the threaded cap piece 33 and the correspondingly threaded member 26. Oil or other suitable lubricating substance may be used in the ball bearing 23 within the cupshaped member 26.

The cylindrical frame 34 which surrounds the motor and pump casing supports the condenser coils 6. High pressure refrigerant entering the condenser coils through the pipe 22 is discharged under condensation through the pipe connection 35 to the reservoir 36 from which it may be led to the customary valve and expansion coils for refrigeration purposes.

It being assumed that the compressor casing is filled with mercury, the operation of the pump is as follows:

The rotor 13 revolves in accordance with the speed of the motor 5 and causes mercury within its hollowed portion to be whirled by the vanes 14 with resulting expulsion under centrifugal force through the rotor ports 15. Inasmuch as the stator 16 is stationary. the flow of mercury is intercepted at intervalsas the ports 15 of the rotor are alternately opened and closed from communication with the ports 18 of the stator. The mercury is consequently disintegrated into globules or slugs which are intermittently expelled through the spiral passages 10 under centrifugal action. As each successive globule 1s expelled it draws with it a charge of refrigerant gas, the path of the gas being through the suction line 19 andlthe hollow stator 16, from thence around the restricted passages 38 and 17 and eventually through the spiral passages 10. Successive charges of refrigerant gas are thus drawn through the attenuated spiral passages 10 and-discharged with the slugs of mercury into the pump chamber.

This causes a graduzi building up of pres sure Within the pump chamber, there being an intermittent flow of mercury from the rotor to the pump chamber 40. The space inside the rotor 13 being in communication with the pump chamber 40 at its lower end, the pressure in the two compartments is equalized.

When the machine stops mercury is prevented from flowing over into the suction line 19 by means of the restricted annular passages 17 and 38. High pressure refrigerant is prevented from backing up in the suction line by a check valve 37 located at the point where the suction line passes through the base 2.

While the compressor pump is here illustrated and described as a unit of a refrigerating system, it will be readily apparent that the compressor can be utilized for numerous other purposes and I do not intend by this description to confine its use to any particular purpose.

The spiral passages 10 are shaped as shown in Fig. II of the drawing for the more ready movement and discharge of the mercury globules which pass through them. As the sectional area of each spiralpassage diminishes towards the discharge end there is imparted to each mercury globule an increasing resistance to any backward flow through it of the high pressure fluid into which it is being discharged.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. In a pump, a rotor with a hollow central portion communicating with a source of mercury, said portion having a series of outlet ports, said rotor having a series of passages, the cross-sectional areas of which diminish outwardly, communicating'with said outlet ports and separated therefrom by an annular interval, a stator having an axial inlet communicating with a supply of fluid to be pumped and communicating with said annular interval, and an annular ported portion within the interval aforesaid cooperating with said rot-or ports to intermittently expel by centrifugal action globules of said mercury and charges of said fluid.

2. In a compressor, a casing, a tubularrotor rotatable within the casing about a vertical axis and provided with discharge openings at its upper portion, a fixed partition member arranged outside of the rotor and concentric therewith and provided with apertures aligning with the discharge openings of the rotor during rotary motion of the rotor, an annular member arranged about the partition and provided with a passage exlid tending from the inside to the outside there'- of, said annular member being in slightly spaced relationship with the partition providing a space Communicating with a low pressure supply of gas or vapor, a supply of liquid of high surface tension, such as mercury, in the easing into which the lower end of the rotor depends, and means for imparting rotary motion to the liquid to centrifugally expel it through the discharge openings of the rotor, the apertures of the partition and the passage in the annular member to carry therewith gas or vapor from the said space into the casing, said space being restricted whereby flow of the liquid therethrough is rormally prevented thereby checking flow of compressed gas or vapor from the casing to the low pressure supply.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name at Buffalo, N. Y., this 16th day of October, 1926;

EUGENE L. BARNES.

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