A Valveless Pump Having Many Possibilities
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Improvements in the Design of the Fluvario Pump Which Works on the Eccentricvane Principle
SINCE the first description of the Fluvario pump appeared in this journal, in July, 1935, various improvements have been made in its design. Since that date the Brockhouse organization has taken an interest in this invention of Mr. E. E. Guinness, who has developed it for a wide sphere of application. We understand that, in addition to its adoption as the oil pump for Armstrong Siddeley car engines, it is being tested by various other manufacturers and has already been applied to numerous uses.
The Fluvario pump consists, in principle, of a cylindrical chamber in which is mounted, eccentrically, a rotor with a number of radial slots. In each slot there is a roller with its axis parallel with that of the rotor. As the rotor revolves, these rollers maintain contact with the interior surface of the cylindrical chamber. In other words, the principle is that of a vane-type pump, but, in this case, vanes are replaced by rollers_ In its original form, the Fluvario pump relied on centrifugal force to maintain contact between rollers and casing. Even so it developed quite high pressures, and was, in most respects, entirely satisfactory_ The chief alteration to the design lies in the provision of a smaller cylinder or hub, within the main casing, and concentric with it. This addition is actually a loose piece vatich is, therefore, self-centring. It keeps the rollers in contact with the outer casing even when the pump is stationary.
Perhaps, the first fact that should be mentioned is that, starting from a dry state, a 2-in, diameter pump will lift engine oil from a depth of 12 ft. The pump can, therefore, be installed safely at any convenient place on an engine, such as on the end of a camshaft, and it will perform well at half engine speed.
In larger sizes, the Fluvario pump has been used satisfactorily for displacing large quantities of water at high speed, and we understand that, experimentally, it has been employed successfully to lift even petrol. Another possibility of this design is for power propulsion. If one of
these units be employed to propel a liquid around a closed circuit and another of the units be placed in that circuit, obviously the shaft of the latter unit must rotate.
In practice, one large pump, in conjunction with a number of small ones used as motors, has already been employed to drive a series of fans. In that case the speed ratio between pump and motor is fixed by the dimensions of the two units. It will be appreciated, however, that by varying the eccentricity of the rotor in the pump casing, the speed ratio can be altered. This opens up a wide field of application including, of course, that to the transmission system of a vehicle.