Bearing assemblies, apparatuses, systems, and methods include bearing assemblies having one or more bearing element in a bearing housing for supporting a shaft extending through at least a portion of the bearing housing. The bearing assembly including a recirculation line for delivering fluid into the bearing housing at a location separate from a fluid inlet of the bearing housing to at least partially thermally regulate, lubricate, and/or flush the one or more bearing elements during operation of the shaft.

An electric submersible pump (ESP) assembly bearing is described. A bearing set for an ESP assembly includes a rotatable sleeve, and a bushing outward of the rotatable sleeve, the bushing including a tubular portion, and a radial flange extending around a downstream side of the tubular portion. An ESP assembly includes a rotatable shaft, at least one stage stacked in series on the rotatable shaft, each stage including a diffuser, a stationary bearing member including a tubular portion secured within a working fluid exit of the diffuser, a stationary member flange extending radially outward from a top of the tubular portion, and a rotatable sleeve inward of the stationary bearing member and secured to the rotatable shaft. A bearing set for an ESP assembly includes a bushing including a tubular portion, and an annular retaining ring groove extending around an outer surface of the tubular portion.

Aspects of the invention disclosed herein generally provide a heat engine system, a turbopump system, and methods for lubricating a turbopump while generating energy. The systems and methods provide proper lubrication and cooling to turbomachinery components by controlling pressures applied to a thrust bearing in the turbopump. The applied pressure on the thrust bearing may be controlled by a turbopump back-pressure regulator valve adjusted to maintain proper pressures within bearing pockets disposed on two opposing surfaces of the thrust bearing. Pocket pressure ratios, such as a turbine-side pocket pressure ratio (P1) and a pump-side pocket pressure ratio (P2), may be monitored and adjusted by a process control system. In order to prevent damage to the thrust bearing, the systems and methods may utilize advanced control theory of sliding mode, the multi-variables of the pocket pressure ratios P1 and P2, and regulating the bearing fluid to maintain a supercritical state.

A bearing for a pump with a shaft rotating around an axial direction includes a housing and a bearing cover fixed to the housing, a bearing structure for supporting the shaft of the pump, a reservoir for a lubricant and an oil ring for transporting the lubricant and for supplying the lubricant to the bearing structure wherein the oil ring is arranged for being moved by the rotating shaft and wherein a retaining element is provided for that is fixed with respect to the housing or the cover, the retaining element being designed and arranged such that it restricts a movement of the oil ring at least in the axial direction.

A compact bearing is produced by a sliding bearing and has a sealing arrangement for water pumps. The bearing includes a sliding bearing bushing that includes an inner sliding surface and a radial recess having an axial sliding surface, a shaft collar, and a wet-side shaft seal arranged between the wet side and the sliding bearing bushing. A dry-side shaft seal is arranged between the sliding bearing bushing and the dry side. A lubricant reservoir with a substrate, which is porous in at least some sections, is arranged between the wet-side shaft seal and the sliding bearing bushing. The lubricant reservoir includes, in pores of the substrate, a lubricant insoluble in water, and a volume of the lubricant reservoir and a volume of a lubricant filling a total volume of spaces between the wet-side shaft seal and the dry-side shaft seal.

A rotary blood pump includes a casing defining a pumping chamber. The pumping chamber has a blood inlet and a tangential blood outlet. One or more motor stators are provided outside of the pumping chamber. A rotatable impeller is within the pumping chamber and is adapted to cause blood entering the pumping chamber to move to the blood outlet. The impeller has one or more magnetic regions. The impeller is radially constrained in rotation by magnetic coupling to one or more motor stators and is axially constrained in rotation by one or more hydrodynamic thrust bearing surfaces on the impeller.

Axial sliding bearing arrangement for a pump impeller of a radial pump and a radial pump comprising the axial sliding bearing arrangement

Axial sliding bearing arrangement for a pump impeller (8) of a radial pump (1) with a first, rotating friction surface (22) pointing in an axial direction (A), a second, non-rotating friction surface (23) facing the first, rotating friction surface (22), wherein the second, non-rotating friction surface (23) is allocated to a swivel head body (20), wherein the swivel head body (20) is axially supported via an axial support surface (24), and the swivel head body (20) is radially supported in a resiliently yielding manner at radial support surfaces (25) by means of first spring means (31).

A submersible well pump assembly has a motor that rotates a drive shaft within the pump. The pump has a number of pump stages, each stage having a diffuser and an impeller. A bushing is fixed for non-rotation within the diffuser. A thrust runner sleeve mounted to the drive shaft has an outer diameter surface in sliding rotating engagement with an inner diameter surface of the bushing. At least one seal ring is mounted to the sleeve in sealing engagement with the drive shaft to block the entry of well fluid particulates between the sleeve and the drive shaft.

The present invention relates to a motor pump (10) free from bearings, cooler and mechanical sealing, more specifically to a hydraulic motor pump, which comprises a housing (14) defined by a first chamber (19) isolated from fluids and a second chamber (17). In the second chamber (17) there is an integral rotor/turbine assembly (11), the rotor and the turbine being induced by magnetic forces of a stator (12), which is located in the first chamber (19). A fluid inlet (15) and a fluid outlet (16) are located at the same end of the motor pump (10), so that most of the fluid impelled into the motor pump (10) is guided directly to the outlet (16) with the aid of a fluid guide (20) located at the front end (24) of the rotor/turbine assembly (11), enabling an increase in the flowrate inside the motor pump (10), thus increasing the yield thereof.

A submersible well pump assembly has a pump driven by an electrical motor. The motor has a number of rotor sections axially separated from each other by radial bearings. Each of the rotor sections has disks stacked together, each of the disks having a central opening and slots circumferentially spaced around the central opening. Metal rods extend through the slots. A center tube extends through the central openings of the disks. The center tube has an outer diameter in an interference fit with the disks. A slot and key arrangement between the inner diameter of the center tube and the motor shaft rotates the motor shaft in unison. The ends of the center tube extend past end rings of the rotor sections and abut with center tubes of adjacent rotor sections.