Coupling Unit with Connecting Pieces

Abstract

A pump assembly is provided with a coupling unit that connects a pump casing to a motor casing. The coupling unit has a pump-side connection part and a motor-side connection part. An annular element is arranged between the connection parts using supports which minimize heat transfer between the pump-side connection part and the motor-side connection part.

Claims

1-14. (canceled)

15. A pump arrangement, comprising: a coupling unit configured to connect a pump housing and a motor housing to one another, wherein the coupling unit has a pump-side connection component and a motor-side connection component, and the coupling unit has an annular element suspended between the connection components by retention members.

16. The pump arrangement as claimed in claim 15, wherein the annular element is arranged radially inside a base face of at least one of the connection components.

17. The pump arrangement as claimed in claim 16, wherein the retention members are struts connecting the annular element to the base face of at least one of the connection components.

18. The pump arrangement as claimed in claim 17, wherein stabilization elements are arranged between the connection components and the annular element, and a stabilization element is arranged between two of the retention members.

19. The pump arrangement as claimed in claim 18, wherein the retention members extend radially inwardly to the annular element.

20. The pump arrangement as claimed in claim 19, wherein cross sectional surface-areas of a radial section in the connection region of the retention members are more than 65% smaller than the cross sectional surface-area of end faces of the annular element.

21. The pump arrangement as claimed in claim 20, wherein cross sectional surface-areas of a radial section in the connection region of the retention members are more than 85% smaller than the cross sectional surface-area of end faces of the annular element.

22. The pump arrangement as claimed in claim 21, wherein the annular element has at least one material recess in the form of an aperture.

23. The pump arrangement as claimed in claim 22, wherein the annular element has at least one reinforcement formation adjacent to at least one of the retention members.

24. The pump arrangement as claimed in claim 23, wherein the annular element is suspended at each end by three to eight of the retention members.

25. The pump arrangement as claimed in claim 24, wherein at each end of the annular element the number of stabilization elements corresponds to the number of retention members.

26. The pump arrangement as claimed in claim 15, wherein the coupling unit is configured to directly connect the pump housing and the motor housing.

27. The pump arrangement as claimed in claim 15, wherein the coupling unit has a shape which is one of a cylindrical shape, a trumpet-funnel shape, a conical shape, a shape with a polygonal base face, or one or more thereof.

28. The pump arrangement as claimed in one 15, wherein the pump-side connection component is constructed integrally with a motor-side pressure cover of the pump housing.

29. The pump arrangement as claimed in claim 15, wherein the motor-side connection component is constructed integrally with a pump-side motor cover of the motor housing.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0043] FIG. 1 shows a side view of a pump arrangement in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention,

[0044] FIG. 2 shows a perspective illustration of the coupling unit of FIG. 1,

[0045] FIG. 3 shows a perspective illustration of a partial section of the coupling unit of FIG. 1,

[0046] FIG. 4 shows a perspective illustration of another section through the coupling unit of FIG. 1,

[0047] FIG. 5 shows a perspective illustration of a third section through the coupling unit of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0048] FIG. 1 shows a pump arrangement having a coupling unit 1 which connects a pump housing 2 and a motor housing 3 to each other. The centrifugal pump illustrated in the embodiment is used to convey fluids which depending on the area of application may have high temperatures.

[0049] The fluid enters the pump housing 2 of the centrifugal pump through a suction nozzle 15. An impeller which is not illustrated is arranged inside the pump housing 2. The impeller transmits kinetic energy to the fluid which leaves the centrifugal pump via the pressure nozzle 16. The space which is filled with fluid and the impeller is delimited by a pump housing 2 and a housing cover 17. The impeller is connected in a rotationally secure manner to a pump shaft 18 which drives the impeller by means of a motor arrangement.

[0050] The coupling unit 1 is fixed to the pump housing 2 by means of four connection elements 20. In this variant, the connection component 5 is configured integrally as a motor cover and fixed to the motor housing 3 by means of the connection elements 21. The coupling unit 1 is configured in a very compact manner, wherein the annular element 6 is suspended on the connection components 4, 5 by means of the retention members 7.

[0051] FIG. 2 shows a perspective illustration of the coupling unit 1. The annular element 6 is suspended on the connection components 4 and 5 by means of four retention members 7 in each case. The retention members 7 are constructed in the manner of struts and are thereby also capable of being able to securely suspend the mass of a motor construction which is intended to be supported. To this end, the annular element 6 is reinforced in the embodiment shown by two formations 14. At the same time, the retention members 7 are orientated radially inwardly and configured to be as small as possible in order to introduce a thermal conduction from the hot pump housing 2 into the motor housing 3 as little as possible. In order to minimize the thermal conduction, the annular element 6 has in this variant four aperture-like material recesses 13. The coupling unit 1 is constructed in an integral manner from an aluminum pressure die-casting.

[0052] The parallelepipedal connection element 4 is constructed with rounded corners, wherein the retention members 7 begin in each case centrally and extend radially inward in the manner of a strut. The annular element 6 thereby has a significantly smaller cross sectional surface-area than the connection component 4. The annular element 6 is consequently arranged within the base face of the connection element 4 with a reduced cross sectional surface-area, whereby the thermal conduction in the direction of the motor housing 3 is significantly reduced.

[0053] FIG. 3 shows a perspective illustration of a partially sectioned coupling unit 1. The annular element 6 is in this variant suspended with four retention members 7 on the connection component 5 and additionally reinforced with four stabilization elements 25.

[0054] FIG. 3 further shows a radial section in the connection region of the retention members 7 with the cross sectional surface-area 10 thereof and the cross sectional surface-area 8 of the stabilization elements 25. In this instance, the sum of the cross sectional surface-areas 8 and 10 is constructed to be more than 80% smaller than the cross sectional surface-area 11 of the annular element 6 in FIG. 4. A significant reduction of the thermal conduction from the pump housing 2 in the direction of the motor housing 3 is thereby achieved since the thermal conduction surface is constructed to be reduced to four minimal retention members 7 and four stabilization elements 25.

[0055] At the same time, at the side of the connection component 4 and at the side of the connection component 5 between the retention members 7 there are formed material recesses 22 in which the cooling air flow which is produced by the motor fan which is not illustrated can flow in order to discharge a heat flow. In addition, the cooling air flow discharges heat by flowing over the outer face of the coupling unit 1.

[0056] FIG. 5 shows a perspective illustration of a third section through the coupling unit 1 in which the aperture-like material recesses 13 of the annular element 6 are also sectioned. The cross sectional surface-area 23 is reduced by the aperture-like material recesses 13 in comparison with the cross sectional surface-area 11 of the annular element 6 in FIG. 4 by 40%, whereby the thermal conduction from the pump housing 2 in the direction toward the motor housing 3 is significantly reduced. At the same time, the cooling air flow of the motor fan can also flow through the aperture-like material recesses 13 and discharge heat.

[0057] The four strut-like retention members 7 extend from the edge of the connection component 5 as far as the cylindrical bearing sleeve 24, which serves to receive a radial bearing which is not illustrated. In this variant of the invention, the connection component 5 is configured integrally as a bearing carrier cover of the motor housing 3 and supports a radial bearing of the pump shaft 18. As a result of the continuation of the retention members 7 at the inner side of the annular element 6, the bearing sleeve 24 is advantageously reinforced and stiffened.

[0058] In addition to the four retention members 7, a further four stabilization elements 25 for suspending the annular element 6 are arranged between the annular element 6 and the connection component 5. In this instance, the stabilization elements 25 are arranged with a very small cross sectional surface-area in order to reduce the thermal conduction centrally between two retention members 7 in each case. Starting from the pump shaft 18 which is not illustrated, the four retention members 7 are arranged in each case to be offset through 90°, whilst the four stabilization elements 25 are also arranged to be offset through 90° with respect to each other, wherein the stabilization elements 25 are positioned to be offset through 45° with respect to the retention members 7.

[0059] The foregoing disclosure has been set forth merely to illustrate the invention and is not intended to be limiting. Since modifications of the disclosed embodiments incorporating the spirit and substance of the invention may occur to persons skilled in the art, the invention should be construed to include everything within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof.