Singlestage and multistage electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump

Abstract

An electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump is disclosed. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump includes an inner tube, an outer tube, two annular separation plates, a plurality of pistons, and an electromagnetic coil. The inner tube has a plurality of first and second through holes, and it accommodates the abovementioned pistons to revolve inside. The outer tube has an intake opening and an exhaust opening, and it wraps the inner tube inside. In addition, the annular separation plates are disposed inside the outer tube for dividing the inner space of the outer tube into a first airproof space and a second airproof space. The first airproof space connects the intake opening and communicates the inner space of the first tube via the first through holes; the second airproof space connects the exhaust opening and communicates the inner space of the first tube via the second through holes. Moreover, the electromagnetic coil is mounted on the wall outside of the inner tube in the first airproof space for exerting magnetic force onto the pistons.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a piston pump and, more particularly, to an electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump.

(b) Description of the Related Art

An air pump is a device used to increase air pressure by reducing volume of the air. Air pumps are usually classified into three types—reciprocating, centrifugal, and axial-flow, and the reciprocating type is most commonly used due to its' ability to obtain a wide pressure range.

A reciprocating pump is also called a reciprocating piston pump for that it has a piston reciprocating in a fixed space to compress air and thus increase pressure. Presently, electromagnetic force is often used to drive the piston, as illustrated in FIG. 1, to gain larger air pressure from the reciprocating piston pump.

However, the reciprocating piston pump illustrated in FIG. 1 has the following disadvantages. Firstly, the pressure distribution is discontinuous since the piston must return to its' original position after compressing and discharging the air and before making next compressing stroke. Secondly, an extra pressure storage tank is often needed for the pump to get a stable and continuous pressure. Thirdly, the back-pressure valves constraining airflow direction, the intake valves, and the exhaust valves provided inside the reciprocating piston pump are made of many parts, which not only complicates the whole system but also makes the system difficult to maintain. Fourthly, the friction produced during reciprocation of the piston consumes a large amount of kinetic energy of the piston, results in more energy provision for the piston, and thus leads to an increase in working cost and a decrease in work efficiency.

In view of above, the present invention provides an electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump which solves the discontinuous pressure problem preexisting in conventional electromagnetic reciprocating piston pumps, increases pump efficiency, effectively lowers the number of parts used in a pump, decreases pump body mass, and increases airflow.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the invention is to provide an electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump capable of getting continuing air pressure so as to resolve the discontinued pressure problem in conventional electromagnetic reciprocating piston pump.

Another object of the invention is to effectively increase airflow and pressure and to improve reciprocating piston pump efficiency.

Another object of the invention is to effectively reduce number of parts in electromagnetic reciprocating piston pumps and to make the reciprocating pump size smaller.

An electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump according to the invention includes a first tube, a second tube, two annular separation plates, a plurality of pistons, and an electromagnetic coil.

The first tube accommodates the aforementioned pistons to revolve inside therein, and it has a plurality of first and second through holes. The second tube has an intake opening and an exhaust opening, and wraps the first tube inside. In addition, the two annular separation plates are disposed inside the second tube to divide the inner space of the tube into a first airproof space and a second airproof space, where the first airproof space connects the intake opening and communicates inner space of the first tube via the first though holes, and the second airproof space connects the exhaust opening and communicates inner space of the first tube via the second through holes. Moreover, the electromagnetic coil is mounted on outside walls of the first tube in the first airproof space for exerting electromagnetic force onto the pistons.

The first tube of the invention has a low friction coefficient, and it can be made of copper and the second tube can be made of plastic.

In a first embodiment, the diameter of first through holes decreases and the number of first through holes decreases as the holes get far away from the intake opening; moreover, the diameter of second through holes decreases and the number of second through holes decreases as the holes get far away from the exhaust opening.

In a second embodiment, an electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump of the invention further comprises a plurality of annular separation plates which are placed inside the second airproof space and divide the second airproof space into a plurality of airproof spaces which are not in communication with each other. Each of the airproof spaces connects an exhaust opening and communicates inner space of the first tube via the second through holes.

In a third embodiment, a plurality of electromagnetic revolutionary piston pumps of the invention can be connect together to form a multistage electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump capable of obtaining higher air pressure.

Through the design of the invention, the electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump is able to: 1. have continuous air pressure and increased airflow; 2. avoid the usage of parts like back-pressure valve, and thus effectively reduces the number of pump parts used and the pump size; 3. lower the energy loss in the system, and hence increases work efficiency and reduces working cost.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of a conventional reciprocating piston pump.

FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of an electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump according to the first embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2B is a perspective view illustrating the inside arrangement of the outer doughnut tube in FIG. 2A.

FIG. 2C is a perspective view illustrating the arrangement relationship between the electromagnetic coils and the inner doughnut tube in FIG. 2A.

FIG. 2D is an exploded view illustrating the structure of the piston in FIG. 2A.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of an electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump according to the second embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of an electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump according to the third embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides an electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump using externally-added magnetic force to allow pistons to revolve fast and continuous inside an annular (doughnut shape) tube formed with through holes, and thus to compress air.

Referring to FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B, in a first embodiment, an electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump 1 includes a plastic outer doughnut tube 11, a copper inner doughnut tube 12, two annular separation plates 13a and 13b, five pistons 14a to 14e, and five sets of electromagnetic coils 15a to 15e.

The inner doughnut tube 12 is wrapped inside the outer doughnut tube 11, and the inner doughnut tube has a plurality of through holes 121 and 122 arranged on its' sidewall. The two annular separation plates 13a and 13b are placed inside the outer doughnut tube 11 but outside the inner doughnut tube 12, dividing the inner space of the outer doughnut tube 11 into two airproof spaces 111 and 112 that do not communicate with each other. The airproof space 111 connects an intake opening 10a closer to the annular separation plate 13a, and communicates with the space inside the inner doughnut tube 12 via the through holes 121. The airproof space 112 connects an exhaust opening 10b closer to the annular separation plate 13b, and communicates with the space inside the inner doughnut tube 12 via the through holes 122. The intake opening 10a and the exhaust opening 10b are so arranged that a phase difference of 180 degrees exists therebetween. Furthermore, the electromagnetic coils 15a to 15e are mounted on the outside walls of the inner doughnut tube 12 inside the airproof space 111 and are used for producing magnetic force to drive the pistons 14a to 14e placed inside the inner doughnut tube 12. So when these pistons 14a to 14e pass through an electromagnetic field created by the electromagnetic coils 15a to 15e, the pistons 14a to 14e can be accelerated forward one by one.

For example, at the instant when the piston 14b is accelerated up, the resulting vacuum inside the inner doughnut tube 12 sucks the air inside the airproof space 111 into the inner doughnut tube 12 via the through holes 121 on the inner doughnut tube 12. The sucked in air is then compressed and pushed forward by another accelerated piston 14a that follows immediately after the piston 14b. The compressed air is then sent to the airproof space 112 via the through holes 122, and finally discharged from the exhaust opening 10b connecting with the airproof space 112. Afterwards, the pistons 14a to 14e are no longer under the influence of magnetic force, and slow down naturally due to the friction between itself and the inner doughnut tube 12 until they pass through the electromagnetic coils 15a to 15e again for another compressing stroke. In the process of speeding up pistons 14a to 14e, because the pistons in front is faster than the pistons on the back, the distances between pistons would prevent them from colliding with each other.

Moreover, in order that the airproof space 111 is able to store pressure and avoid the pistons 14a to 14e from colliding and thus generating noise after the air is released from airproof space 112, the size and distribution of the through holes 121 and 122 on the inner doughnut tube 12 corresponding to the acceleration and the deceleration of the pistons in the embodiment vary from big to small, dense to sparse, respectively. In other words, the diameter of the through holes 121 gets smaller and the distribution of the through holes 121 becomes sparser as the through holes get farther away from the intake opening 10a. The diameter of the through holes 122 gets smaller and the distribution of the through holes 122 becomes sparser as the through holes get farther away from the intake opening 10b.

On the other hand, for the purpose of quickly reducing the speed of the pistons 14a to 14e to a preferred value without applying extra external force, such as the electromagnetic force, before the pistons 14a to 14e enter the next compressing stroke, the diameter of inner doughnut tube 12 of the electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump 1 decreases gradually as it gets far away from the exhaust opening 10b. In addition, a rubber ring 16 with diameter slightly larger than the inside diameter of the inner doughnut tube 12 is placed inside the inner doughnut tube 12 near the annular separation plate 13a to buffer the pistons 14a to 14e.

Referring to FIG. 2C, each of the electromagnetic coils 15a to 15e of the electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump 1 is made of a magnetically permeable material 151, which may be silicon sheets, wrapped with a coil winding 152 and provided with an air gap 153 for the inner doughnut tube 12 to pass through.

Referring to FIG. 2D, each of the pistons 14a to 14e includes a laminated silicon steel sheet assembly 141 composed of a plurality of silicon steel sheets, a permanent magnet 142, a piston collar 143 made of stainless steel, two clip caps 144, two rubber stoppers 145, two washers 146, and two fixing bolts 147.

The laminated silicon sheet assembly 141 is formed to have a central through hole 141a and two grooves 141b on opposite sides. The central through hole 141a is for accommodating the permanent magnet 142 to strengthen the magnetic force between the piston 14a and each of the electromagnetic coils 15a to 15e, while the grooves 141b are served as air gaps. In this way, the piston 14 will be adjusted automatically due to the magnetic resistance variation when the piston 14a passes the air gap 153. Thus, the minimum magnetic resistance caused by the laminated silicon steel assembly 141 and the maximum magnetic force applied to the piston 14a are ensured. Therefore, the contour of the grooves 141b can be shapes other than rectangular as illustrated in FIG. 2D, such as circular, as long as the magnetic resistance caused by the laminated silicon steel sheet assembly 141 and each of the electromagnetic coils 15a to 15e is a minimum.

In addition, the silicon steel sheet assembly 141 is placed in the piston collar 143, and is fixed in place by two clip caps separately mounted on two sides of the piston collar 143. Moreover, one rubber stopper 145 is mounted on each clip cap 144 mounted to provide necessary area for compressing air and to lower the noise created by the movement of piston 14a in the inner doughnut tube 12. The washers 146 and fixing bolts 147 are then used to fix the clip caps 144 and rubber stoppers 145 in place.

Referring to FIG. 3, in a second embodiment, the airproof space 112 of electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump 1 can be further divided into 4 airproof spaces 113, 114, 115, and 116 by using other annular separation plates 13c, 13d, and 13e with the airproof spaces 113, 114, 115, and 116 connecting exhaust openings 10c, 10d, 10e, and 10f, respectively. In this way, one can get air with various pressures and airflows separately from the exhaust openings 10c, 10d, 10e, and 10f.

Referring to FIG. 4, in a third embodiment, a plurality of electromagnetic revolutionary piston pumps according to the invention can be connected in series to provide higher pressure of multistage and more airflow. For example, the exhaust opening of an electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump 1 is connected to the intake opening of an electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump 2, and the exhaust opening of the electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump 2 is connected to the intake opening of an electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump 3, and so on.

Since the pistons of the invention revolve inside the inner doughnut tube continuously, the invention can therefore generate continuous pressure without a backpressure valve and have the same pressure range as a conventional reciprocating pump. In addition, since the loss of magnetic energy in the invention relates only to the friction between pistons and the tube wall during the acceleration process, the loss of the electromagnetic energy can be reduced effectively and work efficiency can be raised.

Please note that even though the outer doughnut tube in the aforementioned embodiments is made of plastic, the material of outer doughnut tube is not limited thereof. In addition, the material of the inner doughnut tube is not limited to copper; other low friction coefficient materials can be used as well. Moreover, the phase difference between the intake opening and exhaust opening is not restricted to 180 degrees; it can be varied according to design needs.

While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements as would be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.

Claims

1. An electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump, comprising:

a first doughnut tube having a plurality of first and second through holes;

a plurality of pistons revolving inside the first doughnut tube;

a second tube having an intake opening and a plurality of exhaust openings, the second tube wrapping the first tube inside;

a plurality of annular separation plates disposed inside the second tube for dividing the inner space of the second tube into a first airproof space and a plurality of second airproof spaces; and

an electromagnetic coil mounted on the first tube wall for exerting magnetic force onto the pistons;

wherein the first airproof space connects the intake opening and communicates the inner space of the first tube via the first through holes, and each of the second airproof spaces connects one of the exhaust openings and communicates the inner space of the first tube via the second through holes.

2. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 1, wherein the diameter of the first through holes decreases and the distribution of the through holes gets sparse as the first through holes get far away from the intake opening.

3. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 2, wherein the diameter of the second through holes decreases and the distribution of the through holes gets sparse as the second through holes get far away from the exhaust openings.

4. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 1, wherein the phase difference between the intake opening and one of the exhaust openings is 180 degrees.

5. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 1, wherein the diameter of the first doughnut tube in the second airproof spaces decreases as it approaches the electromagnetic coil.

6. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 1, wherein the first doughnut tube has a low friction coefficient.

7. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 1, wherein the first tube is made of copper.

8. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 1, wherein the second tube is made of plastic.

9. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic coil is made of a magnetically permeable material wrapped with a coil winding.

10. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 1, wherein each of the pistons comprises:

a silicon steel sheet assembly composed of a plurality of silicon steel sheets;

a permanent magnet disposed in the central through hole;

a piston collar for accommodating the silicon steel sheet assembly;

two clip caps separately disposed on two sides of the piston collar for holding the silicon steel sheet assembly and the piston collar; and

two rubber stoppers placed on the clip caps, respectively.

11. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 10, wherein each of the silicon steel sheets comprises a central through hole and two grooves formed on opposite sides of the silicon steel sheet.

12. An electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump, comprising:

a first tube having a plurality of first and second through holes;

a plurality of pistons revolving inside the first tube;

a second tube having an intake opening and an exhaust opening, wrapping the first tube inside;

two first annular separation plates disposed in the second tube for dividing the inner space of the second tube into a first airproof space and a second airproof space; and

an electromagnetic coil mounted on outside walls of the first tube in the first airproof space for exerting magnetic force onto the pistons;

wherein the first airproof space connects the intake opening and communicates inner space of the first tube via the first through holes, and the second airproof space connects the exhaust opening and communicates the inner space of the first tube via the second through holes.

13. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 12, wherein the diameter of the first through holes decreases and the distribution of the through holes gets sparse as the first through holes get far away from the intake opening.

14. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 13, wherein the diameter of the second through holes decreases and the distribution of the through holes gets sparse as the second through holes get far away from the exhaust opening.

15. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 12, wherein the phase difference between the intake opening and the exhaust opening is 180 degrees.

16. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 12, wherein the diameter of the first tube in the second airproof space decreases as it approaches the electromagnetic coil.

17. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 12, wherein the first doughnut tube has a low friction coefficient.

18. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 12, wherein the electromagnetic coil is made of a magnetically permeable material wrapped with a coil winding.

19. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 12, wherein each of the pistons comprises:

a silicon steel sheet assembly composed of a plurality of silicon steel sheets each having two grooves on opposite sides and a central through hole;

a permanent magnet placed in the central through hole;

a piston collar for accommodating the silicon steel sheet assembly;

two clip caps separately disposed on two sides of the piston collar for holding the silicon steel sheet assembly and the piston collar; and

two rubber stoppers disposed on the clip caps, respectively.

20. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 12, further comprising a plurality of second annular separation plates disposed in the second airproof space, dividing the second airproof space into a plurality of airproof spaces each connecting one exhaust opening and communicating inner space of the first tube via the second through holes.

21. A multistage electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump comprising:

a plurality of electromagnetic revolutionary piston pumps, each of the electromagnetic revolutionary piston pumps comprising:

a first tube having a plurality of first and second through holes;

a plurality of pistons revolving inside the first tube;

a second tube having an intake opening and an exhaust opening, wrapping the first tube inside;

two annular separation plates disposed inside the second tube for dividing the inner space of the second tube into a first airproof space and a second airproof space, the first airproof space connecting the intake opening and communicating inner space of the first tube via the first through holes, the second airproof space connecting the exhaust opening and communicating the inner space of the first tube via the second through holes; and

an electromagnetic coil disposed on outside walls of the first tube in the first airproof space for exerting magnetic force onto the pistons;

wherein the exhaust opening of one electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump is connected with the intake opening of another electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump.