WATER PUMP

Abstract

A water pump includes a driving shat configured to be rotated by an external driving force; an impeller configured to be rotated by being connected to the driving shaft; and a cover frame comprising a main frame having an accommodation space in which the impeller is accommodated, formed therein, a suction pipe, which communicates with one side of the main frame and through which a fluid is suctioned into the accommodation space, and a barrier wall that extends from the suction pipe and disposed at one side between the main frame and the impeller.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2016-0150353, filed on Nov. 11, 2016, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a water pump, and more particularly, to a water pump in which cooling water is suctioned to be circulated into an engine and which is used in a cooling system for a vehicle.

2. Description of the Related Art

A water pump is a pump that forcibly circulates cooling water into an engine and a product that cools electronic equipment inside a vehicle. In general, an engine that attains power using an explosive force of a fuel, like an engine of an automobile, generates high-temperature heat during operating. When high-temperature heat is not properly controlled, not only the engine itself but also other adjacent engines have a bad influence. Thus, the cooling water is necessarily used as a unit for cooling such heat.

In general, a water pump for an internal combustion engine is forcibly driven by a belt connected to a crankshaft of the engine so as to rotate an impeller inside the pump.

In case of a green car, such as an electric vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, a plug-in hybrid vehicle, or a fuel cell vehicle, a cooling water (water) pump is installed to cool an inverter, a hemispherical grain (HSG), a stack or the like.

Such a cooling water pump is generally configured to be driven in line with the engine or to be autonomously driven by an additionally-supplied power.

A rotating impeller suctions the cooling water into the center thereof and applies a centrifugal force to the suctioned cooling water so that the cooling water can be circulated into the engine.

There are many cases where a small amount of foreign substances are included in the cooling water introduced into the water pump. When the foreign substances are introduced into the water pump, driving of the water pump may be stopped. Thus, circulation of the cooling water is not performed so that the engine and the inverter may be severely damaged due to overheat.

In order to reduce an influence of the water pump by the foreign substances, Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1635538 is devised. Referring to FIG. 1, Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1635538 discloses an apparatus for removing foreign substances of a pump that is capable of discharging the foreign substances interposed between an impeller 1 and a casing 2, and more particularly, an apparatus for removing foreign substances of a pump that has a main component of a scraper ring 3 that slides in a direction in which a fluid is suctioned and scrapes foreign substances introduced between the impeller 1 and the casing 2.

In this case, according to Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1635538, the foreign substances cannot be prevented from being introduced between a frame of a top end of the impeller 1 and a frame of a top end of the water pump. That is, the introduced foreign substances can be easily removed. However, introduction of the foreign substances itself cannot be fundamentally prevented.

Also, Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1635538 does not disclose any method of preventing the foreign substances introduced into the impeller 1 from being introduced into the water pump. That is, there are many subsidiary equipment such as a bearing, a seal unit, and the like, between a rotation shaft and a water pump frame. The foreign substances cannot be prevented from being introduced into the equipment.

Thus, a water pump having an additional structure for minimizing introduction of the foreign substances included in cooling water into the water pump is required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a water pump having a structure in which introduction of foreign substances into an impeller and a main frame of the water pump is minimized. The present invention also provides a water pump having a structure in which foreign substances introduced into the impeller can be easily discharged.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a water pump including: a driving shat configured to be rotated by an external driving force; an impeller configured to be rotated by being connected to the driving shaft; and a cover frame including a main frame having an accommodation space in which the impeller is accommodated, formed therein, a suction pipe, which communicates with one side of the main frame and through which a fluid is suctioned into the accommodation space, and a barrier wall that extends from the suction pipe and disposed at one side between the main frame and the impeller.

The impeller may include: a disc-shaped base having a center to which the driving shaft is connected; a plurality of blades coupled to a top surface of the base and extending from the center of the base in a radial form; a disc-shaped shroud coupled to a top end of each of the plurality of blades; and an introduction pipe, which communicates with one side of the shroud and through which the fluid is introduced into the impeller, and the barrier wall may extend toward an inside of the introduction pipe.

The cover frame may include a pair of protrusion pieces that protrude respectively from the inside of the main frame, are disposed at outer circumferential surfaces of the shroud and the base and form a discharge port through which the fluid introduced into the impeller is discharged.

An outer end of the base may be inclined so that the base guides the fluid toward a center of the discharge port.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a water pump according to the related art;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a water pump according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 3A is a cross-sectional view of movement of cooling water and foreign substances introduced into the water pump according to the related art, and FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view of movement of cooling water and foreign substances introduced into the water pump according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. However, exemplary embodiments are not limited to the embodiments illustrated hereinafter and are just exemplary embodiments of the invention, and there may be various modifications that may replace the embodiments of the present specification and the drawings. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the claims.

Although a water pump according to an embodiment of the present invention is installed inside an automobile and suctions cooling water to circulated into an automobile engine and an inverter, this is just an exemplary embodiment, and the structure of the water pump according to the present invention may be applied to all pumps having a structure in which a fluid is suctioned and discharged using a rotational force of an impeller. Thus, even though hereinafter, descriptions will be provided using the terms such as cooling water, a water pump, and the like, it will be preferable that it is interpreted that the terms mean all fluids including the cooling water and all types of pumps including the water pump.

Referring to FIG. 2, a water pump 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a driving shaft 110, an impeller 120, and a cover frame 130.

The driving shaft 110 is rotated by an external driving force supplied. Although not shown, the external driving force may be transferred to the driving shaft 110 by using a driving motor separately provided or by being forcibly driven by a belt connected to a crankshaft of an engine.

The impeller 120 is rotated by being connected to the driving shaft 110. In more detail, the impeller 120 may include a disc-shaped base 121 having the center to which the driving shaft 110 is connected, a plurality of blades 122 coupled to a top surface of the base 121 and extending from the center of the base 121 in a radial form, a disc-shaped shroud 123 coupled to a top end of each of the plurality of blades 122, and an introduction pipe 124 which communicates with one side of the shroud 123 and through which a fluid is introduced into the impeller 120.

The cover frame 130 includes a main frame 131 having an accommodation space 131a in which the impeller 120 is accommodated, formed therein, a suction pipe 132, which is formed to communicate with one side of the main frame 131 and through which the fluid is suctioned into the accommodation space 131a, and a barrier wall 133 that extends from the suction pipe 132 and disposed at one side between the main frame 131 and the impeller 120.

In this case, the barrier wall 133 may extend toward an inside of the introduction pipe 124. The introduction pipe 124 and the barrier wall 133 form a double wall so that foreign substances can be prevented from being introduced into a space between the shroud 123 and an upper portion of the main frame 131.

The cover frame 130 may include a pair of protrusion pieces 134 that protrude respectively from the inside of the main frame 131, are disposed at outer circumferential surfaces of the shroud 123 and the base 121 and form a discharge port 134a through which the fluid introduced into the impeller 120 is discharged.

The discharge port 134a is an outlet through which cooling water is discharged from the water pump 100 so that the cooling water introduced into the impeller 120 and discharged from the impeller 120 by a rotational force transferred from the blades 122 can be introduced into an engine and an inverter. Transferring of the cooling water into the engine from the discharge port 134a may be designed in various ways, and this is a well-known art and thus detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.

Because an outer end of the base 121 is inclined, the base 121 may guide the fluid toward the center of the discharge port 134a. This is to prevent the foreign substances from being introduced into a bottom end of the base 121.

Preferably, an outer end of the base 121 is curved upward so that a velocity vector of the cooling water discharged from the impeller 120 faces the top end of the base 121. Thus, the foreign substances may not flow into the bottom end of the base 121 but may be discharged to the discharge port 134a. However, this is just an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and the base 121 for guiding the fluid toward the center of the discharge port 134a may have various shapes according to a designer's selection.

The water pump 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention may further include a shaft frame 140, a seal unit 150, and a bearing 160.

The top end of the shaft frame 140 is coupled to the cover frame 130, and the shaft frame 140 accommodates the driving shaft 110, the seal unit 150, and the bearing 160 therein.

The seal unit 150 is a mechanical element for preventing the cooling water from being introduced into the shaft frame 140. Although, in FIG. 2, the seal unit 150 is directly coupled to the driving shaft 110, this is just an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The seal unit 150 may have a structure in which an inside surface thereof is rotated and an outside surface thereof is fixed to an external object, like the bearing, or a structure in which an additional bearing is coupled to a shaft and then the seal unit 150 is coupled to an outside of the bearing.

The inside surface of the bearing 160 is coupled to the driving shaft 110, and the outside surface of the bearing 160 is coupled to the shaft frame 140 so that the bearing 160 supports the driving shaft 110. The bearing 160 is a mechanical element that fixes a rotating shaft in a predetermined position, supports a weight of the shaft and a load applied to the shaft and rotates the shaft. In FIG. 2, a ball bearing is shown. However, this is just an exemplary embodiment, and a variety of types of bearings may be used.

Features of the invention can be clearly understood by referring to FIGS. 3A and 3B in a comparative manner. FIG. 3A illustrates a movement path of cooling water and foreign substances introduced into a water pump according to the related art, and FIG. 3B illustrates a movement path of cooling water and foreign substances introduced into the water pump 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3A, the water pump according to the related art does not include a barrier wall, and no inclination is formed at an outer end of an impeller base so that the foreign substances permeate between a water pump impeller and a main frame. However, referring to FIG. 3B, the water pump 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes the barrier wall 133, and an inclination is formed at an outer end of the impeller base 121 so that the foreign substances do not permeate between the impeller 120 and the main frame 131 but is directly discharged to the discharge port 134a. Thus, the water pump 100 is prevented from being damaged by the foreign substances and may circulate the cooling water smoothly into the engine, the inverter, or the like.

As described above, in a water pump according to the present invention, a barrier wall is added between a main frame and an impeller so that foreign substances can be prevented from being introduced between the impeller and the main frame. Also, in the water pump according to the present invention, an outer end of an impeller base is inclined so that a flow path is configured in such a way that the foreign substances can be smoothly discharged from the water pump.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims.

Claims

1. A water pump comprising:

a driving shat configured to be rotated by an external driving force;

an impeller configured to be rotated by being connected to the driving shaft; and

a cover frame comprising a main frame having an accommodation space in which the impeller is accommodated, formed therein, a suction pipe, which communicates with one side of the main frame and through which a fluid is suctioned into the accommodation space, and a barrier wall that extends from the suction pipe and disposed at one side between the main frame and the impeller.

2. The water pump of claim 1, wherein the impeller comprises:

a disc-shaped base having a center to which the driving shaft is connected;

a plurality of blades coupled to a top surface of the base and extending from the center of the base in a radial form;

a disc-shaped shroud coupled to a top end of each of the plurality of blades; and

an introduction pipe, which communicates with one side of the shroud and through which the fluid is introduced into the impeller, and

the barrier wall extends toward an inside of the introduction pipe.

3. The water pump of claim 2, wherein the cover frame comprises a pair of protrusion pieces that protrude respectively from the inside of the main frame, are disposed at outer circumferential surfaces of the shroud and the base and form a discharge port through which the fluid introduced into the impeller is discharged.

4. The water pump of claim 3, wherein an outer end of the base is inclined so that the base guides the fluid toward a center of the discharge port.