Gear pump with slots in teeth to reduce cavitation

This application relates to a gear pump, wherein slots are cut into the gear teeth to reduce the effect of cavitation.

Gear pumps are known, and typically include a pair of gears mounted for rotation along parallel axes in a housing. One gear is driven by a source of drive to rotate, and gear teeth on the drive gear engage gear teeth on a driven gear. As the drive gear rotates, its gear teeth contact and drive the driven gear. Fluid is entrained in pockets at the outer periphery of both the drive and driven gears, and caused to move from an inlet to an outlet. The gear teeth from the two gears engage at a central location.

Inter-tooth trapped volumes at the central location raise challenges with regard to the design of a gear pump. In particular, there is a concern with cavitation at this location.

Attempts have been made to address this cavitation problem, and in particular, have included tapping a flow of pressurized fluid through one of the gears, and into the inter-tooth trapped volumes. These solutions have been somewhat complex.

A gear pump comprises a drive gear being mounted for rotation about a first axis and having a plurality of gear teeth at a radially outer location. A driven gear is mounted for rotation about a second axis, and has a plurality of teeth at a radially outer location. The drive gear teeth engage the driven gear teeth at a contact face to cause the driven gear to rotate. Slots are formed in the contact face of one of the drive and driven gear teeth.

These and other features of the present invention can be best understood from the following specification and drawings, the following of which is a brief description.

FIG. 1 schematically shows a gear pump.

FIG. 2 is a top view of a gear pump incorporating the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view through a gear pump incorporating the present invention.

A gear pump 20 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes a housing 22 . A drive gear 24 , including gear teeth 25 , is mounted within the housing 22 . As known, a source of drive 19 , shown schematically, causes the drive gear 24 to rotate about an axis.

The gear teeth 25 on the drive gear 24 engage gear teeth 27 on a driven gear 26 . The driven gear 26 is caused to rotate, and fluid is moved from an inlet 30 to an outlet 32 in pocket volumes defined between the adjacent gear teeth 27 and 25 at an outer periphery. At the same time, fluid is received in a series of inter-tooth trapped volumes 34 at a generally central location between the drive 24 and driven 26 gears. There is a concern with cavitation at these inter-tooth volumes 34 .

A plurality of slots 50 are provided at radial locations on a contact face of the gear teeth 27 of the driven gear 26 . The slots 50 are at or near a center of a width of the gear teeth. While the slots 50 are in the driven gear teeth 27 , the invention could also extend to slots formed in the drive gear teeth 25 . The slots 50 receive fluid from outlet 32 pulsed into the trapped volume to reduce cavitation.

As shown in FIG. 2 , the slots 50 have a greater width d 1 at a tip 51 of the gear teeth 27 than they do at a radially innermost end 52 . The width d 1 at the radial outer portion is more than twice the width d 2 at the radial inner portion. In one embodiment, the width d 1 is four times the width at d 2 . As can be appreciated, the side surfaces 54 of the slots 50 extend toward each other, relative to an axis of rotation of the driven gear 26 , such that the shape of a slot 50 is generally a wedge in this plane.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view through a driven gear 26 and shows the slot 50 along another plane. As can be seen, the slot 50 is also generally wedge shaped in this plane. A depth 56 at the radially outermost location 51 of the slot 50 is much shallower than a depth 58 at the radially innermost end 52 . The position of 52 of the slot 50 is located at gear pitch diameter circumference. The slot 50 extends for a length d 3 which is greater than the width d 1 , and may be more than 1.5 times the width d 1 . In one embodiment, the length d 3 is approximately twice the width d 1 . d 3 =(the gear outer diameter−pitch diameter)/2.

At the same time, the depth d 4 at the radially innermost end 52 is less than the width d 2 , and much less than the length d 3 . As an example, the depth d 4 may be approximately 5 to 10% of the length d 3 . In one embodiment, d 1 is close to 5 to 10% of a gear width and d 2 is equal to half of d 1 .

With the slots 50 , as the driven gear 26 rotates, fluid from the outlet port 32 is able to move into the inter-tooth volumes 34 through the slots 50 . The wedge shape of the slots 50 functions similar to an orifice to channel and force fluid to pressurize into the inter-tooth volumes 34 . Cavitation will be reduced.

Although an embodiment of this invention has been disclosed, a worker of ordinary skill in this art would recognize that certain modifications would come within the scope of this invention. For that reason, the following claims should be studied to determine the true scope and content of this invention.