US3367272A - Hydraulic power converter - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 6, 1968 J. E. SMITH HYDRAULIC POWER CONVERTER 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 5, 1967 m m5 w M J M M a/W'f;

Feb. 6, 1968 J. E. SMITH 3,367,272

- HYDRAULIC POWER CONVERTER Filed Jan. 5, 1967 5 Shets-Sheet 2 FIG.2

M, Mi /$10M Feb. 6, 1968 J. E. SMITH 3,367,272

7 HYDRAULIC POWER CONVERTER Filed Jan. 5, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 MWW fir/arms,

States Patent Free 3,367,272 HYDRAULIC POWER CONVERTER James E. Smith, 302 Plantation Drive, Lake Jackson, Tex. 77566 Continuation-impart of application 'Ser. No. 507,167,

Nov. 10, 1965. This application Jan. 3, 1967, Ser.

9 Claims. ((31. 103-49) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An improvement in a hydraulic power converter having a rotating distributor member and a series of power pistons communicating with the distributor member so that a pressurized fluid admitted to the distributor member is passed to the power cylinders in a continuous flow and the power cylinders react against a trapped fluid which is intercomrnunicated among the power cylinders whereby a pumped fluid taken into the discharge chambers of the power cylinders is discharged from the converter at a high pressure in a continuous smooth nonpulsating flow. The rotatable member is of incrementally progressively decreasing outside diameter to define a series of spaced exterior shoulders between the ports and a replaceable sleeve bearing member having opposing shoulders between the O-rings are compressed to seal around the ports in the distributor member.

Reference to other applications The present application is a continuationin-part of copending application Ser. No. 507,167, filed Nov. 10, 1965, now Patent No. 3,295,451, which contains subject matter in common with Patent Nos. 3,162,133; 3,280,833 and 3,256,827.

It is an object of the present application to provide an improved and more practical variation of the construction of Patent No. 3,295,451, but the basic method of operation is the same as described and claimed in Patent No. 3,295,451.

Summary of the invention The present invention comprises a hydraulic power converter for delivering a smooth non-pulsating flow of pump fluid, said converter having a main collecting chamber for receiving pumped fluid and distributing it to a plurality of pumping cylinders and a main collecting chamber for the pump fluid communicating with the discharge valves of the pumping chambers to distribute the pump fluid at a higher pressure to a main discharge conduit. The present invention further comprises a rotating distributor member having a series of spaced exterior shoulders between the ports with seal rings compressed between each shoulder and an adjacent opposed shoulder on a housing member to seal the ports. The present invention further comprises the structure and apparatus herein described and claimed.

Description of the drawings In the drawings wherein like numbers refer to like parts wherein they occur:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view partly in section of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view through a pumping cylinder aind the main housing and the rotatable member with the pumped fluid collecting means not shown for clarity and portions of the piping broken away and shown schematically.

Detailed description The basic principle of operation of the present invention is the same as for the apparatus described and claimed in Patent No. 3,295,451 and reference should be had to said application for any details which are not specifically set forth in the present disclosure.

The drawings show a main housing 10 mounted on a base 11 and having a replaceable sleeve 12 positioned therein. A series of annular grooves 13 are formed in the inner surface of the housing 10 and are filled with R.T.V. silicone rubber sealant 14 of about Durometer hardness to seal the sleeve 12 to the housing 10. Ports 15 communicate with the grooves 13 to allow the silicone 14 to be forced into the grooves 13 under pressure. The ports 15 are closed by a plug 16 after the grooves 13 have been filled.

The inner surface of the sleeve 12 includes a series of spaced internal shoulders 17 which are so positioned in the sleeve 12 as to be on each side of ports (as will be described hereinafter) formed in the side walls of the sleeve 12 and the housing 169. The sleeve 12 is replaceable when worn without having to replace the entire housing 19.

Mounted inside the sleeve 12 is a main distributor member 18 which is hollow and has on its external surface a series of external shoulders 19 of progressively incrementally decreasing size from the top to the bottom so that the main member 18 can be slipped into the sleeve 12 from the top. The shoulders 19 on the main member 18 are positioned on each side of the ports (as will be described hereinafter) and are aligned with the cooperating shoulders 17 on the sleeve 12. The spacing of the shoulders 17 and 19 in such that when the rotating member head 20 is positioned on a bearing 21 between it and the top of the sleeve 12, O-rings 22 positioned between rotatable member shoulders 19 and the sleeve shoulders 17 are compressed therebetween to seal above and below each of the ports.

A plurality of pumping cylinders 23 surround the main housing 19 (three are shown and this is the preferred number) and each comprises a piston having a first pumping fluid head 24, a spaced second pumped fluid head 25, and a stem 26 connecting the two. A dam portion 27 is positioned between the heads 24 and 25 and the stem 26 is slidable through the dam 27. The outer face 24a of the first piston head 24 receives pumped fluid from the main member 18 and the outer face 25a of the second head 25 acts on pumped fluid. Between the inner face 27a of the darn 27 and the inner surface 24b of the first head 24 is an expansible chamber 28 which contains trapped or return fluid. The trapped fluid chamber 28 is in communication constantly with similar trapped fluid chambers in each of the other cylinders by means of a conduit 29. The conduit 29 is provided with a port 30' which connects to a stand pipe (not shown) or other reservoir for maintaining the supply of trapped fluid constant.

A pumped fluid inlet conduit 31 communicates with a central collecting chamber 32 which is provided with outlet conduits 33 communicating with suction valves 34 positioned in a conduit 35 communicating with the pumped fluid chamber 36 of each cylinder 23. Downstream from the suction valve 34- is a discharge valve 37 mounted in a continuation 38 on the conduit 35. The discharge conduit 38 communicates with a hollow annular discharge pumped fluid collecting tube 39 which is provided with a main pumped fluid discharge port 40.

Operation As more completely set forth and described in Patent No. 3,295,451, discharge fluid from a fluid pump 41 (which may be 2200 psi. at 800 gal. per minute) enters a port 42 in the housing 10 and sleeve 12 through a conduit 43 and enters the main rotating distributor member 18 through a series of ports 44 which are aligned with the housing port 42. The pressurized fluid is discharged from the rotating member 18 through a discharge port 45 and into the pumping chamber 46 of the cylinder 23 through an aligned port 47 in the housing 10 and liner 12. The fluid forces the piston heads 24 and 25 downwardly and forces pumped fluid from the chamber 36 through the discharge valve 37 into tliecollecting conduit 93. As the distributor member 18 continues to rotate, the ports 45 and 47 move out of alignment and are closed gradually. At the same time discharge pumping fluid port 48 in the housing 10 and liner 12 which is in communication with a discharge conduit 49, and pumping fluid intake port 50 in the rotary member are opened gradually. This opens communication between the chamber 46 in the cylinder 23 and the interior chamber 51 of the rotating member 18 below the dam 52.

As explained more fully in Ser. No. 507,167, before the ports 45 and 47 are fully closed, similar ports in other cylinders are opening so a continuous output of pumped fluid is maintained. The movement of the pistons in the other cylinder in a pumping direction applies pressure to the trapped fluid. Thus, as the flow of pressurized fluid is gradually cut off to the chamber 46 in the cylinder 23, the pressure of the trapped return fluid in the chamber 28 forces the piston head 24 upwardly and discharges the pumping fluid into the conduit 49 and through the ports 48 and 50 into the rotary member chamber '1. The return pumped fluid from the chamber 51 is discharged from the rotary member 18 through discharge ports 53 in the rotary member and a discharge port 54 in the housing and liner 12. The ports 53 and 54 communicate with a conduit 55 to a fluid motor 56 which drives the rotary member 18. The discharge from the fluid motor 56 is piped to a reservoir 57 and then to the suction side of the fluid pump 41 where it is returned to the rotating member 18 through the conduit 43.

Attached to the chamber 32 are aligned cleanout ports 58 to which air or fluid hoses can be connected to remove any sediment which may collect therein after shutdown or the like.

Thus it is seen that the present invention achieves all :the objects and advantages sought therefor.

This invention is intended to cover all changes and modifications of the examples of the invention herein chosen for purposes of the disclosure, which do not constitute departures from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a hydraulic power converter comprising a source of pressurized hydraulic actuating fluid, main distributor :inlet and exhaust ports communicating with the pressurized actuating fluid source, at least three power transfer cylinders, each of the cylinders having a dam positioned therein, a piston mounted for reciprocal movement in the cylinder, said piston including a stem slidable through the dam, heads on opposite ends of the pistons, the piston heads, dam and cylinder defining expansible chambers between the heads and the ends of the cylinder and a trapped fluid chamber between the dam and the inner face of the head exposed to the actuating fluid, actuating fluid inlet and exhaust ports, means connecting at all times the trapped fluid expansible chambers in the cylinders, means for alternately and in turn moving the distributor actuating fluid inlet and exhaust ports into and out of communication with the inlet and exhaust ports of each of the cylinders, and pumped fluid inlet and exhaust means communicating with the expansible pumped fluid chambers in the power transfer cylinders and timed with the operation of the pistons to deliver a continuous, uninterrupted non-pulsating outlet of pumped fluid from the converter, the improvement comprising a main input chamber for the pumped fluid having an intake port for receiving the pumped fluid and a series of outlet ports communicating with the pumped fluid inlet means of the cylinders and a main output collecting chamber for the pumped fluid having a main outlet port and series of inlet ports communicating with the pumped fluid exhaust means of the cylinders.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein the main output collecting chamber is an annular tube at the base of the converter.

3. The structure of claim 1 wherein the main distributor inlet and exhaust ports are in a rotatable main member having a dam therebetween, said rotatable main member being housed in a replaceable sleeve mounted in a housing.

4. The structure of claim 1 wherein the main distributor inlet and exhaust ports are in a rotatable main member having a dam therebetween, said rotatable main member being positioned in a housing, said main member being of progressive incrementally decreasing outside diameter defining a series of spaced shoulders between the ports in said main member, the housing having opposed shoulders, and o-rings compressed between the shoulders to seal around the ports.

5. The structure of claim 4 including a replaceable sleeve in the housing having the opposed shoulders and being sealed to the housing.

6. The structure of claim 5 wherein the seal means includes annular open sided grooves in the housing, a silicone rubber curable at substantially room temperature and of about 70 Durometer hardness in the grooves, and a passage through the housing communicating with the grooves for forcing the silicone into the grooves.

7. The structure of claim 1 including a spring loaded suction valve between each of the outlet ports and the cylinder pumped fluid inlet means and a spring loaded discharge valve downstream of the inlet valve and communicat'mg the cylinder pumped fluid exhaust means with the corresponding inlet port to the main collecting chamber.

8. The structure of claim 1 wherein the main output collecting chamber is an annular tube at the base of the converter and including a spring loaded suction valve between each of the outlet ports and the cylinder pumped fluid inlet means and a spring loaded discharge valve downstream of the inlet valve and communicating the cylinder pumped fluid exhaust means with the corresponding inlet port to the main collecting chamber, and wherein the main distributor inlet and exhaust ports are in a rotatable main member having a dam therebetween, said rotatable main member being positioned in a housing, said main member being of progressive incrementally decreasing outside diameter defining a series of spaced shoulders between the ports in said main member, the housing having opposed shoulders, and O-rings compressed between the shoulders to seal around the ports.

9. The structure of claim 1 wherein the main output collecting chamber is an annular tube at the base of the converter and including a spring loaded suction valve between each of the outlet ports and the cylinder pumped fluid inlet means and a spring loaded discharge valve downstream of the inlet valve and communicating the cylinder pumped fluid exhaust means with the corresponding inlet port to the main collecting chamber, and wherein the main distributor inlet and exhaust ports are in a rotatable main member having a dam therebetwecn, said rotatable main member being positioned in a housing, said main member being of progressive incrementally decreasing outside diameter defining a series of spaced shoulders between the ports in said main member, the

5 6 housing having opposed shoulders, and O-rings com- References Cited pressed between the shoulders to seal around the ports, UNITED STATES PATENTS said structure including a replaceable sleeve 1n the housing having said opposed shoulders formed therein, seal 2,112,466 3/1933 Maloon 60-52 means sealing the sleeve to the housing including an- 5 2,436,079 10/1949 Tucker 103-49 nular open sided grooves in the housing, a silicone rubber curable at substantially room temperature and of FOREIGN PATENTS about 70 Durorneter hardness in the grooves, and a pas- 518,840 2/1931 Germany sage through the housing communicating with the grooves for forcing the silicone into the grooves. 10 ROBERT M. WALKER, Primary Examiner.

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