Deep-well turbine pump

Application filed Inly 14

To <dl whom it mayconcern:

Be it known that I, Immanuel Alvin Oliver, a citizen of the United States, residing at Santa Clara, in the county of Santa Clara and in the State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Deep-Well Turbine Pumps, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in deep well turbine pumps and more particularly to a new form of impeller and the turbine casing bowl in which it operates.

Deep well turbine pumps are, commonly, of either the screw propeller or the inclosed impeller types, both having operating characteristics suitable for certain kinds of work. The screw propeller, while being capable of delivering large capacities in proportion to size, is efficient only at low heads and favorable pumping conditions. The inclosed impeller, most commonly used, though being capable of high heads and good efficiencies, has the disadvantage of limited capacities and of producing excessive friction at high speeds, and the suction necks or clearance rings wear out very rapidly in gritty water, allowing leakage and by-pass-losses.

It is an object of this improvement to devise a deep well pump combining the good features of the screw propeller and the inclosed form of impeller, by providing an impeller of the open type, without shroud or clearance rings, and of conical form, having helically curved vanes formed on a conical central hub and having their lower ends also formed to the outlines of a cone, the impeller operating in a turbine bowl having an annular chambered portion with wall sides disposed at the same angle as the impeller vane lower ends, providing a seat therefor and forming a close running fit or clearance ring preventing leakage and bypass. By virtue of the conical form of the impeller channels, being of a larger diameter at the discharge end, the full effect of the centrifugal force of the water is utilized, while at the same time the open type of impeller reduces the hydraulic friction to a minimum, and produces larger capacities per given size.

It is a further object to provide warped or twisted impeller vanes disposed at right angles to the conical surface and pitching upward with the proper aiigle to elevate the

1023. Serial No. 651,005.

water with a minimum of shod? and hydraulic losses. It is a still further object to provide a turbine bowl adapted to incase the impeller, and including a bearing sup- 60 port for the impeller shaft and having a plurality of guide vanes arranged in the annular channel above the impeller, forming reversing channels to receive the water as delivered by one impeller, reverse the di- ⁸⁵rection of flow of the stream, and guide the same into the next impeller above.

The accompanying drawings illustrate an embodiment of my invention, and referring thereto: 70

Fig. 1 is a vertical transverse section of two stages of my pump, the upper bowl betog part in elevation and part in section. The lower part shows an elevation development of the impeller in the turbine bowl ⁷⁸chamber and also the guide vane reversing channels. Fig. 2 is a bottom plane of the impeller. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of a portion of the turbine bowl, showing the funnel shaped impeller chamber and the ⁸⁰guide vane reversing channels.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views. The preferrea embodiment of my invention as illustrated in the drawings and as previously ⁸⁸set forth, consists essentially in a conical impeller of the open vane type with helically curved vanes operatively mounted within a turbine casing bowl adapted to encase the same, and provided with reversing channels for guiding the water stream from one impeller to the next one above. In Fig. 1, 1 is the suction end bearing bUwl, carrying suction pipe 25, and the lower bearing 6^a connected with the wall of the bowl by ⁸⁸webs 29. The intermediate turbine bowl 2 and the discharge end turbine bowl 3 may be either screwed (as shown) or bolted together into as many stages as required for the total lift which the pump may be re- ¹⁰⁰quired to operate against. Each stage bowl is provided with an impeller 4 which is operatively mounted on the pump shaft 5 and fastened thereto by pin 16 within the turbine bowl, each bowl providing a bearing ¹⁰⁸support 6, for journalling said shaft.

The impeller 4 is formed of open vanes 7. helically curved and carried on the frustum of an inverted cone 8, said vanes being . twisted or warped so that they project out- ¹¹⁰wardly at an angle of approximately 90 degrees (see 9,9, Fig. 2) to the surface of the

1,654,591 cone 8, at any point of intersection therewith. That is to. say, any line drawn across the upper working surface of the impeller vane at a right angle to the basal edge of β the same will also be at a right angle to the surface of the hub or conical frustum at the point which it intersects the hub. The vanes are each, furthermore, disposed on the surface of the hub along such a line as 10 would be generated by a point moving from the center of a rotating disk to the edge of the disk, the speed of the disk and the point being equal. The outer edges 10, of the vanes conform to the outline of an inverted 15 cone 14, forming a close running fit with the turbine bowl upper end of funnel shaped clearance ring 27 as at 11. There is thus formed a water path 21, 22, of greater area at the discharge end 12, than 20 at the suction end 13, thus utilizing the centrifugal force of the water as the impeller revolves under speed while the upwardly pitched vanes 7, elevate the water causing it to flow with minimum shock.

When the impeller 4 is revolving in turbine bowl 2 or 3, the outer edges 10, of the vanes 7 form a close running fit with the funnel shaped portion or impeller chamber 27 of the bowl at 11, constituting a seal and ³⁰ preventing leakage. The angle of inclination of the edges 10 of the impeller, likewise the angle of inclination of the funnel shaped portion 11 of the impeller chamber 27, as indicated by A (see 15, Fig.l), and ³⁵ the angle of inclination of the conical surface of the hub 8, may be any suitable angle between 5 degrees ana 85 degrees with relation to the perpendicular axis 5, according to the desired effect. The surface line de⁴⁰ fining the inclination of the seat and the edge of the vane is straight, as shown in Fig. 1, thereby minimizing frictional resistance to the flow of the water over the said surface.

⁴⁵ The turbine bowls 1, 2 are each formed with a funnel shaped chambered portion 27 at its upper end adapted to. incase an impeller, the impeller cone 8, and vane tips being of a larger diameter at the upper ⁶⁰ discharge end 12 than at the lower suction end 13. The lower end of the funnelled wall 11 forms a narrow neck 28, defining the suction entrance to the impeller and taking the place of the ordinary shroud and ⁵⁵ suction neck. Above the respective impellers 4 the bowls 2, 3, are provided each with an annular water channel 19, formed around the conical bearing hub 20 and extending from the discharge end 12 of one ⁶⁰ impeller up to the suction end 13 of the next impeller above. Within each channel a plurality of guide vanes 18 are radially disposed and positioned with their lower ends 24 inclined at the proper angle (see ^w Fig. 1) to receive the water delivered by the impeller tips 12, these guide vanes reversing the direction of flow of the water and guiding the same into the next impeller above at the proper angle to enter between the vane tips 13. 70

This type of deep well pump is suspended in the well, submerged at the bottom of the discharge column 26, which is connected to the discharge head at the surface of the ground. A vertical drive shaft 5, spinning 75 in the center of said column and journalled at intervals, transmits rotative power to the pump impellers 4, 4, below. The water entering the suction pipe 25 is picked up by the first impeller 4, which imparts a cer- ⁸⁰tain head to it and delivers it through the guide vane channels 19, 19 on to the next impeller 4, which imparts an additional head and so on through as many stages as required for the lift. Means for vertical ⁸⁵adjustment of the impellers 4, 4, within the bowls 2, 3 is provided for by a threaded nut on the head shaft in the discharge head of pump at the surface of the ground (not shown). The vanes 19 have both ends ⁰⁰directed toward the same side of the pump so that the circumferential direction of flow of water leaving these vanes is reversed relative to the circumferential direction of flow when entering between the vanes. The ⁰⁵water is, consequently, received by the impeller vanes above the guide vanes on planes substantially parallel with the working faces of said impeller vanes so that whirling of the water as it passes from the guide ¹⁰⁰vanes to the impeller is practically eliminated and there is no loss of efficiency due to formation of whirls. <

It will of course be understood that various changes in construction may be made ¹⁰⁵at any time if desired, within the scope of the appended claims, without in the slightest degree departing from the spirit of my invention, the drawings and description thereof herein contained, illustrating and ¹¹⁰explaining merely the preferred embodiment of my invention such as constitutes a disclosure of the principle involved.

Haying thus described the invention what