Itt Manufacturing Enterprises, Inc.

Matthew J Koren

Paul Walter Behnke

Apparatus, including a vertical double-suction pump, is provided featuring a pump casing and a double suction impeller arranged therein on a shaft. The pump casing has a pump casing wall. The double suction impeller has upper and lower shrouds with metal rims configured to form upper and lower isolating annuli between the double suction impeller and the wall of the pump casing in order to impede a recirculation flow from an impeller discharge to be able to act of the upper and lower shrouds and create a controlled axial thrust load from differentiated hydraulic pressure on the upper and lower shrouds. The upper and lower isolating annuli may also be geometrically varied between the upper and lower shrouds of the double suction impeller to create a pressure differential in a direction parallel to an axis of rotation of the double suction impeller.

Vertical double-suction pump having beneficial axial thrust

Apparatus is provided featuring a casing assembly, a shaft and an integral bellows type mechanical face seal. The casing assembly has an enclosing tube configured to house a stationary bearing and to contain lubricating oil. The shaft is configured to rotate in relation to the stationary bearing, the shaft having a rotating seal with a rotating sealing face. The integral bellows type mechanical face seal is configured with one end to overlap and couple to the stationary bearing of the enclosing tube, with another end having a stationary sealing face to couple to the rotating sealing face of the shaft, and with an intermediate bellows-like portion arranged under compression to urge the stationary sealing face against the rotating sealing face and to adapt to large variations between the stationary sealing face and the rotating sealing face in order to provide a seal for the lubricating oil contained inside the enclosing tube so as to prevent leakage of the lubricating oil and to isolate and keep clean the lubricating oil.

Growing community of inventors

Los Angeles, CA, United States of America

Matthew J Koren