The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 01, 1994
Filed:
Jul. 24, 1992
Douglas G Snow, Walled Lake, MI (US);
Jerry L Wilson, Farmington, MI (US);
Deco-Grand, Inc., Royal Oak, MI (US);
Abstract
The balanced vane hydraulic pump designed for automotive power steering applications employs a two-piece aluminum housing construction, a cam ring, rotor flow regulating valve, a high pressure gallery, and a pressure plate, all located in the rear housing section, and a set of needle bearings located in the front housing section for supporting the pump drive shaft from one end only. The pressure plate has a sculpted portion which communicates with the cam ring side of the pressure plate. The sculpted portion is a wishbone-shaped gallery and a low pressure area, recessed within the face of the pressure plate. The pressure plate also includes high pressure windows which deliver high pressure fluid from the cartridge to the high pressure gallery located within the rear portion of the pump housing. An important feature of the pressure plate is that it uses hydraulically balanced low pressure and high pressure passageways which are contoured to efficiently direct the moving fluid within the pump which aides in minimizing the loss of energy within the pump's passageways. The front housing member, rear housing member and also the pressure plate, all employ a common symmetrical wishbone-shaped gallery as a low pressure fluid passageway which causes balanced low pressure hydraulic fluid to be delivered to two pairs of two diametrically opposed inlet windows adjacent to the low pressure inlet sectors of the cam ring. In an alternative embodiment, a thrust plate is located in the front housing member and encompasses similar wishbone-type low pressure galleries.