Internal combustion engine combination with direct camshaft driven coolant pump

Abstract

A coolant pump for use with an internal combustion engine having a crankshaft and a camshaft driven by the crankshaft includes a pump housing fixedly mountable to the engine. The pump housing includes an inlet opening to receive coolant and an outlet opening to discharge coolant. An impeller shaft is mounted directly to the camshaft so as to be concentrically rotatably driven thereby. A pump impeller is operatively mounted to the impeller shaft within the pump housing and includes a plurality of axial extending projections. The pump impeller is rotatable to draw the coolant into the pump housing through the inlet opening and discharge the coolant at a higher pressure through the outlet opening. A seal assembly has a surface engaged with the plurality of axial extending projections of the pump impeller so as to maintain perpendicular alignment of the seal assembly with respect to the impeller shaft.