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 operatively coupled to the camshaft so as to be rotatably driven thereby. A pump impeller is operatively mounted to the impeller shaft within the pump housing, the pump impeller 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. The pump impeller includes first and second shrouds separated by a plurality of vanes. The first and second shrouds and plurality of vanes are configured and positioned such that a resultant thrust load acting on the pump impeller and hence the impeller shaft is approximately zero.