Pump Report

Pumps are technicians and industries main source of moving liquid and air. Without them the previous technology would only allow us to move them through gravity and air wouldn't be possible to move. When moving water under low pressure circumstances a very common method used is an impeller pump. An impeller uses an electrical motor to turn an impeller. The impeller can be plastic or brass. The pump I tore down in class was a plastic impeller due to low volume and smaller application. This impeller is attached directly to an electric motor with a shaft. The impeller is covered in a plastic case to create a close distance to the impeller for moving the water. The plastic cover has an open bottom to be set directly in water with one outlet port to direct water flow. At the top of the pump is just a handle and the power cord. If you need a pump to move large amounts of water you will be looking for a bigger set up then the one used in our class. It will have a heavier duty impeller and bigger coil windings inside of the electric motor to turn it.

In hydraulics we are moving oil generally for higher pressure applications and moving heavy weight. For hydraulics we use gear pumps. Gear pumps are confined spaces for the oil to move in that can create flow in high resistance areas like the hydraulic system. They have a steel casing with an inlet and outlet port. There are two gears inside with shafts connected to each of them. one shaft runs out to the external of the pump to be attached to another shaft connected to an electrical motor. The two gears inside of the pump are interlocked together in between the inlet and outlet port. This allows fluid to flow between the teeth and allow no fluid to leak back through the teeth at the same time, allowing the movement of oil even under high pressure. These pumps are what allow the pressure to grow allowing the fluid to in one way or another to move heavy objects.

The last pump in my report deals with the movement of air. It is a compressor. Compressors work similar to engines. But instead of turning wheels we are turning many other things. Compressors run either by an electric motor or a gas motor. Either one would be attached to a shaft rotating it. Attached to that same shaft would be a piston rod and piston head. Half of the shaft, the rod, and piston head would be set into a casing with a small space for the piston head to travel in. at the top of the piston head is an inlet and outlet port separating themselves from the piston head by two reeds. These reeds only move in one direction. One allows for air to be sucked in through but does not allow air to escape back through when sucked in. the other reed allows air to be pushed through when the piston head pushes up through the case but will not allow air to return back to the head once passed through. What this does is allow for high pressure to be created similar to the hydraulic gear pump. Only we are dealing with air in a compressor.