High efficiency fixed displacement vane pump including a compression spring

摘要

A vane pump for an automatic transmission includes a housing which may be spaced from the axis of the transmission input shaft axis and driven by a chain or gear train driven by the torque converter hub or disposed on and about the axis of the transmission input shaft and driven at engine speed. The vane pump includes a pair of port plates which reside on the end faces of a pump body having a cylindrical chamber which receives an eccentrically disposed rotor that is coupled to a stub shaft in an off-axis arrangement. The rotor includes a plurality of radial slots which receive a like plurality of vanes. The outer ends or edges of the vanes are in contact with the wall of the cylindrical chamber and the inner ends or edges are in contact with a pair of vane rings received within recesses in the ends of the rotor. The vanes are thus constrained between the wall of the chamber and the vane rings which positively determine their radial positions as they and the rotor rotate. Suitable inlet (suction) and outlet (pressure) ports in the port plates supply and collect hydraulic fluid to and from the cylindrical chamber. A compression spring biases the port plates and body together. The vane pump according to the present invention is self-priming and achieves high pumping efficiency.

主权项

1. A fixed displacement vane pump comprising, in combination,
a housing for receiving a body defining a cylindrical pumping chamber having a wall and first and second port plates defining axial ends of said pumping chamber, one of said port plates including a surface exposed to fluid pressurized by said fixed displacement vane pump, a rotor disposed eccentrically in said pumping chamber, said rotor having a shaft extending through said first and said second port plates and defining a plurality of circumferentially spaced-apart slots and axially extending circumferential lips defining opposed re-entrant end portions, a plurality of vanes disposed in said slots, said vanes having outer edges adapted to contact said wall of said pumping chamber, first and second bearings disposed between said shaft and said housing for rotatably supporting said shaft, a ring disposed in each of said re-entrant end portions, said vanes having inner edges adapted to contact said rings whereby said vanes are constrained to move radially between said wall of said pumping chamber and said rings as said rotor rotates, and a Belleville washer for axially biasing said body and said port plates together, said Belleville washer having a center opening for receiving said shaft.