High capacity, large sphere passing, slurry pump

摘要

A centrifugal slurry pump is disclosed which includes a specifically designed impeller having three circumferentially spaced vanes mounted between a back disc shaped shroud and a front open annular shroud. The vanes are thick in cross-section for wear-resistance and channels formed between adjacent ones of the vanes permit a relatively large sphere, or sphere-like objects, to pass therethrough, the sphere having a diameter of in excess of 14 inches, while maintaining an efficiency in excess of 80% and a head in excess of 30 feet. The vanes have a mixed pitch and a negative overlap, with quite large channels formed between adjacent vanes so as to pass the large spheres which are encountered during dredging operations.