Multiple chamber pump and method

The present application is a Continuation-In-Part application (“CIP”) of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/404,036, filed on Mar. 31, 2003, entitled “Dual Chamber Pump and Method,” which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/378,217 filed on May 7, 2002 and entitled “Lightweight Pistonless Pump,” and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/404,530 filed on Aug. 20, 2002 and entitled “Pneumatic Pistonless Pump with Accumulator”. Each of these applications are hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth in full in this document.

The disclosure relates to pumps with multiple chambers and, more particularly, pumps with overlapping fill and dispense cycles for use in reduced absolute pressure environments.

Liquid fuel rocket engines require a supply of propellant at 300-8000 psi at a high flow rate and at a steady pressure. The propellant may be supplied from a tank at the required pressure or a pump may be used to raise the pressure of a propellant stored at low pressure. If a pump is used, it must be of minimum weight and have high reliability.

The most important factors for rocket performance are the type of propellant used and the empty or burnout mass of the rocket which contains a given amount of propellant. For any given propellant, the performance of a rocket depends of the weight of the propellant tanks, the weight of the engine and the weight of the pumps, if required. Each of these components must be as light as possible for optimum performance. Typically, there are two options for supplying propellant to the rocket engine, one way is to pressurize the tanks and the other way is to use a turbopump. Pressurizing the tanks, however, requires heavy tanks made from exotic and expensive high strength materials which reduce rocket performance because of their weight and increase the costs. If turbopumps are utilized, complexity of the rocket increases, and thus the reliability is decreased, and the costs are increased. Most all large liquid rockets from the V2 to the Atlas V\'s use a turbopump to supply fuel to the engine. In these rockets, the turbopump is one of the most complex components of the rocket system. Turbopumps typically rotate at 30,000-100,000 RPM to develop the power required for the rocket.

The cost of turbopumps reflect the large amount of engineering design and testing efforts that are required for turbopumps. Also, the manufacturing of turbopumps require precision machining of the exotic alloys. The failure of a turbopump usually results in an explosion, which can be disastrous to the rocket if the pump is filled with liquid oxygen. All of these items drive up the cost of a turbopumps. In addition, turbopumps cannot be run to the point of the fuel tank being empty due to problems with overspeeding and cavitation, both of which may also cause catastrophic failure. Therefore, a substantial amount of fuel must be left in the tank of the rocket that uses a turbopump, which increases the burnout weight of the rocket. A turbopump also requires a few seconds to startup, and during the startup time the rocket performance is not optimal. Furthermore, a rocket system which uses a turbopump generally burns a significant portion of the propellant in the gas generator which drives the turbopump, thereby decreasing the performance of the rocket vehicle.

Disclosed is a pneumatically powered high-pressure and lightweight fluid pump. The pump is useful for pumping fuel for liquid rocket engines and for transferring liquids from one space vehicle to another. During operation of the pump, liquid is drained from a tank into a pump chamber and the chamber is then pressurized to deliver fluid. The chamber is then refilled from the main tank. An auxiliary chamber supplies fuel while the main chamber is being filled, thereby a steady stream is delivered from the pump. The auxiliary chamber is refilled from the tank while the main chamber is delivering fluid. In order to transfer fluid from the tank to the pump chamber, the pressure in the pump chamber is maintained at a pressure higher than the vapor pressure of the fluid being pumped but lower than the pressure in the tank.

One aspect of the disclosure includes a pneumatically driven multiple chamber pump that includes a primary chamber with a primary chamber volume capacity, an auxiliary chamber with an auxiliary chamber volume capacity, an outlet coupled to the primary chamber and the auxiliary chamber, and a vent system coupled to the primary chamber and the auxiliary chamber, and configured to maintain at least a predetermined pressure within each of the primary chamber and the auxiliary chamber.

The vent system can include, for example, a check valve having a spring configured to bias the check valve in a closed position coupled to at least one of the primary chamber or the auxiliary chamber, and configured to maintain the predetermined pressure in the chamber above a vapor pressure of fluid contained within the chamber, or a semi-sealed float in at least one of the primary chamber or the auxiliary chamber and configured to maintain the predetermined pressure in the chamber above a vapor pressure of a fluid contained within the chamber, or a toggle actuated valve positioned to control flow in at least one of a pressure or vent line for at least one of the primary chamber or the auxiliary chamber.

In another aspect, the disclosure includes a pneumatically driven multiple chamber pump that includes a primary chamber with a primary chamber volume capacity and having a primary chamber inlet configured to allow fluid to enter the primary chamber, an auxiliary chamber with an auxiliary chamber volume capacity and having an auxiliary chamber inlet configured to allow fluid to enter the auxiliary chamber, an outlet coupled to the primary chamber and the auxiliary chamber, the primary chamber configured to dispense fluid through the outlet during at least a portion of time that fluid enters the auxiliary chamber fills and the auxiliary chamber configured to dispense fluid through the outlet during at least a portion of time that fluid enters the primary chamber, a pressurization system coupled to the primary chamber and the auxiliary chamber and configured to pressurize the primary chamber prior to the time the primary chamber dispenses fluid through the outlet and configured to pressurize the auxiliary chamber prior to the time the auxiliary chamber dispenses fluid through the outlet, and a vent system coupled to the primary chamber and the auxiliary chamber, and configured to maintain at least a predetermined pressure equal to or greater than a vapor pressure of the fluid within each of the primary chamber and the auxiliary chamber.

In yet another aspect, the disclosure includes a pneumatically driven multiple chamber pump that includes a storage tank positioned internal of a rocket system, a rocket thrust chamber, a primary chamber comprising an inlet valve configured to accept fluid from the storage tank during a primary fill portion of a pump cycle, and an outlet valve configured to dispense fluid from the primary chamber to the rocket thrust chamber during a primary dispense portion of the pump cycle, an auxiliary chamber comprising an inlet valve configured to accept fluid from the storage tank during an auxiliary fill portion of the pump cycle that occurs at least partially during the primary dispense portion, and an outlet valve configured to dispense fluid from the auxiliary chamber to the rocket thrust chamber during an auxiliary dispense portion of the pump cycle that occurs at least partially during the primary fill portion, a pressurization system coupled to the primary chamber and the auxiliary chamber and configured to pressurize the primary chamber prior to the primary dispense portion of the pump cycle and configured to pressurize the auxiliary chamber prior to the auxiliary dispense portion of the pump cycle, and a vent system coupled to the primary chamber and the auxiliary chamber, and configured to vent the primary chamber and auxiliary chamber following the respective dispense portions of the pump cycle while maintaining at least a predetermined pressure equal to or greater than a vapor pressure of the fluid within each of the primary chamber and the auxiliary chamber.

In another aspect of the disclosure a multiple chamber pump for use in reduced pressure environments has a means to maintain the absolute pressure of the liquid at a level above its vapor pressure so as to prevent boiling or vaporization of the fluid being pumped.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various embodiments of the invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the preferred embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which like elements bear like reference numerals, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of a multiple chamber pump installed in a tank according to the present disclosure;

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