Development of a rotary clap mechanism for positive-displacement rotary pumps: Kinematic analysis and working principle

摘要

A five-bar spatial mechanism named as a rotary clap mechanism is developed as a pumping device for positive displacement rotary pumps. The mechanism comprises a driving crank, a shaft link with two pins and two gears mounted on the middle and both ends, two rotors with jaws equally spaced along their circumferences, and two fixed internal gears. As the crank rotates, the gear pin-jointed to the crank rotates about the crank pin and at the same time rotates about the center of the fixed internal gears like a hypo-cyclic gear train. The gear-attached shaft link also rotates about the crank pin and about the fixed internal gears at the same time. This motion of the shaft link makes the pins rotate about the center of the fixed internal gears with a periodically varying radius. Therefore, two rotors driven by the pins rotate with different angular velocities. One rotor alternately leads and lags relative to the other rotor. These lead-lag motions between the two jaws of the rotors, which result in suction and discharge required for pumping, resemble hand clapping from which the mechanism was named. Construction and design parameters of the rotary clap mechanism are introduced, and kinematic analysis of this mechanism is performed. The relationships among design parameters, inherent constraints, and effects of design parameters on the displacement of mechanism are also presented.