Hydra-Cell Wobble Plate Design Principle of Operation
Wobble Plate Pumps
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Drive shaft |  |
Diaphragms |
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Tapered roller bearings |  |
Suction valve assembly |
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Fixed angle cam / wobble plate |  |
Discharge valve assembly |
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Hydraulic cells (patented) |  |
Pressure regulating valve |
Reliable, Efficient Pumping
The drive shaft (1) is held in place by a large tapered roller bearing at the rear of the shaft and a smaller bearing (2) at the front of the shaft. Held between another pair of large bearings is a fixed-angle cam or wobble plate (3).
As the drive shaft rotates, the wobble plate nutates, oscillating forward and back, converting axial motion into linear motion. The complete shaft/wobble plate assembly is submerged in a lubricating oil bath.
The hydraulic cell (4) is moved sequentially by the wobble plate and filled with oil on its backward stroke. A ball check valve in the bottom of the hydraulic cell ensures that it remains full of oil on its forward stroke.
The oil held in the Hydra-Cell pressurises the back side of the diaphragms and causes the diaphragms to flex forward and back as the wobble plate moves. This provides the pumping action.
To provide long trouble-free diaphragm life, Hydra-Cell hydraulically balances the diaphragms (5) over the complete pressure range of the pump. The diaphragm faces only a 3 psi/0.2 bar pressure differential regardless of the pressure at which fluid is being delivered – up to 172 bar on standard Hydra-Cell models and Hydra-Cell metering pumps.
Hydra-Cell wobble plate pumps can have up to five diaphragms, each diaphragm has its own pumping chamber that contains a suction and discharge self-aligning horizontal disk check valve assembly (6). As the diaphragms move back, fluid enters the pump through a common inlet and passes through one of the suction check valves. On the forward stroke, the diaphragm forces the fluid out of the discharge check valve (7) and through the manifold common outlet. Equally spaced from one another, the diaphragms operate in sequence to provide consistent, low-pulse flow.
A Hydra-Cell pressure regulating valve (8) is often installed on the discharge side of the pump to regulate the pressure of downstream process or equipment and to protect the system from over-pressure.
