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EP-4741665-A1 - HOUSING FOR A COOLANT FLUID PUMP

EP4741665A1EP 4741665 A1EP4741665 A1EP 4741665A1EP-4741665-A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a housing for a coolant fluid pump (2), in particular for a coolant fluid pump of an immersion cooling circuit, comprising a drive housing (3), a cover (4) and a pump housing (5), wherein the drive housing (3) is axially covered on one side by the cover (4) and is positioned axially opposite the cover (4) of the pump housing (5), wherein the drive housing (3) is connected to the pump housing (5) and the drive housing (3) is connected to the cover (4) in a gap-free, materially bonded manner, i.e. by means of a gap-free, materially bonded connection.

Inventors

  • NICKEL, CONRAD
  • HERRLING, Luis
  • WEINERT, HEIDEMARIE
  • EBERHARDT, NICO

Assignees

  • NIDEC GPM GmbH

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20251023

Claims (9)

  1. Housing for a coolant fluid pump (2), in particular for a coolant fluid pump (2) of an immersion cooling circuit, comprising a drive housing (3), a cover (4) and a pump housing (5), wherein the drive housing (3) is axially covered on one side by the cover (4) and the pump housing (5) is positioned axially opposite the drive housing (3) to the cover (4), characterized by the fact that the drive housing (3) is connected to the pump housing (5) and the drive housing (3) is connected to the closure cover (4) in a gap-free, materially bonded manner, i.e. by means of a gap-free, materially bonded connection (18).
  2. Housing according to claim 1, characterized in that the gap-free, material-jointed connection (18) is gas-tight.
  3. Housing according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the gap-free material-jointed connection (18) is designed as a seal-free, i.e. without additional sealing components, continuous laser weld (18), i.e. as a laser sealing weld or as a spot weld, in particular as a laser spot weld using a sealing component, for example an O-ring.
  4. Housing according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the drive housing (3) and/or the closure cover (4) is made of a metallic wrought alloy and the pump housing (5) is designed as a die-cast part.
  5. Housing according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the drive housing (3) and/or the closure cover (4) is a cold-forged The component is an extruded profile component or is manufactured by means of rheocasting.
  6. Housing according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the drive housing (3), the closure cover (4) and the pump housing (5) form a faradaic cage when connected together.
  7. Housing according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the drive housing (3), the closure cover (4) and the pump housing (5) are electrically connected to a common external ground connection (20) or a ground connection (21) of a motor electronics (15).
  8. Housing according to one of claims 1, 2, 3, 6 and/or 7, characterized in that the drive housing (3), the closure cover (4) and the pump housing (5) are made of a plastic, in particular an electrically conductive plastic.
  9. Housing according to claim 7, characterized in that, in order to produce the electrical conductivity of a plastic used, the drive housing (3) and/or the closure cover (4) and/or the pump housing (5) are coated at least on their inner surfaces (14) with an electrically conductive layer, for example painted with an electrically conductive lacquer layer, and this electrically conductive layer is connected to the external ground connection (20) or the ground connection (21) of a motor electronics (15).

Description

The invention relates to a housing for a coolant fluid pump according to the preamble of claim 1. Common housings for coolant fluid pumps have a drive housing that contains at least most of the components that make up the electric drive of the coolant fluid pump. Furthermore, the drive housing is usually closed at one end with a cover. At the axially opposite end of the cover is typically a pump housing containing a fluid pump that can be driven by the electric motor. The fluid pump can be of various designs, for example, a centrifugal pump, a gerotor pump, or a similarly suitable type. A drive shaft of an electric motor, which is located in the drive housing, engages in the pump housing and interacts mechanically with a pump element, for example a pump impeller. The housing components of such pumps are typically screwed, clamped, clipped, or similarly joined together. Depending on the intended use of such a fluid pump, seals may be provided between the housing components or between the internal chambers and the external environment. This type of construction is relatively cumbersome to assemble, especially when seals are required. Furthermore, it necessitates a large number of individual parts. In addition, such designs are often limited in terms of the variability of possible assembly positions of the individual parts relative to each other; for example, the rotational position of the pump housing or the end cap relative to the drive housing is either fixed or can be changed in fixed iterative steps. This has to be done. A stepless, arbitrary arrangement in a circumferential direction relative to each other is often not possible. Furthermore, such fluid pumps are not always satisfactory, particularly with regard to their EMC properties (electromagnetic compatibility) as well as with regard to ensuring sufficient ESD properties (electrostatic discharge). The object of the invention is therefore to provide a housing for a fluid pump, in particular a housing for a fluid pump for immersion cooling circuits, which avoids or at least significantly mitigates the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art. In particular, electrostatic discharge properties as well as a high degree of electromagnetic compatibility are important for fluid pumps in immersion cooling circuits, since an immersion cooling circuit is characterized by the fact that the cooling fluid used is an insulating, i.e., electrically non-conductive fluid, and electrostatic charges can occur, in particular, due to the circulation of such a cooling fluid. Such electrostatic charges can potentially cause damage to the components to be cooled, which are often batteries, when the cooling fluid is circulated. A housing according to the invention, in particular for a coolant fluid pump of an immersion cooling circuit, has a drive housing, a cover and a pump housing, wherein the drive housing is axially covered on one side by the cover and the pump housing is set axially opposite the drive housing to the cover, wherein the drive housing is connected to the pump housing and the drive housing is connected to the cover in a gap-free, material-bonded manner, i.e. by means of a gap-free, material-bonded connection. A gap-free, material-bonded connection of the housing components creates a continuous metallic, i.e., electrically conductive, housing across all connection points. "Gap-free" in the context of the invention means that opposing surfaces of the connection already touch at least partially before the connection is made, or have such a small gap that that the practical requirements of a weld, e.g., a laser weld, are met. Specifically, this means a maximum gap of only a few tenths of a millimeter, e.g., a maximum of 2-3 tenths of a millimeter. In an advantageous embodiment, the gap-free, material-bonded connection is adhesive-free and gas-tight. To create a gap-free, material-bonded connection, it has proven effective to execute the gap-free, material-bonded connection as a continuous laser weld without a seal, i.e., without additional sealing components (i.e., as a laser sealing weld), or as a spot weld, particularly as a laser spot weld using an O-ring. An adhesive-free material-bonded connection means that no adhesive is used to create the bond, but rather that this connection, possibly with the addition of filler material, is formed to a significant extent from the material of the housing components to be joined, e.g., by fusing. With regard to the choice of materials, it is advantageous that the drive housing and/or the closure cover is made of a metallic wrought alloy and that the pump housing is designed as a die-cast part. The preferred manufacturing method has been found to be that the drive housing and/or the closure cover is a cold-formed component, an extruded profile component, or that these components are manufactured by means of rheocasting. With regard to the EMC behavior of a fluid pump manufactured with the pump housing according to