Disclosure of Invention
Technical problem to be solved
Aiming at the defects of the prior art, the invention aims to provide the anti-cavitation high-temperature high-pressure pump, which solves the problems in the prior art, and the high-temperature high-pressure pump can cool and liquefy most of vaporized media by arranging the degassing chamber in the pump barrel, so that the vaporized media are returned to the impeller chamber, the vaporized media are prevented from impacting upwards to cause cavitation on the top wall of the pump chamber, the pump shaft and the mechanical sealing shaft, meanwhile, the vaporized media are prevented from invading into the motor to cause damage to the motor, the motor is well protected, in addition, a good heat insulation effect is also achieved, the temperature of the motor is reduced to a certain extent, and the motor is prevented from being burnt by overheating.
(II) technical scheme
In order to achieve the purpose, the invention provides the following technical scheme: the utility model provides an anti-cavitation high-temperature high-pressure pump, which comprises a motor, be fixed with the upper end of pump shaft in the axis of rotation of motor, the lower extreme of pump shaft stretches into in the pump barrel, be fixed with a plurality of impellers on it and be equipped with inlet and liquid outlet on it, the pump barrel includes the impeller chamber of lower extreme and the deaeration chamber of upper end, the deaeration chamber includes the deaeration chamber body, the upper end of deaeration chamber body is fixed with the arch top, the arch top is equipped with the blast pipe, be fixed with the fan on the one end inner wall that the blast pipe is close to the arch top, it is served and is fixed with automatic discharge valve on keeping away from the arch top, be fixed with the lower extreme of cooling jacket on the lower extreme inner wall of deaeration chamber body, the upper end of cooling jacket is fixed on the outer wall of first bearing, first bearing rotates with the pump shaft to be connected, it has seted up the cavity in the cooling jacket, the upper end intercommunication of cavity has coolant liquid feed mechanism, its lower extreme intercommunication has coolant liquid recovery mechanism.
Preferably, a spiral baffle plate is fixed in the cavity, a spiral channel is formed between the spiral baffle plate and the cavity, the upper end of the spiral channel is communicated with a cooling liquid supply mechanism, and the lower end of the spiral channel is communicated with a cooling liquid recovery mechanism.
Preferably, the spiral baffle plate is fixed with the lower ends of a plurality of baffle plates, and the upper ends of the baffle plates are free ends.
Preferably, the top of the cooling hood is inclined from the middle to both sides.
Preferably, the cooling liquid supply mechanism comprises a liquid inlet pipe, one end of the liquid inlet pipe is communicated with the upper end of the cavity, the other end of the liquid inlet pipe is communicated with a liquid storage chamber, a first fixing box is fixed on the left side of the liquid storage chamber, a liquid pump is connected to the liquid inlet pipe, and the liquid pump is fixed in the fixing box; the cooling liquid recovery mechanism comprises a liquid outlet pipe, one end of the liquid outlet pipe is communicated with the lower end of the cavity, and the other end of the liquid outlet pipe is communicated with a liquid collection chamber.
Preferably, a bowl-shaped baffle is fixed on the pump shaft, a thickened plate is fixed on the inner surface of the bottom of the bowl-shaped baffle, and the top of the thickened plate extends to the upper part of the opening at the bottom of the exhaust pipe and a gap is reserved between the thickened plate and the inner wall surface of the arched top.
Preferably, a plurality of fixed shafts are fixed on the top surface of the bowl-shaped baffle, rollers are rotatably connected to the fixed shafts, and gaps are reserved between the rollers and the inner wall surface of the arched top.
Preferably, a second bearing is arranged above the bowl-shaped baffle and fixed on the pump shaft, the bottom end of the inverted umbrella-shaped baffle is fixed on the outer wall of the second bearing, and the top end of the inverted umbrella-shaped baffle is fixed on the inner wall surface of the arched top.
Preferably, a plurality of groups of staggered plates are fixed on the pump shaft and the inverted umbrella-shaped baffle, each staggered plate comprises a first annular plate fixed on the pump shaft and a second annular plate fixed on the inverted umbrella-shaped baffle, a gap is reserved between each first annular plate and the inverted umbrella-shaped baffle, and a gap is reserved between each second annular plate and the pump shaft.
Preferably, the first annular plate and the second annular plate are arranged to be inclined downwardly.
(III) advantageous effects
The invention aims to provide a cavitation-resistant high-temperature high-pressure pump, which is provided with a degassing chamber, and a cooling cover, a bowl-shaped baffle, an inverted umbrella-shaped baffle and a staggered plate are sequentially arranged in the degassing chamber from bottom to top, so that on one hand, most of upward steam is removed and liquefied to be returned to an impeller chamber for conveying, and the upper part of a pump barrel is prevented from cavitation, and on the other hand, through the arrangement of the layers of obstacles, a small part of upward steam is difficult to break through the layer of obstacles and enter a top mechanical sealing shaft of the pump barrel, the mechanical sealing shaft is well protected, and the steam is effectively prevented from entering the interior of a motor to damage the motor.
Detailed Description
The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to fig. 1 to 8 in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be obtained by a person skilled in the art without making any creative effort based on the embodiments in the present invention, belong to the protection scope of the present invention.
The invention provides a technical scheme that: a high-temperature high-pressure pump capable of preventing cavitation erosion comprises a motor 1, the upper end of a pump shaft 3 is fixed on a rotating shaft 2 of the motor 1, the lower end of the pump shaft 3 extends into a pump barrel 4, a plurality of impellers 5 are fixed on the pump barrel 4, a liquid inlet and a liquid outlet are formed in the impellers, the pump barrel 4 comprises an impeller chamber 6 at the lower end and a degassing chamber 7 at the upper end, the degassing chamber 7 comprises a degassing chamber body 8, an arched top 9 is fixed at the upper end of the degassing chamber body 8, a vent pipe 10 is arranged on the arched top 9, a fan 11 is fixed on the inner wall of one end of the vent pipe 10 close to the arched top 9, an automatic vent valve 12 is fixed on one end of the vent pipe far away from the arched top 9, the lower end of a cooling cover 13 is fixed on the inner wall of the lower end of the degassing chamber body 8, the upper end of the cooling cover 13 is fixed on the outer wall of a first bearing 14, the first bearing 14 is rotatably connected with the pump shaft 3, a cavity 15 is formed in the cooling cover 13, and the upper end of the cavity 15 is communicated with a cooling liquid supply mechanism 16, the lower end of the high-temperature high-pressure pump is communicated with a cooling liquid recovery mechanism 17, when the high-temperature high-pressure pump is used for transmitting a high-temperature high-pressure medium, a motor 1 of the high-temperature high-pressure pump is started, an output shaft 2 of the motor is rotated to drive a pump shaft 3 to rotate, the output shaft 2 of the motor is connected with the pump shaft 3 through a coupler, the pump shaft 3 is rotated to drive an impeller 5 in an impeller chamber 6 to rotate, the impeller 5 is provided with basic structures such as guide vanes, the number of the impellers 5 is set according to needs, the basic structures belong to the basic structure of a centrifugal pump, the prior art is omitted, when the impeller 5 rotates rapidly, the medium in the impeller chamber 6 is high-temperature, so that part of the medium is easy to be vaporized, the vaporized high-temperature high-pressure medium can be flushed to the top end of a pump barrel 4, and the common high-temperature high-pressure pump can be corroded by the upward flushed medium, the cavitation part comprises the top wall of the pump barrel 4 and the pump shaft at the top of the pump barrel 4, and the vaporized media can enter the motor 1 through a gap between bearings and a connecting gap between a mechanical seal shaft and the pump shaft, and the like, so that the motor is damaged, the existing high-temperature high-pressure pump is easy to damage, the service life is generally short, the cost is high, the technical scheme is that the degassing chamber 7 is arranged at the upper end of the pump barrel 4, the vaporized media are well converted, and the liquid media are converted again to return to the impeller chamber 6, and the specific principle is as follows: when the vaporized high-temperature and high-pressure medium rushes upwards, the vaporized high-temperature and high-pressure medium firstly contacts the inner wall surface of the cooling cover 13, the cooling cover 13 is in a low-temperature state, the high-pressure and high-temperature medium is liquefied when encountering the cooling cover 13 which is much lower than the high-pressure and high-temperature medium and falls back into the impeller chamber 6 again, so that most of the vaporized medium is converted and is not rushed upwards, the cavity 15 is formed in the cooling cover 13, the cooling liquid supply mechanism 16 on the cavity 15 can continuously convey cooling liquid into the cavity 15, and the cooling liquid recovery mechanism 17 on the cavity 15 can recover the failed cooling liquid in the cavity 15, so that the circulation of the cooling liquid is well realized, the cooling cover 13 is kept in a low-cold state all the time, the vaporized medium is well liquefied, and the phenomenon that a large amount of vaporized medium passes through gaps between the first bearings 14 and the second bearings are not located to ensure that the cooling cover 13 fails is avoided The situation that serious cavitation is caused to the interior of the pump barrel 4, the motor 1 and the like is caused by upward flushing of a connecting gap between the pump shafts 3, so that most of vaporized media are removed through the cooling cover 13, a small part of vaporized media continue to move upwards through the gap between the first bearings 14, and the gas is quickly sucked into the exhaust pipe 10 through the fan 11 and is exhausted to the outside through the automatic exhaust valve 12, so that the degassing effect is further improved; the cooling liquid supply mechanism 16 is connected to the upper end of the cavity 15, the cooling liquid recovery mechanism 17 is connected to the lower end of the cavity 15, in the circulation process of the cooling liquid, the new cooling liquid moves from top to bottom, all the fresh cooling liquid firstly passes through the top of the cavity 15, the cooling liquid at the top of the cavity 15 is fresh, the cooling effect is the best, the cooling effect is also the top of the cavity 15, and the vaporized medium mainly impacts the inner wall surface of the top of the cavity 15, so that the liquefaction effect is greatly improved; the working principle and function of the automatic exhaust valve 12 are described as follows: the automatic exhaust valve is a device for exhausting air in the operation process of the heating ventilation system and the heating ventilation air-conditioning system. In the operation process of the heating and ventilation system and the heating and ventilation air-conditioning system, a plurality of adverse effects caused by gases such as hydrogen, oxygen and the like released by water during heating can damage the system and reduce the heat effect, and if the gases cannot be discharged in time, a plurality of adverse results can be generated. Such as: corrosion due to oxidation; forming an air bag in the radiator; hot water circulation is not smooth and balanced, so that some radiators are not hot locally; noise when the pipeline is running with air; vortex-void phenomenon of the circulation pump. Therefore, the exhaust gas in the system must be exhausted in time, so that the important function of the automatic exhaust valve is utilized, and the automatic exhaust valve 12 belongs to a novel automatic exhaust valve, which is designed to take all known adverse factors (such as impurities, oil, suspended matters and the like in water, liquid in the valve generates turbulence during exhaust, vibration of a pipeline and equipment connected with the exhaust valve and the like) into consideration, so that the system has excellent performance: the system can reliably operate no matter when the system is just added with water to operate (a large amount of gas is discharged when the system is just operated) or when the system is overhigh in pressure and needs moderate water discharge and pressure relief; when air exists in the system, the air is collected at the upper part of the exhaust valve, bubbles in the air are accumulated to enable the floating ball to descend along with the water level, and therefore, the exhaust piston is opened; after the gas is exhausted, the water level rises, the floating ball also rises, the exhaust piston is closed, if the valve cap at the side part of the valve body is screwed, the exhaust valve stops exhausting, and in general, the valve cap is in an open state; this novel discharge valve has following advantage: 1) the performance is reliable, the exhaust mechanism of the exhaust valve is very reliable, and the single component is cast by the high-precision component, so that perfect assembly is achieved; 2) the automatic exhaust valve is provided with a blocking valve which allows the exhaust valve to be conveniently detached from the system for maintenance, and water in the system cannot flow out, so that the system does not need to be emptied; 3) only exhaust, not drainage, the design of the steam-water separation disc adopts a special structure, and the steam-water separation disc is guaranteed to never drain water during exhaust; 4) the exhaust valve will exhaust continuously as long as the system is under pressure. Therefore, the automatic exhaust valve is applied to the high-temperature high-pressure pump, and a good automatic exhaust function is achieved.
The spiral baffle plate is fixed in the cavity 15, a spiral channel is formed between the spiral baffle plate and the cavity 15, the upper end of the spiral channel is communicated with the cooling liquid supply mechanism 16, the lower end of the spiral channel is communicated with the cooling liquid recovery mechanism 17, the spiral baffle plate is arranged in the cavity 15, so that the cooling liquid can stay in the cavity 15 for a longer time, the cooling cover 13 is cooled in place, if the spiral baffle plate is not arranged, the cooling liquid can directly wash down from the upper end of the cavity and then flow into the cooling liquid recovery mechanism 17 to be recovered, the mode is transient, the cooling effect on the cooling cover 13 is poor, and meanwhile, the cooling liquid is wasted.
The lower extreme that is fixed with a plurality of baffles on the spiral baffling board, the upper end of baffle is the free end, the upper end of baffle means for the free end, the one end of baffle is fixed on the spiral baffling board, its other end and other everywhere are contactless, that is to say, the coolant liquid can pass through, through fixing a plurality of baffles on the spiral baffling board, can let the coolant liquid receive the hindrance when the helical passage flows like this, it is longer to make its time of flowing in it, the baffle can play the effect that the mixture was broken up to the coolant liquid simultaneously, can make middle coolant liquid be mixed to the edge like this, refrigerated effect is better like this, the effect of breaking up is better in order to make the mixture, can fix a plurality of extension boards on the baffle again, the effect of breaking up the mixture like this is better.
The top of the cooling jacket 13 is inclined from the center to both sides, wherein the top of the cooling jacket 13 is inclined from the center to both sides, after the vaporized medium is liquefied by the cooling jacket 13, the liquefied medium on the inner wall of the cooling jacket 13 slides rapidly to both sides along the inclined top wall, this causes the liquefied medium to quickly follow the inner wall of the cooling jacket 13 back into the impeller chamber 6, thereby quickly removing the liquefied medium on the top wall and reserving the position of the top wall, so that the cooling effect on the subsequent upward rushing medium is better, if the liquefied medium on the top wall of the cooling jacket 13 cannot be removed quickly, which means that a thick layer of liquid is still interposed between the vaporized medium which is rushed up subsequently and the top wall of the cooling jacket 13, this greatly reduces the subsequent liquefaction effect and results in a large amount of vaporized medium entering the space above the cooling jacket 13 through the gaps between the first bearings 14.
The cooling liquid supply mechanism 16 comprises a liquid inlet pipe 18, one end of the liquid inlet pipe 18 is communicated with the upper end of the cavity 15, the other end of the liquid inlet pipe 18 is communicated with a liquid storage chamber 19, a first fixed box 20 is fixed on the left side of the liquid storage chamber 19, a liquid pump 21 is connected to the liquid inlet pipe 18, and the liquid pump 21 is fixed in the fixed box 20; the cooling liquid recovery mechanism 17 comprises a liquid outlet pipe 22, one end of the liquid outlet pipe 22 is communicated with the lower end of the cavity 15, the other end of the liquid outlet pipe 22 is communicated with a liquid collecting chamber 23, the supply of cooling liquid can be realized in this way, enough cooling liquid is stored in the liquid storing chamber 19, the liquid storing chamber 19 is also provided with a cooling liquid adding port, the adding port is provided with a cover, the right side of the liquid storing chamber 19 is fixedly provided with a first fixing box 20, the first fixing box 20 is arranged for conveniently fixing the liquid pumping pump 20, the liquid pumping pump 20 is well fixed on one hand, the liquid pumping pump 20 is also protected on the other hand to avoid external interference, the liquid collecting chamber 23 is used for collecting invalid cooling liquid extracted from the cavity 15, the liquid collecting chamber 23 is also provided with a cooling liquid discharging port, the discharging port is provided with a cover, so that the latest cooling liquid can be slowly pushed from the upper end to the lower end along the cavity 15 in the process of cooling liquid circulation, the lower spent coolant is pushed out and enters the liquid collecting chamber 23 from the liquid outlet pipe 22.
A bowl-shaped baffle plate 24 is fixed on the pump shaft 3, a thickened plate 25 is fixed on the inner surface of the bottom of the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24, the top of the thickened plate extends to the upper part of the opening of the bottom of the exhaust pipe 10 and a gap is reserved between the thickened plate and the inner wall surface of the arched top 9, most of vaporized media are liquefied and removed after passing through the cooling cover 13, but inevitably, a small part of vaporized media enter the space above the cooling cover 13 through a gap between the first bearings 14, in order to avoid the erosion and damage of the vaporized media to the top of the pump barrel 4 and the inside of the motor 1, the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24 is fixed on the pump shaft 3, the rising media are effectively blocked by arranging the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24 on one hand, the vaporized media are well guided to the opening of the bottom of the exhaust pipe 10 on the other hand, the vaporized media and the channel of the space above the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24 only leave a gap between the top surface and the arched top 9, this greatly reduces the continued upward passage of the vaporized medium compared to the absence of the bowl-shaped baffle 24, thereby greatly reducing the cavitation of the dome 9 by the vaporized medium and the erosion of the motor 1 by the vaporized medium entering the interior of the motor 1 through the gap at the upper portion of the dome 9; meanwhile, the thickened plate 25 is fixed on the inner surface of the bottom of the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24, and because the position of the vaporized medium rising through the first bearing 14 is just aligned with the position of the thickened plate 25, the thickened plate 25 can prevent the bottom of the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24 from being corroded by the vaporized medium for a long time and the phenomenon of perforation can be prevented.
The top surface of the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24 is fixed with a plurality of fixed shafts 26, the fixed shafts 26 are rotatably connected with idler wheels 27, gaps are reserved between the idler wheels 27 and the inner wall surfaces of the arched roofs 9, when the pump shaft is in operation, the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24 rotates along with the rotation of the pump shaft 3, because the bowl-shaped baffle plate is bowl-shaped, in the rotating process, the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24 can deflect to a certain extent under the action of centrifugal force, once the bowl-shaped baffle plate deflects to a certain extent, the top edge of the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24 collides and rubs with the inner wall surfaces of the arched roofs 9 to influence normal operation, the gap reserved between the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24 and the inner walls of the arched roofs 9 is smaller, only the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24 can rotate normally, the vaporized medium is difficult to enter into the upper space of the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24, the entering amount is smaller, the problem is solved by arranging the idler wheels 27 on the top surface of the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24, and once the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24 deflects to contact the arched roofs 9 in the rotating process, the normal operation of the pump shaft 3 can be ensured And (4) operating.
The top of bowl form baffle 24 is equipped with second bearing 28, second bearing 28 is fixed on pump shaft 3, be fixed with the bottom of inverted umbrella shape baffle 29 on its outer wall, the internal wall at arch top 9 is fixed on the top of inverted umbrella shape baffle 29, can prevent to get into bowl form baffle 24 top by the vaporized medium continuation ascending inside of invading motor 1 through setting up inverted umbrella shape baffle 29 in bowl form baffle 24's top, play fine blocking effect, inverted umbrella shape baffle 29 plays the effect of water conservancy diversion to the medium that is vaporized in addition, with the clearance department between its water conservancy diversion to bowl form baffle 24 and the arch top 9, the medium that is convenient for to be vaporized is sucked into in blast pipe 10 through this clearance and is discharged.
Several groups of staggered plates are fixed on the pump shaft 3 and the inverted umbrella-shaped baffle 29, each staggered plate comprises a first annular plate 30 fixed on the pump shaft 3 and a second annular plate 31 fixed on the inverted umbrella-shaped baffle 29, a gap is reserved between each first annular plate 30 and the inverted umbrella-shaped baffle 29, a gap is reserved between each second annular plate 31 and the pump shaft 3, most of vaporized media can enter the upside of the inverted umbrella-shaped baffle 29 through the gap of the second bearing 28 and possibly enter the inside of the motor 1 through a small gap of a mechanical shaft sealing element, and in order to effectively solve the problem, several groups of staggered plates are arranged on the pump shaft 3 and the inverted umbrella-shaped baffle 29, so that the vaporized media entering the upside of the inverted umbrella-shaped baffle 29 through the second bearing 28 are difficult to enter the inside of the motor 1 and basically remain in the staggered plates.
The first annular plate 30 and the second annular plate 31 are arranged to be inclined downwards, the gas is lifted upwards, so that the vaporized medium is retained at the opposite side of the channel, the medium is further prevented from ascending, and the vaporized medium is difficult to enter the inside of the motor 1 through the staggered arrangement of the first annular plate 30 and the second annular plate 31, so that the motor 1 is well protected.
The working principle is as follows: during operation, the medium in the impeller chamber 6 is high temperature due to the rapid rotation of the impeller 5, so that part of the medium is easily vaporized, the vaporized high-temperature and high-pressure medium rushes towards the top end of the pump barrel 4, the medium firstly contacts the inner wall surface of the cooling cover 13 during the upward rushing process, the cooling cover 13 is in a low-temperature state, the high-pressure and high-temperature medium liquefies when encountering the cooling cover 13 which is much lower than the high-temperature medium and falls back into the impeller chamber 6 again, so that most of the vaporized medium is converted and cannot continue to rush upwards, the cavity 15 is formed in the cooling cover 13, the cooling liquid supply mechanism 16 on the cavity 15 can continuously convey cooling liquid into the cavity 15, and the cooling liquid recovery mechanism 17 on the cavity 15 can recover the failed cooling liquid in the cavity 15, so that the circulation of the cooling liquid is well realized, the cooling cover 13 is always kept in a low-cold state, so that the process of liquefying vaporized media is well realized, the situation that a large amount of vaporized media are flushed upwards through gaps between the first bearings 14 and connecting gaps between the first bearings 14 and the pump shaft 3 to cause serious cavitation in the pump barrel 4, the motor 1 and the like due to failure of the cooling liquid supply is avoided, most of the vaporized media are removed through the cooling cover 13, a small amount of vaporized media continue upwards through the gaps between the first bearings 14, the corrosion and damage of the vaporized media to the top of the pump barrel 4 and the inside of the motor 1 are avoided, the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24 is fixed on the pump shaft 3, the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24 is arranged to effectively block the rising media on one hand, and the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24 has good flow guiding effect on the vaporized media on the other hand, the vaporized medium is guided to the opening at the bottom of the exhaust pipe 10, so that the vaporized medium and the channel of the space at the upper part of the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24 only leave a gap between the top surface of the vaporized medium and the arched top 9, compared with the situation that the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24 is not arranged, the channel for the vaporized medium to continue to go upwards is greatly reduced, and therefore the cavitation of the vaporized medium on the arched top 9 and the erosion of the vaporized medium entering the motor 1 through the gap at the upper part of the arched top 9 on the motor 1 are greatly reduced; meanwhile, a thickened plate 25 is fixed on the inner surface of the bottom of the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24, because the vaporized medium rises through the first bearing 14 and is just aligned to the position of the thickened plate 25, the thickened plate 25 can prevent the bottom of the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24 from being eroded by the vaporized medium for a long time to cause a perforation phenomenon, thus the vaporized medium entering between the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24 and the cooling cover 13 can be quickly sucked into the exhaust pipe 10 through the fan 11 and is exhausted to the outside through the automatic exhaust valve 12, so that the degassing effect is further improved, the inverted umbrella-shaped baffle plate 29 arranged above the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24 can prevent the vaporized medium entering above the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24 from continuously ascending to invade into the inside of the motor 1 to play a good role in blocking, in addition, the inverted umbrella-shaped baffle plate 31 plays a role in guiding the vaporized medium to guide the medium to a gap between the bowl-shaped baffle plate 24 and the arch top 9, the vaporized medium is conveniently sucked into the exhaust pipe 10 through the gap to be exhausted, most of the vaporized medium enters the upside of the inverted umbrella-shaped baffle plate 29 through the gap of the second bearing 28, and possibly enters the inside of the motor 1 through a small gap of a mechanical shaft sealing element.
Although embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.