HIGH PRESSURE WATER PUMP DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to apparatuses and methods for producing pressurized water, and more particularly to a high pressure water pump for supplying high pressure water to an evaporative cooling apparatus and particularly so-called nebulization nozzles to cool the air inlet of a gas turbine generator. The existing fogging systems for evaporative coolers use piston-type water pumps or oscillating gears based on crankshafts to create high pressure water (105.46 to 210,921 kg / cm2 (1500 to 3000 psi)) which is atomized by known forms of nebulizing nozzles in the inlet air stream of a gas turbine to cool the inlet air. High pressure water is required to achieve small droplet sizes necessary to ensure that the droplets evaporate completely before entering the turbine inlet. In gas turbine fogging systems it is common to use deionized water to avoid mineral pollution downstream and in the parts of the turbine; in this way all coated components, including the pump, must be made of stainless steel and rare filling materials. This type of equipment requires maintenance at weekly intervals. In addition, only a limited number of suppliers produce reliable high pressure deionized water pumps. Due to this limited supply and nature of the materials required to manufacture these pumps, they are quite expensive. In addition, with the prior art pumping systems, in order to achieve volume control, the pressure relief valves are used to redirect the water back to the pump. This causes water heating which reduces its evaporation efficiency and increases the wear of the pump. For large systems, and in order to vary the volume of water, several pumps are required and water that is not used immediately will be recirculated from the pressure side of the pump or pumps back to the pump inlet. To have several pumps that provide a required volume of water at high pressure plus control mechanisms that are also added to the water temperature, since part of the energy that drives the pump is inevitably added to the water. The temperature of the water in this way will rise well above the temperature of the wet bulb, also decreasing the cooling efficiency of the water. According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hydraulic pump system with a variable stroke, axial piston pump (or other variable volume pump) that supplies a high pressure oil flow to drive one or more hydraulic cylinders which in turn drive the pistons in one or more water cylinders to pressurize the water and supply it to the spray or nebulization nozzles. The water cylinders can be of a single or double acting type and produce water pressure between 0-703.07 kg / cm2 (0-10,000 psi), and preferably between 70.307-351.535 kg / cm2 (1000-5000 psi). An advantage of the present invention is that the system maintains a substantially constant water pressure range as the volume varies from zero to maximum of the water flow. In addition, the power consumed by the hydraulic pump varies directly with the output of the pump. Another advantage of the present invention is that the efficiency of the hydraulic water pump system at full flow is equal to or better than the devices of the prior art, and increases at reduced flow. ??? Still another advantage of the present invention is that the representation does not require multiple hydraulic systems and controls. The output of a large hydraulic system can be divided into as many phases as required. The support systems can also be used as a redundant measure. The present invention includes the ability to vary the amount of water nebulized within the air stream using as many phases as desired, theoretically limited to the number of phases used. The phases are created using valves, and provide in rough adjustment of the humidification. The pressure output of the hydraulic pump is varied over a current range to vary the volume of water supplied. This can be controlled by a programmable logic controller (PLC) through a milliamp output based on the difference between the humidity bulb and dry air bulb temperatures. Spray cooling evaporative cooling systems used to improve gas turbine operations, the amount of water sprayed into the air must be hermetically regulated to achieve maximum efficiency. First, the air temperature, humidity and barometric pressure are measured. Second, the water saturation content of the air at the measured temperature and pressure is calculated by known means. The difference between ambient humidity and saturation humidity is the maximum amount of water that can evaporate in the air stream. As a result, the water flow should be set as close to this value as possible in order to achieve maximum cooling and thus increase the maximum output performance of the turbine. In turn, additional water can be added to the air stream to provide intercooling for the turbine. In any case, the precise amount of water that is added is determined empirically, and must be closely controlled. The hydraulic system of the present invention is inherently a variable volume device. In this way, the water flow rate can be established by simply selecting the number of spray heads to be activated and the outlet pressure supplied by the water cylinders. However, the system allows fine adjustment of the water flow through the adjustment of water pressure, which is easily achieved by adjusting the hydraulic pressure using standard pressure control techniques (for example, proportioning flow control in lubrication ducts for hydraulic systems, pump speed control, or pressure release control, etc.). In addition, by using hydraulic oil pumps, not only durability is reliably and significantly improved, but the cost of the components is significantly reduced. A high pressure water pump according to the present invention for supplying high pressure water to the atomizing or atomizing nozzles used to cool the inlet air for a gas turbine generator includes a first cylinder of lubricant for hydraulic systems which it has a piston and has a connecting rod that has a first end attached to one side of the piston. The connecting rod includes a second end projecting out of a first end of the cylinder. The hydraulic cylinder also includes a first accommodated port adjacent to the first end of the cylinder in fluid communication with a first port of a solenoid valve, and a second port accommodated adjacent to a second end of the cylinder in fluid communication with a second port of the solenoid valve. The solenoid valve is in fluid communication with the high pressure line of a hydraulic oil pump and a return line of the hydraulic oil pump. The pump according to this aspect of the invention also includes a first water cylinder having a piston attached to one side of a second end of the connecting rod, with the second end of the connecting rod entering the cylinder through an opening in the first end of the water cylinder. In one embodiment, the water cylinder is a simple acting cylinder having a first port accommodated adjacent to the first end of the water cylinder in fluid communication with a first check valve to allow low pressure water to enter the cylinder, and a second check valve acting oppositely connected to a second port to allow water to exit the second port through the piston and into a high pressure water line. In another embodiment, the water cylinder may be a double acting cylinder capable of pumping the water alternately from opposite ends under the control of the check valve appropriately accommodated. In another aspect of the present invention, the above high pressure water pump further includes pairs of hydraulic and water cylinders that work together. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a schematic view of a first embodiment of a hydraulic water pump system according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a schematic view of a second embodiment of a hydraulic water pump system according to the present invention; Figure 3 is a schematic view of a third embodiment of a hydraulic water pump system in accordance with the present invention; and Figure 4 is a schematic view of the present invention illustrating the use of a cooling / recirculation pump for cooling the lubricant for hydraulic systems stored in a lubricant reservoir for hydraulic systems. Figure 1 illustrates a first embodiment of a high pressure pump 10 according to the present invention and is the basis for each of the other embodiments described in the following. The high pressure pump 10 includes a conventional hydraulic lubricant pump 12 which receives or extracts the hydraulic lubricant from a reservoir 14 of hydraulic system lubricant, and pumps it at high pressure to a first port 16 in a valve 18 of hydraulic control that is preferably a two-way solenoid valve. The lubricant is returned to the reservoir 14 through the valve 18 and its second port 20 or return. The pump 10 also includes a hydraulic cylinder 22 consisting of a cylindrical casing having a piston 24 positioned therein. The piston is secured in any conventional manner on one side 25 to an end 26 of a connecting rod or piston rod 28 that passes outside the end 26 of the crankcase 22.
The lubricant pump 12 for hydraulic systems may be of a conventional construction including suitable filtering and control mechanisms for producing high pressure lubricant between 35,153 to 210,921 kg / cm2 (500 to 3000 psi) through its supply conduit 13. The crankcase 22 of the cylinder includes ports 30, 32 for receiving and / or expelling the hydraulic lubricant from the chambers 34, 36 on opposite sides of the piston 24 in response to activation of the solenoid valve 18. The lubricant for hydraulic systems is directed by the solenoid valve 18 from port 16 to one of the ports 30, 32, at either end of the hydraulic cylinder 22 based on the stroke or position of the piston 24. That is, once the piston 24 has reached the end of a stroke, for example, as shown in Figure 1, the solenoid valve 18 is operated to connect port 16 to port 38 and thus allow the lubricant for high pressure hydraulic systems flow to the chamber 34 by driving the piston 24 and the rod 28 to the right. As the lubricant for high-pressure hydraulic systems flows into the chamber 34, the hydraulic lubricant in the chamber 36 is led out of the cylinder by the advancing piston via port 30 to port 40 on the valve 18 and returns to a lubricant reservoir for hydraulic systems through port 20 of the solenoid valve. When the piston 24 reaches the end of its stroke to the right (shown in dotted lines), the valve 18 is operated to connect port 16 to port 40 and port 20 to port 38 so that the flow of lubricant to and from The cylinder 22 is reserved. The operation of the control valve 18 with respect to the position of the piston 24 is achieved in any conventional manner as may be apparent to those skilled in the art such as, for example by an electronic timing apparatus, appropriate electronic sensors, or a programmable logic controller (PLC). The end 42 of the piston rod 28 protruding from the hydraulic cylinder 22 enters an end 44 of the water cylinder 46. The water cylinder includes a piston 47 connected thereto on a first side 48 thereof to the end 42 of the piston rod 28. The water cylinder 46 is positioned in line, along a central axis with the lubricant cylinder 22 for hydraulic systems, with the piston of each cylinder positioned in substantially the same place in each respective cylinder. As a result, the piston stroke 47 in the water cylinder 46 from one end to the other is substantially identical to the stroke of the piston 24 in the hydraulic cylinder 22. In this way, when the piston 24 of the hydraulic lubricant cylinder 22 is located at the first end of the hydraulic cylinder as shown in Figure 1, the piston 47 of the water cylinder 46 is located at the first corresponding end of that cylinder. cylinder too.
The second end 50 or opposite of the water cylinder 46 has a first port 52 formed therein for receiving water from a low pressure source through a supply line 54. The water is drawn into the chamber 56 of the cylinder 46 when its piston 47 is removed from the end 50 when the piston 24 moves from its dotted line position in Figure 1 to its thick line position. Alternatively or in addition, water can enter the port through the pressure provided by the water source. The end 50 of the water cylinder 46 has a second port for expelling water from the chamber 56 of the high pressure cylinder 46 as a result of the piston 47 pushing the water out of the chamber through the second port into a discharge conduit 60. when the piston 24 moves from its thick line position in Figure 1 to its dotted line position. The water supply and the discharge ducts 54, 60, each having a check valve 62, 64 of a conventional construction path respectively located therein to control the flow of water to and from the chamber 56 in response to the water pressure in the chamber resulting from the piston movement 47. The one-way check valves are arranged so that the check valve 62 associated with the first port 52 allows water to only flow into the cylinder chamber 56 when the pressure in the chamber is less than the pressure in the chamber. the duct 54 and the established activation pressure of the valve, while the check valve 64 associated with the second port 58 allows the water to only flow out of the cylinder when the pressure in the chamber 56 is greater than the activation pressure of the valve . Of course, one skilled in the art will appreciate that a single port located at the end 50 of the cylinder 46 can also be used for the flow of water in or out of the cylinder. In such an arrangement, the single port can be connected to a first conduit having a check valve that can allow the water ag to only flow from the water conduit directly into the port. The port can also be connected to a second, high-pressure conduit that has a check valve that can only allow high-pressure water to flow into the high-pressure conduit from the port. Accordingly, the water pump 10 operates as follows. For demonstration purposes, the pump 10 will be described in an initial condition with the pistons 24, 47 of the cylinders which are positioned at the first end of each respective cylinder 22, 46 as shown in Figure 1. In that condition, the chamber 36 is filled with hydraulic fluid and chamber 56 of the water cylinder is filled with water. As described above, both cylinders are substantially of the same length and have substantially the same stroke, with the pistons being positioned in substantially the same positions throughout the stroke. In this starting position, the solenoid valve 18 is operated to put the ports 16 and 38 thereof in communication to supply the lubricant for high pressure hydraulic systems of the lubricant pump 12 for hydraulic systems to the chamber 34 of hydraulic cylinder 22. As the hydraulic lubricant fills the chamber 34, the piston 24 is forced towards the second or opposite end of the cylinder 22 thereby removing the hydraulic lubricant from the chamber 36 of the second end through the port 30. The valve 18 The solenoid directs the return lubricant out of chamber 36 from port 40 to port 20 and thus to reservoir 14 for hydraulic lubricant. The movement of the piston 24 in this manner causes the piston 47 of the water cylinder 46 to move away from the end 44 in the same direction since the connecting rod 28 connects the two pistons. In this way, water in the chamber 56, between the piston 47 and the second end 50 of the water cylinder 46, draws from the port 58 at high pressure through the check valve 64. The high pressure water can then be directed to any intended destination. For example, the high-pressure water can be directed via a high-pressure water conduit 60 to a manifold for discharge through the nebulization or spray nozzles 61 that supply the cooled and humidified water droplets to a gas turbine. Typically, the spray nozzles are selected to atomize the water within the droplets with an average diameter as low as possible that does not exceed 25 microns. The diameters of the cylinders 22 and 46 can be selected so that the ratio of their diameters results in the cylinder 46 that provides the water of the desired pressure to achieve these atomization characteristics with the nozzles. When using commercially available nozzles, this means that cylinder 46 can produce water at a pressure of 105.46 to 281.228 kg / cm2 (1500 to 4000 psi). When the piston 26 in the hydraulic cylinder lubricant cylinder 22 reaches the opposite end of the cylinder, i.e., the end of its known stroke in the dotted lines in Figure 1, the solenoid valve is activated by a PLC as described in FIG. the above to redirect the lubricant for high pressure hydraulic systems of the pump 12 through port 40 of the valve to port 30 of the hydraulic cylinder 22 and inside the chamber 36. This returns to the piston 24 to its line position thick at the first end of the cylinder and therefore returns to the piston 47 in the water cylinder 46 to the first end of the water cylinder and the position shown in Figure 1. As this happens, the lubricant in the chamber 34 returns to the reservoir 14 through the ports 32, 38 and 20, while the water from the duct 54 is withdrawn through the check valve 62 into the chamber 56 of the cylinder 46 at a lower pressure than the under pressure of the pumped water out of the movement of the piston in the opposite direction in the previous stage, while the same time, the check valve 64 is closed to prevent water on the pressure side from entering the chamber 56 of the cylinder 46 of Water. In a second embodiment of the invention, schematically illustrated in Figure 2, there is a pair of hydraulic water pumps 10 as described above, they are accommodated side by side and similar numbers are applied to similar parts. In this embodiment, the pistons 24a, or 47a of the hydraulic and water cylinders 22a, 46a of a pump 10a are accommodated to move in an opposite direction of the pistons 24b, 47b in the hydraulic and water pumps 22b, 46b of the another pump 10B. Thus, as seen in Figure 2, when the pistons 24a, 47a of the pump 10a are positioned at the first end of each respective cylinder corresponding to the piston shown in the thick lines in Figure 1, the pistons 24b, 47b of the pump 10b are positioned in the second or opposite ends of their respective cylinders. Although, the system can mainly operate satisfactorily with the pistons 47a and 47b at 180 ° out of phase and always move in opposite directions, preferably, as seen in Figure 2, these pistons are accommodated (or controlled through the PLC and the appropriate pressure control devices in the conduits supplying the hydraulic fluid to the cylinders 22 and 27 to be slightly out of phase so that water from one or both pistons is always being supplied to the manifold 82. This it avoids the fall in water of pressure in the collector that can happen if both pistons reverse the directions precisely at the same time. In this embodiment, a simple hydraulic pump lubricant 12 and reservoir 14 are used to supply and receive the lubricant for hydraulic systems up to and from pump 10a and 10b. The high pressure lubricant is sent from the pump 12 to two solenoid valves 12, 18a and 18b associated with the pumps 10a and 10b through the conduit 81. The lubricant is returned from the solenoids 18a and 18b through the conduit 81. The solenoids 18a and 18b are set to control the cylinders so that they are out of phase. In this way, one of the pumps 10a and 10b will be operating its associated water cylinder 46a or 46b to supply the high pressure water to its associated outlet duct 60a or 60b, while the other pump is operating (slightly out of phase) in the reverse direction to extract the water from the supply duct 54 within the chamber 56 of its associated water cylinder. As seen in Figure 2, a low pressure water sensor or switch 79 is provided in the supply duct 54 for monitoring the pressure of the water supply duct. The sensor it is used to ensure that the supply pressure is high enough to prevent cavitation in the inlet water supply conduit while water is being drawn into the cylinder. The water outlet ducts 60 a and 60 b are joined to form a single outlet duct or manifold 82 which supplies the high pressure water to the evaporative cooling nebulization nozzles. This conduit includes a high pressure water switch or sensor 85 which monitors the pressure in the supply conduit and the outlet of the water cylinder to avoid conditions of excessive pressure. In a preferred embodiment, this can be a linear pressure sensor which can be used to monitor the outlet water pressure and supply this information to the PLC which will then control the supply of the lubricant to the hydraulic cylinder in a way to maintain the pressure in the conduit 85 at the constant level wanted. This produces a constant stable stream of high pressure water that emanates from the pump as a whole. In a third embodiment of the present invention, as illustrated in Figure 3, a pair of water pumps 10a, 10b similarly accommodated as in the second embodiment are provided. Here again similar numbers are used to designate similar parts. However, in this case, the water cylinders 46a and 46b are double activation cylinders closed at both ends so that their pistons 47a, 47b define two water chambers 56a, 84, and 56b, 84b on opposite sides thereof respectively . In addition, instead of the ports that are located at one end of the water cylinder (as shown in Figure 1), separate ports 86, 88 are located at opposite ends of each cylinder respectively communicating with the chambers 56, 84 Each of these ports is connected via a conduit 89, 90 through the check valves 64 to the high pressure water conduits 60a, 60b which join to direct the high pressure water through the manifold 80 to the nebulization nozzles. The ports 86, 88 are also connected to the low pressure water supply conduit 54 via the check valves 62 positioned in the manifolds 92 connecting the conduits 89, 90. This allows the water to flow into the cylinder from the water conduit. low pressure only, and the water flowing out of the cylinder into the high pressure water conduit only. Accordingly, in the third embodiment, high pressure water is provided in both runs of each water cylinder, that is, in both non-return and return races. In this way, the volume of water at high pressure is provided twice. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, this arrangement can be multiplied as desired so that any particular volume at high pressure can be obtained by adding an appropriate number of additional pumps and / or pumping systems. In addition to the above, the system of the present invention has a capacity to infinitely vary the amount of water nebulized within the air stream by using relatively some phases with infinite modulation between phases. The phases can be created by using discharge valves with the nozzles so that a rough humidification adjustment is made by contracting the number of nozzles used. Finer adjustments can be made to vary the pressure outputs of the hydraulic pump which will consequently vary the volume of water supplied in each phase. This can be done by using a programmable logic controller and appropriate temperature sensors to determine the differences in the wet bulb temperature and the dry bulb temperature of the inlet air so that the amount of moisture needed to saturate the inlet air can be calculated and used by the PLC to control the lubricant pressure or the stroke length or the speed of a stroke. For example, once the PLC calculates the amount of water required to be supplied to the turbine, it selects the number of phases to be operated that is at least greater than required. It then monitors the outlet water pressure in the conduit 80 through a linear pressure transducer or the like and adjusts the pressure of the lubricant supplied to the hydraulic cylinders through the proportional control devices so that the outlet pressure of the water resulting in conduit 80 produces the required water flow rate. In this way, the pressure and volume of the water expelled from the pump obtain predetermined values. The use of various lubricant pumps for hydraulic systems with the water pumps established in accordance with the present invention can also be used in combination with a recirculation / cooling pumping system 100 as shown in Figure 4, so that the heated lubricant returned to the tank can be cooled. In this way, the lubricant in the reservoir 14 is removed by a pump 101 through a coil 102 where a fan 104 circulates the cold air over the coil to cool the lubricant therein before it returns to the reservoir through a valve 106 of retention. Otherwise, the system of Figure 4 is the same as that of Figure 3 except that it is shown in some detail in more detail and uses two hydraulic pumps 12 and three sets of pistons, with similar numbers representing similar parts. In addition, the three sets of pistons will preferably operate at 120 ° out of phase with each other. The system of the present invention has numerous advantages. It allows the use of lubricant pumps for commercially available, reliable and low-cost hydraulic systems, tanks and coolers in high-speed motion systems using standard materials since deionized water is contained only in the pipeline to and from the cylinders. pumping water and in the pumping cylinders themselves. The systems have a higher tolerance to the accumulated heat caused by the recirculation through the pressure relief valves. Water pressure control is easier since only the commercially standard lubricant pressure control methods (pressure release, pump speed control, paddle pump, discharge type pump, etc.) are they require. In addition, the system has the ability to create even higher water operating pressures that are required for improved water atomization with a simple change in the ratios supported by the cylinder. By using the system of the present invention, water flow velocity monitoring can be done precisely and in a low cost way without the use of complicated flow measuring apparatuses, simply by monitoring the stroke speed of the cylinder or the career time. This is important since the flow velocity must be measured in order to ensure that the atomization nozzles have not become clogged (causing a reduction in water flow and a loss of atomization efficiency) or that the integrity in the collectors and the heads of atomization is intact (a leak is indicated by an increase in flow velocity). Since the pumping cylinder is a positive displacement device, the flow of water is easily measured. In the prior art device, the flow is measured either through a flow measurement device that has a level of inaccuracy and must be composed of materials that are not subjected to harmful effects with exposure to deionized water. In other systems, the speed of the water pump is adjusted to maintain the proper flow and water pressure. The pump wear and resultant seal leaks will cause a discrepancy between the flow rates calculated based on the pump speed and the current flow rate. Finally, with the present invention, the water system is completely isolated from the movable lubricant by using attached cylinders and avoiding inadvertent water contamination. Other variations and modifications of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art after careful study of this application. This invention will not be limited except as set forth in the following claims.