Reversible technology for Elika pumps
"Until now Elika pumps and motors could only operate in one rotational direction, either clockwise or counterclockwise. Now they can be used in both directions. Marzocchi Pompe's new Elika products in its flagship family, further increase and contribute to our already vast range and enhance our global position". These were the words Gabriele Bonfiglioli, CEO of Marzocchi Pompe, a Bologna-based company specializing in the design, production, and marketing of high-performance gear pumps and motors, used to announce the granting of a new patent for the reversible version of the Elika family of pumps. The patent was granted by the UIBM - Italian Patent and Trademark Office of the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy - and the European portion is now being issued under no. EP24711633.8. The research, simulations, prototyping, and testing that led to the definition of the patent application were carried out by Marzocchi Pompe's Research and Development department in collaboration with the Engineering Department of the University of Bologna.
The inventive activity dealt with the bilateral hydraulic compensation system for a complete balancing of the axial forces on a reversible machine, with rotors with helical teeth with a conjugate profile without fluid entrapment, which can be used as a pump and motor operating with clockwise or counterclockwise rotation. The aim of the project was to create a versatile, efficient, reliable, economical and easy-to-manufacture hydraulic machine.
The main objective of the new patent is to develop a new sub-family of pumps within the Elika line. The new pumps will have external gears for reversible applications with a conjugate profile, featuring a helical gear with fewer teeth, whose characteristics allow for regular motion, the absence of trapped volume (zero overpressure and negative flow rate), and reduction of vibrations and operating noise compared to standard solutions. The patent allows for the creation of reversible pumps or motors (i.e. operating in both directions of rotation), an option that was not previously possible. The technical solution developed by Marzocchi thus makes it possible to create “four-quadrant machines”. With the increasing spread of hybrid or electric operating machines and means of transport, low-noise hydraulic or electro-hydraulic actuators are increasingly in demand, as, by eliminating the typical noise of the internal combustion engine, the most notable noise is now that coming from the hydraulic components.
Some of these applications use reversible pumps, and there is currently no valid technical solution to this problem. Typical examples of reversible applications are hydrostatic transmissions or some steering systems. Similarly, the use of reversible hydraulic motors is useful in applications where it is necessary to be able to change the direction of the torque available at the hydraulic motor's output shaft. The market for Marzocchi Pompe's technological innovation - operating machinery and public transport, both hybrid and electric - is currently experiencing great global growth. It is constantly evolving and increasingly oriented towards perfecting the products offered, introducing new elements that are essential such as increased silence and no vibration transmission to other components of the system.
