CPC F04D 25/04 (2013.01) [F04D 15/0083 (2013.01); F04D 29/053 (2013.01)] | 33 Claims |
1. A gas seal column apparatus comprising:
a vertically-oriented pump envelope including a gas seal column and a pump;
a pump drive motor configured to drive the pump envelope, the pump envelope and the pump drive motor configured to be sealed together;
a drive shaft encased by the pump envelope between the pump drive motor and the pump to couple the pump drive motor to the pump;
an inlet pipe configured to receive pressurized seal gas for introducing the seal gas into the pump envelope;
a discharge valve configured to enable the seal gas to exit the pump envelope; and
a control box, wherein when the pump drive motor is in a standby mode, the control box is configured to enable an amount of product in the gas seal column to increase to a predetermined threshold, the control box further configured to selectively enable gas pressure within the gas seal column to increase when the amount of product reaches the predetermined threshold to limit the amount of product in the gas seal column.
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