EP1991783A1

EP1991783A1 - Method for adjusting a piston in a linear compressor

Info

Publication number: EP1991783A1
Application number: EP07704139A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Mario Bechtold; Johannes Reinschke
Original assignee: BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeraete GmbH
Current assignee: BSH Hausgeraete GmbH
Priority date: 2006-02-28
Filing date: 2007-01-25
Publication date: 2008-11-19
Anticipated expiration: 2027-01-25
Also published as: RU2413873C2; WO2007099000A1; CN101389862A; CN101389862B; ES2354027T3; EP1991783B1; ATE487061T1; RU2008138130A; US20090153081A1; US7868566B2; DE502007005553D1; DE102006009230A1

Abstract

The method involves subjecting a coil to alternating current. A compressor has a linear drive (1) with coil (5) and an anchor adjusting against a spring action by magnetic field of the coil, and a compressor chamber (10) limited by movable piston (11) coupled to the anchor. Direct current is applied to the coil before the operation to move the anchor from the rest position, so that an end position, which reaches is measured. During the operation strength of alternating current, which excites the coil is so controlled that the anchor reaches the end position with no or negligible speed.

Description

Method for adjusting a piston in a linear compressor

Method for operating a linear compressor

The present invention relates to a method for operating a linear compressor, in particular for a refrigeration device. Such a linear compressor is e.g. from US 506032B2 and

US 6642377B2 known. It comprises a reversing linear drive with a winding and an armature displaceable by a magnetic field generated by the winding against a spring force and a compression chamber in which a piston is coupled to the armature movable. In operation, the winding is subjected to an alternating current in order to drive a swinging motion of the armature.

While in a conventional rotary driven compressor, the amplitude of movement of the piston is strictly predetermined, this is not the case with a linear compressor. The armature can oscillate with different amplitudes depending on the winding supplied electrical drive power, and accordingly, the piston stroke is variable.

The smaller the drive power and, accordingly, the amplitude of the armature, the greater the dead volume of the pumping chamber at the upper reversal point of the path of the piston. A large dead volume leads to a low efficiency of the compressor, since the work done for compressing the gas in the dead volume is not used and after overcoming the top dead center, the gas relaxes again, thereby driving the piston back.

If, on the other hand, the winding is subjected to an excessive drive power, the amplitude of the armature can become so great that the piston strikes a boundary of the compression chamber. This leads to a strong noise and possibly also to a damage of the compressor. In addition, the vibration of the armature and the driving alternating current get out of phase, so that for this reason the drive loses effectiveness. In order to be able to operate a linear compressor stably with good efficiency, it is therefore necessary to monitor the amplitude of the armature and to control the alternating current applied to the winding in such a way that the amplitude always remains just below a limit when it is exceeded the piston abuts a boundary.

Tolerances in the manufacture of the linear compressors can cause the path that the armature can travel from its equilibrium position until the piston encounters a limit can vary from one linear compressor to another. If, taking into account the manufacturing tolerances of the armature stroke for all linear compressor is uniformly determined so that the piston can not hit the limit, resulting from one compressor to another significantly different dead volumes and thus different efficiencies.

Another problem is that the equilibrium position in which the armature is with the compressor off, depending on the pressure prevailing in the compression chamber, acting on the piston pressure may be different. Different pressures can easily occur when using the linear compressor for compressing refrigerant in a refrigerator, depending on how the average temperature or the ratio of gaseous to liquid refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit of the device. If a refrigeration unit is put into operation new or after a long standstill and the refrigerant circuit has to be cooled down from room temperature, the pressure in the refrigerant circuit is initially higher than in an operating unit in which the cold room and consequently also at least part of the refrigerant clearly colder than room temperature. A vibration amplitude, which results in a usable device, a useful, small dead volume may be insufficient in the case of restart, since here the rest position, by which the armature oscillates, is shifted. If this results in a large dead volume, the efficiency of the compressor can be so far affected in extreme cases that a proper cooling down of the device is not possible.

The object of the present invention is to provide a method for operating a linear compressor which avoids the problems described above. The object is achieved by a linear compressor comprising a linear drive with a winding and a displaceable by the magnetic field of the coil against a spring force armature and a compressor chamber in which a piston is coupled to the armature movable, wherein in operation, the winding is applied with an alternating current to drive a swinging motion of the armature, this winding is acted upon before operation with a direct current with a first sign to move the armature from a rest position by a first end position, the armature under the action of the Direct current is measured, measured, and during operation, the magnitude of the alternating current, with which the winding is energized, is controlled so that the armature does not reach the first end position or with vanishing speed.

By DC application and measurement of the resulting armature position, a measured value for a maximum permissible deflection of the armature is obtained in which both manufacturing tolerances and a shift in the rest position of the armature caused by the pressure in the compression chamber are automatically taken into account.

Preferably, the first sign of the DC current is set so that is moved by the resulting from the action of the DC current displacement of the piston, the piston on a valve plate of the compression chamber, since in this direction, the freedom of movement of the piston is necessarily limited and accurate control of the piston stroke is required to ensure a small dead volume and thus a good efficiency.

It can be provided that the winding is further supplied with a direct current opposite to the sign of the first sign before commencement of operation, that a second end position which the armature reaches under the effect of this direct current is measured, and that during operation The strength of the alternating current that energizes the winding is controlled so that the armature does not reach the second end position either at or with vanishing speed. In this way, the freedom of movement of the piston is measured in both directions, and the available - A -

Freedom of movement of the piston can be optimally utilized regardless of variations caused by manufacturing tolerances.

Alternatively, it is possible to calculate a second end position at a predetermined distance from the first end position.

The strength of the DC current is expediently increased gradually to avoid that the piston abuts a boundary at high speed.

Preferably, during the increase of the current intensity, the position of the armature is repeatedly measured, and as the end position, a position of the armature is determined over which the armature does not move with a further increase of the current strength. For as long as the deflection counteracts only the spring force and possibly the pressure in the compression chamber, it can be assumed that an increase in the current of the

Direct current also leads to an increase in the deflection, unless the piston has reached the limit.

Alternatively, a position of the armature can be determined as the end position in which it triggers a proximity sensor. Such a proximity sensor may for example be a light barrier.

In order to initiate the oscillatory movement of the armature, it is preferable to apply an alternating current to the winding, in which the charge quantities of positive and negative half-waves increase over time, so that the amplitude of the oscillatory movement also increases over time. This gives the opportunity to follow the evolution of the amplitude as a function of the charge quantities of the half-waves and to meter their rise so that none of the previously defined end positions is exceeded.

In particular, due to a shift of the rest position of the armature by the prevailing pressure in the compression chamber, it may be necessary to regulate the charge quantities of the positive and negative half-waves separately, each to an equal distance of the two reversal points of the oscillatory motion of the first and second end position guarantee. Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments with reference to the accompanying figures. Show it:

Fig. 1 is a schematic view, partly in plan view, partly in section, of a linear compressor;

Fig. 2 shows the time evolution of a given to the windings of the linear compressor of FIG. 1 direct current and the resulting measured value of

Anke probe deflection; and

Fig. 3 shows the time evolution of the oscillation amplitude and the charge quantities of the positive and negative half-waves of the winding current when starting the

Oscillatory motion.

Fig. 1 shows schematically a linear compressor with a linear drive 1 and a compressor unit 2, which are held in a U-shaped frame 3 shown here. Iron cores 4 of E-shaped cross-section and windings 5 are mounted on two parallel legs of the frame 3 facing each other. An armature 6 is suspended in an air gap between the iron cores 4 by means of diaphragm springs 7, which keep the armature 6 slightly movable in the longitudinal direction of the air gap and rigid in the transverse direction. The armature 6 includes two antiparallel poled permanent magnets 8, 9, which endeavor to align themselves in a magnetic field generated by the windings 5 and the armature 6 thus depending on the direction of current flow through the windings 5 the armature in the perspective of FIG. Left or right float.

The compressor unit 2 comprises a compression chamber 10, which is bounded on one side by a movable piston 1 1. The piston 1 1 is rigidly connected to the armature 6 via a piston rod 12. By an overpressure in the compression chamber 10, the rest position of the armature 6 relative to a position in which the leaf springs 7 are relaxed, slightly offset to the left. On the armature 6, a support plate 13 is mounted, which is alternately provided with reflective or light-absorbing strip. A first light barrier with a light source 14 which emits a focused light beam onto the carrier plate 13 and a light sensor 15 aligned with the carrier plate 13 is mounted on one of the iron cores 4. Depending on whether the light beam of the light source 14 strikes a reflective or an absorbing strip of the carrier plate 13, the light sensor 15 receives more or less light.

Alternatively, instead of the support plate 13, a comb-like structure may also be mounted on the armature 6, and light source 14 and light sensor 15 of the light barrier are mounted on the iron cores 4 on both sides of the comb structure, so that depending on the position of the armature 6, a tine of the comb structure the light sensor 15th shaded or the beam of the

Light source 14 reaches the light sensor 15 through a gap between two prongs.

Instead of a comb structure may also be provided a transparent support which is provided with spaced light-impermeable strips.

A second photoelectric switch, not shown, is around a quarter of a regular period

Strip arrangement arranged offset.

To the photocells, a control circuit 16 is connected, which supplies the windings 5 with electricity.

The operation of the control circuit in the commissioning of the linear compressor will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. At a time t = 0, the control circuit 16 receives from the outside, for example from a thermostat control of a refrigerator, in which the linear compressor of FIG. 1 is installed, a start-up command. The control circuit 16 then acts on the windings 5 with a direct current whose current intensity I, as shown by a dashed line in the diagram of Fig. 2, increases linearly with time t. Proportional to the current I increases the force acting on the armature 6 magnetic force, which drives the armature 6 in the perspective of FIG. 1 to the right. In the illustration of FIG. 2, it is assumed for the sake of simplification that the resulting displacement of the armature 6 is linearly proportional to the current intensity I. However, the principle of the invention is also applicable if this is not exactly the case: With increasing displacement of the armature 6 a strip of the carrier plate 13 after the other passes the photocells. By comparing the phases of the count pulses provided by the photointerrupters, the control circuit 16 detects the direction in which the armature 6 moves and increments (decrements, depending on the detected direction of movement) each time a stripe passes the first photoelectric switch 14,15 ) the control circuit 16 has a counter whose count n is thus representative of the distance traveled by the armature 6 from its rest position. The count value n thus forms a step function of the time t likewise shown in the diagram of FIG.

If the current intensity I is strong enough to bring the piston 11 into contact with the valve plate 17 of the compressor unit 2, the count value n will no longer increase even if the current strength continues to increase. This is detected by the control circuit 16 at a time indicated at d in FIG. 2, at which the current intensity I reaches a value 1 (n _max ), to an increment of n which is to be expected when the previously observed relationship between I and n is continued absent.

According to a first embodiment, the freedom of movement of the armature 6, measured in steps of said counter, a fixed predetermined and stored in the control circuit 16 integer N. By the control circuit corresponding to the contact of the piston 1 1 with the valve plate 17 count with the number N overwrites, a calibration of the position measurement is achieved: the limits of the permissible range of movement of the armature 6 correspond to a count of 0 or N. By counting up or down the detected by the light barrier strips, depending on the direction of movement of the armature 6, "knows" the control circuit 16 at all times the location of the armature. 6

According to a second embodiment, the control circuit reduces the current I in the windings 5 from the point in time d to a reversal of their signs, and in the opposite direction counts the strips which pass through the photoelectric barrier from zero upwards. This happens until again increasing the amount of current no longer leads to a further increase in the meter reading. The counter reading N thus obtained thus represents a measured value of the actual freedom of movement of the armature 6; he will be in the used the same way, as stated above for the fixed preset count N and explained in more detail below.

The diagrams of Fig. 3 illustrate the recording of the oscillating operation of the linear compressor. The middle diagram schematically shows the time evolution of the position of the armature 6 and its target reversal points, the upper and the lower diagram respectively corresponding to the time evolution of the charge quantities Q ⁺ , Q ^' of positive and negative half-waves of one of the control circuit 16 to the windings 5 output excitation current.

In order now to bring the oscillating movement of the armature 6 in motion, the control circuit first sets the armature position, which corresponds to the count N / 2, as the center of the oscillatory motion. The initial resting position of the armature then corresponds to a count denoted n ₀ , which will generally be different from N / 2. At time t ₂ in Fig. 3, the control circuit starts to excite the swinging motion. In order to increase the amplitude of the oscillation gradually, setpoint reversal points U ⁺ u ^'are specified for the armature oscillation, which in the course of time symmetrically depart from N / 2, eg as linear functions of the time U ⁺ = N / 2 + a (tt ₂ ), u ^' = N / 2 -a (tt ₂ ), to finally assume stationary values N-ε and ε, respectively, as shown in the middle diagram of FIG. In this case, ε represents a safety distance of a few meter steps, which serves to reliably avoid a collision of the piston at a boundary in stationary operation. A typical sequence of the armature movement is shown as curve p in the middle diagram of FIG. 3. At time t ₂ , the armature 6 is well below the curve U ^{+ of} the upper reversal point. Therefore, the control circuit 16 initially acts on the windings only with positive half waves to raise the armature. The time evolution of the amount of charge Q ^{+ of} the upper half-waves is shown in the upper diagram of Fig. 3; it starts with an initial value Q ⁺ (t ₂ ) at time t ₂ , which is proportional to the deviation between the armature rest position n ₀ and the desired midpoint N / 2 of its swinging motion, and decreases as the target reverse position U ⁺ position with time t too. At time t _3, the target position of the lower reversal point u ^' crosses the rest position n ₀ . Now the control circuit 16 starts to output negative half-waves. The time evolution of their charge quantity Q ^" is shown in the lower diagram of FIG. The charge quantities Q ⁺ , Q ^' increase until the desired interpretations u ⁺ , u ^{' have reached} the end positions N- ε and ε, respectively, and thus the stationary operating state of the linear compressor is reached. Again, charge amounts of the positive and negative half-waves are still different in order to compensate for the deviation between the rest position n _{0 of} the armature 6 and the center position N / 2 of the armature movement influenced by the pressure of the refrigerant in the compression chamber.

If, in the course of operation of the linear compressor, the refrigeration device cools and the refrigerant pressure against which the compressor unit 2 is working decreases, the rest position which the armature 6 would assume when the drive is switched also shifts. This would, if not counter-controlled, lead to a shift of the entire armature movement to the right in Fig. 1 and thus conclusively to a striking of the piston 1 1 against the valve flap 17. By the control circuit 16 reduces the charge amount of the positive half-waves when it detects a movement of the armature beyond the upper target turning point N- ε and accordingly increases the amount of charge of the lower half-waves, such a displacement of the movement is avoided, so that the compressor unit works at any time with a minimum dead volume, without it comes to striking the piston 1 1 in the compression chamber 10.

Claims

claims

1 . Method for operating a linear compressor, comprising a linear drive (1) with a winding (5) and an armature (6) displaceable against the spring force by the magnetic field of the winding (5) and a compressor chamber (10) passing through the armature (6) coupled movable piston (1 1) is limited, in which during operation, the winding (5) is acted upon by an alternating current to drive a swinging movement of the armature (6), characterized in that the winding (5) before receiving the Operation with a direct current (I) is applied with a first sign to move the armature (6) from a rest position, that a first end position, the armature under the effect of

Direct current (I) is reached, measured, and that during operation, the strength of the alternating current, with which the winding is energized, is controlled so that the armature does not reach the first end position or with vanishing speed.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the first sign is selected so that the piston (1 1) on a valve plate (17) of the compressor chamber (10) is moved.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the winding (5) before starting the operation is further acted upon by a direct current (I) with opposite sign to the first sign that a second end position, the armature (6) is reached, measured, and that during operation, the magnitude of the alternating current, with which the winding (5) is energized, is controlled so that the armature (6) the second

End position not reached or with vanishing speed.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a second

End position is calculated at a predetermined distance from the first end position.

5. The method according to claim any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the strength of the direct current (I) is gradually increased.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that during the increase of the current strength (I), the position of the armature (6) is repeatedly measured, and that as a final position, a position of the armature (6) is determined by the armature

(6) is not moved out at a further increase of the current (I).

7. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that a position of the armature is determined as the end position, in which the armature triggers a proximity sensor.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that the proximity sensor is a light barrier.

9. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the oscillating movement of the armature (6) is set in motion by applying the winding (5) with an alternating current, wherein the charge quantities (Q ⁺ , Q) of the positive and the negative Half-waves increase over time.

10. The method of claim 2 or 3 and claim 9, characterized in that the amounts of charge (Q ⁺ , Q) of the positive and negative half-waves are controlled separately, each by an equal distance (ε) of the two reversal points of the oscillatory motion of the first or second end position (N, 0) to ensure.