JP2005054745A - Compressor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a compressor capable of providing a separation effect even in a state of low flow speed in a centrifugal separation type oil separation chamber in the compressor provided with a compression mechanism compressing a gaseous fluid containing lubricating oil and the centrifugal separation type oil separation chamber having the gaseous fluid compressed by the compression mechanism introduced therein and turning to separate at least part of lubricating oil contained in the gaseous fluid by centrifugal force of the turning. <P>SOLUTION: Separation efficiency is improved by a synergetic effect of centrifugal separation and impingement separation by providing an impingement wall near the inner circumference surface of the oil separation chamber. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a compressor that compresses a fluid, and particularly to a compressor that is used in an air conditioner for automobiles.

  In such a compressor, a part of the lubricating oil that lubricates the sliding portion of the compression mechanism is discharged from the compressor together with the compressed fluid, and circulates in the refrigeration / air conditioning cycle. It has been well known that the system efficiency (thermal efficiency) decreases as the amount of lubricating oil discharged together with the fluid increases in the cycle.

  For this reason, in order to improve the system efficiency, the lubricating oil contained therein is separated as much as possible from the fluid compressed by the compression mechanism, and then the fluid is discharged during the system cycle.

  As an example, in order to separate the lubricating oil from the compressed fluid on the discharge side of the compression mechanism, it is common to make the fluid collide with the collision wall and separate the lubricating oil, further improving the separation performance Therefore, a compressor provided with a centrifugal separation chamber is known (see Patent Documents 1 and 2).

In such a compressor, a high-pressure refrigerant gas compressed by a compression mechanism and containing lubricating oil is guided to a centrifugal separation chamber, swirls in a substantially cylindrical separation chamber, and mist contained in the refrigerant gas by centrifugal force due to swirling. The lubricating oil is separated from the refrigerant gas by contacting the separation chamber wall.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-82352 (page 4, FIG. 1, FIG. 3, FIG. 4) JP 2001-295767 A (Page 3, FIGS. 1 and 2)

  By the way, the known compressor provided with the centrifugal separation chamber is not limited to those disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Documents 1 and 2, and a pipe called a separation pipe is arranged in the separation chamber. The refrigerant gas introduced into the separation chamber is configured to swivel in an annular cylindrical space formed between the outer peripheral surface of the separation tube and the outer peripheral surface of the separation chamber.

  As described above, the separation pipe is generally considered as an essential component in the centrifugal separation method of the lubricating oil. That is, in order to obtain a high separation efficiency of the lubricating oil, it is necessary to swirl the refrigerant gas reliably in the separation chamber. For that purpose, it is necessary to provide a separation pipe in the separation chamber and swirl the refrigerant gas around this. It is considered.

  However, as described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, when the separation tube is provided in the separation chamber, not only does the separation chamber increase in size, but also the number of parts, the production cost of the separation tube, and the assembly of the separation tube are increased. It was necessary to allow for man-hours and the like, which was an obstacle to reducing the manufacturing cost of the compressor.

  Also, when the swirl flow velocity in the swirl chamber of the inflowing fluid is slow, such as when the swirl chamber diameter is large or the inflow amount is small, the effect of separating the lubricating oil cannot be sufficiently exerted. The swirl chamber inner diameter can be reduced and swirl flow velocity can be increased. However, if the inflow rate increases, a high-density region of lubricating oil can be created near the center of the swirl chamber, and fluid containing high-concentration lubricating oil can be discharged. As a result, the separation efficiency of the lubricating oil decreases.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a compressor that has a high separation efficiency of lubricating oil and that can reduce the size of the separation chamber and reduce the manufacturing cost.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, the compressor according to the first invention of the present application is characterized in that the separation chamber has a plurality of collision walls on which the flow caused by swirling collides.

  With such a feature, in the compressor according to the present invention, the swirling flow collides with the collision wall in the separation chamber, and the lubricating oil separation effect by the swirling and the separating effect by the collision are synergistic, and the separation efficiency of the lubricating oil is increased. Will increase.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the compressor according to the second invention of the present application, the collision wall is provided in the vicinity of the inner peripheral surface in the swirl chamber.

  With such a feature, in the compressor according to the present invention, the gas-fluid becomes a swirl flow in the separation chamber, so that the lubricating oil content in the swirl chamber is higher in the circumferential surface of the swirl chamber than in the center. It becomes. Therefore, the separation effect due to the collision increases, and the separation efficiency of the lubricating oil increases.

  In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, in the compressor according to the third invention of the present application, the collision wall is made of a material that does not easily transmit lubricating oil.

  With such a feature, in the compressor according to the present invention, the swirl flow collides with the collision wall in the separation chamber, and the lubricating oil in the gas fluid is difficult to permeate, so the lubricating oil is separated at the collision wall. And the separation efficiency is increased.

  As described above, in the compressor of the present invention, oil separation by collision can be performed in addition to the centrifugal separation type, so that the separation efficiency is improved. For this reason, the separation effect can be obtained even in a state where the flow velocity of the fluid is small, and the separation chamber can be downsized.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a compressor to which a part of the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1 (working chamber sectional view), and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. It is sectional drawing by a line (figure which looked at the high pressure case from the operation room side).

  The compressor shown in the figure is a so-called vane rotary type compressor, and as shown in the drawing, a substantially columnar rotor 2 is arranged in a cylinder 1 having a cylindrical inner wall. The rotor 2 is disposed at a position where a part of the outer periphery forms a minute gap with the inner wall of the cylinder 1. The rotor 2 is provided with a plurality of vane slots 3, and vanes 4 are slidably inserted into the vane slots 3. The rotor 2 is formed integrally with a drive shaft 5 that is rotatably supported. The cylinder 1 and the rotor 2 are sandwiched between the front side plate 6 and the rear side plate 7 in the rotational axis direction of the rotor 2, and both ends of the cylinder 1 are closed by these, and a working chamber 8 for fluid compression is formed in the cylinder. Is formed.

  A suction hole 9 and a discharge hole 10 communicate with the working chamber 8, and a gas fluid such as refrigerant gas is sucked into the working chamber 8 from the suction hole 9 and compressed, and then discharged from the discharge hole 10. A discharge valve 11 made of, for example, a reed valve is disposed at the outlet of the discharge hole 10. A high pressure case 12 is attached to the rear side of the rear side plate 7, and the high pressure case 12 is provided with a separation chamber 51 for separating and collecting mist-like lubricating oil contained in the refrigerant gas compressed in the working chamber 8. It has been.

  The gas fluid compressed in the working chamber 8 and discharged from the discharge hole 10 is guided by the guide passage 13 provided continuously in the cylinder 1, the rear side plate 7 and the high pressure case 12, and is formed on the side wall of the separation chamber 51. Then, it is introduced into the separation chamber 51 through the introduction hole 53. A gas discharge hole 58 for exhausting the refrigerant gas from which the lubricating oil has been separated in the separation chamber 51 is opened at the upper portion of the separation chamber 51, and the lower portion of the separation chamber 51 is separated and collected from the refrigerant gas in the separation chamber. An oil drain hole 54 through which the lubricating oil is discharged is opened. A plurality of collision walls 61 are provided near the inner peripheral surface of the separation chamber 51.

  The refrigerant gas discharged from the separation chamber 51 through the gas discharge hole 58 circulates in the refrigeration / air conditioning cycle, eventually returns to the suction hole 9 described above, is compressed again, and circulates in the cycle. The oil drain hole 54 opened to the lower part of the separation chamber 51 communicates with an oil storage chamber 52 formed between the high pressure case 12 and the rear side plate 7. Therefore, the lubricating oil separated and collected from the refrigerant gas in the separation chamber 51 is stored in the oil storage chamber 52 through the oil drain hole 54.

  Lubricating oil stored in the oil storage chamber 52 is supplied to the rotor 2, the vane 4, the inner wall of the cylinder 1 and the like constituting the compression mechanism via the oil supply passage 18 to lubricate each part and to the vane back pressure chamber 17. The pressure acts to urge the vane 4 to the outside of the rotor 2.

  Lubricating oil is supplied through an oil supply passage 18 that supplies the lubricating oil from the oil storage chamber 52 to the compression mechanism, and the lubricating oil stored in the oil storage chamber via the vane back pressure adjusting device 16 is supplied to the oil supply passage 18. Is supplied. The vane back pressure adjusting device 16 controls the oil supply pressure and the amount of oil supplied to the compression mechanism according to the refrigerant gas pressure around the compression mechanism.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the compressor according to the above-described embodiment will be described.

  When power is transmitted from a drive source such as an in-vehicle engine and the drive shaft 5 and the rotor 2 rotate clockwise in FIG. 2, a low-pressure refrigerant gas flows into the working chamber 8 from the suction port 9 accordingly. The high-pressure refrigerant gas compressed along with the rotation of the rotor 2 pushes up the discharge valve 11 from the discharge hole 10 and flows into the guide passage 13. Further, the high-pressure refrigerant gas is introduced into the separation chamber 51 through the introduction hole 53, and the lubricating oil contained in the refrigerant gas is separated and collected in the separation chamber.

  By the way, the separation chamber 51 is a so-called centrifugal oil separator, and includes a columnar space 51a and an inverted conical space 51b that are coupled to each other as shown in FIG. A conventional separation pipe or the like is not provided in the separation chamber, and a collision wall 61 is provided in the vicinity of the peripheral surface of the separation chamber.

  The introduction hole 53 is provided eccentric from the central axis of the cylindrical space portion of the separation chamber 51 so as to guide the refrigerant gas introduced into the separation chamber in the tangential direction of the cylindrical space portion, that is, the refrigerant gas is cylindrical. It is provided so that it can be introduced into the separation chamber 51 along the inner peripheral surface 49 of the space. Therefore, the refrigerant gas introduced into the separation chamber 51 swirls in the circumferential direction in the separation chamber, and the lubricating oil having a large specific gravity comes into contact with the separation chamber wall and is separated from the refrigerant gas by the centrifugal force caused by the swirling.

  The separated lubricating oil moves downward along the inner peripheral surface 49, collides with a collision wall 61 provided in the vicinity of the inner peripheral surface, promotes the separation of the lubricating oil, and aggregates in the central portion by the inverted conical space portion 51b. Is done.

  Note that a communication passage 57 is provided between the upper portion of the oil storage chamber 52 and the separation chamber 51 to communicate these with each other. Similar to the introduction hole 53, the communication passage 57 is provided eccentrically from the central axis of the separation chamber 51, and guides the fluid introduced into the separation chamber 51 through the communication passage 57 in the tangential direction of the cylindrical space 51a. That is, it is provided so that the fluid can be introduced into the separation chamber 51 along the inner peripheral surface 49 of the cylindrical space 51a. By doing in this way, the fluid which flows in into the separation chamber 51 through the communication path 57 from the oil storage chamber 52 can smoothly join the swirling of the refrigerant gas in the separating chamber, and can prevent the swirling of the refrigerant gas from being hindered. Even if the lubricating oil in the oil storage chamber 52 reaches the communication passage 57 due to some reason, the lubricating oil is introduced into the separation chamber 51 through the communication passage 57, but the direction of the inflow into the separation chamber 51 is different. As described above, since the direction is to join the swirling flow in the separation chamber, even if the lubricating oil is introduced into the separation chamber via the communication path 57, the rotation of the refrigerant gas in the separation chamber is not hindered. In addition, it is preferable to provide the collision wall below the separation chamber (below the communication path 57) so as not to prevent the fluid from turning.

  In the case of the compressor in the present embodiment, the oil storage chamber side opening of the oil drain hole 54 opens downward in the vertical direction from the oil level of the oil storage chamber 52. For this reason, the high-pressure refrigerant gas pressure discharged by the compression mechanism acts to push down the lubricating oil level in the oil storage chamber 52 while pushing down the lubricating oil level collected in the lower part of the separation chamber 51.

  However, it is conceivable that when the lubricating oil in the oil storage chamber 52 is pushed up, the gas fluid (mainly refrigerant gas) accumulated in the upper portion of the oil storage chamber 52 prevents the lubricating oil surface in the oil storage chamber 52 from being pushed up.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, a communication path 57 that allows fluid movement between the oil storage chamber 52 and the separation chamber 51 is provided. Since the communication passage 57 functions as a vent hole for a gas fluid such as a refrigerant gas accumulated in the upper portion of the oil storage chamber 52, the lubricating oil surface in the oil storage chamber 52 is pushed up smoothly.

  FIG. 4 shows the result of comparing the oil separation effect in the case of only the conventional swirl chamber and the oil separation rate when the collision wall 61 is provided in the swirl chamber of the present invention as the oil circulation rate (OCR).

  In the case of only the swirl chamber, the flow velocity of the swirl flow is low in the low-speed rotation region, the oil separation efficiency is low, and the OCR is relatively high. However, when the collision wall 61 is provided in the swirl chamber of the present invention, the oil separation efficiency can be improved and the OCR can be lowered even in the low speed rotation region.

  Therefore, in the compressor in the present embodiment, it is possible to maintain or enhance a low oil circulation rate (high oil separation efficiency).

  It is sufficient that the communication path 57 is provided so that the fluid flowing from the oil storage chamber 52 into the separation chamber 51 does not hinder the rotation of the refrigerant gas in the separation chamber. That is, if the inflow direction of the fluid flowing from the oil storage chamber 52 to the separation chamber 51 does not have a directional component that collides frontally with the swirling flow near the outlet of the communication path, it is considered that the swirling flow is not hindered.

  Therefore, the communication path 57 may be provided along a direction that intersects the central axis of the separation chamber 51 at a right angle.

  In this embodiment, the oil storage chamber 52 side opening of the oil discharge hole 54 opens downward in the vertical direction from the oil level of the oil storage chamber, but may open above the oil level. In this case, the effect of pushing up the oil level by the high-pressure refrigerant gas cannot be expected, but since the communication passage 57 is provided, the blowback from the oil discharge hole 54 due to the pulsation of the refrigerant gas is suppressed. Therefore, the oil collected in the lower part of the separation chamber 51 is also prevented from being scattered into the separation chamber by blowing back.

  Further, in the compressor according to the present embodiment, the structure is described in which a separation tube is not provided in the separation chamber while having a so-called centrifugal separation chamber, but the same effect can be obtained even if the separation tube is provided. Can be obtained.

(Embodiment 2)
Next, the collision wall 61 is made of a fine mesh member or a porous material, so that the swirling flow of gas and fluid is not hindered, and the separation effect by swirl and the separation effect by collision can be increased.

  In the above-described embodiment, the columnar space portion is used as an example of the columnar space portion of the separation chamber 51. However, any cross-sectional shape may be used as long as it does not prevent the introduced refrigerant gas from turning. It may be a columnar space, for example, an elliptical cross section or a quadrilateral with rounded corners.

  In the above-described embodiment, a sliding vane type rotary compressor has been described as an example of the compressor. However, the present invention is not limited to this and is also applicable to other compressors such as a rolling piston type and a scroll type. Is possible.

The longitudinal cross-sectional view of the compressor in embodiment of this invention Sectional view of the working chamber of the compressor along line AA shown in FIG. Sectional view of the separation chamber of the compressor along line DD shown in FIG. Characteristic diagram showing the relationship between rotational speed and OCR

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Shilling 2 Rollover 3 Vane slot 4 Vane 5 Drive shaft 6 Front side plate 7 Rear side plate 8 Actuation chamber 9 Suction port 10 Discharge hole 11 Discharge valve 12 High pressure case 13 Guide passage 14 High pressure chamber 16 Vane backrest grant device 17 Vane Back chamber 18 Oil supply passage 21 Elongated passage portion 49 Inner peripheral surface 51 Separation chamber 52 Oil storage chamber 53 Introduction hole 54 Oil discharge hole 56 Reduced diameter portion 57 Communication passage 58 Gas discharge hole 61 Collision wall

Claims (3)

A compression mechanism that compresses the gas-fluid containing lubricating oil, and the gas fluid compressed by the compression mechanism is introduced and swirled, and at least a part of the lubricant contained in the gas-fluid is separated by the centrifugal force generated by the swirling. And a separation chamber having a plurality of collision walls that collide with a flow caused by swirling. The compressor according to claim 1, wherein the collision wall is provided in the vicinity of an inner peripheral surface in the swirl chamber. The compressor according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the collision wall is made of a material that hardly permeates lubricating oil.

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