KR100563849B1 - Oil Separator with Compressor - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an oil separator with a built-in compressor, and aims not only to make the compressor compact, but also to protect the compressor by actively coping with pressure fluctuations, and to increase assembly productivity.

The oil separator according to the present invention includes: an oil storage chamber 37 installed at one side of the outer circumferential surface of the compressor housing 3 and formed at the center of the upper surface of the muffler 35 having an outlet 38 and an inlet 39 formed at an edge thereof; An oil separation chamber formed on the bottom of the manifold 7 having an intake passage 72 coupled to the upper portion of the muffler and connected to the heat exchanger and having a discharge passage 73 connected to the heat exchanger. 71; A spiral passage 76 formed on a bottom surface of the manifold to guide the refrigerant discharged in connection with the discharge port 38 in a spiral direction to the oil separation chamber; A bypass passage (80) formed in the manifold to communicate the oil reservoir and the suction passage; In addition, the pressure adjusting rod 83 is installed in the bypass passage to adjust the bypass flow rate of oil stored in the oil storage chamber by elastically moving according to the pressure difference between the inlet side of the compressor and the outlet side of the compressor. Therefore, the pressure regulating rod 83 elastically moves according to the pressure fluctuations on the compressor discharge port 38 side and the compressor suction port 39 side, and the opening degree of the second bypass passage 82 is changed so that the oil supplied to the inside of the compressor is changed. The flow rate is adjusted automatically.

Description

Oil Separator with Compressor

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an oil separator with a built-in compressor, and more particularly to an oil separator with a built-in compressor which can protect the compressor by actively coping with pressure fluctuations.

An automotive air conditioner includes a compressor for adiabatic compression of low temperature and low pressure gas refrigerant to be a high temperature and high pressure gas refrigerant, a condenser for saturating the high temperature and high pressure gas refrigerant discharged from the compressor by heat exchange; And an expansion valve for making the refrigerant liquefied and conveyed from the condenser into a low-pressure saturated wet steam state, and an evaporator for evaporating the refrigerant transferred from the expansion valve by heat exchange to make a saturated steam state and sending the refrigerant to a compressor.

In addition, the compressor constituting such a cooling device selectively receives the power of the engine delivered through the pulley of the vehicle by the intermittent action of the electronic clutch, sucks the refrigerant heat exchanged from the evaporator, compresses it by the linear reciprocating motion of the piston, and condensers. , Which are generally divided into reciprocating and rotating type according to the compression method and structure, and in the case of reciprocating type, crank type, swash plate type, wobble plate type, and in the case of rotary type, main rotary type and scroll type. Divided.

The swash plate compressor includes a front housing; A rear housing coupled thereto; A front cylinder installed inside the front housing; A rear cylinder installed in the rear housing; A plurality of double head pistons installed in the reciprocating motion of the bore of the front cylinder and the bore of the rear cylinder; A drive shaft rotatably installed through the center of the front and rear housings and the front and rear cylinders; A swash plate which is inclined to the drive shaft and rotates in accordance with the rotation of the drive shaft to move the pistons forward and backward; And both valve units provided between the front and rear cylinders and the inner surface of the front and rear housings.

When the power of the engine is transmitted to the drive shaft of the compressor configured as described above, the pistons move forward and backward by the swash plate rotating in an inclined state together with the drive shaft. During the piston stroke, the refrigerant is sucked into the cylinder bore through the valve unit during the suction stroke, and the refrigerant is compressed and discharged through the valve unit during the discharge stroke of the piston.

In order to facilitate the operation of the compressor, the refrigerant contains oil so that the oil circulates with the refrigerant to each part of the system during system operation, and thus the oil circulating in the system is lubricated by the compressor. .

However, when oil enters a heat exchanger such as a condenser or expansion device, pipes and hoses, the oil is coated on the inner surface of the heat exchanger to reduce heat exchange efficiency and occupy a predetermined space of the heat exchanger, thereby decreasing the heat transfer rate as well as the pressure drop. This increases and adversely affects the system. In addition, when the oil is circulated throughout the system, the amount of oil supplied to the compressor is fluctuated so that the compressor is not lubricated stably and smoothly, thereby deteriorating the durability of the compressor. In addition, to prevent this, a large amount of oil must be used, which further adversely affects the system.

Therefore, an oil separator is used for the purpose of preventing oil from entering the heat exchanger and improving durability of the compressor while additionally reducing noise and vibration.

The oil separator can be roughly classified into a compressor built-in oil separator and a compressor discharge line oil separator, and each of them has advantages and disadvantages when applied to an automobile air conditioner. That is, the discharge line oil separator is relatively easy to manufacture and design, and easy to secure the oil separation performance, while an assembly device such as an oil bypass circuit is added and occupies a lot of installation space. In the case of the built-in oil separator, it is difficult to secure the design and oil separation performance because it is integrally installed in the compressor, but it is relatively easy to apply to the automobile air conditioning system.

The compressor-type oil separator generally has an oil reservoir formed on the outer circumferential surface of the compressor, and has an oil bypass circuit for introducing oil stored in the oil reservoir into the suction passage inside the compressor. In order to form an oil bypass circuit, a hole is generally formed in a housing or a valve is used. However, since the length of the oil bypass circuit must be shortened for the compaction of the oil separator with a built-in compressor, an appropriate flow coefficient is required. In order to maintain the internal diameter of the hole must be small, so the processing of the minute hole having a very small internal diameter is required, there is a problem that the processing cost increases, there is a problem that the cost is expensive when using the valve as an oil bypass circuit.

The oil separator disclosed in US Pat. No. 5,636,974 is a representative example of a conventional oil separator having a fine hole as an oil bypass circuit. The oil separator is provided with an oil separation chamber for separating oil by centrifugal force on the outer circumferential surface of the rear housing of the compressor, and an oil storage chamber is formed on the side of the oil separation chamber. A pass circuit is formed so that oil is supplied to the area where lubrication is required. However, in the conventional oil diverter as described above, since the oil storage chamber is formed around the side of the oil separation chamber, the refrigerant storage gas flowed into the oil storage chamber occupies a certain portion of the oil storage chamber, thereby making the oil storage space small. Increasing the size of the oil reservoir will increase the size of the compressor, which will impede the compactness of the compressor. In addition, although the oil bypass circuit is formed of a simple hole, as described above, in order to pass only the proper oil necessary for lubrication of the compressor and to maintain an appropriate flow coefficient, a hole having a very small inner diameter must be precisely formed. There is a disadvantage in that productivity is reduced. In addition, it is difficult to supply an appropriate amount of oil according to the pressure distribution, and when a large pressure is applied, there is a risk that the compressor may be damaged because no means for buffering the pressure is provided.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and can provide a compact compressor as well as protect the compressor by actively coping with pressure fluctuations, and improve the assembly productivity. It is for the purpose of providing.

In order to achieve the above object, the compressor built-in oil separator according to the present invention, the oil storage chamber is formed in the center of the upper surface of the muffler is installed on one side of the outer peripheral surface of the compressor housing and the discharge port and the suction port is formed at the edge; An oil separation chamber coupled to an upper portion of the muffler and having a suction passage connected to a heat exchanger side, the oil separation chamber being formed to communicate with the oil storage chamber on a bottom surface of the manifold having a discharge passage connected to the heat exchanger side; A spiral passage formed in the manifold so as to communicate with the discharge port of the compressor and guiding the refrigerant discharged through the discharge port in a spiral direction to the oil separation chamber; A bypass passage formed in the manifold to communicate an oil reservoir and a suction passage of the manifold; In addition, the pressure adjusting rod is installed in the bypass passage to adjust the bypass flow rate of the oil stored in the oil storage chamber by elastically moving according to the pressure difference between the inlet side of the compressor and the outlet side of the compressor. .

According to the present invention, the bypass passage is installed inside the manifold so as to communicate with the first bypass passage extending from the inside of the manifold toward the bottom of the oil reservoir and the first bypass passage and the suction passage of the manifold. Has a second bypass passage.

The communication portion between the second bypass passage and the suction passage of the manifold is formed as an enlarged passage, and the enlarged passage communicates with the suction port of the compressor through the connection passage of the suction passage.

In addition, the pressure adjusting rod has a stopper having a diameter larger than the inner diameter of the second bypass passage at one end thereof and is placed in the enlarged passage so as to be able to move forward and backward in the second bypass passage, and supports the tip of the stopper in the enlarged passage. Compression coil spring is installed.

According to the compressor built-in oil separator of the present invention configured as described above, the refrigerant containing oil is discharged to the oil separation chamber through the compressor discharge port during the discharge stroke of the compressor. As the oil-containing refrigerant passes through the spiral passage formed in the manifold while the oil-containing refrigerant is discharged to the oil separation chamber through the compressor outlet, the oil-containing refrigerant causes the vortex in the oil separation chamber. The heavier oil is dropped into the oil storage chamber and the refrigerant gas lighter than the oil is discharged to the heat exchanger through the discharge passage formed in the manifold to separate the oil. On the other hand, since the pressure at the compressor outlet is higher than the pressure at the compressor inlet, the oil stored in the oil storage chamber flows into the first bypass passage due to this pressure difference, and heat exchanges through the second bypass passage, the enlarged passage and the connecting passage. The refrigerant is sucked into the compressor inlet along with the refrigerant sucked through the suction passage and supplied into the compressor.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description based on the accompanying drawings.

Since the oil separator according to the present invention can be equally applied to other compressors, the oil separator included in the swash plate compressor shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be described here as an example.

As shown in Fig. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a front housing, in which the nose portion 11 of the front housing 1 selectively transmits the power of the engine to the drive shaft 2 of the compressor by an intermittent action. 21 (see Fig. 2) is provided.

Reference 2 denotes a rear housing 3 which is engaged with the front housing 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the front and rear housings 1 and 3 are provided with the front and rear cylinders 4 and 5 in which a plurality of bores 41 are formed along concentric circles, and the front and rear cylinders 4 and 5 are each other. Both pistons 6 are inserted in a linear reciprocating manner across the corresponding bores 41. Both pistons 6 are coupled to each other via the shoe 61 along the outer circumference of the swash plate 23, which is condensed to the drive shaft (2) to reciprocate in accordance with the rotation of the swash plate 23 in accordance with the rotation of the drive shaft (2). .

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a front valve unit 42 having a gasket, a discharge valve, a valve plate, and a suction valve is installed between the front housing 1 and the front cylinder 4, and also between the rear housing. A rear valve unit 51 having a gasket, a discharge valve, a valve plate, and a suction valve is also provided between (3) and the rear cylinder (5). In addition, the suction passage 31 and the discharge passage 32 are sequentially installed on the inner surface of the rear housing 3, and the suction passage 12 and the discharge passage 13 are also installed on the inner surface of the front housing 1. In addition, the suction passages 12 and 31 of the front and rear housings 1 and 3 and the discharge passages 13 and 32 of the front and rear housings 1 and 3 may be the front and rear cylinders 4 and 5 or the front and rear housings 1 and 3. It is connected to each other by a connecting passage (not shown) formed in the.

On the other hand, as shown in Figure 1, reference numeral 35 is a muffler that is installed on the outer peripheral surface of the rear housing 3, the rectangular frame 36 formed on the outer peripheral surface of the rear housing 3, and the rectangular frame 36 The inlet port 39 and the outlet port 38 connected to the inlet passage 31 and the outlet passage 32 of the rear housing 3 are formed at an appropriate position of the oil storage chamber 37 and the rectangular frame 36. Have

The oil reservoir 37 formed in the muffler 35 is covered by a manifold 7 coupled to the upper portion of the muffler 35 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The manifold 7 has an oil separation chamber 71 which is formed to communicate with the oil storage chamber 37 at the bottom thereof and is in communication with the outlet 38 of the muffler 35. In addition, the manifold is provided with a suction passage 72 (see FIG. 4) connected to the heat exchanger, and also as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the discharge passage connected to the heat exchanger and communicating with the oil separation chamber 71 ( 73) is also formed.

The suction passage 72 of the manifold 7 communicates with the suction port 39 of the muffler 35. That is, as shown in Figures 4 and 6, an enlarged passage 74 is formed at the stop of the suction passage 72, the enlarged passage 74 of the muffler 35 through the connection passage 75 It is connected to the suction port 39.

Thus, as shown in Figs. 2 and 6, the manifold 7 from the heat exchanger during the suction stroke of the compressor is performed by the reciprocating movement of the piston 6 in accordance with the rotation of the drive shaft 2 and the swash plate 23. Refrigerant flows into the suction passage (72) of the coolant into the cylinder bore (41) through the expansion passage (74) of the suction passage (72), the connecting passage (75), and the suction port (39) of the muffler (35). Is inhaled.

In addition, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, in the discharge stroke of the compressor, the refrigerant compressed in the cylinder bore 41 is discharged through the outlet 38 of the muffler 35. 71, the heavy oil is separated from the refrigerant gas in the process of the refrigerant flowing into the oil separation chamber 71 flows into the discharge passage 73 of the manifold (7) is dropped into the oil storage chamber 37 and stored In addition, the refrigerant gas is discharged toward the heat exchanger through the discharge passage 73 of the manifold (7).

According to the present invention, in order to increase the separation performance of the oil contained in the refrigerant flowing into the oil separation chamber 71 through the outlet 38 of the muffler 35, as shown in Figures 3 and 5, the manifold In (7), a spiral passage 76 is formed which communicates with the outlet 38 of the muffler 35 and spirally connects with the oil separation chamber 71. Therefore, the refrigerant discharged from the discharge port 38 of the muffler 35 toward the oil separation chamber 71 obtains a rotational force while flowing in the spiral passage 76, and rotates in a spiral manner inside the oil separation chamber 71. Flow toward the discharge passage (73). In this process, the oil is heavier than the refrigerant gas and hits the wall surface of the oil separation chamber 71 by centrifugal force so that the oil is dropped into the oil storage chamber 37 and stored therein, so the oil separation performance is excellent. In addition, the discharge passage of the manifold 7 is preferably formed in the radial direction of the oil storage chamber 37 in order to facilitate the discharge of the refrigerant gas separated oil.

Meanwhile, according to the present invention, the oil stored in the oil storage chamber 37 flows into the suction passage 72 to supply the inside of the compressor with the refrigerant flowing into the suction passage 72 from the heat exchanger. As shown in FIG. 6, a bypass passage 80 is formed.

The bypass passage 80 includes a first bypass passage 81 extending from the interior of the manifold 7 toward the bottom of the oil storage chamber 37, and the first bypass passage 81 and the manifold ( A second bypass passage 82 is provided in a horizontal state inside the manifold 7 so as to communicate with the suction passage 72 of 7).

The end of the second bypass passage 82 may be connected to the enlarged passage 74 so as to communicate with the suction passage 72 of the manifold 7, and the pressure control inside the second bypass passage 82. The rod 83 is elastically movable by the spring 84. It is preferable that a predetermined gap is formed between the circumference of the pressure regulating rod 83 and the inner circumferential surface of the second bypass passage 82, and this gap serves as a very fine oil passage.

The size of the gap may be appropriately set in consideration of the processability of the second bypass passage 82 and the outer diameter of the pressure regulating rod 83, and the design of the gap may be performed by drilling only a very fine hole as in the prior art. It is relatively free compared with the application of 80). That is, the opening degree of the second bypass passage 82 can be adjusted by adjusting the elastic force of the spring 84.

For this purpose, one end (low pressure side) of the pressure adjusting rod 83 is formed with a stopper 831 having a diameter larger than the inner diameter of the second bypass passage 82 and placed on the enlarged passage 74. The compression coil spring 84 is installed between the front end of the 831 and one side wall of the enlarged passage 74 so that the stopper 831 is elastically pushed toward the second bypass passage 82. Therefore, according to the pressure difference between the high pressure side (refrigerant discharge side) of the compressor and the low pressure side (refrigerant suction side) of the compressor, the pressure regulating rod 83 moves to the spring 84 side, so that the second block is blocked by the stopper 831. The degree of opening of the bypass passage 82 is determined.

According to the clearance and the degree of opening of the second bypass passage 82 as described above, not only the pressure can be adjusted, but also the pressure increase on the high pressure side can be suppressed, and the oil bypass flow rate is also adjusted.

This oil bypass flow adjustment function is very important for the oil separator. In other words, in the air conditioner, the oil circulation rate is changed according to the operating condition of the system. If the cooling load is large, the pressure difference between the high pressure side and the low pressure side of the system increases and the oil circulation rate increases. This occurs because the load on the compressor increases.

Therefore, when the bypass flow rate of the oil is adjusted by adjusting the gap and the opening degree of the second bypass passage 82, the bypass flow rate of the oil increases as the pressure difference between the high pressure side and the low pressure side increases. Not only can a sufficient amount required for lubrication of the compressor be supplied, but the amount of oil stored in the oil reservoir 37 is reduced, effectively preventing oil from flowing to the heat exchanger through the discharge passage 73 of the manifold 7. You can do it.

The oil flowing into the enlarged passage 74 of the manifold 7 from the oil reservoir 37 through the gap between the first bypass passage 81 and the second bypass passage 82 at an appropriate flow rate according to the pressure difference Together with the refrigerant flowing into the suction passage 72 from the heat exchanger, the refrigerant is again supplied through the suction port 39 of the compressor and reused for lubrication of the compressor.

According to the compressor-embedded oil separator of the present invention configured as described above, when the compressor is driven, the piston 6 reciprocates as the swash plate 23 rotates together with the drive shaft 2. In the discharge stroke during the reciprocating motion of the piston 6, the oil-containing refrigerant is compressed in the cylinder bore 41 and the discharge passages 13 and 32 of the housings 1 and 3 through the valve units 42 and 51. The refrigerant discharged into the discharge passages 13 and 32 of the housings 1 and 3 is discharged into the oil separation chamber 71 through the discharge port 38 formed in the muffler 35.

In this way, the refrigerant containing the oil passes through the spiral passage 76 formed in the manifold 7 in the process of being discharged into the oil separation chamber 71 through the discharge opening 38 to obtain the rotational force by the spiral passage 76. The refrigerant causes spiral flow, that is, vortex, into the oil separation chamber 71. Therefore, the oil having a specific gravity higher than that of the refrigerant gas collides with the wall surface of the oil separation chamber 71 by centrifugal force and falls to the oil storage chamber 37 while being separated from the refrigerant gas, and the refrigerant gas is discharged from the manifold 7. The refrigerant gas and oil may be separated by being pumped toward the heat exchanger through the passage 73.

And, when the oil hits the wall surface of the oil separation chamber 71 and flows and is stored in the oil storage chamber 37, the bottom surface 761 (see FIG. 3) of the spiral passage 76 prevents the oil from shaking. It will act as a check valve. That is, by allowing the discharge flow of the refrigerant gas to have only the velocity component in the rotational direction, it is possible to suppress the oil from being discharged to the discharge passage 73 together with the refrigerant gas to the maximum.

On the other hand, since the pressure at the compressor discharge port 38 side is higher than the pressure at the compressor suction port 39 side, the pressure adjusting rod 83 is pushed toward the expansion passage 74 while compressing the spring 84 in accordance with this pressure difference. As such, when the pressure regulating rod 83 is pushed by the pressure difference, the second bypass passage 82 blocked by the stopper 831 of the pressure regulating rod 83 is opened. This opening degree is made by the pressure difference between the compressor discharge port 38 side and the compressor suction port 39 side, and determines the bypass flow rate of the oil.

By opening the second bypass passage 82, the suction passage 72 and the oil storage chamber 37 of the manifold 7 communicate with each other through the bypass passage 80. The refrigerant in the oil storage chamber 37 flows into the enlarged passage 74 along the bypass passage 80 by the pressure difference on the side of the oil storage chamber 37, and the connection passage 75 together with the refrigerant introduced into the suction passage 72 from the heat exchanger. Lubrication of the compressor is performed by being sucked into the compressor suction port 39 and supplied into the compressor.

The effects of the compressor built-in oil separator according to the present invention configured as described above are as follows.

First, since the pressure adjusting rod 83 elastically moves according to the pressure fluctuations at the compressor discharge port 38 and the compressor suction port 39, the opening degree of the second bypass passage 82 is changed to determine the flow rate of oil. The oil supply volume is automatically adjusted according to the descent. Therefore, since a sufficient amount of oil is supplied into the compressor, the durability of the compressor is improved as the lubricity of the compressor is improved.

Second, since the amount of oil stored in the oil storage chamber 37 is automatically adjusted according to the pressure fluctuations of the compressor discharge port 38 and the compressor inlet port 39, the amount of oil discharged to the heat exchanger can be reduced, thereby improving heat exchange performance. Can be.

Third, by employing a structure that forms a fine passage by a gap between the second bypass passage 82 and the pressure adjusting rod 83 inserted therein, the operation of processing a minute hole as in the prior art is excluded. The productivity of the compressor can be increased.

Fourth, by utilizing the muffler 35 as an oil storage chamber 37, the oil storage chamber 37 does not need to be enlarged larger, so that the compressor can be made compact.

1 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of a compressor equipped with a compressor-containing oil separator according to the present invention.

2 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a compressor provided with an oil separator with a built-in compressor according to the present invention.

3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the oil contained in the refrigerant discharged from the compressor is separated by the compressor built-in oil separator according to the present invention.

Figure 4 is a partial perspective plan view showing a compressor built-in oil separator according to the present invention.

Figure 5 is a partial bottom view showing the bottom of the oil separation chamber constituting the oil separator with a compressor according to the invention.

6 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a flow path of oil separated by a compressor built-in oil separator according to the present invention into the compressor.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

1, 3: housing, 38: compressor outlet,

39: compressor inlet, 35: muffler,

37: oil reservoir, 72: suction passage,

73: discharge passage, 71: oil separation chamber,

76: spiral passage, 80: bypass passage,

81: first bypass passage, 82: second bypass passage,

83: pressure adjusting rod, 84: spring,

74: enlarged passage, 831: stopper

Claims (3)

An oil storage chamber installed at one side of the outer circumferential surface of the compressor housing and formed in the center of the upper surface of the muffler having an outlet and an inlet formed at an edge thereof; An oil separation chamber coupled to an upper portion of the muffler and having an intake passage connected to a heat exchanger, and configured to communicate with the oil storage chamber on a bottom surface of the manifold having a discharge passage connected to the heat exchanger; A spiral passage formed on a bottom surface of the manifold to guide the refrigerant discharged in connection with the discharge port in a spiral direction to the oil separation chamber; A bypass passage formed in the manifold to communicate the oil reservoir with the suction passage; And, Compressor built-in type is provided in the bypass passage comprises a pressure adjusting rod for adjusting the bypass flow rate of the oil stored in the oil storage chamber by moving elastically in accordance with the pressure difference between the inlet side and the outlet side of the compressor Oil separator. The method of claim 1, The bypass passage includes a first bypass passage extending from the inside of the manifold toward the bottom of the oil storage chamber and a second bypass provided inside the manifold so as to communicate with the first bypass passage and the suction passage of the manifold. Compressor built-in oil separator characterized by having a pass passage. The method of claim 2, The communication portion between the second bypass passage and the suction passage of the manifold is formed as an enlarged passage and is connected to the compressor inlet through the connection passage. The pressure regulating rod is inserted into the second bypass passage so as to be movable back and forth with a predetermined gap, and at one end of the pressure adjusting rod has a diameter larger than the inner diameter of the second bypass passage and is disposed in the enlarged passage. Formed, Compressor coil oil separator, characterized in that the expansion passage is provided with a compression coil spring for supporting the tip of the stopper.