KR20020070675A - Oil separator embedded in compressor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An oil separator built in compressor is provided to improve cooling performance of an air-conditioning system by preventing oil circulation rate from becoming too low. CONSTITUTION: An oil over-separation preventive device is placed to limit oil separation in an oil separation/storage chamber(40) when flow of refrigerant circulating in an air-conditioning system is small due to operation of a vehicle at low speed and so on. So lubricant is not excessively separated so as to prevent circulation rate of lubricant contained in the refrigerant to circulate together from becoming too low.

Description

Oil Separator with Compressor {OIL SEPARATOR EMBEDDED IN COMPRESSOR}

The present invention relates to an oil separator in which the lubricating oil contained in the refrigerant circulating in the refrigeration cycle of the air conditioning system is returned to the suction side of the compressor so that the lubricating oil does not leak to the heat exchanger. It relates to a built-in oil separator.

As is well known, a refrigeration cycle constituting the air conditioning system includes a compressor for compressing a refrigerant, a condenser for liquefying the compressed refrigerant, an expansion valve for converting the condensed refrigerant into a low temperature low pressure wet saturated vapor state, which is easy to evaporate, and It has a basic configuration of an evaporator that exchanges the refrigerant introduced through the expansion process with air to change it into a gas (superheated vapor) state. Air deprived of heat by evaporation of the refrigerant in the evaporator is changed to a low temperature and low humidity state and blown into the room. In this process, the refrigerant changed to gas in a superheated steam state is sent to the compressor and compressed.

The compressor discharges the refrigerant gas discharged after the evaporation is completed from the evaporator to a high temperature and high pressure refrigerant gas which is easily liquefied and discharged to the condenser, whereby the refrigerant can circulate the refrigeration cycle.

Such compressors are known in various forms according to the compression method and structure, and swash plate compressors are generally used in automotive air conditioning systems. This swash plate compressor includes front and rear housings; Front and rear cylinders installed in the front housing and the rear housing; A plurality of double head pistons reciprocally installed over the bores of the front and rear cylinders; A drive shaft rotatably installed through the centers of the front and rear housings and the front and rear cylinders; A swash plate installed at an angle to the drive shaft to advance and retract the pistons as the drive shaft rotates; And, it comprises a valve unit which is respectively installed between the front, rear cylinder and the inner surface of the front, rear housing.

In the compressor configured as described above, when the power of the engine is transmitted to the drive shaft, the pistons move forward and backward by the swash plate rotating together with the drive shaft to perform suction, compression, and discharge of the refrigerant through the valve unit.

On the other hand, in the automotive air conditioning system employing the compressor as described above, by lubricating the mechanical friction surface of the compressor drive part by circulating by containing the refrigerant for lubrication purpose for smooth operation of the compressor in the refrigerant. At this time, when the lubricating oil contained in the refrigerant flows into the condenser and / or the evaporator or the expansion device, the lubricating oil is coated on the inner wall of the refrigerant flow path such as the heat exchanger or occupies the space of the refrigerant flow path of the heat exchanger. This lowers the heat exchange efficiency of the heat exchanger. In addition, when the lubricating oil is circulated throughout the air conditioning system, a severe fluctuation occurs in the amount of oil supplied to the compressor, and thus the durability of the compressor is lowered because the compressor is not lubricated stably and smoothly. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent the lubrication oil from being supplied to other components except the compressor. The oil separator separates the lubricating oil contained in the refrigerant discharged from the compressor and returns it to the suction side of the compressor, thereby preventing the efficiency of the heat exchanger caused by the lubricating oil flowing out to the heat exchanger side and lubricating the compressor stably. do.

These oil separators are largely classified into external type and internal compressor type. External oil separator, the inlet port is connected to the discharge line of the compressor, the outlet port is connected to the inlet end of the condenser, the internal oil reservoir and the compressor suction line is connected through the capillary tube (capillary tube) Has The refrigerant containing the lubricating oil discharged from the compressor is introduced into the oil separator through the inlet port of the oil separator, where the refrigerant and the lubricating oil are separated from each other. The refrigerant is supplied to the condenser through the outlet port of the oil separator, and the lubricating oil is stored in the oil reservoir of the oil separator, and then supplied to the compressor suction line through the capillary tube and flows into the compressor together with the refrigerant discharged from the evaporator. do. Therefore, the lubricating oil can be prevented from flowing out to the heat exchanger such as a condenser or evaporator while being mixed with the refrigerant.

However, the external oil separator as described above has the advantage that the manufacturing and design is relatively easy and the oil separation efficiency is good, but it takes up a large installation space such as being installed separately from the compressor and a separate bypass circuit is required. There is this.

Proposed in consideration of the problems with the external oil separator as described above is a compressor built-in oil separator is configured integrally with the compressor. Representative of such a compressor-type oil separator is Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-93880, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-82338. These well-known compressor type oil separators separate the lubricating oil from the refrigerant by centrifugal force and inhale the compressor through the oil passage formed in the gasket and the fine hole formed at the rear of the compressor housing. It is configured to return to the side. In addition, a filter for removing various foreign substances contained in the lubricating oil returned to the compressor suction side through the oil passage is provided at the inlet portion of the oil passage of the gasket.

The effect of the air conditioner system by the oil separator is known to have the additional effect of noise reduction in addition to the increase in cooling performance, increased compressor durability and reduced oil filling amount.

In particular, the cooling performance of the air conditioning system according to the oil separation is, in general, the system oil circulation rate [Oil in circulation: (oil flow rate / (coolant flow rate + oil flow rate) wt%), where the oil circulation rate measurement is a liquid refrigerant between the condenser and the expansion valve It is known that the smaller the measured in the line], that is, the smaller the amount of lubricating oil flowing to the heat exchanger side, the more the heat transfer of the heat exchanger is promoted. However, this is a phenomenon that occurs when the oil circulation rate is lowered to a certain level, and when the oil circulation rate is lowered below a certain level, it was found that the heat transfer phenomenon in the condenser and the evaporator is reversed, but rather lowers the cooling performance.

This phenomenon is described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1A and 1B as follows. FIG. 1A illustrates the air side heat dissipation of the condenser relative to the oil circulation rate in terms of wt% of the oil contained in the refrigerant circulating in the vehicle air conditioning system, and FIG. 1B shows the air side heat dissipation of the evaporator compared to the oil circulation rate. In the figure, the horizontal axis represents oil circulation rate, and the vertical axis represents condenser air side heat dissipation and evaporator air side heat dissipation.

As shown in the figure, as the oil circulation rate is lowered, the condenser air side heat radiation amount or the evaporator air side heat radiation amount is proportionally increased to a certain level (oil circulation rate is about 4 degrees). However, it can be seen that when the oil circulation rate is lowered to about 4 or less, the increase in the condenser air side heat dissipation slows down, and further, the evaporator air side heat dissipation decreases. In other words, when the oil circulation rate is too low, the heat transfer efficiency of the evaporator is lowered, the cooling performance was found to decrease.

This phenomenon is particularly severe when the amount of refrigerant flowing through the air conditioning system is low due to idle driving or low speed driving of the vehicle, which can be explained as follows with regard to heat transfer. The refrigerant-side heat transfer in the evaporator is performed in an abnormal state in which both the gaseous phase and the liquid phase refrigerant exist at the same time. As the heat transfer proceeds, the refrigerant changes from the liquid phase to the gas phase. The closer to the outlet side of the evaporator, the closer the refrigerant is to complete vaporization, and the heat transfer from the refrigerant to the wall depends on the conduction of the refrigerant gas. At this time, when oil flows on the wall surface, convective heat transfer and conduction heat transfer occur simultaneously by a slip between the oil and the refrigerant gas, thereby facilitating heat transfer. However, when the thickness of the oil film is above a certain level, the oil acts as a heat resistance, thereby reducing the cooling performance. Therefore, in order to continuously obtain high cooling performance irrespective of the driving conditions of the vehicle, it is necessary to prevent the oil from being excessively separated during low speed operation, that is, when the refrigerant flow rate is low.

However, conventionally known oil separators with built-in compressors are configured to separate oil from the refrigerant as completely as possible based on the simple theory that the oil circulation rate should be lowered without any consideration of the above. Oil circulation rate is too low during idle operation, causing a problem that the cooling performance is sharply lowered.

In addition, the conventional oil separator with a built-in compressor has a filter for removing foreign substances contained in the oil, and is installed at the inlet of the oil channel, so that there is no outflow of foreign substances through the oil channel, but fine impurities contained in the discharge gas. And since no means for filtering foreign substances have been devised, impurities are leaked toward the condenser to block the flow path of the condenser, leading to deterioration of cooling performance and deterioration of durability of the system due to high pressure.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and in low-speed operation, such as during a specific driving condition of the vehicle, for example, the lubricating oil contained in the refrigerant is not excessively separated so that the oil circulation rate is not too low. It is an object of the present invention to provide an oil separator with a compressor that can improve the cooling performance of the system.

Another object of the present invention is to prevent the clogging of the oil path by foreign substances and at the same time effectively block foreign substances and impurities contained in the discharge gas flowing out together with the refrigerant to prevent the clogging of the flow path of the condenser by impurities to improve the cooling performance. The present invention provides a compressor-type oil separator that can maintain and ensure durability and reliability of the system.

Figure 1a is a graph showing the relationship between the oil circulation rate versus the heat discharge amount of the condenser air in a typical vehicle air conditioning system,

Figure 1b is a graph showing the relationship between the oil circulation rate versus the evaporator air side heat radiation in a typical vehicle air conditioning system,

Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the structure of the compressor built-in oil separator according to an embodiment of the present invention,

3 is an assembled cross-sectional view of FIG.

Figure 4 is a rear view showing the oil separation / storage compartment formed on the compressor housing side of the compressor-mounted oil separator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a front view showing an oil separation / storage chamber formed in a cover of a compressor-containing oil separator according to an embodiment of the present invention;

6 is a front view of a gasket used in the oil separator of the compressor according to the embodiment of the present invention;

7 is a cross-sectional view corresponding to FIG. 3 showing the structure of an oil separator with a compressor according to another embodiment of the present invention, and

8 is a perspective view of a filter used in the oil separator of the compressor according to another embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 7.

<Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawings>

10; compressor housing 11; discharge chamber

12; refrigerant inlet 13; refrigerant outlet

20; cover 30; gasket

40; oil separation / storage chamber 42; inlet

43; outlet 50; oil euro

51; oil supply passage 52; oil recovery passage

60; oil and separation prevention means 61; guide pipe

62; guide rib 63; shut-off

64; pressing protrusion 161; filter

Compressor built-in oil separator according to the present invention for achieving the above object is formed in a predetermined closed space by a cover coupled to one side of the compressor housing having a refrigerant inlet and a refrigerant outlet, the inlet port communicating with the discharge chamber of the compressor housing And an oil outlet having a discharge port communicating with the refrigerant discharge port of the compressor housing to separate and store the lubricating oil contained in the compressed refrigerant flowing through the inlet. An oil passage for returning the lubricating oil stored in the oil separation / storage chamber to the refrigerant intake side of the compressor housing; And when the flow rate of the refrigerant circulating the air conditioning system is low due to the low speed operation of the vehicle, the oil separation in the oil separation / storage chamber is restricted in this case in order to prevent the circulation rate of the lubricating oil circulated together. It characterized in that it comprises a; oil and separation prevention means for preventing the oil from being excessively separated.

Here, a gasket for maintaining airtightness may be interposed between the coupling surface of the compressor housing and the cover.

In addition, the oil separation / storage chamber may be formed by combining a first concave portion formed in a concave shape to have a substantially U-shaped flow path in a rear portion of the compressor housing, and a second concave portion formed in a shape corresponding to the first concave portion in a cover. have.

In addition, the oil flow path is formed so as to communicate with the refrigerant intake port on one side of the rear wall of the compressor housing, and the oil supply passage and the oil separation / storage compartment, the oil collected in the oil separation / storage compartment of the compressor housing It may be composed of an oil return to return to the refrigerant inlet side. Here, the oil return passage may be formed upward along the rear wall edge of the compressor housing, or may be formed upwardly along one edge of the gasket.

On the other hand, the main portion of the oil and separation prevention means of the present invention is set to limit the oil separation in the oil separation / storage chamber so that the oil circulation rate at this time based on the refrigerant flow rate during the idle operation is maintained at about 3 to 5wt%. .

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the oil and separation prevention means, the guide which is projected to a predetermined height at the inlet of the oil separation / storage compartment to guide the flow of the refrigerant flowing through the inlet of the oil separation / storage chamber according to the refrigerant flow rate The pipe and the lower part of this guide pipe are provided with the substantially V-shaped guide rib installed so that the 1st recessed part of an oil separation / storage compartment may be divided up and down. The guide pipe guides most of the refrigerant to fall by gravity at the first inlet position of the oil separation / storage chamber when low flow refrigerant flows in, while the high flow rate of refrigerant flows in the case of high flow refrigerant. To help ensure proper oil separation. In addition, the guide rib serves to guide the refrigerant flowing down by gravity in the guide pipe through the outlet of the oil separation / storage chamber as it is.

Here, the guide pipe is installed at a height smaller than the depth of the first recess, and the guide rib is installed at the same height as the depth of the first recess. As a result, a predetermined gap is formed between the end of the guide pipe and the end of the guide rib. Preferably the said spacing is about 1-2 mm. In addition, the gasket is provided with a blocking portion for blocking the upper section of the first concave portion partitioned by the guide rib and the upper section of the second concave portion formed on the cover, the communication hole is provided in a position corresponding to the inlet and outlet Each is formed. In addition, the cover is formed with a plurality of pressing protrusions for pressing the lower portion of the gasket in order to closely contact the blocking portion of the gasket to the guide rib.

According to this, since a large amount of refrigerant flows into the oil separation / storage chamber at high speed under the high speed driving condition of the vehicle, the oil flow rate is lowered since the refrigerant flows through the lower space of the guide rib of the oil separation / storage chamber. In a low speed driving condition of a vehicle, such as during idle operation, since a small amount of refrigerant flows into the oil separation / storage chamber at a low speed, the refrigerant flows through the lower space of the guide rib of the oil separation / storage chamber, thereby limiting oil separation. Since the oil does not separate and flows out together with the refrigerant, the oil circulation rate in this case can be prevented from being lowered too much. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the cooling performance from falling during low speed operation. That is, according to the present invention, it is possible to maintain a high cooling performance of the air conditioning system under any driving conditions of the vehicle.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the oil and the separation prevention means, to remove the foreign matter contained in the refrigerant flowing through the inlet of the oil separation / storage chamber and to guide the flow of the refrigerant in accordance with the refrigerant flow rate And a filter installed to reach the inner side of the cover, and a substantially V-shaped guide rib provided at the lower portion of the filter so as to partition the first concave portion of the oil separation / storage chamber up and down. The filter guides most of the refrigerant to fall by gravity at the first inlet location of the oil separation / storage chamber when low flow refrigerant flows, while the high flow rate causes the refrigerant to fly off. To ensure normal oil separation. In addition, the guide rib serves to guide the refrigerant falling by gravity at the position of the first concave portion of the filter as it flows out through the outlet of the oil separation / storage chamber. Here, the filter is configured by having a sieve cylindrically installed on the outer circumference of the frame having at least four ribs.

According to this, in addition to improving the cooling performance in the low-speed operation according to an embodiment of the present invention described above, foreign matters and impurities contained in the refrigerant are collected by the filter installed therein at the time of oil separation / storage inlet, the oil separation Since it flows into the storage chamber, it is possible to fundamentally prevent the condenser flow path clogging, which may be caused by flowing out with foreign substances and impurities in the discharge gas.

The above objects and features of the present invention will become more apparent by describing the preferred embodiments of the present invention in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the structure of the compressor built-in oil separator according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 3 is an assembly cross-sectional view of Figure 2, Figure 4 is a compressor housing side of the compressor built-in oil separator according to an embodiment of the present invention 5 is a rear view showing an oil separation / storage chamber formed in FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is a front view showing an oil separation / storage chamber formed in a cover of an oil separator built in a compressor according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. Front view of the gasket used for the oil separator with the compressor according to the embodiment.

In the drawings, reference numeral 10 denotes a compressor housing, 20 a cover, 30 a gasket, 40 an oil separation / storage chamber, 50 an oil flow path, and 60 an oil separation prevention means.

As shown in Figures 2 to 6, the compressor housing 10 is provided with a discharge chamber 11 on the front thereof. In addition, the upper surface of the compressor housing 10, the refrigerant inlet 12 and the refrigerant outlet 13 is partitioned side by side before and after.

The cover 20 is coupled to the rear of the compressor housing 10 to define a predetermined closed space (ie, oil separation / storage chamber 40), and the gasket 30 is connected to the compressor housing 10 and the It is interposed therebetween for maintaining the airtightness of the mating surface with the cover 20. These compressor housings 10, covers 20 and gaskets 30 are bolts (not shown) which are fastened through several fixing holes 15, 25 and 35 formed to correspond to each other along their edges. Is assembled on.

The oil separation / storage chamber 40 includes a first concave portion 40a that is concavely formed at a predetermined depth so as to have a substantially U-shaped flow path at a rear surface of the compressor housing 10, and the first concave portion in the cover 20. It consists of a second concave indentation (40b) is formed in the shape corresponding to the mouth (40a), the cover 20 is coupled to the rear of the compressor housing 10 under the interposition of the gasket 30 by a predetermined It is provided with a closed space. One side of the first concave portion 40a, more specifically, the side of the compressor housing 10 on the side of the partition wall 41 formed to form the U-shaped flow path of the first concave portion 40a. An inlet 42 formed to communicate with the discharge chamber 11 is provided, and an outlet 43 formed to communicate with the refrigerant discharge port 13 of the compressor housing 10 is provided at the other side. Here, the outlet 43 is disposed to be located above the height of the inlet 42. Meanwhile, in the drawing, the oil separation / storage chamber 40 is formed by combining the first concave portion 40a formed in the compressor housing 10 and the second concave portion 40b formed in the cover 20. Although an example is illustrated, the present invention is not limited thereto, and although not illustrated, the oil separation / storage chamber 40 may be configured only by the first concave portion 40a formed in the compressor housing 10. The compressed refrigerant including the lubricated oil compressed by the compressor is introduced into the oil separation / storage chamber 40 through the inlet 42, where the oil having a higher specific gravity than the refrigerant is primarily separated by the scattering of the compressed refrigerant. It is attached to the inner wall surface of the storage chamber 40. The separated lubricating oil falls on the wall surface of the oil separation / storage chamber 40 by its own weight and is stored in the lower portion. In addition, the refrigerant of the oil separation / storage chamber 40 in which the lubrication oil is separated is discharged to the refrigerant discharge port 13 through the outlet port 43 while flowing toward the outlet port 43 along the U-shaped flow path. At this time, during the U-shaped flow of the refrigerant, the lubricating oil having a large specific gravity is secondarily separated by centrifugal force due to the flow rate of the refrigerant, and the separated lubricating oil is stored in the lower portion of the oil separation / storage chamber 40. .

The oil passage 50 is a flow path for returning the lubricating oil collected in the lower portion of the oil separation / storage chamber 40 to the refrigerant inlet 12 of the compressor housing 10, and communicates with the refrigerant inlet 12. An oil supply passage 51 formed in the housing 10 and an oil recovery passage 52 communicating the oil supply passage 51 and a lower portion of the oil separation / storage chamber 40 are provided. The oil recovery passage 52 is formed to be cut along the edge of one side of the gasket 30, and the flow path is limited by the cover 20. The lubricating oil collected in the oil separation / storage chamber 40 when the compressor is driven is passed through the oil recovery path 52 and the oil supply path 51 by the pressure difference between the oil separation / storage chamber 40 and the refrigerant inlet. The refrigerant flows into the suction port 12. On the other hand, the drawing shows an example in which the oil recovery path 52 is formed in the gasket 30, but is not necessarily limited thereto, the oil recovery path 52 is along the rear wall edge of the compressor housing (10) A recess may be formed, in which case the flow path is hermetically limited by the gasket 30 and the cover 20 coupled to the compressor housing 20. Such an oil return path has an advantage that the cross-sectional area thereof can be made larger than that of the flow path formed in the gasket.

The oil and separation prevention means 60 has an oil circulation rate (wt%)-defined as the amount of oil contained in the refrigerant circulating in the air conditioning system-at a low speed operation, such as when the vehicle is idle. To prevent the oil from being excessively lowered by limiting the oil separation in the oil separation / storage chamber 40 in order to prevent excessively low. In the embodiment of the present invention, the oil and separation prevention means 60 is an oil separation / storage chamber so as to maintain an oil circulation rate of about 3 to 5 wt% (see FIGS. 1A and 1B) based on the refrigerant flow rate during idle operation. It is set to limit the oil separation at 40. This illustrates the most optimal oil circulation rate and may vary depending on the type of compressor or the characteristics of the air conditioning system. By the oil and separation prevention means 60 of the present invention, the oil circulation rate at low speed operation is not too low and is maintained at an appropriate level. Therefore, the oil circulation rate is too low at low speed operation of the vehicle, such as during idle driving. It is possible to prevent the decrease in the cooling performance generated.

The oil and separation prevention means 60 as described above, the flow of the refrigerant flowing through the inlet 42 of the oil separation / storage chamber 40 according to the refrigerant flow rate, that is, when the low flow rate and high flow rate The guide pipe 61 protruding to a predetermined height in the inlet 42 in order to guide the flow inflow with different flow distribution from time to time, and the first of the oil separation / storage chamber 40 below the guide pipe 61. An approximately V-shaped guide rib 62 is provided to partition the concave inlet portion 40a up and down.

The guide pipe 61 allows most of the refrigerant to flow along the lower portion of the inner diameter of the guide pipe 61 when the refrigerant flowing therethrough has a low flow rate, so that the refrigerant is not scattered and gravity at the end of the guide pipe 61. It is guided to fall to the lower portion as it is, that is to fall from the position of the first concave portion (40a) of the oil separation / storage chamber 40, while at a high flow rate it forms an annular flow form and the refrigerant is scattered by the flow rate normal oil Guide separation to occur.

In addition, the guide rib 62 allows the refrigerant falling at the end of the guide pipe 61, that is, the position of the first concave portion 40a, to flow out through the outlet 43 of the oil separation / storage chamber 40 as it is. To guide. That is, since the refrigerant is discharged through the refrigerant discharge port 13 in a state where the lubrication oil is not separated, the oil circulation rate is not too low. Of course, since the lubrication oil collected in the oil separation / storage chamber 40 is continuously returned to the refrigerant inlet 12, there is no problem in the lubrication of the compressor.

Here, the guide pipe 61 is installed to a height having a size smaller than the depth of the first concave portion (40a), the guide rib 62 has the same size as the depth of the first concave portion (40a). Installed at a height. As a result, a predetermined gap is formed between the end portion of the guide pipe 61 and the end portion of the guide rib 62, so that the refrigerant flowing down by gravity at the end portion of the guide pipe 61 is lowered. The guide rib 62 can fall. The spacing is preferably about 1 to 2 mm, but it is not necessarily limited thereto. The end of the guide pipe 61 may not be higher than the end of the guide rib 62.

On the other hand, the oil and separation prevention means 60 according to the present invention in order to block the upper section of the first concave portion (40a) partitioned by the guide rib 62 and the upper section of the second concave portion (40b). The cover 20 formed integrally with the gasket 30 and the cover 20 to press the lower portion of the blocking portion 63 to bring the blocking portion 63 into close contact with the guide rib 62. It is further provided with a plurality of pressing projections (64) protruding at regular intervals. The coolant dropped to the guide ribs 62 by the blocking portion 63 being in close contact with the guide ribs 62 does not fall to the lower portions thereof, that is, the lower portions of the first and second concave portions 40a and 40b. Through the total amount outlet 43 may flow out to the refrigerant outlet (13). Here, the inlet 42 and the outlet 43 at the position corresponding to the inlet 42 and the outlet 43 of the oil separation / storage chamber 40 in the blocking portion 63, the second on the cover 20 side Communication holes 63a and 63b for communicating with the recesses 40b are formed, respectively. At this time, the communication hole 63a corresponding to the inlet 42 to which the guide pipe 61 is connected should be formed slightly larger than the diameter of the guide pipe 61. In addition, the several pressing protrusions 64 are formed to have the same shape as that of the guide rib 62, that is, formed at regular intervals so as to be arranged in a V shape.

Hereinafter, the operation of the compressor built-in oil separator according to the present invention configured as described above will be described.

The refrigerant discharged from the evaporator during the circulation of the refrigerant according to the operation of the air conditioning system flows into the suction chamber of the compressor through the refrigerant suction opening 12, is compressed, and then discharged into the discharge chamber 11. The lubricating oil collected in the lower part of the oil separation / storage chamber 40 during the compression of the refrigerant is the oil recovery path 52 and the oil supply path due to the pressure difference between the refrigerant inlet side and the oil separation / storage chamber 40. 51 and flows to the bottom of the refrigerant inlet 12 and flows back into the compressor suction chamber together with the refrigerant flowing from the evaporator side. Compressed mixed refrigerant containing the lubricating oil discharged to the discharge chamber 11 is oil through the guide pipe 61 installed in the inlet 42 through the oil separation / storage chamber 40 on one side of the discharge chamber (11) Flows into the separation / storage chamber 40.

At this time, when a refrigerant having a normal flow rate, that is, a refrigerant having a high flow rate flows in, the refrigerant flows in an annular flow in the guide pipe 61, thereby lubricating oil having a higher specific gravity than the refrigerant. The inner wall surface of the oil separation / storage chamber 40, more specifically, is attached to the inner wall surface of the second concave portion 40b and is separated first. The separated lubricating oil flows down the wall by its own weight and is stored in the lower part of the oil separation / storage chamber 40. The refrigerant from which the lubrication oil is separated flows along the U-shaped flow path of the oil separation / storage chamber 40, 43). In this process, the oil is secondarily separated by the centrifugal force due to the flow rate of the refrigerant and stored in the lower portion of the oil separation / storage chamber 40.

On the other hand, during idle operation or low speed operation, the flow rate of the refrigerant circulating in the air conditioning system decreases, and therefore, the flow rate of the refrigerant flowing through the guide pipe 61 installed in the inlet 42 of the oil separation / storage chamber 40. Becomes smaller. As a result, the coolant flows along the lower portion of the inner diameter portion of the guide pipe 61, and as a result, most of the coolant drops downward by gravity at the end of the guide pipe 61 without being scattered. The falling refrigerant no longer falls downward by the guide ribs 62, but flows out along the shape of the guide ribs 62 as it flows into the outlet port 43 as it is. That is, since the refrigerant is discharged to the refrigerant outlet 13 through the outlet 43 in the state that the lubrication oil is not separated, in this case, the oil circulation rate does not become too low, and therefore, the oil circulation rate during low speed operation of the vehicle By lowering this too much, it can prevent that cooling performance falls.

Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view corresponding to Figure 3 showing the structure of the compressor-mounted oil separator according to another embodiment of the present invention, Figure 8 is a filter used in the compressor-mounted oil separator according to another embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. Perspective view.

As shown, the compressor-integrated oil separator according to another embodiment of the present invention, the filter 161 of the cylindrical structure in the inlet 42 of the oil separation / storage chamber 40, the cover 20 from the inlet 42 Except that it is installed to reach the inner side of the made of the same as the embodiment of the present invention described above. Therefore, in the drawings, a detailed illustration is omitted, and a redundant description is omitted in the following description, and the filter 161, which is a main part of the present embodiment, will be mainly described.

As shown in FIG. 8, the filter 161 has a sieve 161b having a cylindrical hole having a fine lattice structure on the outer circumference of the frame 161a having four ribs. The filter 161 configured as described above collects and removes various foreign substances and impurities contained in the refrigerant flowing into the oil separation / storage chamber 40 through the inlet 42 and the oil according to the embodiment of the present invention. The guide pipe 61 plays a role in the separator.

That is, when a low flow rate of refrigerant flows in, the refrigerant shows a flow distribution flowing along the lower portion of the inside of the filter 161. Therefore, most of the refrigerant flows through the gravity of the first recessed part of the oil separation / storage chamber 40. The lower portion is dropped from the position of 40a, and the refrigerant falling in this way is guided by the guide ribs 62 and is discharged through the outlet 43 (see FIG. 4) as it is.

However, when a high amount of refrigerant flows in, the refrigerant passes through the filter 161 at a high flow rate while exhibiting an annular flow distribution, so that the refrigerant is scattered by the flow rate. It is attached to the wall of the separation / storage room (40). That is, normal oil separation is achieved.

This embodiment, by limiting the oil separation in accordance with the flow rate of the refrigerant circulating the air conditioning system can not only reduce the cooling performance caused by the oil circulation rate is too low at low flow rate, the refrigerant is separated from the oil separation / storage chamber ( Since it is filtered by the filter 161 installed in the inlet 42 at the time of introduction into the 40, it is introduced into the oil separation / storage chamber in a state in which various foreign matters and impurities included in the refrigerant is removed, so as to discharge Since foreign matters and impurities are contained in the refrigerant and flowed out, it is possible to fundamentally prevent the flow path of the condenser and the like.

According to the present invention as described above, since a large amount of refrigerant flows into the oil separation / storage chamber at high speed in a high speed driving condition of the vehicle, since the normal oil separation is performed, the oil circulation rate can be lowered, thereby improving cooling performance. In addition, since a small amount of refrigerant flows into the oil separation / storage chamber at a low speed in a low speed driving condition of a vehicle such as during idling, since oil does not separate and flows out together with the refrigerant, the oil circulation rate is excessive in this case. It does not become low and it can prevent that cooling performance falls at low speed operation. That is, according to the present invention, it is possible to maintain a high cooling performance of the air conditioning system under any driving conditions of the vehicle.

In addition, according to the oil separator of the compressor according to the present invention, since foreign substances and impurities contained in the refrigerant are collected in the filter installed at the time of oil separation / storage inflow and are removed, foreign substances and impurities are discharged to the discharge gas. It is possible to fundamentally prevent clogging of the condenser flow path, which may occur by flowing out. Therefore, the cooling performance can be improved, as well as the durability and reliability of the system can be increased.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and the present invention is not limited to the above-described claims, and is generally used in the art to which the present invention pertains without departing from the gist of the present invention as claimed in the following claims. Anyone skilled in the art can make various modifications, as well as such modifications that fall within the scope of the claims.

Claims (9)

It is formed into a predetermined closed space by a cover coupled to one side of the compressor housing having a refrigerant inlet and a refrigerant outlet, the inlet communicating with the discharge chamber of the compressor housing and the outlet communicating with the refrigerant outlet of the compressor housing, An oil separation / storage chamber for separating and storing the lubricating oil contained in the compressed refrigerant flowing through the inlet; And In the oil separator of the compressor comprising: an oil passage for returning the lubricating oil stored in the oil separation / storage chamber to the refrigerant inlet side of the compressor housing; In the case of low refrigerant flow rate circulating the air conditioning system due to low speed operation of the vehicle, the oil separation in the oil separation / storage compartment is limited in this case in order to prevent the circulation rate of the lubricating oil contained in the refrigerant being circulated together. Compressor built-in oil separator, characterized in that it is provided with oil and separation prevention means to prevent the oil from being excessively separated. The method of claim 1, Wherein the oil and separation prevention means is a compressor-based oil separator, characterized in that to limit the oil separation in the oil separation / storage compartment at this time, based on the refrigerant flow rate during idle operation to maintain about 3 to 5wt%. The method of claim 1, wherein the oil and the separation prevention means, In order to guide the flow of the coolant flowing through the inlet of the oil separation / storage according to the coolant flow rate, the inlet is protruded to a predetermined height, and in the case of a low flow rate of refrigerant, most of the refrigerant constitutes the oil separation / reservoir. A guide pipe which is guided to fall by gravity at a position of the first recessed part formed in the concave on the compressor housing, and guides the refrigerant to be scattered by the flow rate so that normal oil separation is performed; And In order to guide the refrigerant flowing down by gravity at the first indentation position of the guide pipe to flow out as it flows through the outlet of the oil separation / storage chamber, the first inlet up and down the upper and lower portions of the guide pipe. And a guide rib having an approximately V-shape installed to partition. The guide pipe of claim 3, wherein the guide pipe is installed at a height having a size smaller than the depth of the first recess, and the guide rib is installed at a height having the same size as the depth of the first recess. And a predetermined gap is formed between an end portion and an end portion of the guide rib. 5. The oil separator of claim 4, wherein the interval is 1 to 2 mm. The method of claim 3, wherein A gasket for maintaining airtightness is interposed between the coupling portion of the compressor housing and the cover, and the gasket includes an upper section of the first concave portion partitioned by the guide ribs and another oil separation / storage chamber formed in the cover. A breaker is provided to block an upper section of the second concave portion, which is a concave portion, and the breaker has a communication hole formed at a position corresponding to the inlet and the outlet, respectively. The method of claim 6, The cover is an oil separator with a compressor, characterized in that the pressing protrusion for pressing the lower portion of the gasket in contact with the guide rib in close contact with the gasket is formed at a predetermined interval. The method of claim 1, wherein the oil and the separation prevention means, It is installed to reach the inner surface of the cover from the inlet port to collect and remove foreign substances and various impurities contained in the refrigerant flowing through the inlet of the oil separation / storage chamber and guide the flow of the refrigerant according to the refrigerant flow rate In the case of a low flow refrigerant, most of the refrigerant is guided to fall by gravity at the first indentation position formed on the compressor housing side in order to constitute the oil separation / storage chamber. A filter for guiding the oil to be separated so that normal oil separation occurs; And In order to guide the refrigerant flowing down by gravity at the first inlet part position of the filter when the low flow rate of refrigerant flows in as it flows out through the outlet of the oil separation / storage compartment, the first inlet part up and down to the lower side of the filter Compressor built-in oil separator comprising a; guide ribs of the approximately V-shaped installed. The method of claim 8, The filter is a compressor-type oil separator, characterized in that the filter net is formed in a cylindrical shape on the outer periphery of the frame having at least four ribs.