KR20020087178A - Oil separator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An oil separator is provided to more efficiently separate oil mixed in refrigerant by dropping temperature of refrigerant discharged from a compressor to an oil separating chamber. CONSTITUTION: An oil separator includes an oil separating chamber(40) formed by a compressor housing(10) having a refrigerant inlet(11) for taking in refrigerant discharged by an evaporator and a refrigerant outlet(12) for discharging compressed refrigerant to a condenser formed on an upper part thereof and a separator cover(30) joined to a rear side of the housing; an oil cooling refrigerant intake chamber(100) formed on one side of the compressor housing for refrigerant discharged by the evaporator to be introduced therein; and an oil cooling refrigerant circulation passage(200) concavely formed on the rear side of the compressor housing by an outer edge of the oil separating chamber and having both ends fluidically connected with the oil cooling refrigerant intake chamber and the refrigerant inlet of the compressor housing, respectively, so as to guide refrigerant at low temperature discharged from the evaporator to exchange heat with refrigerant mixed with oil and flowing in the oil separating chamber and to be discharged to the refrigerant inlet.

Description

Oil Separator {OIL SEPARATOR}

The present invention relates to an oil separator, and more particularly, to an oil separator capable of effectively separating oil from refrigerant discharged from a compressor.

An automotive air conditioner includes a compressor for adiabaticly compressing a low-temperature low-pressure gas refrigerant and discharging it into a high-temperature high-pressure gas refrigerant, a condenser for making a high-temperature high-pressure gas refrigerant discharged from the compressor into a liquid state by heat exchange, and from the condenser. And an expansion valve for liquefying the refrigerant to be transported to a low pressure wet steam state, and an evaporator for evaporating the refrigerant transferred from the expansion valve by heat exchange to make it into a vapor state.

In addition, the compressor constituting the cooling device selectively receives the power of the engine through the pulley of the vehicle by the intermittent action of the electronic clutch, sucks the refrigerant heat exchanged through the evaporator, compresses it by the linear reciprocating motion of the piston, To discharge.

In general, compressors are divided into reciprocating and rotary type according to the compression type and structure. In the case of reciprocating, it is divided into crank, swash plate, and wobble plate, and in the case of rotary, vane rotary and scroll.

The swash plate type compressor includes a unilateral piston method and a double head piston method, wherein the double headed piston method includes a front housing, a rear housing coupled thereto, a front cylinder installed inside the front housing, and a rear installed at the rear housing. A cylinder, a plurality of both pistons that are linearly reciprocally installed in the bores of the front cylinder and the bores of the rear cylinder, a drive shaft rotatably installed through the center of the front and rear housings and the front and rear cylinders, and a drive shaft And a swash plate for forward and backward movement of the pistons by being obliquely squeezed and rotated in accordance with the rotation of the drive shaft, 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 addition, the oil is contained in the refrigerant so that the compressor operates smoothly, so that the oil circulates each part of the system together with the refrigerant during the operation of the system. Thus, the oil circulating in the system is lubricated by the compressor.

However, when oil enters a heat exchanger such as a condenser, an expansion device, pipes and hoses, the oil is coated on the inner surface of the heat exchanger to reduce heat exchange efficiency, and occupies a predetermined space of the heat exchanger to reduce heat transfer rate. Rather, it increases the refrigerant pressure drop, which adversely affects the system.

In addition, if the lubricating oil circulates through the entire cooling system, the amount of oil supplied to the compressor is fluctuated so that the lubricating oil is not sufficiently supplied to each of the driving parts of the compressor. As a result, the durability of the compressor is reduced, such as driving parts being burned out or lock is generated.

In addition, when a large amount of lubricating oil is used to sufficiently supply the lubricating oil to the driving part of the compressor, the lubricating oil loses its inherent function of the refrigerant, thereby reducing the efficiency of the cooling system and increasing the overall size of the cooling system. This adversely affects the mounting and layout of the engine compartment.

In consideration of the above problems, an oil separator is used in a cooling system to recover the lubricating oil from the refrigerant compressed and discharged from the compressor and return it to the compressor.

These oil separators can be broadly divided into a compressor built-in oil separator built into the compressor and a compressor discharge line oil separator installed outside the compressor (ie, an external compressor oil separator).

1 is an exploded perspective view of an oil separator with a compressor according to Korean Patent Application No. 2000-12640 by the present applicant, and FIG. 2 is a rear view of the oil separator with a compressor according to Patent Application 2000-12640, and FIG. 3. Is a side view of a housing applied to an oil separator according to patent application 2000-12640.

1 to 3, the upper portion of the compressor housing 10 includes a refrigerant suction port 11 for sucking refrigerant gas discharged from an evaporator (not shown) into the compressor and a refrigerant gas compressed inside the compressor. Refrigerant discharge ports 12 for discharging toward (not shown) are partitioned side by side back and forth. The front side of the compressor housing 10 is opened so that the crank chamber 20 is formed so that the drive parts for refrigerant compression can be installed, and the rear side of the compressor housing 10 is blocked.

The oil separator cover 30 is coupled to the rear wall of the compressor housing 10 to form an oil separation chamber 40 between the rear wall of the compressor housing 10 and the separator cover 30. The oil separation chamber 40 has a first cover 13 and a separator cover 30 corresponding to the first recess 13 and the first recess 13 of which is formed in a closed curve close to a circular or elliptical shape on the rear wall of the compressor housing 10. The second concave portion 31 formed in the concave on the inner surface of the () is made of.

In addition, the oil separation chamber 40 corresponds to the first collection groove 13a and the first collection groove 13a which are recessed at the lowermost portion of the first injection portion 13 and the second injection portion 31. And a collecting portion 41 formed by joining the second collecting groove 31a recessed downward in the lowermost portion thereof.

On the other hand, an inlet 42 for introducing the compressed mixed refrigerant gas toward the oil separation chamber 40 is provided at the upper right portion of the first inlet 13 formed on the rear wall of the compressor housing 10. It is formed so as to face, the outlet 43 for discharging the refrigerant gas from the oil separation chamber 40 to the refrigerant discharge port 12 in the upper left portion of the first concave portion (13).

An oil supply passage 14 communicating with the crank chamber 20 of the compressor housing 10 and the oil separation chamber 40 is formed at the upper left portion of the rear wall edge of the compressor housing 10.

To prevent the mixed refrigerant gas of the refrigerant and oil flowing into the oil separation chamber 40 and the lubricating oil separated therefrom from leaking to the outside of the compressor, while guiding the separated lubricating oil to be returned to the crank chamber 20 of the compressor. For this purpose, a gasket 50 is installed between the rear wall of the compressor housing 10 and the separator cover 30.

The gasket 50 draws a predetermined trajectory so as to pass through the oil collecting portion 41 and the oil supply passage 14 at one edge portion of the gasket 50 corresponding to the refrigerant discharge side of the oil separation chamber 40. The cut oil recovery furnace 51 is formed.

In the figure, reference numeral 44 is a manifold coupled to the upper portion of the compressor housing 10, and 45 is a guide wall for making the oil separation chamber 40 into a U shape.

Hereinafter, the compressor separates the lubricating oil from the mixed refrigerant gas in the process of discharging the mixed refrigerant gas containing the lubricating oil, returns the separated lubricating oil to the crank chamber, and sends only the refrigerant gas from which the lubricating oil has been removed to the condenser. It will be described in detail.

Through the electromagnetic clutch, the rotational force of the power generator such as the engine is transmitted to the drive shaft of the compressor to drive the compression drive parts such as pistons, vanes and scrolls. Accordingly, the refrigerant gas evaporated from the evaporator by the pressure difference passes through the refrigerant intake port. Inhaled into the crankcase. In the suction process of the refrigerant gas, the oil remaining in the lower part of the oil separation chamber 40 and the oil collection part 41 is transferred to the oil recovery system by the pressure difference between the crank chamber 20 and the oil separation chamber 40. It flows to the bottom of the refrigerant suction opening 11 through the 51 and the oil supply passage 14 and is sucked into the crank chamber 20 together with the refrigerant gas. On the other hand, the mixed refrigerant gas containing the lubricating oil present in the crank chamber is compressed according to the driving of the compression driving parts through the inlet port 42 communicating with the crank chamber 20 and the oil separation chamber 40. 20 is discharged to the upper right portion of the oil separation chamber 40. When the compressed refrigerant gas is discharged to the upper right part of the oil separation chamber 40, it firstly collides with the inner wall of the separator cover 30, so that lubricating oil having a higher specific gravity than the pure refrigerant gas is scattered by the mixed refrigerant gas. The oil is separated from the mixed refrigerant gas and attached to the wall of the oil separation chamber 40, and the attached oil flows down the wall of the oil separation chamber 40 by the own weight and flows toward the collecting portion 41. 40 is stored over the lower end portion and the collecting portion 41.

As described above, the lubricating oil separated from the mixed refrigerant gas flowing into the oil separation chamber 40 and stored in the collecting part 41 is the oil separation chamber 40 at high pressure, whereas the crank chamber 20 is the oil separation chamber ( Since the pressure is lower than 40, it flows to the refrigerant inlet 11 through the oil return passage 51 and the oil supply passage 14 by the pressure difference between these two places, and thus is mixed with the refrigerant gas sucked from the evaporator. By returning back to the crank chamber 20, lubrication of the compression drive parts can be continuously performed by the lubricating oil circulating.

On the other hand, the refrigerant gas from which the lubricating oil is separated from the mixed refrigerant gas finally flows through the outlet port 43 to the refrigerant outlet port 12 and is supplied to the condenser.

However, the oil separator according to the domestic patent application No. 2000-12640 has the following problems.

The oil discharged by being compressed at high temperature and high pressure together with the refrigerant gas in the compressor has a problem in that the viscosity is lowered by the temperature and thus is not separated from the refrigerant.

The present invention has been invented to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an oil separator capable of separating the oil mixed in the refrigerant more effectively by lowering the temperature of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor to the oil separation chamber. .

1 is an exploded perspective view of an oil separator according to Patent Application No. 2000-12640.

2 is a rear view of an oil separator according to Patent Application No. 2000-12640.

3 is a side view of an oil separator according to patent application 2000-12640.

4 is an exploded perspective view of an oil separator according to the present invention.

5 is a rear view of the oil separator according to the present invention.

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

10 compressor housing 11: refrigerant inlet

12: refrigerant outlet 30: separation chamber cover

40: oil separation chamber 50: gasket

51: oil recovery furnace 100: refrigerant cooling room for oil cooling

200: oil cooling refrigerant circulation path

The oil separator according to the present invention for achieving the above object is a compressor housing having a refrigerant inlet for sucking the refrigerant discharged from the evaporator into the compressor and a refrigerant outlet for discharging the compressed refrigerant toward the condenser; An oil separation chamber formed by a separator cover coupled to the rear of the housing; An oil cooling refrigerant suction chamber which is formed on one surface of the compressor housing forming the oil separation chamber and into which the refrigerant discharged from the evaporator flows; The low temperature refrigerant discharged from the evaporator is formed in the back of the compressor housing forming the oil separation chamber along the outer portion of the oil separation chamber, and both ends thereof communicate with the oil cooling refrigerant suction chamber and the refrigerant suction opening of the compressor housing, respectively. It is characterized in that it comprises an oil-cooled refrigerant net environment for guiding to be discharged to the refrigerant inlet after the heat exchange with the oil mixture refrigerant flowing through the oil separation chamber.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view of the oil separator according to the present invention, Figure 5 is a rear view of the oil separator according to the present invention.

As shown therein, the oil separator according to the present invention includes a refrigerant suction port 11 for sucking refrigerant gas discharged from an evaporator (not shown) into the compressor and an refrigerant compressed inside the compressor. Refrigerant discharge port 12 for discharging the gas toward the condenser (not shown) is partitioned side by side back and forth. A crank chamber (not shown) is formed to open the front side of the compressor housing 10 so that the driving parts for the refrigerant compression can be installed, and the rear side of the compressor housing 10 is blocked.

The separator cover 30 is coupled to the rear wall of the compressor housing 10 to form an oil separation chamber 40 between the rear wall of the compressor housing 10 and the separator cover 30. The oil separation chamber 40 has a first cover 13 and a separator cover 30 corresponding to the first recess 13 and the first recess 13 of which is formed in a closed curve close to a circular or elliptical shape on the rear wall of the compressor housing 10. The second concave portion 31 formed in the concave on the inner surface of the () is made of.

In addition, the oil separation chamber 40 corresponds to the first collection groove 13a and the first collection groove 13a which are recessed at the lowermost portion of the first injection portion 13 and the second injection portion 31. And a collecting portion 41 formed by joining the second collecting groove 31a recessed downward in the lowermost portion thereof.

In the upper right part of the first inlet 13 formed on the rear wall of the compressor housing 10, the inlet 42 for introducing the compressed mixed refrigerant gas toward the oil separation chamber 40 faces the separator cover 30. In the upper left portion of the first concave portion 13, an outlet 43 for discharging the refrigerant gas from the oil separation chamber 40 to the refrigerant discharge port 12 is formed.

In order to prevent the mixed refrigerant gas flowing into the oil separation chamber 40 formed as described above and the lubricating oil separated therefrom from leaking to the outside of the compressor, and to guide the separated lubricating oil to be returned to the crank chamber 20. A gasket 50 is provided between the rear wall of the compressor housing 10 and the separator cover 30.

The gasket 50 draws a predetermined trajectory through one side of the gasket 50 corresponding to the refrigerant discharge side of the oil separation chamber 40 so as to pass through the collecting portion 41 and the oil supply passage 14. While having a cut-off oil recovery (51).

In addition, an oil supply path 14 communicating with the crank chamber 20 of the compressor housing 10 and the oil separation chamber 40 is formed at the upper left portion of the rear wall edge of the compressor housing 10.

The description so far is the same as that of Korean Patent Application No. 2000-12640, and the following describes the novel configuration according to the embodiment of the present invention.

An oil cooling refrigerant suction chamber (100) for introducing a portion of the refrigerant passing through the evaporator is formed in parallel with the refrigerant suction opening (11) and the refrigerant discharge opening (12).

In addition, an oil cooling refrigerant circulation path 200 having both ends communicating with the refrigerant suction opening 11 and the oil cooling refrigerant suction chamber 100 is formed at an outer side of the oil separation chamber 40 on the rear surface of the compressor housing 10. .

The inlet 210 of the oil cooling refrigerant circulation path 200 communicates with the oil cooling refrigerant suction chamber 100 through which the refrigerant passing through the evaporator flows in, and the outlet 220 of the other end communicates with the crank chamber of the compressor.

The oil cooling refrigerant circulation path 200 guides the low temperature refrigerant discharged from the evaporator to be discharged into the crank chamber of the compressor, and the refrigerant flowing along the heat exchanges with the high temperature refrigerant flowing inside the oil separation chamber 40 to allow the oil separation chamber ( It is a flow path for guiding the flow of the low-temperature refrigerant to lower the temperature of the oil introduced into 40, it is preferable to be formed as close as possible to the outside of the oil separation chamber 40 to achieve the purpose effectively.

Referring to the operation state of the oil separator according to the present invention configured as described above are as follows.

According to the present invention, before the refrigerant is compressed to a high temperature and high pressure in the crank chamber of the compressor and is conveyed to the condenser, the action of separating the oil mixed therewith through the oil separation chamber is the same as that of Korean Patent Application No. 2000-12640. Explain.

In the suction process of the refrigerant gas by the operation of the compressor, the oil remaining in the lower part of the oil separation chamber 40 and the oil collecting part 41 is reduced by the pressure difference between the crank chamber and the oil separation chamber 40. 51) and the oil supply passage 14 flows to the bottom of the refrigerant suction port 11 and is sucked into the crank chamber together with the refrigerant gas. On the other hand, the mixed refrigerant gas containing the lubricating oil existing in the crank chamber is compressed in accordance with the driving of the compression drive parts through the inlet port 42 communicating the crank chamber and the oil separation chamber 40 from the oil separation chamber ( 40 is discharged to the upper right part. When the compressed refrigerant gas is discharged to the upper right part of the oil separation chamber 40, it firstly collides with the inner wall of the separator cover 30, so that lubricating oil having a higher specific gravity than the pure refrigerant gas is scattered by the mixed refrigerant gas. The oil is separated from the mixed refrigerant gas and attached to the wall of the oil separation chamber 40, and the attached oil flows down the wall of the oil separation chamber 40 by the own weight and flows toward the collecting portion 41. 40 is stored over the lower end portion and the collecting portion 41.

As described above, the lubricating oil separated from the mixed refrigerant gas flowing into the oil separation chamber 40 and stored in the collecting part 41 is the pressure difference between the two places because the oil separation chamber 40 is high pressure and the crank chamber is low pressure. Flows through the oil return passage 51 and the oil supply passage 14 to the refrigerant inlet 11, and thus is mixed with the refrigerant gas sucked from the evaporator and compressed by the lubricating oil circulating by returning back to the crank chamber. Lubrication to the drive parts can be carried out continuously.

The remaining refrigerant gas, from which the lubricating oil is separated from the mixed refrigerant gas, finally flows through the outlet port 43 to the refrigerant outlet port 12 and is supplied toward the condenser.

Meanwhile, some of the refrigerant passing through the evaporator flows into the oil cooling refrigerant suction chamber 100 on the upper surface of the compressor housing 10, and then passes through an inlet 210 formed on the rear surface of the housing 10. 40 flows into the oil cooling refrigerant circulation path 200 formed on the outer side of the housing 40 and flows along the oil cooling refrigerant circulation path 200, and then through the outlet 220 formed on the other side of the inlet 210 of the refrigerant circulation path 200. 10) It is introduced into the coolant suction port 11 of the upper surface and is introduced into the crank chamber.

The refrigerant supplied from the evaporator and flowing along the oil cooling refrigerant circulation path 200 exchanges heat with the refrigerant flowing through the oil separation chamber 40. The refrigerant discharged from the compressor and flowing through the oil separation chamber 40 is supplied from the evaporator to cool the oil. Since the temperature is relatively higher than that of the refrigerant flowing through the cooling medium circulation path 200, the heat is desorbed from the refrigerant flowing along the oil cooling refrigerant circulation path 200, thereby lowering its own temperature.

Accordingly, the high temperature and high pressure refrigerant discharged from the compressor to the oil separation chamber 40 is discharged from the evaporator to exchange heat with the relatively low temperature refrigerant flowing along the oil cooling refrigerant circulation path 200 formed on the outside of the oil separation chamber 40. The temperature is lowered.

As described above, according to the oil separator according to the present invention, the oil mixture refrigerant compressed at high temperature and high pressure in the compressor and discharged into the oil separation chamber is heat exchanged with the relatively low temperature evaporator discharge side refrigerant to increase the viscosity of the oil. Separation efficiency can be improved.

In addition, since the temperature of the refrigerant discharged from the oil separation chamber is lowered, more heat may be taken out while passing through the condenser, thereby improving cooling performance.

Claims (1)

An oil separation chamber formed by a compressor housing partitioned at an upper portion of the refrigerant inlet for suctioning the refrigerant discharged from the evaporator into the compressor and a refrigerant discharge opening for discharging the compressed refrigerant toward the condenser and a separator cover coupled to the rear of the housing; An oil cooling refrigerant suction chamber which is formed on one surface of the compressor housing forming the oil separation chamber and into which the refrigerant discharged from the evaporator flows; And, The low temperature refrigerant discharged from the evaporator is formed in the bottom of the compressor housing forming the oil separation chamber along the outer periphery of the oil separation chamber, and both ends thereof communicate with the oil cooling refrigerant suction chamber and the refrigerant suction opening of the compressor housing, respectively. An oil separator comprising an oil cooling refrigerant flow path for guiding the oil mixture refrigerant flowing through the oil separation chamber to be discharged to the refrigerant inlet after being exchanged with the oil mixture refrigerant.