KR101181120B1 - Oil Separator Structure of Variable Capacity Compressor - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an oil separation structure of a variable displacement compressor, comprising: a cylinder block having a plurality of cylinder bores formed in a longitudinal direction along a concentric circle, and having a center bore formed in the center thereof; A front housing installed in front of the cylinder block to form a crank chamber therein; A rear housing installed at the rear of the cylinder block to form a refrigerant suction chamber and a refrigerant discharge chamber therein; A plurality of pistons reciprocally inserted into respective cylinder bores of the cylinder block and having a bridge portion at one side thereof; A hollow drive shaft inserted into a center of the front housing and the cylinder block and rotatably supported to form a flow path therein; A rotor fixedly supported with a drive shaft inside the crank chamber and rotated by rotation of the drive shaft; A swash plate accommodated inside the crank chamber to be inclinedly adjusted along a circumference of a drive shaft, having a hinge means on one side, and a rotatable plate rotatably inserted into the insertion space of the bridge portion on the other side; A variable displacement compressor interposed between the cylinder block and the rear housing and including a valve unit for sucking refrigerant from the refrigerant suction chamber to the cylinder bore and discharging the refrigerant from the cylinder bore to the refrigerant discharge chamber. A through hole formed vertically in communication with the flow path; And an oil recovery groove formed on the outer circumferential surface of the drive shaft from the through hole to the inlet of the crank chamber.

According to the oil separation structure of the variable displacement compressor according to the present invention, the highly viscous oil from the through hole of the drive shaft is discharged to the crank chamber through the oil recovery groove, and only the refrigerant is discharged to the refrigerant suction chamber along the refrigerant discharge groove. As a result, it is not necessary to add a separate member for separating oil, thereby reducing the cost of parts and labor, thereby improving productivity and improving durability inside the compressor.

Compressor, drive shaft, flow path, through hole, refrigerant discharge groove, oil recovery groove.

Description

Oil Separator Structure of Variable Capacity Compressor

1 is a cross-sectional view showing a variable displacement compressor according to the prior art.

Figure 2 is an enlarged view of the main portion showing a state in which the oil separator is installed inside the variable displacement compressor according to the prior art.

3 is a cross-sectional view showing a variable displacement compressor according to the present invention.

Figure 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a drive shaft according to the present invention.

5 is a plan view showing a drive shaft according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE REFERENCE SYMBOLS

10: cylinder block, 11: cylinder bore,

12: center bore, 20: front housing,

21: crankcase, 30: rear housing,

31: refrigerant suction chamber, 32: refrigerant discharge chamber,

40: piston, 50: drive shaft,

52: through hole, 53: refrigerant discharge groove,

54: oil return groove, 70: swash plate,

71: hinge means, 80: valve unit,

82: suction reed valve, 83: discharge reed valve.

The present invention relates to an oil separation structure of a variable displacement compressor, and more particularly, to a through hole communicating vertically with an inner flow path of a drive shaft, and a spiral refrigerant discharge groove on an outer circumferential surface of the drive shaft to connect the through hole. By forming an oil return groove, it is not necessary to add a separate member for separating oil, thereby reducing the cost of parts and labor, thereby improving productivity and increasing the durability of the compressor. It relates to an oil separation structure of a type compressor.

In general, a compressor used in an automobile air conditioner has a function of sucking the vaporized heat exchange medium in the evaporator, compressing the sucked heat exchange medium, and pumping the compressed heat exchange medium to continuously circulate the refrigerant. To make it possible.

There are various kinds of such compressors, such as a swash plate type compressor in which a piston reciprocates by the rotation of an inclined swash plate, a scroll type compressor compressed by two scroll rotary motions, and a rotary type compressor compressed by a rotary vane.

Among these, the reciprocating compressor that compresses the refrigerant according to the reciprocating motion of the piston includes crank and wobble plate type, in addition to the swash plate compressor. Type compressors and the like.

In the variable displacement compressor according to the related art, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a plurality of cylinder bores 111 are formed in a longitudinal direction along a concentric circle, and a center block 112 is formed in the center thereof. and; A front housing 120 installed at the front of the cylinder block 110 to form a crank chamber 121 therein; A rear housing 130 installed at the rear of the cylinder block 110 to form a refrigerant suction chamber 131 and a refrigerant discharge chamber 132 therein; A plurality of pistons (140) inserted into the cylinder bores (111) of the cylinder block (110) so as to be reciprocated and having a bridge portion (141) formed at one side thereof; A hollow drive shaft 150 inserted into a center of the front housing 120 and the cylinder block 110 and rotatably supported to form a flow path 151 therein; A rotor (160) disposed around the drive shaft (150) in the front of the crank chamber (121) and rotated by the rotation of the drive shaft (150); It is accommodated in the crank chamber 121 is installed to enable the tilt adjustment along the circumference of the drive shaft 150, has a hinge means 171 on one side and is inserted into the insertion space of the bridge portion 141 on the other side A swash plate 170 rotatably installed; Interposed between the cylinder block 110 and the rear housing 130, the refrigerant is sucked from the refrigerant suction chamber 131 to the cylinder bore 111, and the refrigerant is discharged from the cylinder bore 111 to the refrigerant discharge chamber 132. It consists of a valve unit 180 for.

The cylinder block 110 is provided with a center bore 112 formed in the center, and a plurality of cylinder bores 111 formed to be radially equidistantly spaced around the center bore 112, and the piston 140 ) Is slidably disposed in each cylinder bore 111 is formed to have a body 142 and a bridge portion 141.

The front housing 120 and the rear housing 130 are disposed at the front and rear ends of the cylinder block 110, respectively, and are coupled to each other by a long bolt 122.

The drive shaft 150 penetrates through the center of the front housing 120 so as to be rotatable, and supports the rear end portion in the center of the cylinder block 110 so as to be rotatable through a crank chamber 121 formed inside the front housing 120. It is installed as possible.

The inner space formed by the cylinder block 110 and the front housing 120 is used as the crank chamber 121 as a space in the airtight state, the rotor around the front of the drive shaft 150 inside the crank chamber 121 ( 160 is disposed and rotated according to the rotation of the drive shaft 150.

In addition, the swash plate 170 is installed in the center of the crank chamber 121, the inclination adjustment around the drive shaft 150 is installed. The swash plate 170 and the rotor 160 are connected by the hinge means 171 to rotate together. That is, the hinge means 171 is composed of a support arm 171a, an arm 171b, a pin 171c, and the like, and the support arm 171a protrudes outward along an axis from one side of the rotor 160. The arm 171b protrudes from one surface of the swash plate 170 toward the support arm 171a of the rotor 160. The support arm 171a and the arm 171b are connected to each other by the pin 171c.

In addition, a portion of the outer circumference of the swash plate 170 is rotatably inserted into the bridge portion 141 of the piston 140.

Since the swash plate 170 is connected to the rotor 160 and the bridge portion 141 of the piston 140 as described above, the swash plate 170 rotates together with the rotor 160 rotated by the drive shaft 150. In addition, it is possible to adjust the inclination by rotating back and forth around the pin 171c according to the pressure inside the crank chamber 121.

On the other hand, the valve unit 180 is installed between the cylinder block 110 and the rear housing 130 to control the suction and discharge of the refrigerant. The valve unit 180 includes a valve plate 181 interposed between the cylinder block 110 and the rear housing 130, and a suction reed valve 182 interposed between the valve plate 181 and the cylinder block 110. ) And a discharge reed valve 183 interposed between the valve plate 181 and the rear housing 130.

In addition, between the discharge reed valve 183 and the rear housing 130, a valve retainer having an outer end bent backward to limit the operation area of the operation of the discharge reed valve 183 and to prevent damage to the operation part ( 184 is installed, the valve retainer 184 is coupled to the center portion with the valve unit 180 by a rivet 185 or a coupling bolt or the like.

A brief description of the refrigerant flow relationship of the variable displacement swash plate compressor configured as described above is as follows.

When the drive shaft 150 is rotated by receiving the power of the engine, the swash plate 170 mounted to the drive shaft 150 to be capable of adjusting the inclination angle is rotated together with the drive shaft to oscillate forward and backward. A plurality of pistons 140 connected to the outer circumference of the swash plate 170 sequentially reciprocates in the cylinder bore 111 of the cylinder block 110.

When the piston 140 suctions, the oil-containing refrigerant exits through the refrigerant suction port (not shown), passes through the refrigerant suction chamber 131, and then opens the suction reed valve 182 of the open valve unit 180. It is sucked into the cylinder bore 111 through. In addition, when the piston 140 is compressed, the refrigerant sucked into the cylinder bore 111 is discharged to the crank chamber 121, and the refrigerant passes through the flow path 151 inside the drive shaft 150, and then opens the valve. The discharge lead valve 183 of the unit 180 discharges the refrigerant discharge chamber 132, the refrigerant discharge tube 133, and the refrigerant discharge port 134.

Here, the refrigerant sucked into and discharged from the variable displacement compressor contains an oil having a lubricating function. The oil flowing into the crank chamber 121 together with the refrigerant is the swash plate 170, the piston 140, and the driving shaft ( 150) is supplied to the sliding portion such as to serve as a lubricant. That is, such a compressor performs lubrication of the mechanical friction surfaces of the compressor driving part by circulating the oil for lubrication purpose in order to smoothly drive the refrigerant.

However, depending on the amount of oil supplied with the refrigerant to the compressor, the oil is leaked in a separate member, or the compressor is not lubricated smoothly, there is a problem that the durability of the compressor is lowered.

In order to solve the above problems, various techniques have been conventionally proposed for an oil separator capable of separating and recovering oil from a refrigerant discharged in a compressor and returning the oil to the inside of the compressor.

Such oil separators can be broadly classified into a compressor built-in oil separator built into the compressor and a compressor external oil separator installed outside the compressor. In particular, the compressor external oil separator is relatively easy to manufacture and design, and has an advantage of good oil separation efficiency. However, the compressor external oil separator is installed separately from the compressor and requires a separate bypass circuit.

Figure 2 is an enlarged view of the main portion showing a state in which the oil separator is installed inside the variable displacement compressor according to the prior art. As shown, the funnel-shaped oil separator 190 is installed behind the drive shaft 150 of the compressor. The oil separator 190 separates the lubricating oil discharged through the flow path 151 inside the drive shaft 150 from the refrigerant by centrifugal force, and collects the oil collected in the oil storage chamber 191 inside the oil separator 190. It is comprised so that it may return to the suction side of a compressor via the flow path 192, the fine hole 193, etc.

However, in the case of the compressor-type oil separator 190 as described above, since the oil is separated from the refrigerant as completely as possible in order to reduce the oil circulation rate, there is a problem in that the cooling performance at low flow rate is lowered.

In addition, since the oil separator 190 has a small capacity of the oil storage chamber 191 in structure, when oil is exceeded, the oil separated by the refrigerant flowing at high speed flows out together with the refrigerant. There is a problem in that oil separation is not made, and the size of the compressor needs to be increased in order to increase the capacity of the oil storage chamber 191.

Accordingly, by adding a separate member such as an external type or an internal type oil separator 190 to the conventional compressor, the parts cost and workmanship are increased due to the addition of parts, and the productivity is lowered, as well as the durability inside the compressor is lowered. There was a problem.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, by forming a through-hole communicating with the inner flow path of the drive shaft vertically, by forming a spiral refrigerant discharge groove and the oil recovery groove on the outer peripheral surface of the drive shaft to connect the through hole As the highly viscous oil from the through hole is discharged to the crank chamber through the oil recovery groove, and only the refrigerant is discharged to the refrigerant suction chamber along the refrigerant discharge groove, there is no need to add a separate member for separating oil. The purpose of the present invention is to reduce the cost and labor and improve productivity, as well as to improve the durability of the compressor.

According to the oil separation structure of the variable displacement compressor according to the present invention devised to achieve the above object, a plurality of cylinder bores are formed in the longitudinal direction along a concentric circle, and the center block is formed with a center bore; ; A front housing installed in front of the cylinder block to form a crank chamber therein; A rear housing installed at the rear of the cylinder block to form a refrigerant suction chamber and a refrigerant discharge chamber therein; A plurality of pistons reciprocally inserted into respective cylinder bores of the cylinder block and having a bridge portion at one side thereof; A hollow drive shaft inserted into a center of the front housing and the cylinder block and rotatably supported to form a flow path therein; A rotor fixedly supported with a drive shaft inside the crank chamber and rotated by rotation of the drive shaft; A swash plate accommodated inside the crank chamber to be inclinedly adjusted along a circumference of a drive shaft, having a hinge means on one side, and a rotatable plate rotatably inserted into the insertion space of the bridge portion on the other side; A variable displacement compressor comprising a valve unit interposed between the cylinder block and the rear housing to suck refrigerant from the refrigerant suction chamber into the cylinder bore and discharge the refrigerant from the cylinder bore into the refrigerant discharge chamber. A through hole formed vertically in communication with the flow path; And an oil recovery groove formed on the outer circumferential surface of the drive shaft from the through hole to the inlet of the crank chamber.

In addition, the coolant discharge groove and the oil recovery groove may be formed to be inclined spirally along the rotational direction of the drive shaft.

In addition, the outer peripheral surface of the drive shaft is further formed with a refrigerant discharge groove from the through hole to the end of the drive shaft, the oil recovery groove is preferably formed to have a smaller width than the refrigerant discharge groove.

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

3 is a cross-sectional view showing a variable displacement compressor according to the present invention, Figure 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a drive shaft according to the present invention, Figure 5 is a plan view showing a drive shaft according to the present invention.

A variable displacement compressor according to the present invention, comprising: a cylinder block (10) having a plurality of cylinder bores (11) formed in a longitudinal direction along a concentric circle, and having a center bore (12) in the center thereof; A front housing 20 installed at the front of the cylinder block 10 to form a crank chamber 21 therein; A rear housing (30) installed at the rear of the cylinder block (10) to form a refrigerant suction chamber (31) and a refrigerant discharge chamber (32) therein; A plurality of pistons (40) inserted into the cylinder bores (11) of the cylinder block (10) so as to be reciprocated and having a bridge portion (41) formed at one side thereof; A hollow drive shaft 50 inserted into a center of the front housing 20 and the cylinder block 10 and rotatably supported to form a flow passage 51 therein; A rotor (60) fixedly supported by the drive shaft (50) in the front of the crank chamber (21) and rotated by the rotation of the drive shaft (50); It is accommodated in the crank chamber 21 is installed to be able to adjust the inclination along the circumference of the drive shaft 50, has a hinge means 71 on one side and is inserted into the insertion space of the bridge portion 41 on the other side A swash plate 70 rotatably installed; Interposed between the cylinder block 10 and the rear housing 30, the refrigerant is sucked from the refrigerant suction chamber 31 to the cylinder bore 11, and the refrigerant is discharged from the cylinder bore 11 to the refrigerant discharge chamber 32. Since the valve unit 80 and the like are the same as in the prior art, detailed description of the above configuration will be omitted.

3 to 5, the oil separation structure of the variable displacement compressor according to the present invention includes a through hole 52, a refrigerant discharge groove 53, and an oil recovery groove 54 formed in the drive shaft 50. )).

The through hole 52 communicates with the inner flow passage 51 of the drive shaft 50 in a vertical direction, and is located behind the drive shaft 50.

In addition, the coolant discharge groove 53 is formed on the outer circumferential surface of the drive shaft 50 and extends from the through hole 52 to the end position of the drive shaft 50 with a predetermined depth. Here, the refrigerant contains an oil having a lubricating function, and the refrigerant containing oil moves out of the through passage 52 by moving the internal flow path 51 of the drive shaft 50, and then only the refrigerant drives the drive shaft 50. ) Is discharged into the refrigerant discharge chamber 32 along the refrigerant discharge groove 53 in the rotation direction.

In addition, the oil return groove 54 is formed on the outer circumferential surface of the drive shaft 50, and the inlet of the crank chamber 21 from the through hole 52, that is, the inner circumferential surface of the center bore 12 of the cylinder block 10. It extends to a position with a predetermined depth.

Here, after the drive shaft 50 rotates, the refrigerant containing oil moves out of the through passage 52 by moving the internal flow path 51 of the drive shaft 50, and only the refrigerant follows the refrigerant discharge groove 53. Discharged and highly viscous oil is recovered along the oil recovery groove 54 in the direction opposite to the rotation of the drive shaft 50 and discharged to the crank chamber 21. That is, the oil which has exited the through hole 52 and is about to flow out with the refrigerant collides with the inner wall surface of the center center bore 12 corresponding to the outer circumferential surface of the drive shaft 50, and then along the oil recovery groove 54. It is recovered and discharged to the crank chamber 21.

The refrigerant discharge groove 53 and the oil recovery groove 54 configured as described above are preferably formed to be inclined spirally along the rotational direction of the drive shaft 50, and in particular, the oil recovery groove 54 is the refrigerant discharge groove 53. It is preferable to be formed to have a small width compared to). In other words, the oil recovery groove 54 is formed to have a relatively smaller width than the refrigerant discharge groove 53, so that oil moving along the oil recovery groove 54 does not flow out of the drive shaft 50. Easily discharged to the crank chamber 21 side.

The refrigerant flow relationship of the variable displacement compressor according to the present invention as described above with reference to Figures 3 to 5 as follows.

First, the drive shaft 50 is rotated by receiving power from the engine, and the swash plate 70 mounted on the drive shaft 50 rotates forward and backward while rotating together with the drive shaft 50, and the swash plate A plurality of pistons (40) connected to the outer circumference of the 70 is sequentially reciprocating in the cylinder bore (11) of the cylinder block 10 as proportional to the inclination angle of the swash plate (70).

In the suction stroke of the piston 40, the suction reed valve 82 of the valve unit 80 is opened by the pressure drop in the cylinder bore 11 due to the backward movement of the piston 40, and the cylinder bore 11 is opened. And the refrigerant suction chamber 31 communicate with each other, the oil-containing refrigerant exits through the refrigerant suction port (not shown) and is then sucked into the cylinder bore 11 through the refrigerant suction chamber 31.

During the compression stroke of the piston 40, the refrigerant is compressed by the pressure increase in the cylinder bore 11 due to the warpage of the piston 40, and the discharge reed valve 83 of the valve unit 80 is opened. At this time, the refrigerant sucked into the cylinder bore 11 passes through the crank chamber 21 and passes through the flow passage 51 in the drive shaft 50 to the through hole 52.

Here, the highly viscous oil is connected to the through hole 52 and is recovered along the oil recovery groove 54 formed on the outer circumferential surface of the drive shaft 50 and discharged to the crank chamber 21, and the refrigerant is passed through the through hole 52. It is connected with the discharge is discharged along the refrigerant discharge groove 53 formed to the end of the outer peripheral surface of the drive shaft (50). The refrigerant exiting the refrigerant discharge groove 53 is discharged to the refrigerant discharge port 34 through the refrigerant discharge chamber 32 and the refrigerant discharge tube 33 through the discharge reed valve 83 of the open valve unit 80. This is done.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the scope of the present invention is not limited to such specific embodiments, and those skilled in the art may appropriately change within the scope described in the claims of the present invention. This will be possible.

As described above, according to the oil separation structure of the variable displacement compressor according to the present invention, a through hole communicating vertically with an internal flow path of the drive shaft is formed, and a spiral refrigerant discharge groove is formed on the outer circumferential surface of the drive shaft to connect the through hole. By forming the oil recovery groove, the highly viscous oil from the through hole is discharged to the crank chamber through the oil recovery groove, and only the refrigerant is discharged to the refrigerant suction chamber along the refrigerant discharge groove, thereby providing a separate member for separating oil. Since there is no need to add, it is possible to reduce the cost of parts and labor, thereby improving productivity and improving durability inside the compressor.

Claims (3)

A cylinder block 10 having a plurality of cylinder bores 11 formed in a longitudinal direction along a concentric circle, and having a center bore 12 formed in the center thereof; A front housing 20 installed at the front of the cylinder block 10 to form a crank chamber 21 therein; A rear housing (30) installed at the rear of the cylinder block (10) to form a refrigerant suction chamber (31) and a refrigerant discharge chamber (32) therein; A plurality of pistons (40) inserted into the cylinder bores (11) of the cylinder block (10) so as to be reciprocated and having a bridge portion (41) formed at one side thereof; A hollow drive shaft 50 inserted into a center of the front housing 20 and the cylinder block 10 and rotatably supported to form a flow passage 51 therein; A rotor (60) fixedly supported by the drive shaft (50) in the front of the crank chamber (21) and rotated by the rotation of the drive shaft (50); It is accommodated in the crank chamber 21 is installed to be able to adjust the inclination along the circumference of the drive shaft 50, has a hinge means 71 on one side and is inserted into the insertion space of the bridge portion 41 on the other side A swash plate 70 rotatably installed; Interposed between the cylinder block 10 and the rear housing 30, the refrigerant is sucked from the refrigerant suction chamber 31 to the cylinder bore 11, and the refrigerant is discharged from the cylinder bore 11 to the refrigerant discharge chamber 32. In the variable displacement compressor comprising a valve unit (80) for The drive shaft 50 includes a through hole 52 formed in communication with the flow path 51 in the interior thereof; Oil separation structure of a variable displacement compressor characterized in that it comprises an oil recovery groove (54) formed on the outer peripheral surface of the drive shaft (50) from the through hole (52) to the inlet of the crank chamber (21). The method of claim 1, The oil recovery groove 54 is an oil separation structure of a variable displacement compressor, characterized in that formed in an inclined spiral in the rotational direction of the drive shaft (50). The method according to claim 1 or 2, A coolant discharge groove 53 is further formed on the outer circumferential surface of the drive shaft 50 from the through hole 52 to the end of the drive shaft 50. The oil recovery groove 54 is an oil separation structure of a variable displacement compressor, characterized in that it is formed to have a smaller width than the refrigerant discharge groove (53).

Images