Patent Application
20160069336
This application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 2014-0118647 filed on Sep. 5, 2014, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to a compressor and a power generating system and method of using the same, and more particularly, to a compressor and a power generating system and method of using the same wherein as a driving shaft rotates by receiving a driving force from an engine, a refrigerant is compressed in cylinder bores by means of pistons to conduct power generation.
A compressor used in an air conditioning system for a vehicle absorbs a refrigerant whose evaporation is completed after exiting an evaporator, compresses the refrigerant into a high temperature, high pressure liquid refrigerant, and transports the refrigerant to a condensor, and together with the condensor, an expansion valve and the evaporator, the compressor constitutes a cooling system.
In the refrigerant compressing manner, the compressor is divided into a reciprocating type compressor and a rotary type compressor. The reciprocating type compressor includes a crank type compressor transmitting a driving force from a driving source through a crank shaft, a swash plate type compressor transmitting the driving force through a rotary shaft to which swash plates are fitted, and a wobble plate type compressor transmitting the driving force through a wobble plate. The rotary type compressor includes a vane rotary type compressor using a rotating rotary shaft and a vane and a scroll type compressor using a rotating scroll and a fixed scroll.
A front housing 20 is disposed on one end of the cylinder block 10. The front housing 20 is coupled to the cylinder block 10 to form a crank chamber 21 therein. The crank chamber 21 is airtightly sealed from the outside.
The front housing 20 has a pulley shaft 22′ protruding from the opposite side to the side coupled to the cylinder block 10 to rotatably fit a pulley 22 rotating by means of the driving force of an engine thereto. A hub (not shown) is disposed on the inner peripheral surface of the pulley 22 in such a manner as to be engaged with one end of a driving shaft 40.
A shaft hole 23 is formed from the center of the pulley shaft 22′ to the crank chamber 21 in such a manner as to pass through the front housing 20 forward and backward.
A rear housing 30 is disposed on the other end of the cylinder block 10, that is, on the opposite side to the side to which the front housing 20 is disposed. The rear housing 30 has a suction chamber (not shown) selectively communicating with the cylinder bores 13. The suction chamber is formed at the center of the surface of the rear housing 30 facing the cylinder block 10. The suction chamber serves to transmit the refrigerant to be compressed to the interiors of the cylinder bores 13.
The rear housing 30 has a discharge chamber 33 selectively communicating with the cylinder bores 13. The discharge chamber 33 is formed at the position close to the outer circumference of the rear housing 30 facing the cylinder block 10. The discharge chamber 33 serves as the space in which the refrigerant compressed in the cylinder bores 13 temporarily stays. The rear housing 30 has a control valve (not shown) mounted at one side thereof. The control valve is adapted to adjust angles of swash plates 48 as will be discussed below.
The cylinder block 10, the front housing 20, and the rear housing 30 are fastened to each other by means of bolts 37. The bolts 37 pass through the outer circumferences of the cylinder block 10, the front housing 20 and the rear housing 30 and fasten them to each other.
The driving shaft 40 is disposed to pass through the center bore 11 of the cylinder block 10 and the shaft hole 23 of the front housing 20. The driving shaft 40 rotates by means of the driving force received from the engine. The driving shaft 40 is rotatably supported against the cylinder block 10 and the front housing 20 by means of a bush 42.
A rotor 44, through which the driving shaft 40 passes, is disposed inside the crank chamber 21 in such a manner as to rotate unitarily with the driving shaft 40. The rotor 44 has a generally circular plate and is fixedly fitted to the driving shaft 40.
The driving shaft 40 has the swash plates 48 hinge-coupled to the rotor 44 and rotating together with the rotor 44. The swash plates 48 are varied in angles fixed to the driving shaft 40 in accordance with the discharging capacities of the compressor. That is, the swash plates 48 have angles perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the driving shaft 40 or given tilted angles thereto. At this time, the outer circumferences 50 of the swash plates 48 are connected to the pistons 15 by means of shoes 50. In more detail, the outer circumferences 50 of the swash plates 48 are connected to the connection parts 17 of the pistons 15 by means of the shoes 50, thus allowing the pistons 15 to be linearly reciprocated in the interiors of the cylinder bores 13 through the rotation of the swash plates 48.
On the other hand, a washer 62 is disposed on one end periphery of the driving shaft 40 located at the center bore 11 of the cylinder block 10. A shaft elastic member 64 is supported on one end thereof against the washer 62 mounted on the driving shaft 40. The shaft elastic member 64 is a cylindrical coil spring which generates an elastic force pushing the driving shaft 40 toward the front housing 20, thus preventing the driving shaft 40 from pushing toward the rear housing 30 and at the same time supporting the driving shaft thereagainst.
The hub is disposed on the other end periphery of the driving shaft 40. The hub transmits the rotary force of the pulley 22 to the driving shaft 40.
A valve assembly 70 is disposed between the cylinder block 10 and the rear housing 30 to control the flow of refrigerant between the suction chamber and the discharge chamber 33 of the rear housing 30 and the cylinder bores 13 of the cylinder block 10. That is, the valve assembly 70 controls the flows of refrigerant from the suction chamber to the cylinder bores 13 and from the cylinder bores 13 to the discharge chamber 33.
Now, an explanation on the operation of the compressor having the above-mentioned configuration will be given. If the driving force of the engine is transmitted to the pulley 22 via a belt (not shown), the pulley 22 rotates. If the pulley 22 rotates, the rotary force of the pulley 22 is transmitted to the hub disposed on the inner peripheral surface of the pulley 22, so that the driving shaft 40 coupled to the hub rotates, thus allowing the compressor to be driven.
As the driving shaft 40 rotates, accordingly, the swash plates 48 rotate together with the driving shaft 40. The rotation of the swash plates 48 allows the pistons 15 to be linearly reciprocated inside the cylinder bores 13.
As a result, the refrigerant in the suction chamber is sucked sequentially into the cylinder bores 13. If the refrigerant is transmitted to the cylinder bores 13, the pistons 15 of the cylinder bores 13 move toward the valve assembly 70, thus conducting the compression of the refrigerant.
If the refrigerant is compressed at the inside of the cylinder bores 13, the internal pressures of the cylinder bores 13 become relatively high to permit the refrigerant to be transmitted to the discharge chamber 33. In this state, if the inclination angles of the swash plates 48 are varied by means of the control valve, the quantity of refrigerant compressed at the inside of the cylinder bores 13 is varied, thus changing the quantity of refrigerant discharged.
To achieve low emission and high fuel efficiency, recently, hybrid electric vehicles have been popularized. Conventionally, vehicles having engines using fossil fuels like gasoline, diesel and the like are generally used, but with the decrement of burial quantity of the fossil fuels and the seriousness of environmental pollution, many studies on the energy sources for vehicles with which the fossil fuels are replaced have been kept. The energy sources, which have been recently studied best, are fuel cells, and the hybrid electric vehicles using both of the fossil fuels and the fuel cells (that is, electricity), are most popularly used. A driving motor using electricity as a driving source is mounted on the fuel cell vehicle or the hybrid electric vehicle, which is used to replace an engine using the fossil fuel or to assist the engine. However, many studies and development have been continuously made to completely transform an internal combustion engine into electronic parts (including an electric motor) in a drive system of a vehicle.
Such fuel cell vehicle or hybrid electric vehicle may have greater required power than the existing vehicle using the fossil fuels. According to conventional practice, accordingly, an alternator is additionally mounted on the vehicle, but in this case, separate parts should be additionally mounted, thus undesirably increasing the manufacturing cost and the weight thereof and causing the failure in the minimization thereof.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a compressor and a power generating system and method using the same wherein as a driving shaft rotates by receiving a driving force from an engine, a refrigerant is compressed in cylinder bores by means of pistons to conduct power generation, so that the power required for a vehicle can be produced.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a compressor and a power generating system and method of using the same wherein power is stably supplied through the compressor necessarily disposed for cooling, without any separate components, so that the compressor and the power generating system and method can be simply applied to vehicles having a relatively large quantity of power consumed such as fuel cell vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, and the like.
To accomplish the above-mentioned objects, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a compressor having a cylinder block having a center bore piercedly formed at the center thereof and cylinder bores piercedly formed around the center bore, a front housing and a rear housing mounted on both ends of the cylinder block, a driving shaft rotatably passing through the front housing and the center bore, and pistons linearly reciprocating in the cylinder bores with the power received from the driving shaft to compress a refrigerant, the compressor including: a permanent magnet disposed on either of the pistons or the cylinder block; and coil parts provided to the other part, whereby power generation is conducted by means of the electromagnetic induction produced by the motions of the pistons.
According to the present invention, desirably, each piston has a body and the permanent magnet mounted on the inner peripheral surface of the body, and the cylinder block has the coil parts adapted to surround the cylinder bores.
According to the present invention, desirably, the cylinder block has mounting grooves formed to surround the cylinder bores, the mounting grooves being adapted to coupledly insert the coil parts thereinto.
According to the present invention, desirably, each coil part includes a coil and a first fixing member adapted to fix the coil thereto, the first fixing member being formed of silicon steel and the coil having a concentric structure in which two or more rows defined by a partition plate are formed.
According to the present invention, desirably, the permanent magnet is fixed to a second fixing member of each piston.
According to the present invention, desirably, the permanent magnet includes first permanent magnet having N and S poles located in the motion direction of each piston and second permanent magnet disposed at one side of each first permanent magnet in such a manner as to have the same polarities as the facing polarities in the height direction thereof, the first permanent magnet and the second permanent magnet being alternately arranged in the motion direction of each piston.
According to the present invention, desirably, the permanent magnet includes a third permanent magnet having an S pole located on the inner peripheral surface thereof contacted with the second fixing member and an N pole located on the outer peripheral surface thereof, a fourth permanent magnet located at one side of the third permanent magnet in the motion direction of each piston and having an N pole located at the side adjacent to the third permanent magnet, and a fifth permanent magnet located at the other side of the third permanent magnet in the motion direction of each piston and having an N pole located at the side adjacent to the third permanent magnet.
To accomplish the above-mentioned objects, according to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a power generating system including: a compressor having a permanent magnet disposed on either of pistons or a cylinder block and coil parts provided to the other part to conduct power generation by means of the electromagnetic induction produced by the motions of the pistons; a converter converting the output voltage of the compressor; a battery part charging the power converted by the converter thereto; and a controller.
According to the present invention, desirably, the power generating system further includes: a bypass line connected to the front and rear sides of the compressor located on a refrigerant line connecting the compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve, and an evaporator to allow the refrigerant passing through the compressor to move back to the front side of the compressor; and an adjusting valve adjusting the flow of refrigerant passing through the bypass line.
To accomplish the above-mentioned objects, according to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a power generating method in a power generating system having a bypass line connected to the front and rear sides of a compressor located on a refrigerant line connecting the compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve, and an evaporator to allow a refrigerant passing through the compressor to move back to the front side of the compressor, and an adjusting valve adjusting the flow of refrigerant passing through the bypass line, the method including: the determination step of determining whether cooling is needed; if it is determined that cooling is needed in the determination step, the refrigerant circulation step of closing the bypass line through the adjusting valve and opening the refrigerant line to allow the refrigerant passing through the compressor to move, thus conducting the cooling and the power generation; and if it is determined that cooling is not needed, the bypass step of opening the bypass line through the adjusting valve and closing the refrigerant line to allow the refrigerant passing through the compressor to be bypassed, thus conducting the power generation.
According to the present invention, desirably, if the external air temperature is over a reference temperature value, it is determined that cooling is needed in the determination step, and if the refrigerant discharge pressure of the compressor is over a reference pressure value, it is determined that cooling is needed in the determination step.
The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Hereinafter, an explanation on a compressor and a power generating system and method using the same according to the present invention will be in detail given with reference to the attached drawing.
According to the present invention, a compressor 100 compresses a refrigerant through the linear reciprocating motions of pistons to conduct power generation by means of electromagnetic induction. More particularly, the compressor 100 includes a cylinder block 110, a front housing 120, a rear housing 130, a driving shaft 140, and pistons 150, wherein a permanent magnet 152 is disposed on either of the pistons 150 or the cylinder block 110, and coil parts 114 are provided to the other part, so that power generation is achieved by means of the electromagnetic induction produced by the motions of the pistons 150.
According to the present invention, particularly, each piston 150 has a body 151 and the permanent magnet 152 mounted on the inner peripheral surface of the body 151, and the cylinder block 110 includes the coil parts 114 adapted to surround cylinder bores 112, thus providing easier manufacturing.
As shown in
First, the cylinder block 110 forms the frame of the compressor 100 and includes a center bore 111 piercedly formed at the center thereof and the cylinder bores 112 piercedly formed around the center bore 111. The driving shaft 140 is fitted to the center bore 111, and the cylinder bores 112 are formed to pass through the cylinder block 110 in a similar manner to the center bore 111 around the center bore 111 to form the spaces in which the pistons 150 are provided. That is, each cylinder bore 112 has a shape (a generally cylindrical shape) corresponding to the shape of each piston 150 in such a manner as to insert each piston 150 thereinto to allow each piston 150 to be linearly reciprocated therein.
At this time, the front housing 120 and the rear housing 130 are coupled to both ends of the cylinder block 110.
According to the present invention, the coil parts 114 are disposed on the cylinder block 110 to generate the electromagnetic induction together with the permanent magnet 152 mounted at the inside of the pistons 150. The coil parts 114 may be formed integrally to the cylinder block 110, and otherwise, mounting grooves 113 are formed on the cylinder block 110 to coupledly insert the coil parts 114 thereinto.
The mounting grooves 113 are hollow spaces for surrounding the cylinder bores 112, into which the coil parts 114 are inserted (See
At this time, each coil part 114 includes a coil 114a and a first fixing member 114b adapted to fix the coil 114a thereto. The first fixing member 114b serves as a support around which the coil 114a is wound and as a protector of the coil 114a. At this time, the first fixing member 114b is formed of silicon steel adapted to stably support the coil 114a thereagainst.
Further, the coil 114a of each coil part 114 is formed in a single row to surround the cylinder bore 112 therewith (See
In
The pistons 150 receive the power from the driving shaft 140 and linearly reciprocate inside the cylinder bores 112 of the cylinder block 110, so that the refrigerant is compressed to conduct the power generation. Each piston 150 includes the body 151 and the permanent magnet 152.
The body 151 is a portion forming the outer shape of the piston 150 and has a diameter capable of linearly reciprocating inside each cylinder bore 112 in such a manner as to be brought into contact with the inner peripheral surface of each cylinder bore 112 along the outer peripheral surface thereof. The body 151 has a connection part 151 a protruding from one side thereof to receive the driving force of the driving shaft 140, which will be described later.
The permanent magnet 152 is mounted inside the body 151 of each piston 150 to produce the power through the electromagnetic induction together with the coil parts 114.
The permanent magnet 152 has a cylindrical shape and is fixed to a second fixing member 153 of each piston 150.
The second fixing member 153 serves to fix the permanent magnet 152 thereto and has a generally cylindrical shape, as shown in
The permanent magnet 152 may be formed of one permanent magnet or two or more permanent magnets.
For example, the permanent magnet 152 may include first permanent magnets 152-1 having N and S poles located in the motion direction of each piston 150 and second permanent magnets 152-2 disposed at one side of each first permanent magnet 152-1 in such a manner as to have the same polarities as the facing polarities in the height direction thereof, wherein the first permanent magnets 152-1 and the second permanent magnets 152-2 are alternately arranged in the motion direction of each piston 150 (See
The permanent magnet 152 as shown in
As another example, as shown in
In addition to the shapes as shown in
The compressor 100 according to the present invention is applicable to the structure wherein the pistons 150 linearly reciprocate in the interiors of the cylinder bores 112 of the cylinder block 110, and the structure wherein the driving shaft 140 rotating by the power of the engine and the pistons 150 are connected to each other may be variously formed.
On the other hand, the compressor 100 as shown in
The front housing 120 is coupled to the cylinder block 110 to form a crank chamber 121 at the inside thereof, and the rear housing 130 has a suction chamber (not shown) into which the refrigerant is introduced through a suction port (not shown), a discharge chamber 131, and a discharge port (not shown) communicating with the discharge chamber 131 to discharge the refrigerant therefrom. At this time, the suction chamber is formed at the center of the surface of the rear housing 130 facing the cylinder block 110, and the discharge chamber 131 selectively communicates with the cylinder bores 112 and serves as the space in which the refrigerant compressed in the cylinder bores 112 stays before being discharged to the outside.
The front housing 120, the cylinder block 110, and the rear housing 130 are fastened to each other by means of fixing means, like bolts.
The front housing 120 has a pulley shaft 122a protruding from one side thereof (the opposite side to the side coupled to the cylinder block 110) to rotatably fit a pulley 122 thereto, the pulley 122 rotating by means of the driving force of the engine, and a shaft hole 123 formed piercedly from the center of the pulley shaft 122a to the crank chamber 121 in such a manner as to mount the driving shaft 140 therein. A rotor 142 is fixedly fitted to the driving shaft 140 inserted into the shaft hole 123 on a given area of the crank chamber 121. The rotor 142 is a generally circular plate, and the swash plates 143 are rotatably hinge-coupled to the rotor 142. The swash plates 143 are varied in angles fixed to the driving shaft 140 in accordance with the discharging capacities of the compressor 100. That is, the swash plates 143 have angles perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the driving shaft 140 or given tilted angles relative thereto. At this time, the outer circumferences of the swash plates 143 are connected to the connection parts 151a of the pistons 150 by means of shoes 144. Each connection part 151 a is a portion protruding from one side of the body 151 of each piston 150 toward the crank chamber 121, which is not inserted into each cylinder bore 112 of the cylinder block 110. In more detail, if the outer circumferences of the swash plates 143 are connected to the connection parts 151a of the pistons 150 by means of the shoes 144, the swash plates 143 rotate together with the driving shaft 140 and the rotor 142, while being varied in the fixed angles thereof, thus allowing the pistons 150 to linearly reciprocate in the interiors of the cylinder bores 112.
On the other hand, a valve assembly 160 is disposed between the cylinder block 110 and the rear housing 130 to control the flow of refrigerant between the suction chamber and the discharge chamber 131 of the rear housing 130 and the cylinder bores 112 of the cylinder block 110. That is, the valve assembly 160 controls the flows of refrigerant from the suction chamber to the cylinder bores 112 and from the cylinder bores 112 to the discharge chamber 131.
The compressor 100 according to the present invention is applicable to various compressors only if they compress a refrigerant through the linear reciprocating motions of pistons.
A power generating system 1000 according to the present invention includes the compressor 100 as mentioned above, a converter 210, a battery part 220, and a controller 230.
The converter 210 converts the output voltage of the compressor 100 and includes a rectifier and a stabilizer.
The battery part 220 charges the power converted by the converter 210 thereto.
The controller 230 monitors the compressor 100, the converter 210, and the battery part 220 and controls their operation.
At this time, the power generating system 1000 according to the present invention further includes a bypass line 400 and an adjusting valve 410.
The bypass line 400 is connected to the front and rear sides of the compressor 100 located on a refrigerant line 300 connecting the compressor 100, a condenser 310, an expansion valve 320, and an evaporator 330 to allow the refrigerant to flow therealong, and along the bypass line 400, accordingly, the refrigerant passing through the compressor 100 moves back to the front side of the compressor 100.
The refrigerant line 300 connects the compressor 100, the condenser 310, the expansion valve 320, and the evaporator 330 to move the refrigerant for cooling the vehicle therealong. At this time, both ends of the bypass line 400 are connected to the front and rear sides of the compressor 100, so that the refrigerant passing through the compressor 100 moves back to the compressor 100, without being circulated along the refrigerant line 300.
On the other hand, the condenser 310 heat-exchanges the high temperature, high pressure vapor refrigerant discharged from the compressor 100 with external air, condenses the heat-exchanged refrigerant into high temperature, high pressure liquid, and discharges the condensed liquid refrigerant to the expansion valve 320. The expansion valve 320 rapidly expands the refrigerant to low temperature, low pressure wet saturated refrigerant through a throttling process and discharges the wet saturated refrigerant. The evaporator 330 heat-exchanges the low pressure liquid refrigerant throttled in the expansion valve 320 with the air blowing to the interior of the vehicle and evaporates the liquid refrigerant to allow the air discharged to the interior of the vehicle to be cooled through the absorption of heat generated by the latent heat of the evaporation of the refrigerant.
The adjusting valve 410 adjusts the flow of refrigerant passing through the bypass line 400 and is open and closed by the control of the controller 230.
According to the present invention, the power generating system 1000 determines whether the refrigerant passing through the compressor 100 is bypassed or not in accordance with the opening and closing of the adjusting valve 410, so that if cooling is needed, the refrigerant passing through the compressor 100 moves along the refrigerant line 300, and if cooling is not needed, the refrigerant passing through the compressor 100 moves along the bypass line 400 and flows to the compressor 100 again.
Accordingly, the power generating system 1000 can produce the power required for the vehicle through the motions of the pistons 150 of the compressor 100 and conduct the power generation together with the cooling of the vehicle. Otherwise, the power generating system 1000 conducts only the power generation.
On the other hand, a power generating method according to the present invention includes the determination step, the refrigerant circulation step, and the bypass step, while using the power generating system 1000 as mentioned above.
The determination step is conducted by the controller 230 determining whether cooling is needed, and the determination is made by an external air temperature or a refrigerant discharge pressure. In more detail, if the external air temperature is over a reference temperature value, it is determined that cooling is needed, and otherwise, if the refrigerant discharge pressure of the compressor 100 is over a reference pressure value, it is determined that cooling is needed.
If it is determined that cooling is needed in the determination step, the refrigerant circulation step is conducted by closing the bypass line 400 through the adjusting valve 410 and opening the refrigerant line 300 to allow the refrigerant passing through the compressor 100 to move, thus conducting the cooling and the power generation. The refrigerant is circulated as shown in
If it is determined that cooling is not needed in the determination step, the bypass step is conducted by opening the bypass line 400 through the adjusting valve 410 and closing the refrigerant line 300 to allow the refrigerant passing through the compressor 100 to be bypassed, thus conducting power generation. The refrigerant is circulated as shown in
As mentioned above, the compressor 100 according to the present invention and the power generating system 1000 and the power generating method using the same are configured wherein as the driving shaft 140 rotates by receiving the driving force from the engine, the refrigerant is compressed in the cylinder bores 112 by the pistons 150 to conduct power generation, so that the power required for the vehicle can be produced. In more detail, the compressor 100 according to the present invention and the power generating system 1000 and the power generating method using the same are configured wherein power is stably supplied through the compressor necessarily disposed for cooling, without any separate components, so that the compressor and the power generating system and method can be simply applied to vehicles having a relatively large quantity of power consumed such as fuel cell vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, and the like.
While the present invention has been described with reference to the particular illustrative embodiments, it is not to be restricted by the embodiments but only by the appended claims. It is to be appreciated that those skilled in the art can change or modify the embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2014-0118647 | Sep 2014 | KR | national |
