Patent Application
20050169770
The present application claims priority under 35 USC 119 to Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-392757 filed on Nov. 21, 2003 the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an expander that includes a casing, a rotor rotatably supported in the casing, and an axial piston cylinder group arranged in the rotor so as to surround an axis of the rotor. The rotor is rotated by supplying high-temperature, high-pressure steam to an expansion chamber defined between a piston and a cylinder sleeve of the axial piston cylinder group. Sliding sections of the piston and the cylinder sleeve are lubricated with oil.
2. Description of Related Art
An expander is known as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-256805. This expander includes a first axial piston cylinder group arranged on the radially inner side and a second axial piston cylinder group arranged on the radially outer side. A piston of the first axial piston cylinder group has a solid structure with one end facing an expansion chamber, to which high temperature, high pressure steam is supplied. The other end abuts against a swash plate, while sliding sections of the piston and a cylinder sleeve are lubricated with oil.
In a piston of an axial piston cylinder group of an expander, it is desirable that an end thereof facing an expansion chamber is maintained at a high temperature so that the high temperature, high pressure steam supplied to the expansion chamber does not decrease. However, it is desirable for sliding sections of the piston and a cylinder sleeve to be maintained at a low temperature so as to ensure proper lubrication. However, if the piston has a solid structure, heat is quickly transmitted from the high temperature side to the low temperature side, so that the temperature of the end on the expansion chamber side, which should be maintained at a high temperature, easily decreases. In addition, the temperature of the sliding sections of the piston and the cylinder sleeve, which should be maintained at a low temperature, easily increases.
The present invention has been developed to eliminate the above-mentioned circumstances. It is an object of the present invention to suppress the escape, via a piston, of the heat from the high temperature, high pressure steam supplied to an expansion chamber of an axial piston cylinder group of an expander, for ensuring that the lubrication performance is in sliding sections of the piston and a cylinder sleeve.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, in accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, there is proposed an expander that includes a casing, a rotor rotatably supported in the casing, and an axial piston cylinder group arranged in the rotor so as to surround an axis of the rotor. The rotor is rotated by supplying high-temperature, high-pressure steam to an expansion chamber defined between a piston and a cylinder sleeve of the axial piston cylinder group, with sliding sections of the piston and the cylinder sleeve being lubricated with oil. The piston of the axial piston cylinder group has a land portion that is exposed to the high temperature, high pressure steam in the expansion chamber with a top portion that abuts against a swash plate, and a skirt portion that is disposed between the land portion and the top portion and slides against the cylinder sleeve. The piston has a hollow heat-insulating space formed therewithin. The land portion has a piston ring provided thereon with the piston ring separating the high temperature, high pressure steam in the expansion chamber from oil in the skirt portion.
Furthermore, in accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, a plurality of piston rings are provided along the longitudinal direction of the piston.
Moreover, in accordance with a third aspect of the present invention, a depression is provided between the plurality of piston rings.
Furthermore, in accordance with a fourth aspect of the present invention, an oil channel is provided in at least one of an outer peripheral face of the skirt portion of the piston and an inner peripheral face of the cylinder sleeve.
A second land channel 63e of an embodiment corresponds to the depression of the present invention, and a top ring 65 and a second ring 66 of the embodiment correspond to the piston rings of the present invention.
In accordance with the arrangement of the first aspect, the piston of the axial piston cylinder group is formed from the land portion exposed to the high temperature, high pressure steam in the expansion chamber with the top portion abutting against the swash plate, and the skirt portion disposed between the land portion and the top portion and sliding against the cylinder sleeve. A hollow heat-insulating space is formed therewithin to make heat transfer difficult. Therefore, it is possible to maintain the land portion, which is in contact with the high temperature, high pressure steam supplied to the expansion chamber, at a high temperature, thereby minimizing any decrease in the temperature of the high temperature, high pressure steam to prevent any decrease in efficiency of the expander. Also, it is possible to suppress any increase in the temperature of the skirt portion, which is in sliding contact with the cylinder sleeve, to ensure lubrication performance. Moreover, since the piston ring provided on the land portion separates the high temperature, high pressure steam in the expansion chamber from the oil in the skirt portion, it is possible to prevent the oil from entering the expansion chamber side and cooling the land portion, and to prevent the high temperature, high pressure steam from entering the skirt portion side and degrading the lubricating effect of the oil.
In accordance with the arrangement of the second aspect, since the plurality of piston rings are provided along the longitudinal direction of the piston, not only is it possible and more reliably to prevent the high temperature, high pressure steam from blowing past the land portion to the skirt portion, it is also possible to effectively prevent the oil and the high temperature, high pressure steam from mixing together by imparting the function of an oil ring to the piston ring which is on the side far from the expansion chamber.
In accordance with the arrangement of the third aspect, the depression is provided between the plurality of piston rings. Therefore, even if some of the high temperature, high pressure steam blows past the piston ring on the expansion chamber side, it is possible to prevent, by the effect of the volume of the depression, a pressure difference between the expansion chamber side and the depression side of the piston ring from abruptly decreasing, to thus urge radially outwardly the piston ring by the pressure difference to prevent the piston ring from floating above an inner peripheral face of the cylinder sleeve or a piston ring channel face, thereby ensuring sealing performance.
In accordance with the arrangement of the fourth aspect, since the oil channel is provided in at least one of the outer peripheral face of the skirt portion of the piston and the inner peripheral face of the cylinder sleeve, it is possible to retain oil in this oil channel to enhance the lubrication performance between the sliding surfaces of the piston and the cylinder sleeve.
A mode for carrying out the present invention is explained below with reference to an embodiment of the present invention shown in the attached drawings.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings, which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:
An expander E of this embodiment is used in, for example, a Rankine cycle system. The expander E converts the thermal energy and the pressure energy of the high-temperature, high-pressure steam as a working medium into mechanical energy, and outputs the energy. A casing 11 of the expander E is formed from a casing main body 12, a front cover 15 joined via a seal 13 to a front opening of the casing main body 12 by a plurality of bolts 14, a rear cover 18 joined via a seal 16 to a rear opening of the casing main body 12 by a plurality of bolts 17, and an oil pan 21 joined via a seal 19 to a lower opening of the casing main body 12 by a plurality of bolts 20.
A rotor 22 is arranged rotatably around an axis L extending in the fore-and-aft direction through the center of the casing 11. The rotor 22 includes a front part supported by combined angular bearings 23 provided in the front cover 15, and a rear part thereof supported by a radial bearing 24 provided in the casing main body 12. A swash plate holder 28 is formed integrally with a rear face of the front cover 15. A swash plate 31 is rotatably supported by the swash plate holder 28 via an angular bearing 30. The axis of the swash plate 31 is inclined relative to the axis L of the rotor 22, and the angle of inclination is fixed.
The rotor 22 includes an output shaft 32 supported in the front cover 15 by the combined angular bearings 23 with three sleeve support flanges 33, 34, and 35 being formed integrally with a rear part of the output shaft 32 via cutouts 57 and 58 having predetermined widths (see
Sets of five sleeve support holes 33a, 34a, and 35a are formed in the three sleeve support flanges 33, 34, and 35 respectively at intervals of 72° around the axis L. Five cylinder sleeves 41 are fitted into the sleeve support holes 33a, 34a, and 35a from the rear. A flange 41a is formed on the rear end of each of the cylinder sleeves 41. An axial positioning is carried out by abutting the flange 41a against the metal gasket 36 while fitting the flange 41a into a step 35b formed in the sleeve support holes 35a of the rear sleeve support flange 35 (see
A plate-shaped bearing holder 92 is superimposed on a front face of the front cover 15 via a seal 91 and is fixed thereto by means of bolts 93. A pump body 95 is superimposed on a front face of the bearing holder 92 via a seal 94 and is fixed thereto by means of bolts 96. The combined angular bearings 23 are held between a step of the front cover 15 and the bearing holder 92, thereby fixing them in the axis L direction.
A shim 97 having a predetermined thickness is held between the inner race of the combined angular bearings 23 and a flange 32d formed on the output shaft 32 supporting the combined angular bearings 23. The inner race of the combined angular bearings 23 is tightened by a nut 98 screwed around the outer periphery of the output shaft 32. As a result, the output shaft 32 is positioned in the axis L direction relative to the combined angular bearings 23, that is, relative to the casing 11.
An oil passage 32a is formed so as to extend along the axis L within the output shaft 32 which is integral with the rotor 22. The front end of the oil passage 32a branches in a radial direction and communicates with an annular channel 32b on the outer periphery of the output shaft 32. An oil passage blocking member 45 is screwed into the inner periphery of the oil passage 32a via a seal 44 at a position that is radially inside the middle sleeve support flange 34 of the rotor 22. A plurality of oil holes 32c extend radially outwardly from the oil passage 32a in the vicinity of the oil passage blocking member 45 and open on the outer periphery of the output shaft 32.
A trochoidal oil pump 49 is disposed between a recess 95a provided in a front face of the pump body 95 and a pump cover 48 fixed via a seal 46 to the front face of the pump body 95 by a plurality of bolts 47. The trochoidal oil pump 49 includes an outer rotor 50 that is rotatably fitted in the recess 95a, and an inner rotor 51 that is fixed to the outer periphery of the output shaft 32 and meshes with the outer rotor 50. An internal space of the oil pan 21 communicates with an intake port 53 of the oil pump 49 via an oil pipe 52 and an oil passage 95b of the pump body 95. A discharge port 54 of the oil pump 49 communicates with the annular channel 32b of the output shaft 32 via an oil passage 95c of the pump body 95.
The structure of the piston 42 is now explained in detail with reference to
The piston 42 is formed from a top portion 61, a skirt portion 62, and a land portion 63. The top portion 61 is a member having a spherical portion 61a that abuts against a dimple 31a of the swash plate 31, and is joined to the front end of the skirt portion 62 by welding. The land portion 63 and the skirt portion 62 are formed integrally and have a large volume with an evacuated, heat-insulating space 64 defined therewithin. An annular oil channel 62a is formed by slightly decreasing the diameter in a middle section of the skirt portion 62 which is slidably fitted into an inner peripheral face of the cylinder sleeve 41. A plurality of spiral channels 62b are formed in an outer peripheral section of the skirt portion 62 on the front side relative to the oil channel 62a.
The land portion 63 has a top land 63a on the expansion chamber 43 side and a second land 63b on the skirt portion 62 side. A top ring channel 63c is formed between the top land 63a and the second land 63b with a top ring 65 being fitted around the top ring channel 63c. A second ring channel 63d is formed between the second land 63b and the skirt portion 62 with a second ring 66 being fitted around the second ring channel 63d. A second land channel 63e is formed in a middle section of the second land 63b. The top land 63a and the second land 63b have an outer diameter that is slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the skirt portion 62. A gap a is formed between outer peripheral faces of the top land 63a and the second land 63b and the inner peripheral face of the cylinder sleeve 41. Therefore, a thrust load in the peripheral direction for rotating the rotor 22 is transmitted from the skirt portion 62 to the cylinder sleeve 41 without passing through the land portion 63.
A top ring 65, which is disposed at a position comparatively close to the end of the piston 42 (on the order of 10% of the diameter of the piston 42), has a rectangular cross-section with a face that is in sliding contact with the cylinder sleeve 41 which is a curved barrel face. A hard coating of a ceramic such as TiN or CrN is formed on the surface thereof. The second ring 66 has a rectangular cross-section (or an internal bevel cut cross-section); a face that is in sliding contact with the cylinder sleeve 41 which is a curved barrel face. A hard coating of a ceramic such as TiN or CrN is formed on the surface thereof. For both the top ring 65 and the second ring 66, the gap across the ends is set to be the minimum gap at which the ends do not make contact when hot with the thickness being set as small as possible (on the order of 3% of the diameter of the piston 42), and the initial tension being set fairly small.
Applying such a hard coating to the top ring 65 and the second ring 66 decreases the amount of wear and the amount of leakage of steam to be reduced. Since the initial tension of the top ring 65 and the second ring 66 is set to be small and the thickness is set to be small so that the load pushing the inner peripheral face of the cylinder sleeve 41 due to the pressure of the steam is reduced, it is possible to reduce the frictional force between the cylinder sleeve 41 and the top ring 65 and the second ring 66, while enhancing the sealing effect by improving the ability of the top ring 65 and the second ring 66 to follow the cylinder sleeve 41.
An annular channel 41b is formed on the outer periphery of a middle part of the cylinder sleeve 41 (see
An annular cover member 69 is welded to the front side or the expansion chamber 43 side of the rotor head 38 which is joined to the rear face of the rear sleeve support flange 35 of the rotor 22 by the bolts 37. Thus, an annular heat-insulating space 70 is defined at the back face or rear face of the cover member 69 (see
As shown in
The five cylinder sleeves 41 and the five pistons 42 form an axial piston cylinder group A of the present invention.
The operation of the expander E of this embodiment having the above-mentioned arrangement is now explained.
When the high temperature, high pressure steam generated by heating water in an evaporator that is supplied from the steam supply pipe 85 via the rotary valve 71 to the expansion chamber 43 within the cylinder sleeve 41, the piston 42 fitted in the cylinder sleeve 41 is pushed forward from a top dead center toward a bottom dead center, so that the top portion 61 at the front end of the piston 42 pushes against the dimple 31 a of the swash plate 31. As a result, the reaction force that the pistons 42 receive from the swash plate 31 gives a rotational torque to the rotor 22. For each one fifth of a revolution of the rotor 22, the high-temperature, high-pressure steam is supplied into a fresh adjoining expansion chamber 43, thus continuously rotating the rotor 22. While the piston 42, having reached the bottom dead center accompanying the rotation of the rotor 22, retreats toward the top dead center by being pushed by the swash plate 31, the low-temperature, low-pressure steam pushed out of the expansion chamber 43 is discharged into the steam discharge chamber 68 via the rotary valve 71.
The oil pump 49 provided on the output shaft 32 operates together with the rotation of the rotor 22. Oil is taken in from the oil pan 21 via the oil pipe 52, the oil passage 95b of the pump body 95, and the intake port 53 and is discharged from the discharge port 54, and supplied to the oil channel 62a formed in the skirt portion 62 of the piston 42 via the oil passage 95c of the pump body 95, the oil passage 32a of the output shaft 32, the annular channel 32b of the output shaft 32, the oil holes 32c of the output shaft 32, the annular channel 41b of the cylinder sleeve 41, and the oil holes 41c of the cylinder sleeve 41. A portion of the oil retained by the oil channel 62b flows into the spiral oil channels 62b formed in the skirt portion 62 of the piston 42, lubricates the surface that slides against the cylinder sleeve 41, and is then returned to the oil pan 21. Another portion of the oil lubricates the surfaces of the top ring 65 and the second ring 66 that slide against the cylinder sleeve 41, the top ring 65 and the second ring 66 are provided in the land portion 63 of the piston 42. Since the oil channel 62a formed in the skirt portion 62 has the function of temporarily retaining oil, it is possible to continuously supply oil to the sliding sections of the piston 42 and the cylinder sleeve 41, thus improving the lubrication conditions.
Since the evacuated, heat-insulating space 64 is formed in the interior of the piston 42, it is possible to suppress the escape, via the piston 42, of the heat of high temperature, high pressure steam supplied to the expansion chamber 43 which faces the end of the piston 42, thus minimizing any decrease in the temperature of the high temperature, high pressure steam in the expansion chamber 43 to increase the output of the expander E. Furthermore, since the top of the piston 42 is maintained at a high temperature, it becomes difficult for the steam to condense and liquify between the land portion 63 of the piston 42 and the cylinder sleeve 41, thus improving the lubrication conditions of the land portion 63 to improve the sealing performance and the wear resistance of the top ring 65 and the second ring 66.
Since the rear side of the top ring channel 63c of the land portion 63 of the piston 42 communicates with the expansion chamber 43 which is at a high pressure, and the front side thereof communicates with the second land channel 63e which is at a low pressure, the difference in pressure pushes the top ring 65 from the bottom part of the top ring channel 63c to make the top ring 65 come into intimate contact with the inner peripheral face of the cylinder sleeve 41 and the side face of the top ring channel 63c, thereby improving the sealing performance. Even if a part of the high temperature, high pressure steam in the expansion chamber 43 blows past the top ring 65 toward the second land channel 63e, it is possible to suppress an abrupt decrease in the difference in pressure by virtue of the volume of the second land channel 63e, thus maintaining the tension of the top ring 65 to prevent the sealing performance from deteriorating. Moreover, the second land channel 63e also has the function of retaining oil, thus contributing to an improvement in the lubrication performance.
The second ring 66 maintains the compression when the high temperature, high pressure steam blows past the top ring 65, and has the function of an oil ring to scrape off oil attached to the inner peripheral face of the cylinder sleeve 41. In this way, the high temperature, high pressure steam in the expansion chamber 43 is separated from the oil in the skirt portion 62 by means of the top ring 65 and the second ring 66 provided on the land portion 63, to thereby prevent the oil from entering the expansion chamber 43 side and cooling the land portion 63. Thus, the high temperature, high pressure steam is prevented from entering the skirt portion 62 side and degrading the lubricating effect of the oil.
Although an embodiment of the present invention is explained above, the present invention can be modified in a variety of ways without departing from the subject matter thereof.
For example, the axial piston cylinder group A of the embodiment includes the five pistons 42 and the five cylinder sleeves 41, but the numbers thereof are not limited to those of the embodiment.
Furthermore, the heat-insulating space 64 of the embodiment is evacuated. However, the heat-insulting space 64 may have a gas such as air sealed inside.
Moreover, in the embodiment, the oil channel 62a is provided in the outer peripheral face of the piston 42, but an oil channel may be provided in the inner peripheral face of the cylinder sleeve 41.
The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003-392757 | Nov 2003 | JP | national |
