The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to Japanese Application No. 2015-232228, filed on Nov. 27, 2015, entitled “METHOD FOR PRODUCING COMPRESSOR HOUSING.” The contents of this application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for producing a compressor housing for a turbocharger.
Description of the Related Art
Turbochargers, which are mounted in an automobile for example, are configured to compress intake air in the compressor and discharge the compressed air to the internal-combustion engine. Specifically, a scroll chamber into which the compressed air discharged from the impeller flows is provided on the air flow path formed within the compressor housing, the scroll chamber guides the compressed air to an outlet port, and the compressed air is discharged to the internal-combustion engine side through the outlet port.
The shape of the scroll chamber in particular greatly affects the performance of the compressor, and therefore it is necessary to form the shape suitably so as to conform to the performance requirements. In this regard, forming a compressor housing by gravity casting or low pressure casting may be conceived. These methods can implement casting using the so-called core and therefore provides enhanced geometric flexibility to be able to address complex shapes. However, the casting cycle lasts a long time and therefore the productivity is low, and since the core or another part is necessary, the cost is high. In addition, when a sand mold is used for example, there is another problem in that the surface roughness increases and therefore the efficiency of the compressor decreases.
On the other hand, die casting is also known as a method for forming a compressor housing. In die casting, the casting cycle is shorter than in gravity casting or low pressure casting and therefore the productivity is higher and the cost is lower. However, die casting can form only such shapes that can be pulled from the mold (i.e. shapes not including an undercut), and therefore has low geometric flexibility and cannot address complex shapes. In view of this, as disclosed in JP-A-2014-62492, there has been proposed a compressor housing constructed by assembling a scroll piece and a shroud piece, each formed as a discrete part, to each other. This is intended to ensure the geometric flexibility of the scroll chamber of the compressor housing while allowing each piece to be of a shape that can be easily formed by die casting.
However, in the compressor housing disclosed in JP-A-2014-62492, the outlet port is provided so as to extend from the scroll chamber in the direction tangential to the circumferential direction. Thus, to form the scroll piece by die casting, it is necessary to use a core or it is necessary to prepare a die casting mold for forming the scroll chamber and a die casting mold for forming the outlet port separately and to withdraw the two die casting molds in different directions when the molds are withdrawn. Therefore, there are problems in that the mold structure is complex and the production process is complex and thus the production cost increases.
In addition, the shape of the outlet port affects the performance of the compressor and also affects its mountability to the vehicle engine room. Thus, it is not desirable to place priority only on ease of coring out when designing the shape of the compressor housing.
The present invention has been made in view of the foregoing problems and is intended to provide a method for producing a readily producible compressor housing for a turbocharger.
One aspect of the present invention is a method for producing a compressor housing for a turbocharger, the compressor housing being able to house an impeller,
the compressor housing including: an inlet port formed adjacent to a front side of the impeller, the inlet port opening to a front side in an axial direction; a scroll chamber formed on an outer circumferential side of the impeller in a circumferential direction; an outlet port on an outer circumferential side of the inlet port, the outlet port opening to the front side in the axial direction; and an outlet communicating section communicating between the outlet port and the scroll chamber,
the compressor housing being constructed by assembling a scroll piece and a shroud piece, each formed as a discrete part, together in the axial direction,
the scroll piece including: an inlet cylindrical portion making the inlet port and having a through hole in the axial direction; a front side wall section on an outer circumferential side of the inlet cylindrical portion, the front side wall section making a front area of a wall surface of the scroll chamber; and an outlet cylindrical portion extending from a region in a circumferential direction of the front side wall section, the outlet cylindrical portion making the outlet communicating section and the outlet port,
the outlet cylindrical portion being configured such that an inner wall surface of the outlet communicating section is curved so as to smoothly connect between an inner wall surface of the scroll chamber and an inner wall surface of the outlet port,
the shroud piece including: a shroud press-fit portion in a cylindrical shape to be press-fitted into the inlet cylindrical portion; an inner circumferential wall section making an inner circumferential area of the wall surface of the scroll chamber; a shroud surface opposed to the impeller; and a diffuser surface extending from the shroud surface toward the scroll chamber,
the method including: a die casting step forming an intermediate formed body by die casting, the intermediate formed body having a residue portion including a metal material left within the outlet cylindrical portion, the die casting using a back mold having a first projecting portion projecting toward the front side and a front mold having a second projecting portion projecting toward a back side, the front mold being movable back and forth relative to the back mold in the axial direction; and
a cutting and removal step removing the residue portion in the intermediate formed body by cutting so as to obtain the scroll piece, wherein, in the die casting step, both the first projecting portion and the second projecting portion are disposed within the outlet cylindrical portion.
The method for producing a compressor housing includes the die casting step and the cutting and removal step. In the die casting step, die casting is performed using the back mold and the front mold that are movable back and forth relative to each other in the axial direction. Furthermore, the die casting is performed in such a manner that the first projecting portion of the back mold and the second projecting portion of the front mold are positioned within the outlet cylindrical portion. This makes it possible to form, by die casting, an intermediate formed body having a shape close to the final shape of the scroll piece without using a core or the like.
Then, the residue portion in the intermediate formed body is removed by cutting in the cutting and removal step, and thereby the scroll piece can be readily produced. By performing the simple die casting step and the simple cutting and removal step in this manner, it is possible to readily produce the scroll piece. Consequently, production of the compressor housing can be readily accomplished and therefore the production man-hours and the production cost can be minimized.
As described in the foregoing, with the above aspect, it is possible to provide a method for producing a readily producible compressor housing for a turbocharger.
As used herein, the term “circumferential direction” refers to the rotational direction of the impeller and the term “axial direction” refers to the direction of the rotation axis of the impeller. The term “front” refers to the side on which the inlet port opens in the axial direction and the term “back” refers to the opposite side.
In the die casting step, the first projecting portion and the second projecting portion are preferably abutted against each other. In such a case, the volume of the residue portion in the intermediate formed body can be reduced and therefore the man-hours in the cutting and removal step can be reduced. As a result, it is possible to further improve the productivity for producing the compressor housing.
Furthermore, the intermediate formed body preferably has the residue portion only partly existing on the inner wall surface of the outlet cylindrical portion. In such a case, the area to be cut in the inner wall surface of the outlet cylindrical portion in the cutting and removal step can be reduced. As a result, it is possible to further improve the productivity for producing compressor housings.
Furthermore, preferably, the first projecting portion has a first projecting mold surface for forming a part of the inner wall surface of the outlet cylindrical portion in the intermediate formed body and the second projecting portion has a second projecting mold surface for forming another part of the inner wall surface of the outlet cylindrical portion in the intermediate formed body. In such a case, the parts of the inner wall surface of the outlet cylindrical portion can be formed efficiently by the back mold and the front mold. Thus, scroll pieces with enhanced design flexibility can be produced more easily with good productivity.
In the die casting step, it is preferred that the projection end of the first projecting portion is located closer to the front end than the projection end of the second projecting portion. In such a case, the volume of the residue portion in the intermediate formed body can be reduced and therefore the man-hours in the cutting and removal step can be reduced.
An embodiment of the method for producing a compressor housing for a turbocharger will be described with reference to
As shown in
The compressor housing 1 is constructed by assembling a scroll piece 2 and a shroud piece 3, which are each formed as a discrete part, together in the axial direction Z. The scroll piece 2 includes an inlet cylindrical portion 21, a front side wall section 22, and an outlet cylindrical portion 23. The inlet cylindrical portion 21 makes the inlet port 11 and has a through hole in the axial direction Z. The front side wall section 22 is located on an outer circumference side of the inlet cylindrical portion 21 and makes a front area of the wall surface of the scroll chamber 12. The outlet cylindrical portion 23 extends from a region in the circumferential direction of the front side wall section 22 and makes the outlet communicating section 14 and the outlet port 13.
As shown in
For fabrication of the scroll piece 2, a die casting step and a cutting and removal step are performed. As shown in
As shown in
In the cutting and removal step, the residue portions 201 in the intermediate formed body 20 shown in
As shown in
As shown in
Furthermore, as shown in
To form the intermediate formed body 20 in the die casting step, firstly the back mold 4 and the front mold 5 are mated to each other. In this state, the first projecting portion 41 and the second projecting portion 51 are abutted against each other as shown in
Then, molten metal such as molten aluminum is injected into the cavity formed between the back mold 4 and the front mold 5. Then, the metal material within the cavity is solidified. At this stage, the intermediate formed body 20 of the scroll piece 2 is obtained within the cavity as shown in
Then, as shown in
That is, within the internal space of the outlet cylindrical portion 23 to be obtained, there are space regions in which neither the first projecting portion 41 nor the second projecting portion 51, which are movable back and forth along the axial direction Z, can be disposed. The portions corresponding to the space regions become the residue portions 201 and remain in parts of the intermediate formed body 20. However, as shown in
The residue portions 201 are removed by cutting in the cutting and removal step. In this manner, the scroll piece 2 having the desired outlet cylindrical portion 23 is obtained as shown in
In the manner described above, the scroll piece 2 can be obtained. An insert hole or the like for inserting a screw for securing the scroll piece 2 to a seal plate 6 can be formed as necessary by drilling or other means. As shown in
The shroud piece 3 can also be cast by die casting a metal such as aluminum. The shroud piece 3 is shaped such that coring-out in the axial direction Z is possible and therefore does not require a step corresponding to the above-described cutting and removal step.
Further, as shown in
When the seal plate 6 is assembled to the scroll piece 2, to which the shroud piece 3 has been assembled, the diffuser opposite surface 61 faces the diffuser surface 34 of the shroud piece 3. A diffuser passage 15 is formed between the diffuser surface 34 and the diffuser opposite surface 61.
When the seal plate 6 is assembled to the compressor housing 1, the compressor housing 1 is placed in a state in which the impeller 10 is disposed therewithin. In reality, as shown in
Thus, as shown in
Thus, in the turbocharger, the compressor housing 1 is in a state in which the seal plate 6 has been assembled thereto as shown in
The compressor takes in air through the inlet port 11 by means of rotation of the impeller 10. The intake air is delivered to the scroll chamber 12 from the impeller 10 through the diffuser passage 15. During this process, the intake air is compressed and the compressed air is delivered to the internal-combustion engine through the outlet port 13.
Now the functions and advantages of the present embodiment will be described. The above-described method for producing a compressor housing includes the die casting step and the cutting and removal step. In the die casting step, die casting is performed using the back mold 4 and the front mold 5, which are movable back and forth relative to each other in the axial direction Z. Further, the die casting is performed in such a manner that the first projecting portion 41 of the back mold 4 and the second projecting portion 51 of the front mold 5 are positioned within the outlet cylindrical portion 23. This makes it possible to easily form, by die casting, the intermediate formed body 20 having a shape close to the final shape of the scroll piece 2 without using a core or the like.
Then, the residue portions 201 in the intermediate formed body 20 are removed by cutting in the cutting and removal step, and thereby the scroll piece 2 can be readily produced. By performing the simple die casting step and the simple cutting and removal step in this manner, it is possible to readily produce the scroll piece 2. Consequently, production of the compressor housing 1 can be readily accomplished and therefore the production man-hours and the production cost can be minimized.
Furthermore, in the die casting step, the first projecting portion 41 and the second projecting portion 51 are abutted against each other. This makes it possible to reduce the volume of the residue portions 201 in the intermediate formed body 20 and therefore to reduce the man-hours in the cutting and removal step. Furthermore, the intermediate formed body 20 has the residue portions 201 only partly existing on the inner wall surface of the outlet cylindrical portion 23. Therefore, the area to be cut in the inner wall surface of the outlet cylindrical portion 23 in the cutting and removal step can be reduced. Consequently, it is possible to further improve the productivity for producing the compressor housing 1.
Furthermore, the first projecting portion 41 of the back mold 4 has the first projecting mold surface 411 and the second projecting portion 51 of the front mold 5 has the second projecting mold surface 511. This makes it possible to efficiently form the part of the inner wall surface of the outlet cylindrical portion 23 using the back mold 4 and the front mold 5. Thus, the scroll piece 2 with enhanced design flexibility can be produced more easily with good productivity.
In the die casting step, the projection end 414 of the first projecting portion 41 is located closer to the front side of the intermediate formed body 20 than the projection end 514 of the second projecting portion 51. This also makes it possible to reduce the volume of the residue portions 201 in the intermediate formed body 20 and therefore to reduce the man-hours in the cutting and removal step.
As described in the foregoing, with the present embodiment, it is possible to provide a method for producing a readily producible compressor housing for a turbocharger.
As shown in
As a result, as shown in
In the cutting and removal step, the film-form residue portion 202 is removed together with the other residue portions 201. With this operation, the inside space of the outlet cylindrical portion 23 is passed therethrough and the inner wall surface of the outlet cylindrical portion 23 is formed into the desired shape. In this manner, the scroll piece 2 (see
In this embodiment, the first projecting portion 41 and the second projecting portion 51 are not abutted against each other and therefore the dimensional accuracies of the facing surfaces of the first projecting portion 41 and the second projecting portion 51 need not be particularly high. As a result, it is possible to reduce the production cost. This embodiment has functions and advantages similar to those of Embodiment 1.
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and various embodiments may be employed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2015-232228 | Nov 2015 | JP | national |