The present invention relates to scroll type fluid machinery, which can be used as compressors, vacuum pumps, expander machines, etc.
Double-scroll fluid machinery has got people's attentions due to its many advantages such as thrust force canceling. The technology of Double-Scroll linked by a Plurality of Orbiting units (DSPO) revealed in US patent U.S. Pat. No. 6,988,876 has two volume changing mechanisms, each of which comprises its respective orbiting scroll and stationary scroll. The two stationary scrolls are connected with a housing. Orbiting units are located between the two volume changing mechanisms. Each orbiting unit comprises a rotating member that is rotatably supported on the housing, and a thrust-canceling shaft that is eccentrically and rotatably supported in the rotating member. The thrust-canceling shaft connects the two orbiting scrolls with its two ends to form a frame structure. The orbiting scrolls orbit with respect to the matching stationary scrolls when the rotating members are driven, and thus the continuous changes of the volumes are realized.
It has been revealed in Chinese Patent Publication CN1963205A that DSPO can easily realize internal fluid injection cooling (especially water injection), because the volume changing mechanisms and the orbiting units are separated by the decompression chambers, and the bearings are not installed directly on the orbiting scrolls.
Due to the engagement between DSPO's orbiting scrolls and the respective stationary scrolls, the two orbiting scrolls are required to connect with the thrust-canceling shaft accurately in both radial and axial directions. However, it is not practical to have through holes on the end plates of the orbiting scrolls for installing and tightening the thrust-canceling shaft, since one side of the end plate is a working surface of the compressing chamber. Therefore, the installation and adjustment of the thrust-canceling shaft into the orbiting scrolls are pretty tough.
DSPO's orbiting units have two bearing groups, the thrust-canceling shaft supporting bearing group, and the rotating member supporting group. The former is installed inside with a very small space, though it withstands a larger load. The current DSPO technology still has issues in resolving the heat dissipating, and the adjustment of the axial clearance and the pre-load of the bearing group supporting the rotating member. These issues limit the utilization of DSPO technology for the fluid machinery with a large capacity.
An object of the present invention is, by improving the structure design of DSPO orbiting units, to improve the assembly and the adjustment processes of the scroll type fluid machinery with orbiting units, and thus to improve the reliability and durability of the machine, reduce the manufacturing cost, and improve the cooling of the bearings, which make it possible for DSPO technology to be utilized for the fluid machinery with a larger capacity.
These improvements include the utilization of the assembled rotating members, the assembly sets of the thrust-canceling shaft, the bearing cooling structure, the load balancing device and method of rotating members, and the bearing pre-tightening and adjusting device.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the thrust-canceling shaft contains the assembly sets for the installation of orbiting scrolls. The assembly set has a connector connecting directly or indirectly with the orbiting scrolls through threads, and a turning element that directly or indirectly constrains the connector circumferentially but allows the connector to move axially. When the turning element is rotated during the assembly, the connector is turned accordingly, and thus the two orbiting scrolls can be pulled closer and tight through the threads. Therefore, the outer portion of the thrust-canceling shaft is compressed but the connector is stretched, which can result in adequate assembly stress for sound connections. To prevent from loosening, the tightening direction should be opposite to the rotation direction of the rotating members for the fluid energizing machinery, such as compressors, vacuum pumps, etc. The locking device can also be used for this purpose. Meanwhile, the turning element can be rotated in the opposite direction to disassemble the orbiting scrolls.
The thrust-canceling shaft can have multiple assembly sets, and the connector can have a thread on one end, two threads with opposite directions on the two ends, or two threads with the same direction but different pitches on the two ends. The number of the assembly sets, the different options of the connector threads and the turning elements make up different forms of thrust-canceling shafts. The connector and the turning element not only form the assembly set and realize the pre-load and the assembly of orbiting scrolls and the thrust-canceling shaft, but also have other functions. For example, the turning element can be used to adjust the axial position of the orbiting scrolls, and serves as the sealing washer of the bearing. The connector can also directly fit into the inner ring of the bearing group supporting the thrust-canceling shaft to take the radial load from the bearing group.
The assembled rotating member provided in the present invention comprises 1) a rotator with an eccentric hole to hold the bearing group supporting the thrust-canceling shaft, and 2) two rotating hubs on which the supporting bearings of the rotating member are installed. The two rotating hubs are assembled together with the rotator to ensure a co-axle for the two bearings on the rotating hubs. The supporting bearing group of the thrust-canceling shaft can take a larger space, because of the fact that the bearings are located at different axial positions, which also benefits the manufacturing of the components, and the assembling and the adjustment of the bearings. There are air cooling holes and ducts on the rotator and the rotating hubs. The centrifugal force makes the air to flow around to cool the rotating members and the bearings when the machinery operates. The rotator can be an assembly of separate pieces and comprises: a) an eccentric ring, which is assembled with the two rotating hubs, and b) an outer driving ring, which can have the form of gear, sprocket, or synchronizing pulley, etc., the driving ring is fitted onto the eccentric ring, and can have elastic connections with the rotating hubs in the circumferential direction. This can make the load more evenly distributed among the orbiting units. Considering the relatively long length of the thrust-canceling shaft, a bearing support can be installed between the thrust-canceling shaft and the rotating hubs. Furthermore, the rotator and a rotating hub can be integrated into one component.
The present invention also provides cooling water ducts, cooling blades on rotating members, isolating plates for cooling air disturbance prevention, and the axial clearance adjustment device for the supporting bearings of the rotating members.
The present invention further provides the method to adjust the wrapping angles of the flexible driving element on the rotating members, in order to minimize the difference of the loads among rotating members.
The advantages of the present invention include the increased space for the supporting bearings of the thrust-canceling shaft due to the improvement of the DSPO orbiting unit structures, and the improvement of assembly and adjustment processes of the DSPO machinery. Thus the reliability and the durability of the machinery are improved, the manufacturing cost is reduced, the load difference on different bearings is minimized, and the bearings are cooled more efficiently. Thus the manufacturing of the DSPO machine models of larger capacities becomes possible.
As shown in
The assembled rotating member 10 comprises a rotating ring 47 and rotating hubs 41A and 41B. Rotating ring 47 and rotating hubs 41A, 41B are fastened together by screw set 42. The inner rings of bearings 11A and 11B are located on rotating hubs 41A and 41B, and the outer rings of bearing 14A and 14B are located in the eccentric hole of rotating ring 47. There are also centrifugally cooling air ducts 44A, 44B, 45A, and 45B in rotating hubs 41A and 41B, as shown in
Thrust-canceling shaft 20 has an assembly set comprising a screw rod 22 (as connector) and retaining rings 28A and 28B (as turning elements). Screw rod 22 has threads with opposite direction on its two ends, which engage with the thread holes on orbiting scrolls 3A and 3B, respectively. Screw rod 22 has two flat surfaces, and fits into the hole in shaft 23 with the similar shape, as shown in view A-A of
Five different thrust-canceling shaft structures are provided in the following embodiments 2-6. The same constituent elements as those in the embodiment 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals in
As shown in
In the above embodiments 1 and 2, only one retaining ring, 28A or 28B, is needed to assemble or disassemble orbiting scrolls 3A and 3B. In these cases, the constituent elements forming the circumferential constraint, such as the key or the flat surfaces, can be eliminated at one end.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
In this embodiment, the same constituent elements as those in embodiment 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and a description thereof is omitted, except specific instructions.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
When the outer edge of the rotating member have the form of gears, sprockets, or synchronic pulleys, rotating ring 47 can be made of separate pieces.
When thrust-canceling shaft is long, a supporting bearing can be put between the thrust-canceling shaft and the rotating hub, as shown in
In this embodiment, the same constituent elements as those in embodiment 7 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and a description thereof is omitted, except specific instructions. As shown in
Although the assembled rotating member described in the above embodiments comprises a rotating member and two rotating hubs, the rotating member can be integrated with a rotating hub. As shown in
When the DSPO machinery described in the aforementioned embodiments is driven by a flexible element (such as a chain or a belt), it is very important for the loads on rotating members are balanced.
Although in the foregoing embodiments, the present invention has been described using air scroll compressors as examples, the present invention is not limited to air scroll compressors, and it can be applied to other scroll type fluid machinery, such as vacuum pumps, refrigerant compressors and expanders, etc.
Although in the foregoing embodiments, the scroll type fluid machinery comprises two volume changing mechanisms having the same functions, the present invention is not limited to the described usages. For example, one of the two volume changing mechanisms can be used as a compression mechanism while the other used as an expansion mechanism.
Although a description for some common mechanical devices, such as balancer, tip seal, shaft seal, alignment pin, etc, is omitted in the foregoing embodiments, the present invention is not limited from their utilizations.
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2007 1 0009788 | Nov 2007 | CN | national |
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PCT/IB2008/054624 | 11/6/2008 | WO | 00 | 8/2/2010 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2009/060398 | 5/14/2009 | WO | A |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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