Patent Application
20090100953
(a) Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air compressor, and in particular to a speed reduction gearing mechanism for driving a piston within a cylinder of the air compressor.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
A motor-driving air compressor, which can be a small- or medium-sized air compressor or a vehicle-carrying air compressor, is constructed by coupling a piston rod to a motor spindle with an eccentric block. In high speed rotation of the motor, the eccentric block is rotated, which in turn drives reciprocal movement of the piston rod due to the rotary and eccentric arrangement. The piston rod then reciprocally moves a piston within a cylinder to thereby compress air drawn into the cylinder.
Such a conventional structure suffers two drawbacks:
(1) Since in the conventional air compressor systems, the motor has a very high rotational speed, such a high rotational speed does not match the reciprocation speed of the piston and the piston rod and finer since the conventional air compressor system is not equipped with cooling means, when the motor is put in high speed rotation, excessively high temperature is induced in the cylinder, which makes the conventional air compression system not suitable for high power consumption operation of gas compression and further makes it impossible for the conventional air compressor system to continuously operate. In other words, the conventional air compressor system can only be operated in an intermittent manner, wherein the system must shut down after a period of operation and then be started again for next period of operation. Such a tedious process is repeated to ensure safe operation of the air compressor.
(2) Due to the high rotational speed of the motor of the conventional air compressor system, together with the coupling between the piston rod and the motor spindle being effected by an eccentric block, when the motor is put into operation, a centrifugal force is induced on the eccentric block, which causes significant vibration and noise and thus makes the operation of the air compressor instable, leading to reduced lifespan and poor performance.
Thus, it is desired to provide a reduction gearing mechanism for an air compressor to overcome the drawbacks of excessive rotational speed and insufficiency of torque and also to provide a composite structure of reduction gearing to ensure smoother operation of the air compressor.
The primary purpose of the present invention is to provide a speed reduction gearing mechanism for a piston of an air compressor, and particularly, a speed reduction gearing mechanism of an air compressor piston that enhances smooth and stable operation of the air compressor, wherein a reduction gear is made of a composite structure that comprises an external plastic molding enclosing a metallic internal portion, which not only converts rotation of a motor into reciprocal movement of the piston with enhanced transmission of torque applied to the piston rod and effectively improving compression ratio between the piston and the cylinder, but also makes the operation more stable with reduced vibration/shock and noise to consequently enhance operation efficiency and performance of the air compressor.
The speed reduction gearing mechanism in accordance with the present invention realizes two goals. (1) With the arrangement of the reduction gear, the rotational speed applied from the motor to the piston rod is effectively reduced so as to raise the torque applied to the piston rod to ensure the optimum arrangement among the piston, the piston rod, and the motor. (2) With a composite, enclosing configuration of the reduction gear, the above discussed improvement of performance can be realized in a more stable and shock- and noise-reduced manner.
In summary, the present invention relates to an air compressor system that is driven by a motor and that comprise a cylinder in which a piston is reciprocally moved by a piston rod that is coupled to the motor. More particularly, the present invention provides a technique solution that reduces the high speed output of the motor and realizes simultaneously speed change and torque increase. In addition, the reduction gear of the present invention is of a structure that provides an air compressor that is driven by a motor with more stable operability and reduction of vibration/shock and noise of operation.
The present invention provides a speed reduction gearing mechanism that comprises a reduction gear having a central rotation shaft located below a motor spindle and mating a driving gear mounted to the motor spindle to be driven thereby. The reduction gear forms a shaft hole that is eccentric with respect to the central shaft of the reduction gear for rotatably coupling a piston by means bearing and shaft so that due to the rotary and eccentric arrangement, when the motor spindle transmits high speed rotation to the reduction gear, the reduction gear effectively reduces the rotational speed, while driving the piston rod to cause a piston to perform reciprocal movement within a cylinder thereby compressing air drawn into the cylinder.
The reduction gear in accordance with the present invention is of a composite structure having an enclosing integrated configuration. In other words, the reduction gear is composed of two portions of different materials and in a preferred embodiment, the reduction gear comprises an external ring-like toothed portion of plastic injection molding enclosing and integrally fixed with an internal metallic portion to provide a feature of being externally soft and internally rigid. In this way, when the reduction gear is put in engagement with the driving gear of the motor spindle, the reduction gear provides an engagement of “sof” contact with the driving gear and preserves the desired rigidity for the operation of gearing. Thus, noise of operation caused by engagement between metallic teeth of two gears is eliminated and the vibration/shock occurring in the process of operation is also reduced to thereby ensure smoother and more stable operation of the air compressor system.
The foregoing object and summary provide only a brief introduction to the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects of the present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which will become apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detailed description of the invention and the claims should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specification and drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similar parts.
Many other advantages and features of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.
The following descriptions are of exemplary embodiments only, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following description provides a convenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of the invention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
With reference to the drawings and in particular to
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It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together may also find a useful application in other types of methods differing from the type described above.
While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.
