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US 10,480,831 B2Granted
Compressor bearing cooling
AssigneeCarrier Corporation
InventorsUlf J. Jonsson, Vishnu M. Sishtla, Zaffir A. Chaudhry
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vapor compression system (20) comprises a compressor (22) having one or more bearing systems (66, 68) supporting a rotor and/or one or more working elements (44). One or more bearing feed passages (114) are coupled to the bearings to pass fluid along a supply flowpath to the bearings. A mechanical pump (130; 330) is positioned to drive fluid along the supply flowpath. An ejector (140, 150) has a motive flow inlet (142, 152) coupled to the mechanical pump to receive refrigerant from the mechanical pump.
Claims18
A vapor compression system comprising:
- a compressor comprising:
- a housing assembly having a suction port and a discharge port and a motor compartment;
- an electric motor having a stator within the motor compartment and a rotor within the stator, the rotor being mounted for rotation about a rotor axis;
- one or more working elements coupled to the rotor to be driven by the rotor in at least a first condition so as to draw fluid in through the suction port and discharge said fluid out from the discharge port;
- one or more bearings supporting the rotor and/or the one or more working elements, and
- one or more bearing feed passages coupled to the one or more bearings to pass fluid along a supply flowpath to the one or more bearings;
- a mechanical pump positioned to drive fluid along the supply flowpath to the one or more bearings;
- a first heat exchanger downstream of the discharge port along a refrigerant primary flowpath in a first operational mode;
- an expansion device downstream of the first heat exchanger along the primary flowpath in the first operational mode;
- and
- a second heat exchanger downstream of the expansion device and coupled to the suction port to return refrigerant in the first operational mode,
- the vapor compression system further comprising:
- one or more bearing drain passages positioned to pass a bearing drain flow of said fluid from the motor compartment to the second heat exchanger;
- an ejector having:
- a motive flow inlet, coupled to the mechanical pump to receive refrigerant from the mechanical pump;
- a suction flow inlet;
- and
- an outlet.
15 more elements
A vapor compression system comprising:
- a compressor comprising:
- a housing assembly having a suction port and a discharge port and a motor compartment;
- an electric motor having a stator within the motor compartment and a rotor within the stator, the rotor being mounted for rotation about a rotor axis;
- one or more working elements coupled to the rotor to be driven by the rotor in at least a first condition so as to draw fluid in through the suction port and discharge said fluid out from the discharge port;
- one or more bearings supporting the rotor and/or the one or more working elements, and
- one or more bearing feed passages coupled to the one or more bearings to pass fluid along a supply flowpath to the one or more bearings;
- a mechanical pump positioned to drive fluid along the supply flowpath to the one or more bearings;
- a first heat exchanger downstream of the discharge port along a refrigerant primary flowpath in a first operational mode;
- an expansion device downstream of the first heat exchanger along the primary flowpath in the first operational mode;
- and
- a second heat exchanger downstream of the expansion device and coupled to the suction port to return refrigerant in the first operational mode, the vapor compression system further comprising:
- a first ejector having:
- a motive flow inlet, coupled to the mechanical pump to receive refrigerant from the mechanical pump;
- a suction flow inlet;
- and
- an outlet;
- and
- a second ejector having:
- a motive flow inlet;
- a suction flow inlet;
- and
- an outlet,
- wherein:
- a motive flowpath of the second ejector branching from the supply flowpath downstream of the mechanical pump and extending to the motive flow inlet of the second ejector;
- a suction flowpath of the second ejector extends from the second heat exchanger to the suction flow inlet of second ejector;
- and
- an outlet flowpath of the second ejector feeds back from the outlet of second ejector to the suction flow inlet of the first ejector.
24 more elements
A vapor compression system comprising:
- a compressor comprising:
- a housing assembly having a suction port and a discharge port and a motor compartment;
- an electric motor having a stator within the motor compartment and a rotor within the stator, the rotor being mounted for rotation about a rotor axis;
- one or more working elements coupled to the rotor to be driven by the rotor in at least a first condition so as to draw fluid in through the suction port and discharge said fluid out from the discharge port;
- one or more bearings supporting the rotor and/or the one or more working elements, and
- one or more bearing feed passages coupled to the one or more bearings to pass fluid along a supply flowpath to the one or more bearings;
- a mechanical pump positioned to drive fluid along the supply flowpath to the one or more bearings;
- a first heat exchanger downstream of the discharge port along a refrigerant primary flowpath in a first operational mode;
- an expansion device downstream of the first heat exchanger along the primary flowpath in the first operational mode;
- and
- a second heat exchanger downstream of the expansion device and coupled to the suction port to return refrigerant in the first operational mode;
- an ejector having:
- a motive flow inlet, coupled to the mechanical pump to receive refrigerant from the mechanical pump;
- a suction flow inlet;
- and
- an outlet;
- and
- a controller configured to:
- start the mechanical pump prior to starting the compressor;
- and
- turn off the mechanical pump and leave the compressor running when a threshold condition has been sensed.
18 more elements
A method for operating a vapor compression system, the vapor compression system comprising:
- a compressor comprising:
- a housing assembly having a suction port and a discharge port and a motor compartment;
- an electric motor having a stator within the motor compartment and a rotor within the stator, the rotor being mounted for rotation about a rotor axis;
- one or more working elements coupled to the rotor to be driven by the rotor in at least a first condition so as to draw fluid in through the suction port and discharge said fluid out from the discharge port;
- one or more bearings supporting the rotor and/or the one or more working elements, and
- one or more bearing feed passages coupled to the one or more bearings to pass fluid along a supply flowpath to the one or more bearings;
- a mechanical pump positioned to drive fluid along the supply flowpath to the one or more bearings;
- a first heat exchanger downstream of the discharge port along a refrigerant primary flowpath in a first operational mode;
- an expansion device downstream of the first heat exchanger along the primary flowpath in the first operational mode;
- and
- a second heat exchanger downstream of the expansion device and coupled to the suction port to return refrigerant in the first operational mode;
- and
- an ejector having:
- a motive flow inlet, coupled to the mechanical pump to receive refrigerant from the mechanical pump;
- a suction flow inlet;
- and
- an outlet,
- the method comprising:
- starting the mechanical pump;
- after the starting of the mechanical pump, starting the electric motor to draw the fluid in through the suction port and discharge the fluid from the discharge port;
- and
- turning the mechanical pump off while continuing to run the electric motor.
19 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.