Impeller with external blades
AssigneeTrane International Inc.
InventorJoel Gronvall
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A compressor includes a housing, a shaft, and an impeller rotatable relative to the housing by the shaft. The impeller includes a hub, impeller blades, and external blades. The impeller blades extend from a front of the hub. The external blades protrude from a rear surface of the hub or an outer surface of a shroud of the impeller. The external blades are curved along the rear surface or the outer surface. A heat transfer circuit includes a compressor and a working fluid. The compressor includes an impeller having a hub, impeller blades, and external blades.
Claims18
A compressor, comprising:
- a housing;
- a shaft with an end;
- and
- an impeller rotatable relative to the housing by the shaft, the impeller including:
- a hub attached to the end of the shaft,
- impeller blades extending from a front of the hub,
- a shroud including an outer surface and an inner surface opposite to the outer surface, at least one of the impeller blades extending from the front of the hub to the inner surface of the shroud, and
- external blades protruding from the outer surface of the shroud of the impeller, the external blades curving in a circumferential direction of the impeller along the outer surface of the shroud of the impeller, at least one of the external blades extending less than entirely across the outer surface of the shroud of the impeller, and the external blades being aligned in the circumferential direction.
A heat transfer circuit, comprising:
- a compressor including:
- a housing;
- a shaft with an end;
- and
- an impeller rotatable relative to the housing by the shaft to compress a working fluid, the impeller including:
- a hub attached to the end of the shaft,
- impeller blades extending from a front of the hub,
- a shroud including an outer surface and an inner surface opposite to the outer surface, at least one of the impeller blades extending from the front of the hub to the inner surface of the shroud, and
- external blades protruding from the outer surface of the shroud of the impeller, the external blades curving in a circumferential direction of the impeller along the outer surface of the shroud of the impeller, at least one of the external blades extending less than entirely across the outer surface of the shroud of the impeller, and the external blades being aligned in the circumferential direction;
- a condenser to cool the working fluid compressed by the compressor;
- an expander to expand the working fluid cooled by the condenser;
- and
- an evaporator to heat the working fluid expanded by the expander with a process fluid.
A method of providing sealing between an impeller and a housing in a compressor, the method comprising:
- positioning external blades of the impeller in a passage between the housing of the compressor and an outer surface of a shroud of the impeller, the external blades curving in a circumferential direction of the impeller along the outer surface of the shroud of the impeller, at least one of the external blades extending less than entirely across the outer surface of the shroud of the impeller, the external blades being aligned in the circumferential direction, the impeller including impeller blades, and at least one of the impeller blades extending from a front of the hub to the inner surface of the shroud;
- and
- rotating the impeller relative to the housing, rotating the impeller relative to the housing including:
- rotating the impeller blades relative to the housing to compress a working fluid, a portion of the compressed working fluid flowing into the passage, and
- rotating the external blades relative to the housing to increase a pressure within the passage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.