Bearing for supporting a rotating compressor shaft
AssigneeTrane International Inc.
InventorsSung Hwa Jeung, Charles Roesler, Donald Lee Hill, Jay H. Johnson, Joseph M. Heger
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A compressor includes a housing, a shaft that is rotated relative to the housing to compress a working fluid, and a foil bearing that supports the shaft. The foil bearing includes a top foil. The foil bearing is a foil gas bearing that is backed up by a ball bearing, or a mesh foil bearing with an actuator to compress a wire mesh dampener. A heat transfer circuit includes a compressor and a working fluid. The compressor includes a shaft that is rotated to compress the working fluid, and a foil bearing for supporting the shaft as it rotates.
Claims18
A compressor, comprising:
- a housing;
- a shaft configured to be rotated relative to the housing to compress a fluid;
- a foil gas bearing for supporting the shaft while rotating, the foil gas bearing including a top foil and a bump foil;
- and
- a backup bearing at a different location along the shaft than the foil gas bearing, the backup bearing configured to support the shaft while rotating when the shaft compresses the bump foil by a predetermined amount, and the bump foil being closer to the shaft than the backup bearing when the shaft is spaced apart from the foil gas bearing.
A heat transfer circuit, comprising:
- a compressor including:
- a shaft rotatable to compress a working fluid,
- a foil gas bearing for supporting the shaft while rotating, the foil gas bearing including a top foil and a bump foil, and
- a backup bearing located at a different location along the shaft than the foil gas bearing, the backup bearing configured to support the shaft while rotating when the shaft compresses the bump foil by a predetermined amount, and the bump foil being closer to the shaft than the backup bearing when the shaft is spaced apart from the foil gas bearing;
- a condenser for cooling the working fluid compressed by the compressor;
- an expander for expanding the working fluid cooled by the condenser;
- and
- an evaporator for heating the working fluid expanded by the expander with a process fluid.
A compressor, comprising:
- a housing;
- a shaft configured to be rotated relative to the housing to compress a fluid;
- a foil gas bearing for supporting the shaft while rotating;
- and
- a backup bearing at a different location along the shaft than the foil gas bearing, the backup bearing configured to support the shaft while rotating when the shaft compresses the foil gas bearing by a predetermined amount, and the foil gas bearing being closer to the shaft than the backup bearing when the shaft is spaced apart from the foil gas bearing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.