Turbo compressor
AssigneeLG Electronics Inc.
InventorsJunchul Oh, Changgook Moon
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed is a turbo compressor. A rotary shaft is installed in a housing to be rotatable. A bearing supports the rotary shaft to be rotatable. A bearing housing is coupled to the housing and supports the bearing. The bearing includes a journal bearing and a journal bearing safety device. The journal bearing is attached to the inner circumference of the bearing housing, and includes a gas foil bearing so as to support the load of the rotary shaft in the radial direction. The journal bearing safety device is provided in the bearing housing, and restricts the movement distance of the rotary shaft in the radial direction to be within the elastic deformation range of the journal bearing. According to this configuration, damage to the journal bearing can be prevented.
Claims16
A turbo compressor, comprising:
- a housing;
- a rotary shaft rotatably mounted inside the housing;
- an impeller configured to rotate by being coupled to the rotary shaft;
- a bearing configured to rotatably support the rotary shaft;
- and
- a bearing housing coupled to the housing and configured to support the bearing;
- an impeller casing that receives the impeller therein, and comprising a diffuser that extends spirally from one side of the impeller to compress refrigerant suctioned by the impeller;
- and
- a bypass passage formed between an inside of the diffuser and an inside of the housing, so that a portion of refrigerant flowing into the diffuser is bypassed to the inside of the housing, wherein the bearing comprises:
- a journal bearing comprising a gas foil bearing mounted on an inner circumferential surface of the bearing housing, surrounding the rotary shaft, and spaced apart from the rotary shaft with an air gap, the journal bearing supporting a radial load of the rotary shaft;
- and
- a journal bearing safety device disposed in the bearing housing, and configured to limit a radial movement distance of the rotary shaft to within an elastic deformation range of the journal bearing, wherein the journal bearing safety device comprises a stopper formed to protrude toward the rotary shaft from the inner circumferential surface of the bearing housing, wherein an opening and closing valve is installed on one side of the bypass passage, and wherein the opening and closing valve is configured to open and close the bypass passage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.