US 6,146,107 AGranted

Variable displacement compressor

AssigneeKabushiki Kaisha Toyoda Jidoshokki Seisakusho

InventorsMasahiro Kawaguchi, Tetsuhiko Fukanuma, Kazuaki Iwama, Hiroyuki Nagai

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Abstract

A drive plate or lug plate is supported on a drive shaft for integral rotation therewith. A cam plate is coupled to the lug plate by a hinge mechanism to integrally rotate with the drive shaft and tilt with respect to the axis of the drive shaft. The cam plate is coupled to a piston to convert the rotation of the drive shaft into linear reciprocating movement of the piston in a cylinder to compress gas supplied from an external circuit and to discharge the compressed gas outward from the cylinder. The hinge mechanism has a first guide pin projecting to the lug plate from the cam plate, a second guide pin projecting to the lug plate from the cam plate in a position following the first guide pin which is the leading pin with respect to the direction of rotation of the drive shalt, a first guide hole formed in a support arm projecting from the lug plate to receive the first guide pin and a second guide hole formed in a second support arm projecting from the drive plate to receive the second guide pin. The first guide hole is located in a position offset from the second guide hole away from the rear surface of the lug plate by a distance which corresponds to the amount of movement of the cam plate and first guide pin caused by compression reaction on the piston during the compression stroke.

Claims25

Dependent claims

A structure for holding a cam plate in a compressor having a lug plate supported on a compressor drive shaft for integral rotation therewith, said cam plate being coupled to the lug plate by hinge means to integrally rotate with the drive shaft and to tilt with respect to the axis of the drive shaft, said cam plate being coupled to a piston to convert rotation of the drive shaft into linear reciprocating movement of the piston within a cylinder to compress a compressible gas supplied to the cylinder from an external gas circuit and to discharge the compressed gas outward from the cylinder during piston compression movement, said lug plate having a surface facing towards said cam plate, said hinge means comprising:

a first guide pin and a second guide pin respectively projecting from said cam plate to said lug plate, said first and second guide pins being aligned with each other in annularly spaced apart relation in the direction of said rotation of the drive shaft with said first guide pin being in a leading position, and said second guide pin being in a following position with respect to the other guide pin;
said lug plate having respective first and second support arms projecting substantially from said lug plate surface and being in similar annularly spaced apart relation in the direction of said rotation of the drive shaft for respective engagement by said cam plate first and second guide pins, said first support arm having a first guide hole receiving said first guide pin in engagement therewith on a surface portion of the first guide hole which is nearest to said drive plate surface, and said second support arm having a second guide hole receiving said second guide pin in engagement therewith on a surface portion of the second guide hole which is annularly displaced an angular distance towards the following direction of said rotation of the drive shaft from a surface portion of the second guide hole which is nearest to said lug plate surface;
and
said surface portion of the first guide hole which is nearest to said lug plate surface being located a greater distance away from said lug plate surface than is said second guide hole surface portion which is nearest to said lug plate surface.

1 more element

A structure for holding a swash plate in a compressor having a lug plate supported on a compressor drive shaft for integral rotation therewith, said swash plate being coupled to the lug plate by hinge means to integrally rotate with the drive shaft and to tilt with respect to the axis of the drive shaft, said swash plate being coupled to a piston to convert rotation of the drive shaft into linear reciprocating movement of the piston within a cylinder to compress a compressible gas supplied to the cylinder from an external gas circuit and to discharge the compressed gas outward from the cylinder during piston compression movement, said lug plate having a surface facing towards said swash plate, said hinge means comprising:

a first guide pin and a second guide pin respectively projecting from said swash plate to said lug plate, each of said guide pins having a substantially spherical end, said first and second guide pins being aligned with each other in annularly spaced apart relation in the direction of said rotation of the drive shaft with said first guide pin being in a leading position, and said second guide pin being in a following position with respect to the other guide pin;
said lug plate having respective first and second guide holes in similar annularly spaced apart relation to each other in the direction of said rotation of the drive shaft for respective engagement by said swash plate first and second guide pin spherical ends, said first guide hole receiving said first guide pin spherical end in engagement therewith on a surface portion of the first guide hole which is nearest to said lug plate surface, and said second guide hole receiving said second guide pin spherical end in engagement therewith on a surface portion of the second guide hole which is annularly displaced substantially towards the following direction of said rotation of the drive shaft from a surface portion of the second guide hole which is nearest to said lug plate surface;
and
said surface portion of the first guide hole which is nearest to said lug plate surface being located at a greater distance away from said lug plate surface than said surface portion of the second guide hole which is nearest to said lug plate surface, said greater distance being substantially equal to an anticipated distance of compression reaction movement of said swash plate towards said lug plate during said piston compression movement.

1 more element

A compressor comprising:

a housing having a cylinder bore;
a drive shaft supported by the housing;
a cam plate supported by the drive shaft;
a piston coupled to the cam plate to reciprocate in the cylinder bore to compress gas supplied from an external circuit and to discharge the compressed gas;
a drive plate supported on the drive shaft for integral rotation therewith;
and
a hinge coupling the cam plate to the drive plate for causing the cam plate to integrally rotate with the drive shaft and to permit the cam plate to tilt with respect to the axis of the drive shaft, wherein the hinge includes:
a first guide pin projecting toward the drive plate from the cam plate;
and
a second guide pin projecting toward the drive plate from the cam plate in a position trailing the first guide pin with respect to the direction of rotation of the cam plate wherein said drive plate has a first guide hole that receives the first guide pin and a second guide hole that receives the second guide pin, wherein the second guide hole extends farther in the axial direction of the drive shaft, away from the cam plate, than the first guide hole by a predetermined distance, wherein the predetermined distance is based on the anticipated movement of the cam plate due to forces applied to the cam plate during rotation.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.