Scroll compressor drive having a brake
AssigneeCopeland Corporation
InventorsNorman G. Beck, Gary J. Anderson, Richard S. Tucker
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A scroll machine has a fluid path which is defined by two components of the scroll machine. The fluid path extends between a discharge pressure zone and a suction pressure zone of the scroll machine. The scroll machine further includes a biasing member which biases one of the two components away from the other of the two components to open the fluid path when the scroll machine is not operating. The effect of the biasing member is overcome by several revolutions of the scroll machine by centrifugal force in one embodiment and fluid pressure in another embodiment.
Claims15
A scroll compressor comprising:
- a first scroll member having a spiral wrap thereon;
- a second scroll member having a spiral wrap thereon, said spiral wraps being mutually intermeshed;
- means for causing said scroll members to orbit with respect to one another, whereby said wraps create at least one enclosed space of progressively changing volume between a suction pressure region and a discharge pressure region;
- a fluid path defined by two components of said scroll compressor, said fluid path extending between said discharge pressure region and said suction pressure region;
- a biasing member for biasing one of said two components away from the other of said two components to open said fluid path when said compressor is not operating.
A scroll machine comprising:
- a hermetic shell;
- an orbiting scroll member disposed in said shell and having a first spiral wrap on one face thereof;
- a non-orbiting scroll member disposed in said shell and having a second spiral wrap on one face thereof, said spiral wraps being intermeshed with one another;
- a drive shaft for causing said orbiting scroll member to orbit about an axis with respect to said non-orbiting scroll whereby said wraps will create pockets of progressively changing volume between a suction pressure zone and a discharge pressure zone;
- a fluid path defined by two components of said scroll machine, said fluid path extending between said discharge pressure zone and said suction pressure zone;
- a biasing member for biasing one of said two components away from the other of said two components to open said fluid path when said scroll machine is not operating.
A scroll compressor means including a pair of scrolls one of which being an orbiting scroll, a slider block and a crankshaft wherein said orbiting scroll has a hub with a bore which has an axis and which receives said slider block, and said crankshaft has an axis of rotation and a drive pin which is received in a bore in said slider block, one of said pin and said slider block having a flat surface normally engaged by the other one of said pin and said slider block, said bore in said slider block being larger than said pin and generally coaxial with said bore in said hub and said drive pin acting through said slider block to drive said orbiting scroll during normal operation and said orbiting scroll tending to act through said slider block to drive said drive pin and crankshaft during reverse operation and pressure equalization through said compressor means at shutdown, reverse rotation prevention means comprising:
- said orbiting scroll and said slider block being movable with respect to said drive pin along said flat surface between a first position in which said orbiting scroll engages the other one of said pair of scrolls during normal operation and a second position in which said orbiting scroll is separated from the other one of said pair of scrolls upon slowing down and any tendency for reverse operation and pressure equalization;
- centrifugal force produced solely by movement of said orbiting scroll and said slider block during normal operation tends to keep said orbiting scroll and said slider block in said first position;
- means for causing said orbiting scroll and said slider block to move along said flat surface from said first position to said second position under conditions associated with slowing down and reverse operation whereby said pair of scrolls is separated, an unimpeded flow path is established through said compressor means and reversing torque caused by gas loads is decreased by reduction of orbit radius.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.