Screw compressor having asymmetric seal around rotor axis
AssigneeCarrier Corporation
InventorsDavid M. Rockwell, Frederick L. Miller, Jr., Yan Tang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A compressor includes a male rotor (26) having a screw-type boy portion (30) extending from a first end (31) to a second end (32) and held within a housing assembly for rotation about a first rotor axis (500). A female rotor (27, 28) has a screw-type female body portion (33, 34) meshed with the male body portion and extending from a first end (35, 36) to a second end (37, 38) and held within the housing assembly for rotation about a second rotor axis (501, 502). An end seal (120) has a first surface (126) engaging the female body portion first end and being asymmetric around the second axis.
Claims18
A compressor comprising:
- a housing assembly;
- a male rotor having a screw-type male body portion, the male rotor body portion extending from a first end to a second end and held within the housing assembly for rotation about a first rotor axis;
- a female rotor having a screw-type female body portion enmeshed with the male body portion, the female body portion extending from a first end to a second end and held within the housing assembly for rotation about a second rotor axis;
- and
- an end seal having a first surface engaging the female body portion first end and being asymmetric around the second axis.
A compressor comprising:
- a housing assembly;
- a male rotor having a screw-type male body portion, the male rotor body portion extending from a first end to a second end and held within the housing assembly for rotation about a first rotor axis;
- and
- a female rotor having a screw-type female body portion enmeshed with the male body portion, the female rotor body portion extending from a first end to a second end and held within the housing assembly for rotation about a second rotor axis;
- a suction plenum;
- a discharge plenum, the male and female rotor body portions cooperating with the housing to define at least a first compression path between the suction plenum and the discharge plenum;
- an economizer port at an intermediate location along the first compression path;
- and
- means for resisting leakage from the economizer port to the suction plenum while still permitting an axial flow component from the suction plenum.
A method for remanufacturing a compressor or engineering or reengineering a configuration of said compressor from a baseline condition to a second condition, the compressor comprising:
- a housing assembly;
- a male rotor having a screw-type male body portion, the male rotor body portion extending from a first end to a second end and held within the housing assembly for rotation about a first rotor axis;
- and
- a female rotor having a screw-type female body portion enmeshed with the male body portion, the female rotor body portion extending from a first end to a second end and held within the housing assembly for rotation about a second rotor axis;
- a suction plenum;
- and
- a discharge plenum, the male and female rotor body portions cooperating with the housing to define at least a first compression path between the suction plenum and the discharge plenum,
- the method comprising:
- providing an axial seal for sealing with said female rotor first end, the axial seal having a sealing surface asymmetric around said second axis, and wherein the axial seal either replaces a baseline axial seal having a sealing surface symmetric around said second axis or is located where there is no axial seal in the baseline condition.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.