Pumps – Motor driven – Including means for facilitating assembly or disassembly of...
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-10
2004-05-11
Yu, Justine R. (Department: 3746)
Pumps
Motor driven
Including means for facilitating assembly or disassembly of...
C417S410500, C417S423150, C062S236000, C418S055100, C184S006160
Reexamination Certificate
active
06733251
ABSTRACT:
The present disclosure relates to subject matter contained in priority Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-174432, filed on Jun. 8, 2001, the contents of which is herein expressly incorporated by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a compressor with a build-in electric motor which is suitable to be mounted on a mobile structure such as a motor vehicle. The invention also relates to a mobile structure having such a compressor.
2. Description of Related Art
In a vehicle driven only by an engine, a compressor driven by the engine has been used for air-conditioning the vehicle compartment with the compressor being mounted alongside of the engine.
Hybrid vehicles having both an engine and an electric motor and traveling by use of one of them according to conditions have been practically used for going on public roads. Air-conditioning of the vehicle compartment of this hybrid vehicle is made by a compressor driven by the engine in the same manner as conventional engine-driven vehicles, which compressor is mounted alongside of the engine.
It is proposed that the engines of hybrid vehicles should be shut off while they are temporarily stationary at a place such as a traffic light in order to reduce effects of the engine upon the environment. When the proposal is followed with a vehicle where a compressor driven by the engine is used, air-conditioning stops each time when the vehicle stops, causing problem for the driver and passengers in the compartment in summer and winter seasons, and especially in regions with extremely cold or hot climate.
For solving such a problem, there is an idea of adopting a compressor to be driven by an electric motor, especially a compressor to be used for air-conditioning in a building as shown in FIG.
7
. The compressor with a built-in electric motor is housed in a container
102
made of iron, together with a compression mechanism
100
and an electric motor
101
. In the hybrid vehicle, furthermore, the arrangement of devices in an engine room is based on that of the conventional motor vehicle. Thus, there is no space or location for installing the conventional compressor with the built-in electric motor for air-conditioning in the building in the engine room, so that the compressor should be mounted alongside the engine.
Regarding such a problem, the present inventors have conducted various experiments and found the following facts. That is, there is an inconvenience that a mounting leg or mounting seat
103
made of a sheet-metal welded on the container
102
requires a seat on the engine side. In addition, the compressor is heavy as much as about 9 kg or more. As the compressor is mounted alongside the engine, the strength of the mounting seat
103
is insufficient with respect to the weight of the compressor and vibrations thereof. In addition, the compressor is forced to receive vibrations of the engine, so that a weld zone between the conventional mounting seat
103
and the container
102
may be fractured, resulting in poor durability and lack of reliability. There is also an idea to prevent the influence of vibrations of the engine to the compressor and to the vehicle compartment by sandwiching an elastic member between the mounting seat
103
and the engine. However, the mounting position of the mounting seat
103
to the engine is greatly varied, so that the position on which the elastic member is to be mounted can be also varied. It results in the increase in the number of components and also the increase in the number of fabrication steps, causing the increase in costs. Furthermore, the elastic member arranged on each of the mounting parts exerts its ability of impact absorption on a restricted area on the mounted part, resulting in poor vibration control. If the vibration control is compensated using any member having a small spring constant, the elastic member tends to be broken between the vibrating engine and the compressor.
Furthermore, the conventional compressor with the built-in electric motor has large axial dimensions. For example, the container
102
extends to approximately 250 mm. That is, a discharge port
104
, a suction port
105
, inner and outer electric connection parts
106
, and the mounting legs
103
are longitudinally extended from both ends of the container
102
. In addition, the driving shaft
107
is supported by main- and sub-bearing members
108
,
109
independently installed in the container
102
together with the both ends of the driving shaft
107
connected to the electric motor
101
. In addition, the driving shaft
107
actuates a pump
110
for oil supply being provided independently from the container
102
on the side of the sub-shaft bearing member
109
. Such a complicated construction of the compressor is hardly incorporated in an electric-powered vehicle which has been only realized in a small-sized vehicle.
Simultaneously, the conventional compressor with the built-in electric motor is made of iron, so that the total weight thereof is about 9 kg or more. Thus, it becomes a problem in realizing the high speed and the energy saving because of the increase in driving load when it is mounted on the mobile structure.
On the other hand, as shown in
FIG. 8
, there is provided a compressor with a built-in electric motor in which a container
120
is made of an aluminum material to reduce the weight of the container
120
. In this case, however, the principle configuration of the container
120
is substantially the same as that of the container
102
made of iron except that the axial length of the container
120
is approximately 220 mm which is slightly smaller than that of the container
102
. In addition, just as in the case with one shown in
FIG. 7
, the container
120
is constructed of three container members
120
a
-
120
c
by which two independent connection portions
121
are formed on the body. Those shown in
FIG. 7
are made of iron and are mutually connected to each other by welding under favor of being designed as maintenance-free without overhaul. However, the container members made of aluminum as shown in
FIG. 8
are not suitable for welding, so that they are connected to each other by means of bolt connection. The wall of the aluminum container
120
in the thickness directions is greater than that of the iron container
102
to satisfy the conditions of a pressure container. For the connection with bolts
122
, a pair of flange portions
123
in each of the two connection portions
121
is required. Here, the flange portion
123
is protruded outwardly from the periphery of the container
120
in the radial direction. In addition, the flange portion
123
continuously or discontinuously extends around the container
120
in the circumferential direction. In each connection portion
121
, a lot of bolts
122
, for example eight bolts
122
, may be used so that the total weight of the container
120
is approximately 8 to 9 kg. It means that the substantial reduction in the weight of the container
120
is not achieved.
It becomes urgent business to provide a small-sized and lightweight compressor with a built-in electric motor now in a tendency of planning an electric operation of various kinds of load by using a working voltage of 42 volts in a gasoline-powered vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, or an electric-powered vehicle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a small-sized and light-weighted compressor with a built-in electric motor.
To achieve the above object, a first aspect of the invention is to provide a compressor with a built-in electric motor, where a compression mechanism and a built-in electric motor for driving the mechanism are housed in a container. In the container, a suction port, a discharge port, inner and outer electric connection parts, and mounting legs are provided on the same side of a body of the container.
According to the above configuration, the entire size of the compressor in the axial direction is reduced till it becomes almost equal to th
Abe Yoshifumi
Makino Masahiko
Sakurabayashi Tsutomu
Gray Michael K.
Greenblum & Bernstein P.L.C.
Yu Justine R.
LandOfFree
Compressor with built-in motor and mobile structure using... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Compressor with built-in motor and mobile structure using..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Compressor with built-in motor and mobile structure using... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3245756