Member for compressor, manufacturing method for the member,...

Rotary expansible chamber devices – Working member has planetary or planetating movement – Helical working member – e.g. – scroll

Reexamination Certificate

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C418S152000, C264S109000, C264S122000, C264SDIG005, C264S029300, C524S494000, C524S496000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06190146

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a compressor member such as a scroll member for scroll compressor, to a manufacturing method for the material, and to a scroll compressor.
2. Description of Related Art
Scroll compressors are one type of compressor used in freezing systems or air conditioning systems and are compressors performing compression by means of a stationary scroll and an orbiting scroll that orbits according to rotation of a drive shaft. Any scroll of conventional scroll compressors is made from some iron or aluminum material. Those metal scrolls, however, had a problem causing high costs for production because they require a relatively high precision to be fabricated. Furthermore, the metal scrolls are heavy in weight and therefore raise a problem that the compressors suffer from large energy losses when operating.
Previous inventors have developed scrolls mainly made of a resin suitable to be fabricated and light in weight in comparison with metal scrolls and have proposed various scrolls (e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. Showa 62-199,981, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. Heisei 2-112,685, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. Heisei 2-112,688, Japanese Patent Publication (KOKOKU) No. Heisei 6-33,780).
Those scrolls mainly made of a resin have not yet been practically produced. Although various searches for scroll materials have focused on their resistance against abrasion, research done by this inventor discovered that there were other practical characteristics to be considered in addition to resistance against abrasion. That is, the scrolls in the scroll compressors are in contact with refrigerant and refrigerating machine oil at a high temperature and a high pressure during operation of the compressors. Scrolls mainly made of a resin in contact with the refrigerant and refrigerating machine oil at the high temperature and the high pressure change in dimension, thereby causing a problem in that the scroll prevents the compressor from operating efficiently and possibly makes it inoperable. The research concluded that to make the scroll practical, the scroll needs to be made of a material having dimensional and chemical stability under high temperature and high pressure refrigerant and refrigerating machine oil, as well as abrasion resistance.
Various engineering plastics are considered to be used for some mechanical parts other than scrolls in scroll compressors, and are in fact, used in many fields. Particularly, those are frequently parts of automobiles. For example, known as mainly made of a phenol aralkyl resin are pulleys (e.g., Japanese Patent Publication (KOKOKU) No. Heisei 4-38,944, Japanese Patent Publication (KOKOKU) No. Heisei 4-38,945), rotors for pump (e.g., Publications of U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,643,476 and 2,643,477), and impellers for pump (e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. Heisei 8-93,690, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. Heisei 9-112,489).
However, in all of the above cases, no material is selected in consideration for dimensional and chemical stability under high temperature and high pressure refrigerant and refrigerating machine oil, as well as abrasion resistance.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of this invention to provide a member for a compressor such as a scroll member mainly made of a resin having good dimensional and chemical stability under high temperature and high pressure refrigerant and refrigerating machine oil, as well as good abrasion resistance, and to provide a scroll compressor made with such a scroll member.
The foregoing object is accomplished by a member for a compressor containing a phenol group resin and a reinforcing material and having the desirable characteristic that the dimensional change of the member is 0.05% or below under a chemical stability test condition conducted in an atmosphere in which a refrigerant and a refrigerating machine oil coexist at a high temperature and a high pressure (hereinafter referred to a compressor member (1)). The phenol group resin is made of either a phenol aralkyl resin or a combination of a phenol aralkyl resin and a phenol resin. The reinforcing material is made of either a glass or other fiber or a combination of a glass fiber and glass beads or other inert filler. In another aspect of the invention, a member for compressor contains a phenol group resin and a glass material and is formed by heat treatment having stepwise temperature increase of a molded material from an initial temperature range of 120 to 140° C. to a final temperature range of 170 to 177° C. (hereinafter referred to a compressor member (2)). Such a member can be a member for, e.g., scroll compressor.
A method to form a scroll member in a scroll compressor includes steps of molding a mixture containing a phenol aralkyl resin and a glass fiber, and implementing a heat treatment under a condition that the dimensional change rate of the member is 0.05% or below under a chemical stability test condition implemented in an atmosphere in which a refrigerant and a refrigerating machine oil coexist at a high temperature and a high pressure.
This invention also concerns a scroll compressor in which at least one of the scroll members constituting a compression chamber is made of the above scroll member or made by the above method.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Compressor Member (1)
A compressor member (1) according to the invention includes a phenol aralkyl resin and a glass fiber and has the desirable feature that the dimensional change rate of the member is 0.05% or below under a chemical stability test condition in an atmosphere in which a refrigerant and a refrigerating machine oil coexist at a high temperature and a high pressure. The phrase “chemical stability test condition in an atmosphere in which a refrigerant and a refrigerating machine oil coexist at a high temperature and a high pressure” indicates, as described in the following Examples, a condition in which, the refrigerant gas pressure shows 3.6 MPa at 150° C. where polyalkylene glycol refrigerating machine oil and HFC 134a refrigerant exist. This condition is similar to a running condition of an actual compressor or more extreme than the running condition. This is designed to simulate circumstances in an actual compressor in which a refrigerating machine oil is used to lubricate scroll walls where a refrigerant and a refrigerating machine oil coexist at a high temperature and a high pressure exceeding a maximum temperature (150° C.) and the critical point around a high pressure chamber and an outlet at which a more extreme condition is anticipated to be formed.
Under such a condition, when the compressor member (1) is a scroll member for a scroll compressor, the scroll member becomes practical when its dimensional change rate is 0.05% or below. The term “dimensional change” herein means shrinkage, which is preferably 0.04% or below, and more preferably 0.03% or below.
The phenol aralkyl resin is a resin obtained from condensation reaction between a phenolic compound and an aralkyl ether. The phenol aralkyl resin can be a monovalent phenol aralkyl resin or a bivalent phenol aralkyl resin depending on the number of hydroxide groups in the phenol portion. In this invention, the phenol aralkyl resin is not particularly limited and can be made of a commercially available resin as it is. As a phenol aralkyl resin, Milex (trademark) XL-225 or 325 made by Mitsui Chemicals, Inc., or the like is an example of this type of resin but this invention is not limited to this resin.
The glass fiber is generally used as a material for reinforcing resins and has no specific limitation in its size or composition. For example, fibers having a fiber diameter of about 15 microns and a fiber length of 200 to 500 microns, which are generally used as a reinforcing material for resin, can be used. Its glass composition is not limited specifically, and, e.g., alkali free glass (E-Glass) or highly strengthened glass (S-Glass) can be use

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