Scroll type compressor

Details Scroll type compressor Scroll type compressor

2002-01-25

2003-12-16

Denion, Thomas (Department: 3748)

Rotary expansible chamber devices

Working member has planetary or planetating movement

Helical working member, e.g., scroll

C418S083000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06663364

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a scroll type compressor, more particularly to a scroll type compressor that compresses gas supplied to a fuel cell.
There are various types of compressors such as a screw type compressor, a rotary type compressor and a scroll type compressor. Since the scroll type compressor is small, light, and quiet without much vibration and noise, the scroll type compressor is widely used for freezing and air conditioning among others. The scroll type compressor produces heat in a compression cycle. In a prior art as described in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No.
8-247056
, a cooling chamber is defined to the side which gas in a compression chamber is discharged in order to remove the heat.
FIG. 12
shows a cross-sectional view in an axial direction of a conventional scroll type compressor
100
. In the compressor
100
, a housing is constituted of a front casing
101
, an end plate
102
and a rear casing
103
. The end plate
102
is placed on one side of the front casing
101
, to which gas is discharged. The rear casing
103
is placed on the other side of the front casing
101
where a motor which is not shown is connected. A discharge port
104
is formed at the center of the front casing
101
. A discharge valve
108
which opens toward the end plate
102
side only is provided at the discharge port
104
. A gas passage
112
is formed to penetrate the end plate
102
on the side of the discharge port
104
, to which the gas is discharged. A cooling chamber
120
is defined between the front casing
101
and the end plate
102
. A fixed scroll of a volute shape
105
extends from an inner wall
107
of the front casing
101
to face the side of the motor in a standing manner. On the other hand, a drive shaft
109
, which is connected to a rotary shaft of the motor, is in the shape of crank. One end of the drive shaft
109
is rotatably supported by the rear casing
103
on the side of the motor. The other end of the drive shaft
109
, to which the gas is discharged, is rotatably supported by an orbital plate
111
. An orbital scroll of a volute shape
110
extends from the orbital plate
111
toward the front casing
101
. The fixed scroll
105
, the inner wall
107
, the orbital scroll
110
and the orbital plate
111
cooperatively form compression chambers
106
. The compression chambers
106
are defined in a volute shape.
Still referring to
FIG. 12
, when the drive shaft
109
is rotated by the motor, the orbital scroll
110
orbits. Gas such as air in the compression chambers
106
is moved toward the center of the fixed scroll
105
as is compressed by orbital movement of the orbital scroll
110
. The temperature of the gas rises during the compression cycle. Then, the compressed gas is discharged outside the compressor
100
through the discharge port
104
and the gas passage
112
.
Coolant such as cooling water flows into the cooling chamber
120
through an inlet which is not shown. The cooling chamber
120
is defined in the vicinity of the compression chambers
106
and the gas passage
112
. Therefore, heat of the gas compressed in the compression chambers
106
and the gas discharged into the gas passage
112
is conducted to the coolant. The temperature of the coolant rises due to the heat conduction, and the coolant flows outside the compressor
100
through an outlet which is not shown.
In the above prior art, however, the gas is discharged outside the compressor
100
through the gas passage
112
which extends in the axial direction of the drive shaft
109
. The gas passage
112
is short in length. Accordingly, when the discharge gas passes through the gas passage
112
, heat exchange between the discharge gas and the coolant in the cooling chamber
120
is not sufficiently performed. Therefore, temperature of the discharge gas is not sufficiently decreased.
When the temperature of the discharge gas is high, if a device whose heat resistance is low is placed in the vicinity of the gas passage
112
, the device may have trouble. For example, when the scroll type compressor
100
is used to compress the gas supplied to the fuel cell, a hydrogen ion exchange membrane is placed below the compressor
100
. Since the hydrogen ion exchange membrane is low in heat resistance, the discharge gas in high temperature may cause trouble.
Since the discharge gas in high temperature is small in density, mass flow of the gas (kg/hour) decreases. Namely, compression efficiency is lowered. When the discharge gas is utilized, a predetermined mass of the gas per time unit may be required. In this case, if work of the compressor
100
is increased to reserve the predetermined mass of the gas, the compressor
100
or the motor driving the compressor
100
is required to be increased in size.
To decrease the temperature of the discharge gas without changing the work, another heat exchanger may be connected below the scroll type compressor
100
. In this case, however, extra space for placing another heat exchanger is required.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention addresses a scroll type compressor whose discharge gas is low in temperature.
According to the present invention, a scroll type compressor includes a housing, a fixed scroll member, a movable scroll member, a discharge port, a cooling chamber and a gas cooler. The fixed scroll member is fixed to the housing. The movable scroll member is accommodated in the housing and defining a compression region with the fixed scroll member where gas is compressed by orbiting the movable scroll member relative to the fixed scroll member. The compressed gas is discharged from the compression region through the discharge port. The cooling chamber for cooling the compressed gas is disposed in the vicinity of the compression region in the housing. The gas cooler for passing the gas discharged from the discharge port extends along the cooling chamber.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5037278 (1991-08-01), Fujio et al.
patent: 2002/0039534 (2002-04-01), Moroi et al.
patent: 61-152991 (1986-07-01), None
patent: 61-182482 (1986-08-01), None
patent: 08-247056 (1996-09-01), None

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