Refrigeration – Muffler or sound dampener
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-18
2002-09-10
Tapolcai, William E. (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Muffler or sound dampener
C181S403000, C417S312000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06446454
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a compressor, and more particularly, to a suction muffler for a compressor, which can provide a smooth flow of refrigerant in relation to a pulsating flow due to action by a piston of the compressor.
2. Background of the Related Art
The compressor in a refrigerator or an air conditioner compresses a low temperature and low pressure operating fluid through an evaporator into a high temperature and high pressure fluid. A prior art compressor in the refrigerator or the like will be explained with reference to the attached drawings.
Referring to
FIG. 1
, the prior art compressor is provided with a motor part
8
for receiving a current to generate a rotating force, and a compressor part
10
for compressing the refrigerant by the rotating force of the motor part, both of which are enclosed in a case
6
having an upper shell
2
and a lower shell
4
. The motor part
8
has a stator
8
a
for receiving the current to generate an electromagnetic force, and a rotor
8
b
for generating a rotating force by the electromagnetic force. The compressor part
10
has a crank shaft
12
for rotating with the rotor
8
b,
a connecting rod
14
for converting a rotating movement of the shaft into a linear reciprocating movement, and a piston
18
for compressing refrigerant in a cylinder block
16
by means of the connecting rod. The connecting rod
14
has one end pin coupled to an eccentric piece
12
a
on top of the crank shaft
12
, and the other end pin coupled to the piston
18
, for converting the rotating movement of the crank shaft
12
into a linear reciprocating movement. The foregoing compressor operation may be summarized as follows. As the piston
18
makes a linear reciprocating movement in the cylinder block
16
at reception of a rotating movement of the crank shaft
12
, the piston
18
converts a low temperature, low pressure refrigerant from the evaporator into a high temperature, high pressure refrigerant through a process of refrigerant suction, compression, and discharge, and supplies to a condenser (not shown). Since noise results inevitably from action of the piston
18
in the compressor, the refrigerant from the evaporator is passed through a suction muffler
20
before the refrigerant is introduced into the cylinder
15
for attenuation of noise. The suction muffler
20
will be explained with reference to the attached drawings.
FIG. 2
illustrates a suction system and a discharge system of a prior art compressor having the suction muffler
20
provided therein schematically, and
FIG. 3
illustrates a perspective sectional view of a related art suction muffler
20
.
Referring to
FIG. 2
, in the process of refrigerant suction, the refrigerant is drawn into the cylinder
15
through a suction valve
31
until a pressure in the cylinder
15
becomes equal to a pressure in the suction muffler
20
as the piston
18
moves from a top dead center to a bottom dead center position. The refrigerant drawn into the cylinder
15
is compressed as the piston
18
moves from the bottom dead center to the top dead center, when the pressure in the cylinder
15
builds up until the pressure is higher than an elastic force of a discharge spring (not shown) which supports the discharge valve
32
when the discharge valve
32
is opened, to discharge a high pressure refrigerant through a discharge tube
36
from the cylinder
15
via a discharge plenum
34
. Since such a reciprocating movement of the piston
18
is repeated for 60 times per a second in a case of a 60 Hz compressor, there are 1/60 sec cycle repetitive pulsations in the suction muffler
20
and the discharge plenum
34
caused by such repetitive suction and discharge.
Referring to
FIG. 3
, the suction muffler
20
has an inlet
22
for introducing the refrigerant into the suction muffler
20
, a chamber
24
for temporary storage of the refrigerant, a refrigerant supply tube
26
for leading the refrigerant from the chamber
24
to a suction valve (see
FIG. 2
) of the cylinder, and Helmholtz resonator
28
for attenuating noise of a specific frequency. As shown, the refrigerant is involved in a sequential pressure drop as the refrigerant passes through a number of chambers
24
a
and
24
b
and a chamber connection tube
25
after the refrigerant is introduced through the inlet
22
, and attenuation of the specific frequency as the refrigerant passes through the Helmholtz resonator
28
.
However, the pulsation of the connection tube
25
between the chambers
24
and the refrigerant supply tubes
26
coming from the pulsation of the suction muffler
20
impedes a m uniform supply of the refrigerant, to cause a deterioration of performance, and, sometimes reverse flow of the refrigerant owing to a reverse pressure gradient formed by the non-uniform pulsation of the refrigerant.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a suction muffler for a compressor that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a suction muffler for a compressor, which can increase a refrigerant supply pressure, which increases an amount of refrigerant introduced into a cylinder, that improves a performance of the compressor.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, the suction muffler for a compressor includes an inlet for introducing a refrigerant into the suction muffler, a chamber for temporary storage of the refrigerant and dropping a pressure of the refrigerant by means of a sudden increase of a volume of the refrigerant, a resonator for attenuating a noise of a specific frequency, a refrigerant supply tube for leading the refrigerant from the chamber to a cylinder, thereby stopping transmission of a pulsating flow resulting from the piston movement in the cylinder to the outside of the refrigerant supply tube and preventing transmission of a noise from a suction valve and a discharge valve to outside of the suction muffler, wherein the chamber includes a vibration member having a vibration frequency corresponding to a pulsation frequency which occurs at the refrigerant supply tube.
The vibration member is a vibration plate or a bellows.
The vibration plate includes a coil spring, and the bellows includes an elastic member.
The vibration member has a specific vibration frequency in reaction to the vibration frequency of the pulsating flow at least even numbered times (2 times, 4 times, 6 times, . . . ) of the pulsating flow.
The vibration member is made to maintain the specific vibration frequency by an external vibration maintaining means.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4730695 (1988-03-01), Bar
patent: 4784583 (1988-11-01), Bar
patent: 5199856 (1993-04-01), Epstein et al.
patent: 5208429 (1993-05-01), Field
patent: 5435700 (1995-07-01), Park
patent: 5496156 (1996-03-01), Harper et al.
patent: 5584674 (1996-12-01), Mo
An Kwang Hyup
Lee In Seop
Myung Hwan Joo
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