Linear compressor

Details Linear compressor Linear compressor

2000-05-22

2002-06-04

Freay, Charles G. (Department: 3746)

Pumps

Motor driven

Electric or magnetic motor

C417S416000, C417S547000, C417S312000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06398523

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a linear compressor, and in particular, to a suction guide noise reduction structure for a linear compressor which is capable of decreasing the specific volume of a sucked refrigerant gas, increasing the flow rate, and decreasing suction noise of the refrigerant gas by decreasing the amount of the refrigerant gas introduced from a suction opening of a hermetic vessel to be mixed with a high temperature refrigerant gas with which the hermetic vessel is filled.
2. Description of the Background Art
Generally, a compressor in a refrigerating cycle apparatus compresses refrigerant introduced from an evaporator, and then discharges it to a condenser in a high temperature and high pressure state.
In a conventional linear compressor, a piston is connected to a magnet assembly constituting an operator of a linear motor in place of a crankshaft thus to be integrally fixed to the magnet assembly. As the linear driving force of the motor is transferred to the piston, the piston linearly reciprocates in the cylinder to thus suck and compress refrigerant gas.
As shown in
FIG. 1
, a conventional compressor includes: a hermetic vessel
1
having a discharge opening (not shown) formed at one side and a suction opening la connected with a suction tube
2
at the other side; a frame
10
formed in a predetermined shape mounted inside the hermetic vessel
1
; a cylinder
20
inserted into a through hole
3
formed through the central portion of the frame
10
; an inner stator assembly
30
connected to an inner side of the frame
10
for constructing a linear motor and an outer stator assembly
31
connected to the inner side of the frame
10
at a predetermined interval; a magnet
32
disposed at a gap formed between the inner stator assembly
30
and the outer stator assembly
31
; and a piston
40
inserted into the cylinder
20
and connected to a magnet assembly
33
connected with the magnet
32
for thereby reciprocating by the linear motion of the magnet
32
.
A refrigerant flow path (F) through which refrigerant gas flows is formed inside the piston
40
.
In addition, at one side of the cylinder
20
, a cap shaped discharge cover
60
is connected to one side of the frame
10
, wherein a discharge valve assembly
61
for opening and closing one side of the cylinder
20
is inserted into the discharge cover
60
.
In addition, a suction valve
62
opened and closed according to the suction of refrigerant gas is connected to an end portion of the piston
40
, and an oil feeder
70
for feeding oil in order to supply a sliding friction portion between elements with oil, is mounted at a lower portion of the frame
10
.
In addition, a cover
50
is connected to the other side of the frame
10
. And an inner resonance spring
51
a
inserted between a portion of the frame
10
disposed at the outer side of the cylinder
20
and an inner surface of the magnet assembly
33
, and an outer resonance spring
51
b
inserted between an outer surface of the magnetic assembly
33
and an inner surface of the cover
50
, are disposed at both sides of the magnet assembly
33
connected with the piston, so that they elastically support the piston
40
.
Reference numeral
34
denotes a stator coil assembly of the linear motor.
The operation of the conventional linear compressor having the above-described structure is as follows.
When current is applied to the linear motor, the magnet
32
linearly reciprocates, and said linear motion is transferred to the piston
40
connected to the magnet assembly
33
so that the piston
40
linearly reciprocates in the cylinder
20
.
A pressure difference is generated in the cylinder
20
by the linear motion of the piston
40
. As refrigerant gas introduced into the hermetic vessel
1
via the suction opening
1
a
by this pressure difference in the cylinder
20
, is introduced into the refrigerant flow path (F) formed inside the piston
40
, sucking the refrigerant gas into the cylinder
20
via the suction valve
62
, compressing the sucked refrigerant gas, and discharging the compressed refrigerant gas through the discharge valve assembly
61
and the discharge cover
60
are repeatedly performed.
In addition, the refrigerant gas of high temperature and high pressure is discharged through a tube connecting the discharge cover
60
and the discharge opening of the hermetic vessel
1
and then is introduced into a condenser (not shown). Thereafter, it is introduced into the condenser (not shown) constructing the refrigerating cycle apparatus, and then the refrigerant gas of low temperature and low pressure, which has passed again through the evaporator during a refrigerating cycle is introduced into the compressor.
Meanwhile, the compression efficiency in compressing the refrigerant gas, as the piston
40
reciprocates in the cylinder
20
is inversely proportional to the specific volume of the refrigerant gas. In order to decrease the specific volume of the refrigerant gas during the suction stroke, there has been a continuous effort to lower the temperature of the refrigerant gas when the refrigerant gas introduced into the suction opening
1
a
is introduced into the cylinder
20
, because the temperature in the hermetic vessel
1
is high.
As an example of a conventional structure for preventing the heating of the refrigerant gas when the refrigerant gas is introduced into the cylinder
20
via the suction opening la of the hermetic vessel
1
, as shown in
FIG. 2
, a suction induction tube
80
of which one side is extensively opened and which has a predetermined length in order for the refrigerant gas to be introduced into the suction opening
1
a
, is fixedly inserted into the refrigerant gas flow path (F) at a predetermined interval from the suction opening
1
a.
The suction induction tube
80
which moves together with the piston
40
is designed to be spaced apart from the suction opening
1
a
so that friction may not occur between an end portion of the suction induction tube
80
and an inner surface of the hermetic vessel
1
as the piston
40
reciprocates.
In the above-mentioned conventional linear compressor, however, there has been a problem in that since there must be a large interval between the suction induction tube
80
and the suction opening
1
a
, the sucked refrigerant gas is mixed with high temperature refrigerant gas in the hermetic vessel
1
, thus increasing the specific volume of the refrigerant gas sucked into the cylinder.
In order to solve the above problem, as shown in
FIG. 3
, there is provided a structure in which the sucked refrigerant gas is introduced not into the hermetic vessel
1
, but only into the cylinder
20
via a suction guide
81
and a suction induction tube
80
′ by connecting an end portion of the suction induction tube
80
′ inserted into the piston
40
and the suction opening
1
a
of the hermetic vessel
1
by means of the additional suction guide
81
.
In the structure described above, the refrigerant gas is not mixed with the high temperature refrigerant gas with which the hermetic vessel is filled. However, there is a problem in that it is not easy to install the suction guide between the suction induction tube moving along with the piston and the hermetic vessel in a fixed state, and even after the installation, the suction guide may be easily damaged.
Meanwhile, as another example of the conventional linear compressor, as shown in
FIG. 4
, there is provided a structure in which a suction guide member
90
for guiding the suction of the refrigerant gas and decreasing noise during the suction of the refrigerant gas is mounted at the magnet assembly
33
and, inserted into the opening portion of the refrigerant flow path (F).
In detail, as shown in
FIG. 5
, in the suction guide member
90
, a first small diameter portion
11
constituting a throat part is formed to be inserted into the refrigerant flow path (F) of the piston
40
, a large diameter portion
12
of which one end communicates with the first sma

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