Compressor device

Abstract

The present invention relates to a compressor (1) including a compressor unit (2) formed to compress a fluid medium, wherein the compressor unit (2) includes a rotatably supported rotor (4) and a housing (5) disposed around the rotor (4), and comprises a gas bearing (6) formed to support the rotor (4), the gas bearing (6) being operable with the fluid medium, and a fluid-engineered connection formed to supply the fluid medium to the gas bearing (6) is located between the gas bearing (6) and the compressor unit (2).

Description

Technical Field

[0004]

[0001] The present invention relates to a compression device comprising a compressor unit configured to compress a fluid medium, the compressor unit including a rotatably supported rotor and a housing arranged around the rotor, and comprising a gas bearing configured to support the rotor.

[0002] Furthermore, the present invention relates to a method for operating a compression device, the compression device having a compressor unit, the compressor unit having a rotatably supported rotor and a housing arranged around the rotor, and a gas bearing configured to support the rotor being arranged.

[0003] A compressor or a compressor generally has a rotatably supported rotor and a housing arranged around the rotor. Through an inlet, a fluid medium to be compressed flows into the compressor, where it is compressed in the compressor stage, i.e., the pressure of the fluid medium is increased. Through an outlet, the compressed fluid medium flows out of the compressor.

[0004] The rotor needs to be supported, and in this case, oil bearings, which are operated using oil among other things, are used. However, there is a problem that the fluid medium may mix with the oil, which should be avoided. To address this problem, seals need to be used. In many cases, so-called dry gas seals are used, which offer the advantage of providing a relatively good seal. However, the operation and functional mode of such dry gas seals are relatively complex.

[0005] In addition to oil-driven bearings, there are hydrostatic bearings or gas bearings, which offer the possibility of operating a rotating shaft without oil, in a non-contact manner, and with substantially no friction.

[0006] Such bearings can operate with virtually any gas, from nitrogen to filtered process gases or fluid media, however, their load-bearing capacity is highly dependent on the output pressure and size.

[0007] Operating an oil-operated compressor is relatively costly and complex. It is desirable to provide a compressor that can operate without oil. [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0008] In view of this background, the object of the present invention is to provide a compressor device and method that can be operated without oil.

[0009] This problem is solved by a compressor including a compressor unit configured to compress a fluid medium, the compressor unit including a rotatably supported rotor and a housing disposed around the rotor, and comprising a gas bearing configured to support the rotor, the gas bearing being operable with a fluid medium, and a fluid-mechanical connection being provided between the gas bearing and the compressor unit, the fluid-mechanical connection being configured to supply the fluid medium to the gas bearing. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] Furthermore, the problem is also solved by a method for operating the compressor device, the compressor device having a compressor unit, the compressor unit having a rotatably supported rotor and a housing positioned around the rotor, gas bearings configured to support the rotor, and the gas bearings being supplied with a fluid medium coming from the compressor unit.

[0011] This invention enables oil-free operation of a compressor system.

[0012] To completely eliminate oil units, all rotors in the train operate on gas-lubricated gas bearings.

[0013] The most effective way to achieve this is to supply all gas bearings with process gas or a fluidizing medium from the pressure side during operation, eliminating the oil units.

[0014] As a result, the train can operate without gears and is driven by a high-speed electric motor. This not only eliminates the oil unit but also offers the possibility of eliminating dry gas seals.

[0015] To make this possible, the motor housing and coupling spacers must be gas-tight and pressure-resistant. Furthermore, the train is encapsulated so that all gases leaking from the bearings can flow back into the process.

[0016] The present invention can be applied to more than one train equipped with two or more compressors or compressors, which doubles the cost savings.

[0017] This invention starts from the idea that a gas bearing can be operated by a process gas or a fluid medium. In this case, the fluid medium is branched off from the compression process and supplied to the gas bearing. After flowing through the gas bearing, the fluid medium is supplied back to the compressor unit.

[0018] The advantageous development forms are described in the dependent claims.

[0019] The main difference lies in consistently applying the concept of gas-lubricated bearings to the entire compressor system, rather than focusing solely on the compressor unit itself. This approach allows for the achievement of the advantages described below.

[0020] The oil unit can be omitted. The use of dry gas seals can be reduced. Using this invention, reliability is increased, and gears are not required.

[0021] The above characteristics, features, and advantages of the present invention, and the manner in which these are achieved, will become more clearly and distinctly understandable in connection with the following description of embodiments, which will be described in more detail in relation to the drawings.

[0022] In that case, the same parts or parts having the same function are denoted by the same reference numerals.

[0023] Embodiments of the present invention are described below based on the drawings. These do not show the embodiments to scale; rather, where helpful for the description, the drawings are executed in a schematic shape and / or a slightly distorted shape. For supplements to the teachings directly recognizable in the drawings, the relevant prior art is referred to.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0024] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of an embodiment of an apparatus according to the present invention.

Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

[0025] FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of an embodiment of the present invention. In particular, FIG. 1 shows a compressor device 1. The compressor device 1 is configured to compress a process gas, which can also be referred to as a fluid medium. Therefore, the compressor device 1 comprises a compressor unit 2 configured to compress the fluid medium. FIG. 1 shows here a compressor unit 2 configured as a turbo compressor, and the compressor unit 2 has a plurality of stages 3.

[0026] The compressor unit 2 has a rotatably supported rotor 4. A housing 5 is arranged around the rotatably supported rotor 4. Furthermore, the compressor unit 2 comprises a plurality of gas bearings 6 configured to support the rotor 4. The rotor 4 shown in FIG. 1 is supported by an axial gas bearing 7 and two radial gas bearings 8.

[0027] The gas bearings 6 each have a supply passage 9 for the gas medium, and the gas bearings 6 are configured such that the rotor 6 is supported on a gas film composed of the gas medium.

[0028] The compressor unit 2 has an inlet for the fluid medium (not shown). After the fluid medium is further compressed after each stage 3, the fluid medium flows out through the outlet 10 where the valve 11 is disposed. A part of the process medium flowing out from the outlet 10 is hydraulically connected to the supply passage 9, and as a result, according to the present invention, the fluid medium from the compressor unit 2 is supplied to the gas bearings 6.

[0029] After the fluid medium has passed through the gas bearings 6, the fluid medium is again supplied to the inlet via appropriate means. Thus, a closed system for supplying the fluid medium to the gas bearings 6 is provided.

[0030] The compressor device 1 further includes a drive unit 12. The drive unit 12 is formed such that it moves the rotor 4 of the compressor unit 2 to a rotating state. For this purpose, the drive unit 12 has a drive rotor 13 formed to drive the rotor 4. For this purpose, the drive rotor 13 must be coupled to the rotor 4 so as to be torque transmissible. This is done by the coupling part 14.

[0031] The drive rotor 13 is similarly supported rotatably, and here again the gas bearings 6 are used. In FIG. 1, two gas bearings 6 formed as radial bearings 8 are shown. The fluid medium is similarly supplied to these gas bearings 6 via the supply line 9. Therefore, the gas bearings 6 of the radial bearings 8 for the drive rotor 12 are also hydraulically coupled to the fluid medium in the same manner.

[0032] The drive device 12 may in this case be formed as an electric motor. The electric motor can then be supplied with current from a renewable energy 15 such as, for example, wind energy or solar energy. In order to use the current from the renewable energy source 15, an inverter 16 is usually required.

[0033] To achieve a closed circuit for supplying the fluid to the gas bearing 6, the compressor 1 must be formed to be airtight or gastight. This means that the drive unit must be gastight. Similarly, a coupling housing 17 must be positioned around the coupling unit 14. The supply to the gas bearing 6 is thus carried out in a closed circuit, and the fluid is supplied to the gas bearing 6 from the compressor unit 2. The entire compressor 1 is constructed such that the fluid cannot flow out of the compressor 1 in the path to or from the gas bearing 6.

[0034] Although the present invention has been described in detail by preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the disclosed examples, and other modifications can be further derived by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. Compressor device (1), It includes a compressor unit (2) formed to compress a fluid medium, The compressor unit (2) includes a rotatably supported rotor (4) and a housing (5) arranged around the rotor (4). The rotor (4) has a gas bearing (6) formed to support it. In the compressor device (1), A compressor device (1) characterized in that the gas bearing (6) is operable using a fluid medium, a fluid-engineered connection is located between the gas bearing (6) and the compressor unit (2), and the fluid-engineered connection is configured to supply the fluid medium to the gas bearing (6).

2. The compressor device (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the gas bearing (6) is formed as an axial gas bearing (7) for supporting the rotor (4) in the axial direction.

3. The compressor device (1) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the gas bearing (6) is formed as a radial gas bearing (8) for radially supporting the rotor (4).

4. The compressor unit (2) has an inlet for the fluid medium, The compressor unit (2) has at least one compressor stage (3), and the fluid medium is compressed within the compressor stage (3). The compressor unit (2) has an outlet (10), and the outlet (10) is formed to discharge the compressed fluid medium. The compressor device (1) according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the gas bearing (6) is fluid-mechanically connected to the outlet (10).

5. The compressor device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the fluid medium is connected to the inlet in a fluid engineering manner after passing through the gas bearing (6).

6. A compressor device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, comprising a drive unit (12), the drive unit (12) having a drive rotor (13) and configured to drive the rotor (4), the drive unit (12) having a gas bearing (6) configured to support the drive rotor (13), and the gas bearing (6) being hydrodynamically connected to the fluid medium.

7. The compressor device (1) according to claim 6, wherein the drive unit (12) is configured as an electric motor.

8. The compressor device (1) according to claim 6 or 7, wherein a gas-tight coupling (14) is disposed between the rotor (4) and the drive rotor (13).

9. The compressor device (1) is formed in a gas-tight manner according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. A method for operating a compressor device (1), The compressor device (1) comprises a compressor unit (2), the compressor unit (2) comprising a rotatably supported rotor (4) and a housing (5) disposed around the rotor (4), a gas bearing (6) formed to support the rotor (4) and supplied with a fluid medium coming from the compressor unit (2), in a manner.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the compressor device (1) is configured such that the supply to the gas bearing (6) is carried out inside the compressor device (1).

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the rotor (4) is driven by a drive unit (12), particularly an electric motor, the drive unit (12) has a drive rotor (13), and the drive rotor (13) is supported by a gas bearing (6) supplied with a fluid medium from the compressor unit (82).

13. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 12, wherein the fluid medium flows back to the compressor unit (2) after passing through the gas bearing (6).

14. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 13, wherein a coupling (14) is disposed between the drive unit (12) and the compressor unit (2).

15. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 13, wherein the compressor (1) is formed in a sealed manner so that the supply of a fluid medium to the gas bearing (6) takes place inside the compressor (1).

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