Compressor with air guidance through the housing

Abstract

The invention relates to a compressor comprising: an inlet opening (5) for supplying process air (4); a compression chamber in which a compression element for compressing the supplied process air (4) is guided; and a housing (1) having an interior (6) in which a drive element for driving the compression element is arranged. The inlet opening (5) is positioned such that the supplied process air (4) is first supplied to the interior (6) of the housing (1) and then, via a supply opening (7), is supplied to the compression chamber for compression. The compressor has at least one air guide element (2) in the interior (6) of the housing (1), which air guide element is designed to direct the process air (4) supplied through the inlet opening (5) toward at least one element in the interior (6) of the housing (1) in order to cool the at least one element.

Description

[0001] DESCRIPTION

[0002] Compressor with air flow through the housing

[0003] The present invention relates to a compressor with air guidance through the housing.

[0004] Compressors are used to compress process air, which can then be supplied as compressed air to the pneumatic braking system or other pneumatic systems, for example, in a rail or commercial vehicle. If the process air can be routed through a compressor housing before compression, the process air can be used to cool elements within the housing.

[0005] For compressors used in railway applications, a compact design is a decisive advantage. Therefore, it is not always possible to position the entry point or inlet opening of the housing for the process air, or the supply opening through which the process air flows through the housing and is fed into the compressor chamber for compression, on the housing in such a way that optimal component cooling can be achieved. Especially with two- or multi-stage compressors, there may be compression stages that benefit from more intensive cooling, thus enabling longer product service lives.

[0006] It is therefore an object of the present invention to achieve an improvement in cooling by the process air in the housing.

[0007] This problem is solved by the subject matter of the independent claim. Advantageous further developments are the subject matter of the dependent claims.

[0008] A compressor is disclosed with:

[0009] - an inlet opening for supplying process air;

[0010] - a compressor chamber in which a compression element for compressing the supplied process air is guided; - a housing with an interior space in which a drive element for driving the compression element is arranged, wherein the inlet opening is positioned such that the supplied process air is first supplied to the interior space of the housing and then via a supply opening for compression to the compressor chamber, and the compressor has at least one air guide element in the interior space of the housing, which air guide element is designed to guide the process air supplied through the inlet opening to at least one element in the interior space of the housing for cooling the at least one element.

[0011] When moving in the compressor chamber, the compression element influences the volume of the compressor chamber so that the process air can be compressed.

[0012] The drive element for driving the compression element can be a motor, such as an electric motor, or a shaft, such as a crankshaft. In either case, it serves to drive the compression element.

[0013] The compressor can be designed as a compressor for commercial or rail vehicle operation and configured to deliver the compressed process air as compressed air. The receiver of the compressed air can, in particular, be a pneumatic braking system.

[0014] With a suitable design of the air guide element, a significant reduction in noise emissions from the compressor can also be achieved.

[0015] Preferably, the inlet opening and the supply opening are positioned so that the process air fed into the housing flows through the housing in a main direction of extent of the housing. Assuming the three spatial directions that are usually perpendicular to one another in three-dimensional space, the main direction of extent can be considered to be the direction parallel to one of the spatial directions in which the housing or the interior of the housing has the maximum extent compared to the other two spatial directions. If the process air flows through the housing in the main direction of extent, the path along which the process air flows through the housing is as long as possible, and the cooling effect of the process air in the interior of the housing is as great as possible.

[0016] Preferably, the inlet opening is an opening in the housing. This allows for a simple design and manufacture of the housing.

[0017] Preferably, at least one air guide element forms part or all of the inlet opening. This has the advantage that the process air can be influenced or guided by the air guide element immediately upon flowing into the inlet opening. This is particularly advantageous when space is limited.

[0018] Preferably, at least one air guide element is formed integrally with the housing. This can be achieved, for example, by casting the housing with a corresponding core to create the air guide element. Different designs of air guide elements, such as ducts, nozzles, or air deflectors, can be manufactured using the casting process.

[0019] If the wall thickness of the housing is appropriate, it can also be provided that the air guide element runs as a channel over at least a section within the wall of the housing.

[0020] Preferably, at least one air guiding element is formed separately from the housing.

[0021] The air guide element can then preferably be manufactured as a separate component and inserted and fastened into an opening in the housing. More preferably, the air guide element forms a channel in the interior of the housing, which is shaped in particular as a nozzle, so that process air that reaches the inlet opening can then be directed accordingly. The process air flow directed in this way can then be directed onto an element to be cooled. Providing the air guide element generally as a separate component has advantages during assembly and maintenance. Damaged air guide elements can be easily replaced without having to replace the entire housing. During assembly or maintenance, air guide elements can be assembled or disassembled at a desired time in order to make other locations within the housing accessible to a technician.

[0022] Other designs, such as air baffles, can also be provided as separate components.

[0023] Preferably, at least one air guide element is designed, at least in part, as a duct, nozzle, or air baffle. The nozzle effect of the air guide element as a nozzle results in an increased flow velocity, thus improving the heat dissipation from the elements to be cooled in the interior by the process air. Ducts and nozzles can be used, in particular, for the precise guidance of the process air, while air baffles can have less complex geometries, which facilitates their production.

[0024] Preferably, the at least one element cooled by the process air supplied via the air guide element comprises a bearing, connecting rod, shaft, and / or the drive element in the interior of the housing. In this way, elements subject to friction or that heat up during operation can be specifically cooled by guiding the process air. Bearings can be, for example, connecting rod bearings, piston pin bearings, or main bearings. A shaft can be, for example, a crankshaft or a balance shaft. The drive element can be, for example, a motor or an electric motor.

[0025] The compressor is preferably oil-free or lubricant-free, at least in the interior of the housing, or is designed as a dry-running compressor. This ensures that no oils or lubricants enter the process air in the housing through which the process air is passed before compression, which would then have to be filtered out again if, for example, the generated compressed air is not allowed to contain such substances because it is fed into a pneumatic system not designed for this purpose. The compressor is preferably designed as a piston compressor. According to this special design, the compression chamber is then designed as a cylinder, in which a piston is guided as the compression element for compressing the process air. This can be a piston compressor with one cylinder or a piston compressor with multiple cylinders.

[0026] The housing, through whose interior the process air is guided, is then preferably designed as a crankcase in which a crankshaft is provided to drive the piston. The process air can be guided through the air guide element(s) in the interior of the crankcase in such a way that the crankshaft, connecting rod bearings, connecting rods, piston pin bearings, main bearings, and / or the drive element are cooled.

[0027] In general, the compressor can also be designed as a multi-stage compressor.

[0028] Preferably, the at least one element in the interior of the housing comprises a first section of the interior of the housing, or the at least one element in the interior of the housing is the first section of the interior of the housing. The process air can therefore also be supplied to a section of the interior of the housing, for example a specific volume of space, for cooling purposes, in order to reduce the temperature of the air in this section or in the interior of the housing as a whole. In this case, the process air is therefore not supplied to a specific component, but rather to an area of ​​the interior of the housing. This can be advantageous in particular if the area orThe first section of the interior of the housing contains moving components during operation of the compressor, which cannot be sufficiently cooled with a stationary air guide element because the component to be cooled, such as a connecting rod, repeatedly escapes the cooling air flow of the process air due to its movement. The at least one air guide element used in this case can in particular be or comprise a duct, a nozzle or an air guide plate. The first section is preferably closer to the supply opening than to the inlet opening, or the first section is preferably directly connected to the supply opening or comprises this. In this way, process air can be supplied directly to the section from which the process air has the shortest possible path to the supply opening from which it enters the compressor chamber.

[0029] Preferably, the at least one element in the interior of the housing comprises a second section of the interior of the housing, or the at least one element in the interior of the housing is the second section of the interior of the housing. In this way, process air can be directed to two regions or sections within the housing in order to cool them or to improve the temperature distribution in the interior of the housing. In addition to a second section, the at least one element in the interior of the housing can have at least one further section to which process air is supplied.

[0030] Preferably, the second section is at a greater distance from the supply opening than from the inlet opening, or the second section is preferably directly connected to or has the inlet opening. This ensures that, in addition to cooling or supplying process air to the first section through the at least one air guide element, process air is also supplied to the second or at least one further section, so that this section is also cooled or the temperature distribution is influenced accordingly.

[0031] Preferably, the at least one air guide element is designed such that process air is supplied to both the first section and the second section. The process air supplied via the inlet opening is divided accordingly.

[0032] In general, the interior of the housing can be divided into several sections, with at least one air guide element being designed so that process air is supplied to these sections according to the expected cooling requirements. This means that sections that heat up more rapidly can be supplied with a larger mass or volume flow of process air than areas that heat up less rapidly. The at least one air guide element is then designed accordingly, for example, by having outlet openings with different cross-sections in the individual sections.

[0033] In addition to the pure cooling of individual components such as bearings, shafts, etc., the invention can preferably also pursue the purpose of influencing the temperature distribution in the interior of the housing.

[0034] In principle, the compressor housing can also be provided with multiple inlet openings and / or multiple supply openings. In particular, in a compressor with multiple compression chambers, each compression chamber can be supplied with process air for compression via its own or separate supply opening. These supply openings can be located at different locations or in different sections of the interior of the housing. This creates the problem that the supply openings or the corresponding sections of the interior of the housing have different temperatures, and thus each compression chamber is supplied with differently heated process air. This can be prevented or at least mitigated by the at least one air guide element and the associated possibility of influencing the temperature distribution in the interior of the housing.

[0035] The invention is described in more detail below using preferred embodiments with the aid of the attached drawings.

[0036] It shows

[0037] Fig. 1 : a detailed view of a section of a housing with an inlet opening according to a first embodiment,

[0038] Fig. 2: a detailed view of a section of a housing with an inlet opening according to a second embodiment, Fig. 3: a detailed view of a section of a housing with an inlet opening according to a third embodiment,

[0039] Fig. 4 a schematic diagram of a housing, and

[0040] Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a housing according to a further development of the housing from Fig. 4.

[0041] Figures 1 to 3 each show a section of a housing 1 of a compressor as described above.

[0042] Shown is a sectional view of an inlet opening 5 for supplying process air 4 into an interior space 6 of the housing 1 shown. Not shown is a compressor chamber in which a compression element is guided for compressing the supplied process air 4. Also not shown is a drive element for driving the compression element, which is arranged in the interior space 6 of the housing 1.

[0043] The inlet opening 5 is positioned so that the supplied process air 4 is first fed to the interior 6 of the housing 1 and then to the compressor chamber for compression via a supply opening (not shown).

[0044] The compressor has at least one air guide element 2 in the interior 6 of the housing 1, which is designed to guide the process air 4 supplied through the inlet opening 5 to at least one element in the interior 6 of the housing 1 for cooling the at least one element. The at least one element in the interior 6 of the housing 1, which is to be cooled by supplying the process air through the respective air guide element 2, can have a bearing (e.g. connecting rod bearing, piston pin bearing, main bearing), a connecting rod, a shaft (e.g. a crankshaft or a balance shaft) and / or be the drive element for the compression element. In this way, targeted cooling of these elements and thus a reduction in the thermal load as well as an increase in the service life of these elements and possibly of the entire compressor is possible. The different configurations of the drawings are explained below.

[0045] Fig. 1 shows a detailed view of a section of a housing 1 with an inlet opening 5 according to a first embodiment.

[0046] The air guide element 2 shown here is manufactured as a separate component and is inserted and secured into an opening in the housing 1. In the interior 6 of the housing 1, the air guide element 2 forms a channel shaped as a nozzle 3, so that process air 4, which enters the inlet opening 5 from above, is then deflected and accelerated to the left as shown in the drawing. The thus directed air flow of the process air 4 can then be directed onto an element to be cooled, as described above. The nozzle effect of the air guide element 2 results in an increased flow velocity, thus improving heat dissipation by the process air 4.

[0047] Providing the air guide element 2 as a separate component offers advantages during assembly and maintenance. Damaged air guide elements 2 can be easily replaced without having to replace the entire housing 1. During assembly or maintenance, air guide elements 2 can be mounted or dismounted at a desired time to access other locations within the housing 1.

[0048] Other designs, such as air baffles, can also be provided as separate components.

[0049] Fig. 2 shows a detailed view of a section of a housing 1 in section with an inlet opening 5 according to a second embodiment.

[0050] Compared to Fig. 1, the air guide element 2 is formed integrally with the housing 1. This can be achieved, for example, by casting the housing 1 with a corresponding core to create the channel or a nozzle 3 of the air guide element 2. Other designs of air guide elements 2, such as air deflectors, can also be manufactured integrally with the housing 1 using the casting process.

[0051] According to a further embodiment not shown, with a corresponding wall thickness of the housing 1, it can also be provided that the air guiding element 2 runs as a channel at least over a section within the wall of the housing.

[0052] In the case of the air guiding elements 2 shown in Figures 1 and 2, these also simultaneously form the inlet opening 5 into the housing 1. Another embodiment, in which the inlet opening 5 and air guiding element 2 are present separately, is shown in Figure 3.

[0053] Fig. 3 shows a detailed view of a section of a housing 1 with an inlet opening 5 according to a third embodiment.

[0054] The inlet opening 5 is designed here as an opening in the wall of the housing 1, through which the process air 4 can flow directly into the interior 6. Only here does the desired deflection of the incoming process air 4 take place via an air guide element 2, which is designed as an air baffle.

[0055] This embodiment has the advantage over the embodiments of Figures 1 and 2 that a relatively simple design of the housing 1 is sufficient, and no closed channels need to be formed to guide the process air 4. Nevertheless, it is also possible to provide additional channels or nozzles here.

[0056] Fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of a housing 1 in section.

[0057] The rear wall of the housing 1, as seen from the viewer, has an inlet opening 5 and a supply opening 7. The interior of the housing 1 is divided into a first section 6a and a second section 6b. The division is indicated by the vertical dashed line. The inlet opening 5, through which process air 4 is supplied, is located in the second section 6b. The supply opening 7, through which the process air 4 is supplied to a compressor chamber (not shown), is located in the first section 6a.

[0058] The inlet opening 5 is connected to an air guide element 2, which is shown here as a duct. However, according to other embodiments not shown, the air guide element 2 can also be a nozzle or an air deflector.

[0059] The outlet opening of the air guide element 2 opens into the first section 6a, so that process air 4 is supplied from the inlet opening 5 directly to the first section 6a. From here, the process air 4 can be forwarded to the compressor chamber via the supply opening 7. On the other hand, process air that does not immediately reach the supply opening can also flow back across the boundary of sections 6a, 6b into the second section 6b, where it lowers the temperature. In this way, a better and more even temperature distribution can be achieved within the interior of the housing 1.

[0060] Of course, it is also possible here that elements in the first or second section 6a, 6b are directly supplied with process air for cooling.

[0061] Fig. 5 shows a further development of the housing from Fig. 4.

[0062] The embodiments of Figures 4 and 5 are essentially identical, therefore only the differences will be discussed below.

[0063] In contrast to Fig. 4, the air guide element 2 here also has a second opening, so that the duct shown here can guide process air 4 into both the first section 6a and the second section 6b. This is particularly advantageous if the backflow of the process air across the boundary of the sections 6a, 6b, as explained in relation to Fig. 4, is not sufficient, for example, to achieve a desired temperature distribution in the interior of the housing 1 or in the second section 6b. It may also be possible for a component, such as a bearing, to be arranged in the second section 6b and to be directly supplied with process air, since pure convection cooling, as can be achieved, for example, by influencing the temperature distribution, is not sufficient.

[0064] For the appropriate distribution of the process air to the first and second sections 6a, 6b, respectively, the cross sections of the outlets shown of the air guiding element 2 can be designed or configured accordingly.

[0065] LIST OF REFERENCE SYMBOLS

[0066] 1 housing

[0067] 2 Air guide element 3 Nozzle

[0068] 4 Process ventilates

[0069] 5 Inlet opening

[0070] 6 Interior

[0071] 6a first section 6b second section

[0072] 7 Feed opening

Claims

PATENT CLAIMS 1. Compressor with: - an inlet opening (5) for supplying process air (4); - a compressor chamber in which a compression element for compressing the supplied process air (4) is guided; - a housing (1) with an interior space (6) in which a drive element for driving the compression element is arranged, wherein the inlet opening (5) is positioned such that the supplied process air (4) is first supplied to the interior space (6) of the housing (1) and then to the compression chamber via a supply opening (7) for compression, and the compressor in the interior space (6) of the housing (1) has at least one air guide element (2) which is designed to guide the process air (4) supplied through the inlet opening (5) to at least one element in the interior space (6) of the housing (1) for cooling the at least one element.

2. Compressor according to claim 1, wherein the inlet opening (5) and the supply opening (7) are positioned such that the process air (4) supplied into the housing (1) flows through the housing (1) in a main extension direction of the housing (1).

3. Compressor according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the inlet opening (5) is an opening of the housing (1).

4. Compressor according to one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one air guide element (2) forms part of the inlet opening (5) or the entire inlet opening (5).

5. Compressor according to one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one air guide element (2) is formed integrally with the housing (1).

6. Compressor according to one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one air guide element (2) is formed separately from the housing (1).

7. Compressor according to one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one air guiding element (2) of the at least one air guiding element (2) is designed at least in sections as a channel, nozzle (3) or as an air guiding plate.

8. Compressor according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one element in the interior (6) of the housing (1) comprises a bearing, connecting rod, shaft and / or is the drive element.

9. Compressor according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the compressor is designed to be oil-free or lubricant-free in the interior (6) of the housing (1) or as a dry-running compressor.

10. Compressor according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the compressor is designed as a piston compressor and / or as a multi-stage compressor.

11. Compressor according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one element in the interior (6) of the housing (1) comprises a first section (6b) of the interior (6) of the housing (1), or wherein the at least one element in the interior (6) of the housing (1) is the first section (6b) of the interior (6) of the housing (1).

12. Compressor according to claim 11, wherein the first section (6a) has a smaller distance to the feed opening (7) than to the inlet opening (5) or wherein the first section (6a) is directly connected to or has the feed opening (7).

13. Compressor according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the at least one element in the interior (6) of the housing (1) comprises a second portion (6b) of the interior (6) of the housing (1), or wherein the at least one element in the interior (6) of the housing (1) is the second portion (6b) of the interior (6) of the housing (1).

14. Compressor according to claim 13, wherein the second section (6b) has a greater distance from the feed opening (7) than from the inlet opening (5) or wherein the second section (6b) is directly connected to or has the inlet opening (5).

15. Compressor according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the at least one air guide element (2) is designed such that process air (4) is supplied to both the first section (6a) and the second section (6b).

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